Misfiring Drum Style Lock??

[nhmoose]

Make sure you jag is the right size it should go down easy and then pull back harder pulling the fouling out of the barrel.

 

[Zonie]

That is for sure. I can (almost) tolerate a target gun not going off, but I’d hate to spend hours of pre season scouting and hours more of hunting time to have a rifle not go off at the moment of truth.

As you know, target shooting and hunting are two different worlds.

I agree. With target shooting, a failure to fire is an annoyance. With hunting, a FTF can ruin the day.

To help keep the FTF from raising its ugly head while your hunting, try doing something a little special.

Before you load the gun, remove the nipple and sprinkle some fresh powder down into the threaded hole.
Work a bit of it into the flash channel, leaving some of it in the bottom of the hole.
Then, reinstall the nipple and load the gun as usual.

Doing this won't guarantee the cap will fire but if it does, that little extra powder charge under the nipple will fire and set off the main charge.

 

[jon math]

That makes sense, thanks!

Where I live hunting squirrel with a rifle is illegal and the caliber is too small for deer (by state law), so this rifle will be for coon, ground hog, paper and stump shooting I guess.

I use a couple of different shotguns for hunting and their nipples feed directly into the breech w/o making the turn like this drum does, they have never failed to fire. I use a flint lock fowler on deer and oddly that has never failed me”¦ yet.

 

[don hepler]

I have 2 rifles with drums and several with the snail breech, but I have never had the ones with the drum, give me any problem. I treat both the same. I shoot a lot, and I know my rifles pretty well, and FTF in a hunting situation would get me pretty hot. I believe, that if I follow my same routine, I will not have a FTF. It could happen, but so far.....so good.

 

[Pete G]

I am surprised that nobody else has noted that in the second pic you posted it appears that the hammer is not hitting square on the nipple. Either the drum is screwed in slightly too far or the nipple is too long.

 

[nhmoose]

Here are some photos of the jag and lock.

That debris at the base of the nipple I thought was rust, but it turned out to be the grease I used when I reinstalled the nipple after cleaning the rifle. The inside of my safe is lined with a carpet that gives off fibers whenever you brush against it (one of Browning less bright ideas I guess). The fibers stuck to the grease. I ran a patch and the bore was greasy but rust free.

I also ran a scrapper down and it came back clean. I don’t like the angle the drum is at, it looks like the hammer might not be striking the nipple flat, or it might be an optical illusion in the picture, in person I’ve never noticed the miss alignment that shows in the photo.

I got an almost bore sized dowel and pushed it down the bore trying to see if it would hang up at the drum’s entry into the bore. It did not.

I looked up venting the bore in my Dixie catalog. I plan to stop by the hardware store at lunch time and get a nice fresh #50 drill bit and do that modification tonight.

The hammer is not hitting the nipple square and the nipple is a style I had problems with the sharp top as it is coned away from the touch hole.

With the nipple not square and that I think most of the fire is going outside the nipple and not into it IMHO

 

[timothy prouty]

HEY tried remove the clean out screw and see how far the nipple go in to the drum if it goes in more than half way in then you can get A build-up where won't go off

 

[jon math]

I did feel that the drum was a bit off square too. The rifle shot pretty well without moving it but I finally decided to attempt to turn it the couple of degrees it needed to be perfectly square to the cock. It took more than a little persuasion but it finally moved. I was able to get a hotshot nipple to work correctly after the adjustment, so it was a double win.

 

[nhmoose]

:hatsoff:

 

[Joe B.]

Some guys with finicky nipple guns snap a cap or two before every relay just to make sure the passage is clear. Aim down close at a leaf and make sure it moves when the cap fires.