Kentucky cap and ball rifle misfire

BCRider said:
There's a reason why every C&B gun owner I know of carries a nipple wrench.

Very few I know of carry a ball puller. But they all have a nipple wrench. And when this happens the drill is pretty similar.

If a couple of caps and a nipple pick don't work then off the nipple. The nipple gets the evil eye to ensure it's clear. If it is then the side block gets its own share of the evil eye. If it's not blocked with something obvious then the next step is to dribble a bit of powder into the hole for the nipple and give the opposite side a few bumps. If the powder goes away down the nipple block then the owner cringes with the now certain knowledge that they forgot to put powder in first. A second and third hole's worth of powder is patiently bumped down into the barrel until they are pretty sure there is a good 5 to 10 grains worth inside. The nipple is replaced and a cap set and the trigger pulled in a safe direction. There's a little "phoot...." and then the bore should be clear as confirmed with the ram rod. The red faced owner then acknowledges all the laughs and taunts in a red faced but gracious manner by those that have done the same thing before them and life goes on.

All of this is why it's essential to know where the ram rod ends up for both an empty barrel and one which is correctly loaded. That way if the ball rams home more deeply than the loaded state it's an instant indicator of no powder or a "dry ball". Then it's time to put on the red face of abject embarrassment and haul out the nipple wrench that your nephew needs to buy this coming week.
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Very well put. Yes, at some point in time we will all 'dryball' our front loader.
 
I actually popped my own "dryball cherry" just about a month and a half ago. Happened with my flintlock when I got asked to do "something". I came back to my loading thinking that I'd put the powder in but hadn't. A fact which three good pan flashes suggested was the case.

Next came a minute or so of encouraging 4f down through the flash hole. Primed the pan and got the little "phoooot" and a moment later a weak little "tink" when the ball hit the target.... WOOOOHOOOO! Success drawn from the jaws of defeat! ! !

Apparently I need to experiment with lighter charges which from this "experience" would appear to be desirable for accuracy..... :d
 
A while back I had an ongoing issue with misfires with my ML. Got one of those nifty devices which uses CO2 cartridges as, to be honest, always a bit nervous pulling ball. Works very slick and not terribly expensive, can't recall the price though. Nice to have for unloading at the end of the day if I take it hunting and don't want to fire it.
 
No wasn't a dry ball. He had put a lighter load in it to test the waters and what I believe happened is the patch was pushed back too far and covered the flash hole. We gotter solved no problem. Thanks to lots of suggestions here and some research it was a pretty easy fix this time.


QUOTE=plinker 777;12646896]...? So a dry ball, or was there powder behind the ball and it needed some encouragement?[/QUOTE]
 
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