Posted: 11/10/2008 4:48:45 PM EDT
I got a slightly late start and was creeping along the property line/grassy/foodplot road to my stand this morning and I heard something coming towards me from my left out of the pines. I get my remington ML ready and out pops a buck 40 yards in front of me broad side. After a super quick review of his horns for size I put the scope on him and squeezed the trigger. I get a pop split second delay and then the bang, by this point i instinctually started bringing my face of the stock I guess and I totally missed the buck  I got to see a wallhanger run off, damn it!!! I knew with that ignition i probably missed, looked for blood-none. Has this happened to anyone else?
It happened a few times before when I used #11 caps, but I a 209 conversion kit for it about 4 years ago and no probs until this morning. |
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My guess is that your problem stems most likely from failing to clear leftover oil from the breech area. Do you store your muzzleloader standing on it's butt with a lightly oiled bore? When you do that, you will get a buildup of oil on the face of the breech plug and in the bottom of the barrel. Put your powder down on top of this, and the oil will block the flash channel and soak into the powder, and cause a hang-fire like you had.
Next time you get ready to load, run a patch soaked in rubbing alcohol down your barrel, then a dry patch and let it dry out. Then before you load, pop a cap on an empty barrel to flush out any remaining debris. |
Did you see my moster G-rath?
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That has happened to me. Just like you, I started to lift my cheek off the stock as in "what the hell?" Like others have said, you got to get that "cleaning" shot with cap only out of the FIRST before loading.
In fact, I shoot about three just to make sure. All I lost was a nice doe... |
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pyrodex pellets, had been in barrel for 10 days.
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Pellets or powder? How long was it loaded before it did that? Like others have said, clean and then shoot a primer. It helps get rid of any solvent that can pool by the breech plug. It also clears the hole in your primer nipple. |
| Not sure how cold it's been in VA but you never want to take your gun out hunting in 30 degree weather and then bring it into the house. Leave it in the truck or garage for those 10 days you keep it loaded. The big change in temps can cause condensation for form which could also cause misfires. This obviously won't be a problem if you reload it everday but I usually leave mine loaded throughout the weekend. |
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Leave it in the truck or garage for those 10 days you keep it loaded. Well, I don't know about you, but my gun NEVER comes home without putting a deer down. Deer season is short for me... run out of tags opening morning. Yep. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it. 
In all seriousness though, I leave mine cased in the truck and have never had a problem with it. |
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I used to have significant numbers of misfires/hangfires with my old sidelock. I eventually realized it was oil contamination. I'd clean it, oil it, wipe excess oil out and place it in the gun cabinet. Oil would migrate down the bore, and upon loading the oil would contaminate the powder.
I cured this by modifying my storage procedure. Clean, and oil as normal. Wipre excess oil out of bore with a dry patch. Place folded cotton rag in bottom of gun cabinet, and store gun MUZZLE DOWN. Check in it a month. You may be amazed at the amount of oil there is on the rag. By storing muzzle down I get no oil accumulation in the breech area. Prior to loading fire a few caps. Then load and go. For what its worth I have found that my first shot with a clean muzzleloader is usually somewhat of a flyer. I get better, more consistent accuracy with a 'dirty' bore. I fire two 209's (new gun), load one pellet and a cheapo bullet, and fire it. I swab once with a cotton patch lubes with spit to remove some of the powder fouling, and then load up for the hunt. A spit patch between shots makes my two muzzleloaders more consistent. Its especially helpful shooting hodgdon triple seven (which seems to create a crud ring in the breech. If you use pyrodex pellets look closely. One end is blacker than the other. Its a blackpowder booster. Load em black end down for improved ignition. |