Misfires, Advice work, thank you!!!!!!

[reward]

Had a 2 misfires with a 45cal T/c Hawken shooting 285gr Hornady great plains bullets and pyrodex P and 7777 ffg. First 2 shots with pyrodex p were touching but in cleaning in between the residue  looked similair to pencil lead. 3rd shot misfired, near as I can tell the channel from the nipple was plug with this same residue. Had to pull the bullet and do some serious cleaning, took one more shot with 777 ffg, real close to other 2, 4th shot had another misfire, gave up, went home and cleaned. Took quite a bit of work to remove all the residue. I have shot t/c maxiballs out of without any problem but poor accuracy. The hornadays fit much tighter in the barrel, the bullet I pulled had a very nice imprint of the rifling. I was told it has a 1 in 48 twist barrel, could this actually be different and causing the problem? Thanks in advance!

[Snowshoe]

I don't clean between shots, and only clean when it gets hard to load. The fact that you push fouling into the flash channel is why I don't wipe between shots. Your rifle is most likely a 1 in 48", as most T/C's are, but you can check by putting a tite patch on and mark the ram rod. Pull it out and see how much it rotates, a 1 in 48" twist will make half a turn when you pull the ram rod 24"'s.

[reward]

Thanks for the info, how do you hunt with it, I have always hunted with a clean, dry barrel with my inlines.

[Landngroove]

Fouling and misfires like what you describe should not happen. Before your first shot, do you wipe the bore of all oils/rust preventers  with dry patches ? Do you pop off a couple of caps to dry out the flash channel ?  Is the nipple in good shape ? I am not real happy with either 777, or Pyrodex performance, as compared to real black powder, but even these subs should not fail as has happened to you, if you start with a clean dry gun. Also, how do you clean your ML after a shooting session ? A bucket of warm  water with a little dish soap pumped thru the barrel with a rod, and jag, will clean not only the barrel, but the flash channel as well. These practices work well for me, and I very rarely, and I stress rarely experiance a misfire.

[reward]

That's what really has me confused. I clean with soap and water just as you described, the last time I shot it and had the misfires I ran dry patches thru it to reduce the bore butter which I use as a preservative between shooting sessions, then I shot 30 grs to foul the barrel,  cleaned with 1 patch of windex and 3 dry patches, took 2 shots, cleaned with the windex in between, and had the misfire. I tried a nipple pick to clear the channel without luck and pulled the bullet and removed the load. The powder was packed pretty tight so I used the bullet puller to break it up, cleaned again with the windex, fired 1 more shot, cleaned with windex, then had another misfire. With some work with the nipple pick I was able to shoot that load after 3 percusion caps. The residue I removed between shots had the appearance of pencil lead and may have even been some lead from the bullet, they were a tight fit. The first 6" was pretty tuff but than they went right down the barrel, I don't think that was out of ordinary though. The bullets are pre lubed Hornady Great Plains, 295gr. The nipple only has maybe 30 caps thru it.

[Ironwood]

Reward,  Make sure you have your hammer at half cock when you load.  Sometime, particularly when you have a spent cap still on the nipple, trapped air prevents the powder from making it all the way into the drum.  If you have another misfire remove the nipple and dribble a small amount of powder into the drum.  Replace the nipple and see if it fires.   
 

[Snowshoe]

Thanks for the info, how do you hunt with it, I have always hunted with a clean, dry barrel with my inlines.

I always hunt with a clean barrel. My rifles shoot to the same point, clean or fouled. I spent a lot of time working up a load that would do that. I use a home made paste lube for hunting and moose milk for target shooting.

[Landngroove]

Next time you shoot, before loading, why not try just wiping the bore with dry patches, no windex, and  snap off two or three caps. No need to use 30 grains of powder to foul the barrel. See if this works.

[reward]

I will try to get out and shoot this weekend and give her a try with no fouling and windex patches, she's a pretty sweet gun, I was so fustrated I tried to sell her but you guys have given me hope. Thanks and God bless!!!!!

[Slamfire]

I'd suggest a switch to real black powder. It ignites about 200 degrees lower. Just goggle up a half dozen or so suppliers.

[forest2]

  cleaned with 1 patch of windex , cleaned with the windex in between, and had the misfire cleaned again with the windex,cleaned with windex, then had another misfire.
[/quote]

hhrrumph,  seem's there is a common denominator here. I'll bet'chya it's too wet a patch fer cleaning.

 Cain't say windex is good. won't say windex is bad. But I can say i put the same amount of spit on a patch held tween my tounge and hard pallete each tyme I need a patch fer swab tween shot's.!
 I don't need to spray ounce or twice, don't need a pump. I just kinda hold it there till it's the same as the last one.
 

[ldykeman]

One other thing that pretty much eliminated the misfires I was having many years ago (when I first got my Renegade caplocki), is to store my rifle muzzle down.  That way, any oil or lube you leave in the barrel to protect it will migrate out the muzzle, not back into the breech.  My cleaning consists of putting the breech in hot soapy water and flushing it forcefully through the flash channel, rinsing with hot water, drying, lubing, and then storing muzzle down in my gun safe.  I also use BP exclusively.  You may also want to use a hot shot nipple if you are using substitutes.
Larry

[toytruck]

Reward, the above suggestions are all very good. Here is a couple more FYI. I use a pipe cleaner to clean out the nipple and nipple channel when cleaning my Renegade, you can also use a opened up paper clip as a nipple pick while at the range or hunting to open up the nipple.

You didn't say which #11 cap you are using (or I missed it), I prefer the RWS 1075+ caps they are the hottest #11 that I know of. (Not sure how the CCI magnums compair.)  I have never had a misfire using RWS and I do my part and keep the channel clean.  I have had some misfires with regular CCI and Remington #11's and the Remingtons didn't want to stay on the nipple, had to pinch them alittle to keep them on. 

[reward]

I am using the cci #11 magnums.

[reward]

80grs pyrodex p, 285 gr hp hornady bullets, spit patch after 4 shots, works like a charm. No misfires after 20 shots! got a question about the trigger, please check my new post, thanks and God bless!!!!!!