Well, I finally dry-balled

[Rawhide67]

I have only done it twice. Almost twice in a row, same shoot, same guy jabbering at me both times. I learned that my simple mind cant suffer distractions while loading. Followed that up with powder down the barrel, prime the pan, and forgot the patched ball. Poof.
You guessed it, same guy was talking to me again.

But, he got me in to shooting flintlocks, so I can't fault him too much.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Excellet! You diagnosed the problem, applied remedial techniques, and handled the situation like a boss. Congrats!

 

[cornstalk]

...Wait 'till you double up a charge in a double-barrel shotgun- one barrel empty, one with two charges, stacked atop each other. Caught my mistake before firing, luckily. Squirrels got away, apparently excessive cursing offends them.

Now that I'm running two double barrel pistols and a double barrel long gun this is a major caution for me. Six opportunities for me to screw up. Gonna need to develop a very precise procedure that I never deviate from, including a final check with the ramrods. Thanks for posting this.

 

[mushka]

All I can say is, "Welcome to this august club".

 

[Colonial Boy]

Anyone that says they have never dry balled, is someone that has never actually shot muzzle loaders!

Well, I’ve actually shot muzzle loaders for around 70 years….no further comment

 

[FishDFly]

Now that I'm running two double barrel pistols and a double barrel long gun this is a major caution for me. Six opportunities for me to screw up. Gonna need to develop a very precise procedure that I never deviate from, including a final check with the ramrods. Thanks for posting this.

Some line shooters use plastic vials to put there powder in prior to a shoot. They then lay out there balls in front of them. Makes it easy to see if powder has been put into the barrel. Look at the empty vials and the number of balls left.

There is one match where you shoot 25 shots in 45 minutes at 50 yards with a pistol. Having everything laid out in advance makes it easy to keep up with a sequence and a rhythm.

 

[Macman]

Well, I fired my Harpers Ferry on Tuesday for the first time. Was going well but after about 5 shots got lost in conversation with my mentor and forgot whether I powdered or not before I dropped a ball in. We used the range rod mark to determine the total load and it looked correct. So I just tried to fire a cap. It fizzled and did not fire. We ended up loading an amount of 4f in the nipple and it fired the ball out. It really could have just been a misfire when I tried my first attempt but I will admit that in any case I lost tract in my loading scheme and will admit to a dry ball. I'll never know. I'm glad I got it out of my system early so I'll NEVER do it again.

 

[Okie Hog]

Received my new .54 caliber re-bore from Mr. Hoyt. Dry balled the first round. Removed nipple, worked some powder into the flame channel, installed nipple and fired. Was surprised when the ball hit the 50 yard target. That's the hole in the upper right.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Y'all said it would happen eventually. Death, taxes, and dry-balling.

You are now...

One of Us... One of Us..., One of Us....

LD

 

[TrapperDude]

Generally most folks dry ball when they are visiting with others or they are under stress while shooting in a match. When they call cease fire and you have dry balled, everyone is impatiently watching you, while you fix the situation.

First trip out with my Trapper, I dry-balled it because I was yacking with the RSO who was enjoying talking about the pistol as much as I did. I primed the pan, got a good flash but no boom, and then the same thing happened again. It was at that point that I realized what I'd done.

I pushed some powder through the flash hole using the nipple pick, and then I just shot the ball out. It was more of a light "phoomp" than a "boom," though. I actually saw the patch lazily fly from the muzzle and twirl its way to the ground in front of the bench.

 

[hanshi]

There are two kinds of people in the world, those who've dry-balled and those who're about to. Dry-balling isn't a character flaw it's just a fact of life. Always concentrate on the loading process, know that you will dry-ball at some point regardless of what you do, but don't beat yourself over the head when you do.