First dry ball

After a long, long winter I finally was able to get out and do a little shooting. "Little" is right because I dry-balled my 4th load. It should be called "embarrassed ball".

It was a good learning experience for me though. I had a worm with me and a fellow blackpowder guy helped me pull it out. I had the right tool on hand, but I just didn't think I would need to use it so soon!

Stay safe.

Welcome to the Honorable Society of Dry Ballers.
There are two kinds of people who shoot muzzleloaders: Those that have dry balled and those that will! You are now a member of those that have! :thumbsup:

Now that I've joined the honorable ranks of dry ballers does that mean I've gotten it out of the way and I'll never do it again? ha ha ha

:hatsoff: Congratulations on Ya. Ya done well. Welcome to the club. Now all you need to do is send a ramrod down range to secure bragging rights. :blah: :blah:

Vern

Dryball, huh?

Never heard of such. :idunno:




















Okay, okay,,,,welcome to the club! :idunno: :haha: :rotf:

I did my first dry ball last summer. Funny thing is that I could of swore I poured that powder charge down the barrel before I seated that ball. I was so convinced that I probably reprimed and fired at least 12 times and cleared the touch hole numerous times and even changed the flint before I gave up and went home. When I got home I pulled the ball and expected to find a damp clump of powder under it even though it was a warm dry summer day and there was next to no chance of damp powder-gee wilickers no powder under that ball! :surrender:

ike1518 said:

Now that I've joined the honorable ranks of dry ballers does that mean I've gotten it out of the way and I'll never do it again? ha ha ha

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Ya might want to hang on to that worm! :wink:
Just wait until you do it multiple times in the same day :redface: :rotf:

Welcome; we've all done it, sometimes more than once in a day or match. :wink:

I save each one I've got out of the barrel with a ball puller. They make dandy reminders of the mantra PPB, PPB (Powder Patch Ball)

I do that on ocassion..Normally i simply take my nipple off and pour a small amount of powder into the hole..then I replace the nipple and fire it off.it normally has just enough "OOOMF" to blow the ball out. It doesn't ALWAYS work and when it doesn't, I too have had to get out the MUCH DREADED worm...lol Anyhow..welcome to the DRYBALL CLUB. :grin:

Are you silly? Do you actually think that you won't ever dry ball again???? :blah: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :haha: :surrender:

Welcome to the Honorable Society of Dry-ballers. You are entitled to a free, non-alcoholic beverage of your choice, and hand shakes from all existing members, whenever they meet you. The one we have figured out is that 99% of the time this happens, we let ourselves be distracted- and usually by someone talking to us. The other one percent is from looking at a pretty woman- and they are scarce on most rifle ranges, if you haven't noticed, yet :shocked2: :hmm: :surrender:

The most frustrating distraction is the "2-fer"- A guy distracts you to point out a woman passing who is wearing a bikini top that is at least 2 sizes too small! :blah: :blah: :shocked2: :rotf: :rotf: :haha: :haha: :idunno: :hatsoff:

Welcome to the club. I am sure you will pass through the doors of our hallowed halls many times yet to come. We all do. Think of it as "Practice" for entering the Pearly Gates. There is a similar amount of humility required for both. :grin: :wink:

S.kenton said:

... Normally i simply take my nipple off and pour a small amount of powder into the hole..then I replace the nipple and fire it off.it normally has just enough "OOOMF" to blow the ball out. ...

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Same here. I tap the gun a bit, pour some powder, tap the gun, pour ... 2-4 times and it won't take no mo! Then I reseat the ball (very important step, I'm told, and must be necessary becos I always get a little) and put on a musket nipple (I carry it and a couple of primers for just such an event as this- don't remember where I heard about that trik, but it throws a hotter flame) and have always gotten a surprising bit of range (if not oomph!) outa the ball.

Note (please! ) that not all of these were my own ... I do try and help others when necessary.

As for launching a rod- I was pretty smug about that one until just this year. It actually hit the 50 yd target- a might low, but on the cardboard. Which one of you said "those that have and those that will"?


Dan

You see I keep this little funnel in my possibles bag that just fits in the touch hole after it is screwed out. I can crowd 25 grains FFF in there and still screw the touch hole back in. So far its worked even with a seated ball.Don't usually have a problem when shooting solo.

Billdave said:

You see I keep this little funnel in my possibles bag that just fits in the touch hole ...

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:thumbsup:
Got mine from my doc- the little 'funnel' that goes on their opthalmascope (the thing they use to look in your ears and see if yer brain is fouled). Most have different sizes, and they're a handy addition to a bench/range/shooting kit. It's plastic, so I don't usually put it in my shooting bag; but like you said, "Don't usually have a problem when shooting solo."

Dan

Me too. Don't go shooting without one.

So I don't hijack this thread:
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/.../22/tid/256543/pid/979527/post/979527/#979527

Dan

ike1518 said:

Now that I've joined the honorable ranks of dry ballers does that mean I've gotten it out of the way and I'll never do it again? ha ha ha

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Ah No! If you are not regimmented in the loading procedure and/or you take your mind off of it while loading and you may well find yourself back in the class again! :idunno:

Thanks to all for the encouragement to keep at it!
Thanks.

I generally leave my flinter loaded. Up until last night I've had the same load in it for about 3 weeks.

Week before last I took it to run off some feral dogs that were chasing the horses but didn't get the chance to shoot it.

I've made short swamp walks a time or two since I fired it last.

Last weekend I went for an extended swamp walk way back in the cypress and spent about 30 minutes trying to stalk up to a BIG pig. As in, when I first saw him my initial thought was "wow, weird to see a bear out walking around this time of day" big (easily 300lbs). he was moving away from me and I just never got close enough to be comfortable with taking a shot before I lost him in the cypress.

Went out for a bit yesterday and it got a bit wet. So last night I was gonna pull the barrel off to make sure all of my waterproofing was working good and when I unloaded the rifle I found out I've been hunting for the last 3 weeks with a dry ball!

That story put a smile on my face!

I came up with a new form of embarrassment today: I'm at the range with the GPR and having a fine time until I fire one off and get the dreaded cap burst but nothing else. I'm thinking, manure! Did I dry ball again? After checking that the ball was seated and retrying the shot, I even loaded some powder into the nipple hole, but nothing came out. Yeah, yeah, I know, you experienced guys are saying, "That greenhorn hasn't even loaded the rifle at all." Yup, that was the deal, no powder, no patch, no ball. Just a whole pile of stupid.

I thought that when I was checking that the ball was seated that it didn't quite have that normal "thud" that the ball would have, but that is just my inexperience getting experieneced some.

Will Rogers or Mark Twain or somebody like that once said, "Good judgement comes with experience, and that comes from a lot of bad judgement."

Cheers.

Just tell everyone you were making sure the flash channel was really clear and carry on!

You should either mark your ramrod for bottom, or get really familiar with where it sits when on th' plug. And, like you observed, it "clunks" different when dry. I have lerned to very sneakily chek like this and carry on like nothing is wrong ... first rule of shooting, "I meant to do that!"

Dan