Warthog with a Trapper .50

[dylan]

Hey guys
Shot my first warthog two days ago with my Lyman Trade rifle .50. The shot was good, just behind the shoulder but man this piece of bacon was tough. After the first shot, the pig ran in circles and was slowly coming towards me. I quickly tried to load up another shot but got a bullet stuck halfway down the barrel. I couldnt find anythind to hammer the ramrod down with so holding the rifle i rammed the ramrod against a tree an broke the rod in two places. I had no other option but to fire with the jammed bullet. After the smoke cleard, and examining my head to make sure it was still in one piece, i noticed that i missed the warthog, lovely, now what? I dropped the rifle and ran back to my car and grabed my trapper .50 and loaded it with 50gn FFF and a patched .490 rb and ran back to the pig. As i walked up to where the pig was last seen, the bugger came out of the bushes straight for me. I promptly gave him a head-ache that put him down for good. That was one hair raising hunt. From now on, my trapper will always be tucked into my belt and my tomahawk will be on my back.
I take my hat off to our/my forefathers that used to go out after dangerous game with voorlaiers, hell.... i was almost done in by a warthog.

 

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Whew....makes the HAIR on the back o my neck stand up jest hearing bout it! Thats a close call fer shure....
fun though aint it?

*** WV SCROUNGER ***

 

[flm_shooter]

from the title of the post, I thought it was about Stumblin Buffler

 

[guncobbler]

"I had no other option but to fire with the jammed bullet." Have you checked out your barrel carefully? You may just have a bulge where the bullet stopped. I know it was kind of exciting but running may have been safer than shooting with a short bullet. Good luck to you, GC

 

[No Deer]

from the title of the post, I thought it was about Stumblin Buffler

ROFLMAO, are you sure you have never met him? :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:

 

from the title of the post, I thought it was about Stumblin Buffler

....nice...real nice

 

[Arnoc]

Hi

I also went hunting in the last week or so, even though there is no warthog around, there is enough kudu, springbuck and mountain rheebuck to keep me busy. The kudu were not very muzzleloader friendly, keep a save 300 to 500 meters between them and me, but the springbuck and mountain rheebuck were more forthcoming if my muzzleloader just played along. It developed a chronic case of not firing the cap on the first shot but on the second shot it went off as planned (does anybody have the same problem) :curse:. I had two great opportunities on a big mountain rheebuck and an average springbuck ram but the loud click and no boom made sure the buck were putting some good distance between them and me by the time I had the hammer back for the second try. In both cases I got to within 50 meters of the buck due to the lay of the lan.

My one cousin then wounded a springbuck with his 6mm Musgrave (he took the shot at 450 paces which is about average shooting distance in the Karoo). The 6mm Musgrave is a .303 British necked down to 6mm with about the same ballistics as a .243 Win. We managed to get within about 75 meters of the wounded springbuck and my cousin gave me the opportunity to take it down with the muzzleloader. From what I could see through the smoke, the springbuck looked like it was hit by a freight train. My cousin says that he has never seen a springbuck go down like that before :shocking:. The 300 grain .45 conical smashed both shoulders without blowing everything to pieces as a modern high velocity bullet would have done.

Nothing stormed me at least like Dylan and I had the time of my life ::, but the cap not firing thing is worrying me, as it has never done this before while using the same caps.

 

[sneakon]

Hey South Africans,
Great stories! Isn't this internet thing amazing. It connects us all. Warthogs, kudu, springbuck, mountain rheebuck--all I can say is WOW! South Africa is now on my list of places to try and go hunting. It's a long list at this point.
About the misfired caps, are the caps seated tightly on the nipple? I always push mine tight to the nipple after placing from the capper.

 

Nothing stormed me at least like Dylan and I had the time of my life ::, but the cap not firing thing is worrying me, as it has never done this before while using the same caps.

Use flint...more reliable :front:

 

[Ron LaClair]

Use flint...more reliable

After 40 years of hunting with both cap and flint, I agree that a flintlock is moge reliable. It you keep a sharp flint, dry power in the pan and the touch hole clear, the gun has to go. A caplock could have a bad cap or moisture in the nipple. I had a capgun cost me an Elk in Montana in 1974. If I'd of had my flinter I could have been eatin elk instead of hog. :haha:

 

[Rebel]

It might be time to replace your nipple. NO, the one on your gun. :: Sounds like the top may be flattend a bit and not letting the caps seat right. The first drop of the hammer pushes it down and the second drop fires it. Might be worth a try.

 

[Arnoc]

In my attempts to get the cap to fire first time, every time, I have tried to push the cap down with my thumb after placing it with the in line capper, but how hard is too hard before the cap discharges under my thumb :front:. Trying to explain how hard one can safely push the cap down is like explaining to a blind person what makes blue different from green, but what is the rule of thumb (excuse the pun :crackup on seating a cap before blowing your thumb off.

Maybe I must look at replacing the nipple :hmm:. It is a stainless steel nipple and I have taken about 30 to 50 shots with it so far. This being my first muzzleloader, I have no idea how often to replace the nipple. Can someone give me some advice?

 

[leslie]

There is a difference in the internal diameter of different brands of caps.RWS is smaller than any American made cap and will do what you are experiencing.I inherited some old No 11 cva caps that would not go on a standard nipple.I put the nipple in a drill press and smoothed the nipple end with some fine emery paper that solved the problem be a little careful how much you work on the nipple you can get them too loose.Without a drill press you could hold the nipple in your fingers and rotate it between a piece of emery paper in your other hand.It worked for[url] me.In[/url] some cases your problem could be aweek mainspring but I doubt it.

 

[dylan]

Hey Arnoc
Just got back from the Free State(Memel). Of corse my voorlaaier went with. I couldnt convince the future farther inlaw to let me shoot a blesbuck though but had good fun with the guinneafowl and francolin. I also shot a pidgeon on the wing......not bad, a bit of a fluke i think. Arnoc, I used to have the same problem with the first cap not igniting the charge. I now use small pistol primers. They are allot cheaper(about R25/100) and i have not had a missfire since i have been using them. They are a lot more effective than #11 caps. There are a few modifications that you need to do though. To the caps...you need to remove the fulminate(funny shaped brass goodie inside the primer), to do this hold the cap upside down in your leatherman and using a spike/sharpend nail, pick out the brass goodie. There you go, you now have a percussion cap with some serious voooooma. You will also need to turn your nipple down just a touch. Chuck the nipple into a drill the using the file on your trusty leatherman, work the nipple down till the super cap fits. This sounds like allot of work but its not and its well worth it. Just imagine being able to buy caps at any gun shop, what a pleasure(provided you have a pistol license or a friend who does). Hope this helps but please do try it, you will be amazed at the difference.

 

You're a braver man than I am... you won't find me trying to dig the anvil out of a modern centerfire primer to use on a muzzleloader. No thanks.

 

[roundball]

".....what is the rule of thumb on seating a cap before blowing your thumb off....."

That always bothered me too and I never seat a cap with a bare thumb...I always us a metal capper in hopes it'll provide some protection...my favorite is a brass one made by 'Cash'...holds 100 caps and has a curved neck on it that places the cap onto the nipple...