There was a question on the hunting forum about clearing the nipple and flash channel prior to a hunt. Almost universally the answer is to pop at least a couple of caps prior to loading. I used to do that but with the difficulty in obtaining caps for some I thought this might be of interest.
What I do is to wipe the bore with a clean patch till no oil gets on it. Then I take a can of compressed air sold for computers and with the nipple in the barrel I spray the air through it using the red tube for the can. I can tell by the sound of the air coming out of the muzzle the flash channel is clear. I also do this with my flintlocks, spraying through the flash hole. Never have a failure to fire in the ten or so years doing this and it saves caps for the important stuff (making smoke). :wink:
What I do is to wipe the bore with a clean patch till no oil gets on it. Then I take a can of compressed air sold for computers and with the nipple in the barrel I spray the air through it using the red tube for the can. I can tell by the sound of the air coming out of the muzzle the flash channel is clear. I also do this with my flintlocks, spraying through the flash hole. Never have a failure to fire in the ten or so years doing this and it saves caps for the important stuff (making smoke). :wink: