Dry ball

[pa woods roamer]

I try to kinda stay away from the crowd when at a Woodswalk.Keeps the distraction down. Now, the next adventure in M`loading is to forget to remove your Ramrod and shoot it down range while being observed and followed by loud Guffaws.....

 

[Billnpatti]

I forgot to add that I have a friend who has scrimshawed on his powder horn the phrase "This the rule above all, first the powder then the ball"

 

[Sunkmanitu Tanka]

:rotf: :rotf: :thumbsup:

 

[asalufa]

I'm pretty new to muzzleloading, but I already belong to both the dryball and ramrod clubs, dangit. I blame the ramrod on the person teaching me, though- on my third ever shot with a muzzleloader, he should have been watching me more closely! :wink:

I was at a shooting competition this weekend where I actually dryballed repeatedly and didn't even have distracting bystanders to blame. I finally figured out that if I set my loading block on the bench in front of me like everyone else was doing, I automatically reached for the loading block instead of reaching into my bag for the powder flask. Went back to shooting from the bag like I usually do when I practice, and didn't dryball again the rest of the weekend. I think I've got a good routine now... I hope!

 

[Richard J.]

My dad, brother, and myself were hunting in Pennsylvania flintlock season. Brother and myself put a silent push toward my dad. Dad shoots then a couple of minutes later he shoots again. This time we could here something going thru the trees. We had a small knuckle between us. Came up to him and he said he missed the first deer ( a doe ) then a buck steps out. He had to hurry and reload. We got the buck home and it had a strange hole beside the one the ball made. We couldnt figure out what made it as we were the only ones hunting that area. Found out when dad started to clean his gun that the ramrod was missing. That tells you how close the buck was to him. We all had a good laugh out of it. We always had spare rods for him after that. It was our standing joke.

RJ

 

[dg98adams]

My son has done it a couple times with his BP .44 pistol and 2x with my .50 Renegade with me watching no less.

The old saying is : " There are two kinds of muzzle loader shooters those that have dry balled, and those that will!"

He was told it goes, "The old saying is : There are two kinds of muzzle loader shooters those that have dry balled, and those that are liars"

 

[bangfxr]

A few years back I was at a shoot and we were doing time of 4 minutes X's # shots event and I dry balled :redface: my smoothy on the 3rd shot what a :cursing: mess. I got it out and finished the event with only 7 shots. Thats why now I use paper cartridges. Now there is no excuse for dry balling.

 

[pripley]

Are there remedies for this malady? :hmm:

Thank-you for everyones' input on remedies. :hatsoff: :thumbsup: I managed to get through a shooting session today without dry-balling! :applause: I put my short-starter and loading blocks in a separate pouch. I shoot at a public range and it helps to hide the lead so that I have to do more before loading a ball down the barrel. Towards the end of my shooting session when my concentration is waning, I caught myself a couple of times going for the ball before the powder, and stopped.

 

[Adui]

This, and other threads have got me to the point of paranoia! I have owned my Muzzleloader since around 1998. I have fired it off and on over the years from every time I went shooting to taking it out three to five times a year some times.

I have not to date dry balled, and now Im scared to death I will because I do not own a ball puller! (and of course I just cursed myself by admitting all this. I'm doomed... :shocked2: )

 

[flyfish]

I just can't resist telling of my first time.
Went out shooting a couple weeks ago and my wife went with me. I had shot about 5 or 6 times and I guess I was thinking about where this next ball was going to go. I had just put the ball in the gun and pushed it in with my short starter. Just then my wife says " did you put the powder in?"
I looked at her then looked at the shooting bench and did not see the container that holds my power charge. I looked back at her and said " NO. Guess we're done shooting for today" It was going to have been my last shot.
Like many have said before me, stay focused on your loading.

 

[jethro224]

As for myself, I waited several years, until just the right moment, when there were plenty of witnesses around, before loading my first dryball in a caplock GPR. ...Then I did it again just to make sure I had done it right the first time.
Shortly after that I loaded wads and shot with no powder in my New Englander... also in front of witnesses.
And to round out my experience I naturally had to try it in a flinter so I dryballed my Bess on a woodswalk.
Now I'm a pro. :haha:

 

[vern faulkner]

Years back, at the range, in front of a bunch of old time black powder shooters I dryballed twice in a row. On my third attempted, I sent the ramrod downrange. The laughing was intense. My face was redder than blood but I got over it and made a few good friends who have helped me quite a bit in my journey.

Vern

 

[longfowler]

I shot at the Dalton Primitive biathlon in NH today, and at station 3 the guy next to me dryballed...TWICE. I hurried up my shots and got the heck out of there before I did it, you know it's contagious!

 

[ebiggs1]

I have not “dry balled” and it is raining out so I won’t dry ball today either. I say that because as soon as I brag about not doing it, I know I will the very next time out!
I have bought several, many more than you might expect, barrels pre-loaded! Sometimes it isn’t much fun to pull those. Now one knows how long it was left loaded. I always soak them in water first.

 

[WH .50]

I am now an official member of the dryball club!! :grin: I did it for the first time on Sunday myself. I was just getting my target set up and getting ready to sight my new Hawken in when my uncle showed up at the house.He is not into BP guns so he was pretty intrigued by the flinter and got to asking all kinds of questions and talking to me while I was getting loaded up. I took the first shot and when I went to reload while explaining to him how the lock worked I proceeded to show him the proper way to dryball. :rotf: Then,I had to show him how to clear it by trickling powder into the touch hole and shooting it out.Guess I'm not the best teacher in the world but I do pretty good when I'm alone.