Oh well, 4th shot lesson learned.

SlickTrick

SlickTrick

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Not as dramatic as it sounds, but no less frustrating when you are new to black powder smoke poles.

Bought a Traditions flintlock in .50cal. I was excited because I had to pass the range on the way home, so I stopped in to make some smoke.

I read the load data in the book, decided to go light on a new gun, loaded 45gr (the lightest recommended) of 3f into the barrel, lubed the patch, seated and set the ball. primed the pan, cocked the hammer, and fired!

fzzzzBOOM! AWESOME!

Waited a minute, and did it again 2 more times.

Wife says, let me video it, so I said sure, I want to see what it looks like from the side.

Loaded the barrel with a powder charge, patch, ball, hrmmmm The rod seems to have gone in further. :eek:
Loaded the pan, already knowing what was going to happen, pulled the trigger.... fzzzzzz. :redface:

Let it be known that Traditions firearms have complete Shyte fer ramrods. :mad:

I had to make a ball extractor, since there is no one locally that even sells muzzle loader supplies.

Now; for anyone else who may do this in the future, this is simple, and dead cheap!


I went to Canadian Tire, and bought a 3/16" length of pre-made brake line. Found a compression fitting that fits the fitting on the line, and put a long woodscrew in the fitting with the hole, and tightened it against the brake line. Bend 4 or so inches on the other end over for a handle so it looks like an L. The rest is simple, twist the screw into the ball, and pull... HARD. Out it came.


I am glad that I learned this lesson early on, and I hope that I never have to do it again! Think I may try the speed loaders :d
 
*sometimes* you can add powder into the flash hole a bit at a time. All you need to get in there is enough to pop the ball out.

A toothpick helps with this.
 
bollox said:
*sometimes* you can add powder into the flash hole a bit at a time. All you need to get in there is enough to pop the ball out.

A toothpick helps with this.
Click to expand...

I appreciate that info, I will keep that in mind should it happen again. Would have been much easier lol
 
bang_on_sk said:
theres an adapter for co2 canisters so you can blow the charge out using the flash hole
Click to expand...

I tried using 90psi line air from a compressor, but I could not get a good enough seal. Any idea where I can get this adapter? I do have one of those co2 tire inflaters from a bike shop.

Can anyone recommend one of our CGN supporters that actually sell a better ram rod, and extractor, and anything else I have not discovered I failed to purchase yet? Seems like no local shops cater to muzzle loaders.
 
You "Dry Balled". All BP shooters will do it sooner or later so must be prepared with a contingency plan. The simplest solution is to pick one or 2 grains of powder in through the flash hole or remove the nipple and do it if percussion then shoot out the ball. It takes very little powder. Few wooden ramrods would stand the torque of screwing into a lead ball so a metal or fibreglass rod is a necessity to take the stress. The CO2 gadgets work well but are costly for the few times needed and picking in some powder will work.
One precaution if using powder is that if you don't eject the ball with the first try and put in some more powder the push the ball back down onto the second powder charge for best effect and safety. Not good practice to have an air gap between the powder charge and the ball.
 
SlickTrick; you said that you charged the barrel with powder on that forth shot, then when seating the ball you noticed the rod went in further? Did you in fact dry ball (we've all done it), or did you measure incorrectly putting a really light charge behind the ball?

The CO2 thingy's are for sidelocks as the adapter threads into the nipple boss I do believe. For your flinchlock I think manual means are the only ways to "pull" the ball. (if you can't get powder in behind it as mentioned)
 
Drop your rod into the EMPTY barrel and mark the rod at the muzzle. Now load it, drop the rod in and put another mark on it at the muzzle. Now you have an easy way to tell if it is empty, charged or loaded. If just charged, the top mark will disappear into the bbl approximately calibre length. I mark with a small notch so it will stay put.
It has saved my bacon more than a few times.
 
plinker 777 said:
SlickTrick; you said that you charged the barrel with powder on that forth shot, then when seating the ball you noticed the rod went in further? Did you in fact dry ball (we've all done it), or did you measure incorrectly putting a really light charge behind the ball?

The CO2 thingy's are for sidelocks as the adapter threads into the nipple boss I do believe. For your flinchlock I think manual means are the only ways to "pull" the ball. (if you can't get powder in behind it as mentioned)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I dry balled it. I thought I had put powder in the little brass measure, but I either picked it up wrong, dumping it, or did not actually fill it. I actually reloaded the pan, and tried again, then I tried cleaning the flash hole, and tried again. Last night when I got the ball out, there was no powder in it. I will chock it up to not paying enough attention, and hopefully not do it again. :)
 
B_noser said:
Drop your rod into the EMPTY barrel and mark the rod at the muzzle. Now load it, drop the rod in and put another mark on it at the muzzle. Now you have an easy way to tell if it is empty, charged or loaded. If just charged, the top mark will disappear into the bbl approximately calibre length. I mark with a small notch so it will stay put.
It has saved my bacon more than a few times.
Click to expand...

I have since done this. What I need to do is find a place that sells better quality ramrods, and replace the one I have. It is terribly inadequate, no ability to attach anything to it.
 
SlickTrick said:
Yeah, I dry balled it. I thought I had put powder in the little brass measure, but I either picked it up wrong, dumping it, or did not actually fill it. I actually reloaded the pan, and tried again, then I tried cleaning the flash hole, and tried again. Last night when I got the ball out, there was no powder in it. I will chock it up to not paying enough attention, and hopefully not do it again. :)
Click to expand...

Ah. It happens...and if you're like me, you will do it again. A handy trick I learned was to a) put the wooden rod away in the back of the locker and buy either the plastic ones (forget what they're made out of. Mylar or something?) or aluminium. (brass for the range) and b) on the end of the rod, file flats and cut an oblong slot.

Doing this still allows your starter to fit on the end of the rod to seat a ball (because you have not added a handle), and IF (when :)) a dry ball situation occurs, you simply change the end of the rod to the ball pulling screw and take some patching ribbon through the oblong slot. You will have enough purchase on the rod to turn the screw into the ball and a ready made cloth handle to pull the whole works out. Best of all, the rod will still stow in the stock with this alteration. Leave enough "meat" in the end of the rod so as to not weaken it too much.

Was I clear enough? I'll see if I can find a pic to assist. Found one (sort of). Like this but on the other end.
RP0200.JPG
This is for a cleaning/oiling patch, but if one were to thread a length of patching ribbon through a similar slot on the other end you'll have what I'm talking about.

Here's a cool little tool I haven't seen before.
mWjOLUIJt9Z2TN9WNuV2bLg.jpg
 
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Ya happens to most, I've done it more than once - neat tool Plinker777 has above in that last photo.

I've always been fortunate enough to do what has been suggested, that is to get some powder in behind it. Sometimes that first shot does only move it a couple inches in which case you can get MORE powder in there and, as noted above, make sure you ram the ball back down against the newly inserted powder before pulling he trigger. Might have to grind the powder down if it's too coarse. Be darn careful doing that...

I've tried using the worms on the end of my range rod with limited success at best. Blasting them out has always worked.
 
I took it back to the range again today. Had a lot of fun with it too. I am loading it light at 45gr of 3f till I get used to it. I may just keep it at 45gr since it does the same thing as 100gr, and is cheaper.

On Monday, I am going to order either a solid aluminum rod, or one of the PVC ones. I need one to fit a 32" barrel tho. Any suggestions on that?

Traditions has a kit that has a ball extractor, a patch worm, a brush, and mop in it for ~$15 or so.

Plinker777 That is a great picture, and gives me an idea on what I am looking for. Thompson Center sells some nice rods, but they are too short. One has a flippable T handle on it which looks pretty interesting.

tonyg, that is good advice, thank you. I was careful not to go all the way through the ball, I was afraid it would expand it, making it impossible to remove.
 
Make a fiberglass range rod from a 48" X 3/8" yellow reflector pole (Canadian Tire ) or a electric fence post from a farm supply store (most are 3/8" diameter, white or orange and 5' long for about $3). Fit a ramrod tip in whichever thread size your attachments have ($2 or 3) from Track of the Wolf. That will be 10 - 32 or 8 - 32 machine thread. Put a cross pin through the tip and rod to secure them from torque. Cut the rod a few inches longer than needed then secure a T handle and pin it too ( I use about 5" of a deer antler because it is unbreakable and looks cool.
 
Next time you dry ball remove the vent,{ it unscrews} and it is easy to put enough powder in to shoot the ball out , there is a large cavity to be filled behind the ball. You can't over fill it.Screw the vent back in and shoot it.
If it doesn't come all the way out ram it back down and do it again.
When you add powder you will need to shake the gun to make it trickle into the breech.
 
Great news, I found a local guy that is both a gunsmith, and a black powder guy. He is going to get me a few things I am looking for, and has invited me up when it comes in, to learn what I can.

Going to get me some real black powder vs the pyrodex, anticipating a much better smoke show :)
 
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