I got a new rifle and after a few shots I could not get it to fire. At the range I did not have the proper tools, lighting or time to figure this out. I disassembled the rifle and took it home.
The rifle was loaded with 80 grains FFFg Goex, a .018 pillow ticking "dry" patch previously treated with 7:1 Water/Ballistol and of course a properly sized ball. The patched ball loads easy. A light whack on the short starter gets it going and the ramrod with drive it down in one motion.
At home I tried adamantly to pull the ball … but it wasn't working. I poured a cup of water down the barrel to soak the patch. About 15 minutes later I dumped out the barrel back into the cup and the whole cup filled up. I poured two shot-glasses of WD-40 down the barrel and waited about a half-hour. Nearly all of the WD-40 came back out. I poured a half-cup of mineral spirits down the barrel thinking it was thinner than WD-40 and would work its way to the patch lubricate load at the same time. Well, all the mineral spirits came back out and the cup was again half-full.
Not sure what to do next and frustrated, I left the barrel in the closet pointed upwards thinking whatever moisture I put in the barrel would make its way downward. 10-days later I made another attempt to pull the ball and to blow it out with compressed air. Nada. At a loss, I went to the range today.
This happens to be a flintlock, but the point of what happened applies to percussion just as well. I removed the touch-hole liner and put 4-grain of FFFFg in there. I re-seated the ball to make sure it was down all the way.
Well don't you know it - it discharged instantly and hit the target pretty close to where a good fresh charge would!
Personally, I was amazed that the powder charge was not degraded. I expected it to be practically inert. No, it was a full-power discharge based on noise, recoil, smoke and impact on the target.
My point is that in spite of all the "moisture" I put down the barrel (literally cups full of it) it seems none made it to the powder. Wow - I certainly learned something. I thought the charge would get "moist" just sitting around outside in varying temperature and humidity. I am humbled regarding that belief!
BTW, I did figure out what was wrong in the first place and addressed several things that resulted in reliable discharge.
The rifle was loaded with 80 grains FFFg Goex, a .018 pillow ticking "dry" patch previously treated with 7:1 Water/Ballistol and of course a properly sized ball. The patched ball loads easy. A light whack on the short starter gets it going and the ramrod with drive it down in one motion.
At home I tried adamantly to pull the ball … but it wasn't working. I poured a cup of water down the barrel to soak the patch. About 15 minutes later I dumped out the barrel back into the cup and the whole cup filled up. I poured two shot-glasses of WD-40 down the barrel and waited about a half-hour. Nearly all of the WD-40 came back out. I poured a half-cup of mineral spirits down the barrel thinking it was thinner than WD-40 and would work its way to the patch lubricate load at the same time. Well, all the mineral spirits came back out and the cup was again half-full.
Not sure what to do next and frustrated, I left the barrel in the closet pointed upwards thinking whatever moisture I put in the barrel would make its way downward. 10-days later I made another attempt to pull the ball and to blow it out with compressed air. Nada. At a loss, I went to the range today.
This happens to be a flintlock, but the point of what happened applies to percussion just as well. I removed the touch-hole liner and put 4-grain of FFFFg in there. I re-seated the ball to make sure it was down all the way.
Well don't you know it - it discharged instantly and hit the target pretty close to where a good fresh charge would!
Personally, I was amazed that the powder charge was not degraded. I expected it to be practically inert. No, it was a full-power discharge based on noise, recoil, smoke and impact on the target.
My point is that in spite of all the "moisture" I put down the barrel (literally cups full of it) it seems none made it to the powder. Wow - I certainly learned something. I thought the charge would get "moist" just sitting around outside in varying temperature and humidity. I am humbled regarding that belief!
BTW, I did figure out what was wrong in the first place and addressed several things that resulted in reliable discharge.
