Prevent Opening Morning Misfires

[surveyor47]

I learned a lesson at a skirmish (competition shoot) this weekend, that some might find relevent to deer season. 

I shot 2 events on the first day after traveling a long distance the prior day, revolver and carbine.  Guns were cased and in the car. Weather was cool and damp.  I had no problem, but a couple of competitors did have misfires on the first volley despite having fired 2 or 3 caps prior to loading.  Range officers corrected this by using a CO2 fire extinguisher fitted with a musket cap adapter to expel the load.  Upon examination, powder charges were found to be damp. 

I spent the night in a tent and shot the musket event the following day.  Weather was humid and relatively cold, condensation on everything.  First light freeze of the year.  Musket was cased in the car.  Given the fact that my other guns had no problem on the prior day and this gun had never previously misfired, I did not anticipate a problem.  I snapped 3 or 4 caps prior to loading and then loaded up.  When the order to fire was given, the cap failed to fire the gun.  I replaced the cap twice and it fired on the 3rd cap.  The gun again misfired on the 3rd shot, but did fire on the 2nd cap. 

When the volley was finished, I approached the team captain- a gunsmith.  He told me to dry patch the barrel and scrape the breech plug.  Breech plug scrapings were damp.  I then did my usual between volley cleaning and had no further misfires out of 30+ rounds fired.  The gunsmith told me to always dry patch before snapping caps.  My barrel probably had condensation inside of it- just like everything else that morning. 

Given that experience, I suspect condensation inside the barrel to be a primary factor in many opening morning misfires. 

I would suggest the following routine to prevent misfires:
Make sure that your rifle is unloaded.
On the day before season, remove the nipple and check that you can see light through it and then replace it.
Prior to loading on opening morning, dry patch the barrel with emphasis on the breech plug area.
Snap several caps into the ground prior to loading, make sure that you see a leaf move

[Odinbreaker]

I usually swab my bore with 91% alcohol before loading in the morning or any time It takes care of moisture. Than a dry patch.

[surveyor47]

How long do you allow for the alcohol to evaporate prior to loading?

[John020769]

I am 39 yrs. old my Grandpa taught Me this put the gun outside a week before hunting. Everyday shoot off a cap moring before hunt fire a load then before bed shoot a cap never had a missfire, gun is at same temp as air, leave it outside until end of hunting season unless it warms up alot then shoot and clean. Don`t let the gun sweet do to temp and you will be ok. Has always worked for Me ...........John

[Glanceblamm]

I got through 22 years of traditional with nary a misfire in the deer season. My cleaning techniques were hot soapy then plain hot to flush the thing and let evaporation work. Even after this, a tornado brush and some plain ole Hoppes #9 followed by a few wet then dry patches would get rid of what appeared to be staining more than anything.
I would always pop two caps on opening morning and in addition to seeing that proverbial leaf move, the gun would have that good hollow thumping sound that one learns to recognise. The rifle was left cased but out in the cold in the event that it was not shot on the opener.

I spent a fair amount of time on the black powder circuit...the cause of most misfires among our own club members on the informal weekend shoots were because the people involved would use light field cleaning techniques instead of cleaning the gun right. We are talking black powder and precussion caps of course. If one chose to use pyrodex, this could really complicate things as it is harder to get lit.

[surveyor47]

My rifle is a 1860 Springfield, loaded with black powder only, musket caps and Minnie balls. At the time of misfires, the gun was in clean condition, having been fired and cleaned as usual only a week earlier. The gun was left cased in my car at the camp site for nearly 30 hours.  I had fired the usual caps making the leaf move. There was nothing abnormal other than the cold humid conditions.  What was unusual was that 3 other competitors had misfires as well.  I think that the dry patch prior to snapping caps is good advice.  It certainly wont hurt anything.

Pyrodex is its own ball of worms. I have frequently experienced hangfires with Pyrodex RS in T/C caplocks, and to a lesser extent Pyrodex Select. Bore Butter and Pyrodex don't seem to mix well, particularly if you wipe you're bore down with the stuff or use a lot on bullets.  I suspect that dipping bullet bases (1 band) in a  pan of liquefied traditional hard lube such as SPG might tend to mitigate the problem.  In my opinion, the best solution is to use black powder only in caplocks. If other brands of caplock rifles do OK with Pyrodex, then great. The one thing I know from experience with 6 different T/C caplock barrels is that they dont well with Pyrodex, and the larger the bore diameter, the worse they perform. My experience with 2 T/C 54 cal barrels is that they hangfire so badly (up to 2 seconds) that they are almost dangerous. I restrict 54 cal T/C to black powder only and they function perfectly with black powder.       

[curtism1234]

I have a traditional style rifle from Traditions.

I clean with hot water and dawn. Give it a cup of boiling water at the end. Run patches (t-shirt or paper towel) till it's dry. Then run a patch of bore butter down it, the side screw, and the nipple.
When I go to shoot, I just run patchs of paper towel down to get the bore butter out, clean out the holes on the back with pipe cleaners, and pop 2 caps.

I'll load it the night before and keep it out in the toolbox of the truck. When I'm in the parking lot the next morning make sure the bullet is still fully seated with the ramrod. I'll unscrew the side screw and fill it with powder that way the cap sparks don't have to make that elbow bend.

[Glanceblamm]

I'll unscrew the side screw and fill it with powder that way the cap sparks don't have to make that elbow bend.

Next time ya go to shoot at the range, load her up then pull the nipple...the powder is probably "right there" and will save you the hassle of messing with that little side screw.
Also might be a good idea to use regular patches instead of paper towels to get the bore butter out. It would only take but a tatter to get stuck in your precussion cap port although
It would probably be blown out when you pop the two caps.

[Swampman]

I usually swab my bore with 91% alcohol before loading in the morning or any time It takes care of moisture. Than a dry patch.

Me too, the night before.  I never have misfires.  Oil is the biggest culprit.

Most folks don't get the oil out before they load.  I don't use hot soapy water for cleaning.  Tepid water is fine.  Winshield washer fluid or Windex are even better.

[AlbanyCO]

A few things I do that I learned the hard way:

1. The night before opening morning I put the cleaning jag on my ramrod and using a nice clean patch I shove it down the barrel and leave it in the garage overnight. This should help to draw any oil or any other glop in there out and onto the patch rather than into your powder charge.

2. When I get to my hunting spot, with the ramrod and patch still down the barrel I fire a cap. If the nipple is nice and clear when you pull out the rod, the patch will be nice and black and burnt. Also, any traces of oil or bore lube in the cleanout screw area will be blown onto the patch and not up the barrel only to be pushed back down into your powder charge.

3. Put a clean patch on the jag and run it up and down the bore a couple of times to get any remaining gunk outta there.

4. Right after I put the powder down the barrel and before seating the bullet, I give the gun a couple of taps with my hand near the breech area. I belive it helps to get some powder into the nipple area. Plus, it's always good to tap on wood for some good luck!

Only misfire I ever had was the very first time I went deer hunting with a muzzleloader, and it was caused by oil left in the barrel. I shoot a Traditions .50 deer hunter built from a kit about 12 years ago. Using CCI #11 magnum caps.

[longcaribiner]

I don't believe I have ever had a first shot misfire with a flint of the type you are discussing.  I have had them with a percussion.  I have made it a practice to pick & pull the nipple and run a couple dry patches before loading. then replace the nipple and load up.

Some guys load the barrels up so full of grease that it is necessary to clean the gun before shooting again. 

Another thing, condensation develops on colder surfaces.  So if the gun is cooler than the air, condensation will form.  So for winter hunting, keeping the gun in the house until ready to load, actually permits less risk of condensation forming in the warmer gun barrel.     Black powder can be quite hydroscopic, but when shooting from a clean barrel, that should not be a consideration.  On drizzly or foggy humid summer days, I have seen powder charges get damp from the almost dripping slimey fouling in the barrel.