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Question....now I am curious

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I had posted on the muzzleloader hunting heading ... And one of the reply's I got was from someone who I believe call them selves longcruise ( I believe ) ... But anyway the statement was made that drilling your nipple out might give you better ignition...( To deal with hang fires).... But will make you less accurate...... Now in my mind I would think that a fast ignition would make you more accurate...now I am not saying he was wrong because I don't know....the only thing I can think is maybe a fast or hotter ignition might burn the patches or something like that ... Making the shot less accurate?... Thoughts?
 
I've never drilled one out.
Mine all work fine the way they are.
You'll probably get a bunch of different answers to this question.
I am sure ... I was just trying to sight in my ml for deer season... I am using T7 ... Because that is all I have access to... In the season starts Saturday... I was having trouble with hang fires so I drilled the bottom of the nipple out so and it seemed to fix the problem...
 
Never had too either. Perhaps he was trying to explain how to cone the inside of the nipple? That would bring your powder as close to the top end as it can get. You can just buy a coned nipple, swap it out and see if you get faster.
Getting your hands on some real black can quicken things up as well.
 
@andy52 touched on it,, Pressure.
Think about what we're doing with ignition,, we're turning powder into hot expanding gasses in a confined space.
Those gasses want out, most of it pushes an obstruction forward (the patched ball/projectile),, but it seeks all exists., some of the gas comes out of the nipple or the flash channel.
We call it gas blow-back . The best scenario is to keep that blow-back consistent with each shot. The small orifice of a nipple, along with the hammer spring and cup covering the nipple, limit's the amount of gas escaping to the rear but some does come out.
New nipples eventually succumb to "gas cutting", that's the process of the hole in the nipple getting larger by damage from the escaping gasses, depending on care that can happen as early as 200 shot's but normally around 4-500 shot's.
When gas cutting get's bad enough, the escaping gasses can blow the hammer back far enough to catch the half-cock notch.
We call that "hammer blow-back"
Basically, the whole mess leads to inconsistent gas release to the rear, lending inconsistent pressures left for pushing the projectile.
Get it?
Your target in the other thread show's "minute of Deer" accuracy well enough for most folks, you'll be fine, I wouldn't try changing anything this close to season.
@longcruise is right, your 90grns is kinda hot for the 50, and the .010 patch a little thin.
But you can work on all that for next season.
Good luck with the Saturday season,, make some meat. 👍

p.s. When I set-up for the hunt and want reliable ignition, I load the charge and projectile, then trickle a tiny bit of powder under the nipple in the flash channel
 
Last edited:
@andy52 touched on it,, Pressure.
Think about what we're doing with ignition,, we're turning powder into hot expanding gasses in a confined space.
Those gasses want out, most of it pushes an obstruction forward (the patched ball/projectile),, but it seeks all exists., some of the gas comes out of the nipple or the flash channel.
We call it gas blow-back . The best scenario is to keep that blow-back consistent with each shot. The small orifice of a nipple, along with the hammer spring and cup covering the nipple, limit's the amount of gas escaping to the rear but some does come out.
New nipples eventually succumb to "gas cutting", that's the process of the hole in the nipple getting larger by damage from the escaping gasses, depending on care that can happen as early as 200 shot's but normally around 4-500 shot's.
When gas cutting get's bad enough, the escaping gasses can blow the hammer back far enough to catch the half-cock notch.
We call that "hammer blow-back"
Basically, the whole mess leads to inconsistent gas release to the rear, lending inconsistent pressures left for pushing the projectile.
Get it?
Your target in the other thread show's "minute of Deer" accuracy well enough for most folks, you'll be fine, I wouldn't try changing anything this close to season.
@longcruise is right, your 90grns is kinda hot for the 50, and the .010 patch a little thin.
But you can work on all that for next season.
Good luck with the Saturday season,, make some meat. 👍

p.s. When I set-up for the hunt and want reliable ignition, I load the charge and projectile, then trickle a tiny bit of powder under the nipple in the flash channel
Yes that makes sense ... The pressure will change ... Thank you for taking the time and explaining that to me ... I was trying to stick to what worked last year... But this year I was getting hang fires.. and was pulling to the right because of it ...
 
Ignition woes in caplocks.... Oil. The lightest hint of oil= flame out!
That is true ... But I never use oil in my barrel just for that reason.. I Know a lot of people will not like the way I clean my muzzleloader... But I just use hot soapy water...(dawn)... Then pour a coffee pot of hot water down the barrel... Run a few dry patches ... Then while it is still hot and the pores of the barrel are open... Around patches of boar butter down the barrel... Of course this is after it's already dry so I don't trap any moisture in
 
That is true ... But I never use oil in my barrel just for that reason.. I Know a lot of people will not like the way I clean my muzzleloader... But I just use hot soapy water...(dawn)... Then pour a coffee pot of hot water down the barrel... Run a few dry patches ... Then while it is still hot and the pores of the barrel are open... Around patches of boar butter down the barrel... Of course this is after it's already dry so I don't trap any moisture in
Exactly what do. 👍🏻
 
Ignition woes in caplocks.... Oil. The lightest hint of oil= flame out!
absolutely true, any use of petroleum products will kill black powder and smokeless powder. Natural oils won't do that, all the marketed patch lubes are based on that kind of oils. Same with your homemade goodies like bear grease, so on and so forth.
 
Have said this before, and will again...........After cleaning the bore w/ hot water , run a few patches down and back to dry it. Run a patch or two down with bore cleaner , followed by dry patches again. then , sit the gun muzzle down over night . Any unwanted residue will run forward , and next morning , a clean patch takes out the rest of the unwanted stuff.
 
Don’t drill the nipple. Clean your barrel, drum, and nipple and everything with rubbing alcohol (I use brake cleaner sometimes). Pour or spray it down the barrel. Let it run out of the nipple. Let everything evaporate for several minutes. Load and fire. Someone suggesting drilling out the nipple is bad advice. Not necessary at all. If you’re using a sub powder then everything I wrote is doubly important. After dropping the powder down the barrel smack the side of your rifle to knock the powder over in the drum. Misfires are 99% operator error not equipment error.
 
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