Constant misfires

[Jeffry.kassab]

I am new to muzzleloading and bought my first inline last month a CVA Optima V2. I have shot it a couple times now and both times I have gotten many misfires. This last time I tried a couple caps after the initial misfire and decided to punch the load out as it would not fire.
I am using the following: Hornady Great Plains conicals, pyrodex rs powder, rws 1081 musket caps.
The caps are firing each time. Here is my procedure, I am sure I am doing something that is causing it.
After each shot I swab with a patch that is lightly coated in 25%ballistol/75%water then 2 dry patches. Fire one cap, then load 90gr powder and conical. After every 3rd shot I pull the breech plug and give it a good cleaning to include nipple and flash hole on face. It seems that I get the misfires on the second or third shots prior to cleaning breech plug and I was thinking that possibly moisture from the first patch was gunking up the flash hole but wouldn't the firing of a cap clear and dry it?? I am at a loss and very frustrated as I can't make it more than 5 shots without a misfire. Thanks for your help and advice.

I had the same problem. After a miss fire look at the dimple on the musket cap. If it's not centered, the firing pin isn't
aligned and it's partially hitting the edge of the nipple.

 

[Ninering62]

Not going to hi-jack this thread with a political discussion. It's only a candidate referral signature. Want to talk Hillary & Bill?....... PM me.

Thank you for how you handled & addressed that comment. One of the reasone I like this group so much over some others & I stay here & I choose to interact with the guys in here are that - this is a MUZZLELOADER GROUP. NOT a place for any political nor religious BS. The admins here do a great job keeping things from going sideways with all that mess. That's what PM's any OTHER groups are for those platforms to voice ones particular beliefs or opinions.
Thanks for being a good example in here. Kind regards

 

[Jbrown69]

Is your breech plug for loose powder. If the rs is good and not wet it should fire when the cap goes off.

 

[Renegadehunter]

It sounds like alcohol has helped a lot, but here's what I think is happening.
When you're swabbing your patch and jag combo is too tight, so you are pushing fouling DOWN the bore and blocking the flame channel. I fought this on my sidelock too. There are a few options, I'll talk about three of the main ones.
Many folks just snap a cap after swabbing to blow out any fouling that is in the way. Hold the barrel down next to something like a blade of grass, or someone mentioned putting a patch on the ground, and pop a cap. You should see the blade of grass or patch react, telling you the flame channel is clear. Another method is to point the barrel down and run a brush in and out of the bore to knock the fouling loose, but with the barrel pointed down it falls out of the bore rather than being pushed down to the flame channel.
I shoot at a range, so popping a cap has to be with the barrel pointed down range. Still works most of the time, but you can't point the barrel at something to verify.
Holding the rifle barrel down and running a brush through the bore is not an easy juggling act either at the range, plus I have a sidelock and can't easily remove the breech if I get a brush stuck in the bore.
The third option, and my favorite, is to turn the jag down a bit. I simply chucked my jag into a cordless drill and spun the jag on a flat file. I found a couple of nuts that I could put on the threads so I didn't damage them. I went a little at a time and tried to give it a very slight taper, smaller diameter in the front to an increasing diameter in the back. I did this while out shooting (not at a range) so I could check the fit on a fouled bore as I went. You are looking for a fit that allows the patch and jag to go down the bore smoothly, but then the patch will still bunch up and pull the fouling back OUT of the bore. The best jag for this is one of the slightly longer ones they sell that has a tapered shaft that gives the patch a place to "drop" into on the way down the bore. It took me a whopping 10-12 minutes to get the jag to where it was perfect.
Now I can run a slightly damp patch (nothing can be squeezed out of them) down the bore (I use Hoppes BP cleaner or Birchwood-Casey #77, I bought them to try as a wet patch lube for roundball shooting and just want to use them up) pause for about 8-10 seconds to let the fouling soften a bit, and then pull it back out of the bore. If it is a rainy or high moisture day where the fouling stays really soft I will run a dry patch, but if it is fairly dry/warm day I don't even bother with a dry patch most times.
It is a very rare occurrence for me to get a misfire now. I bought a second jag to leave at the factory size so it is very tight fitting and I can use it for when I do my thorough cleaning after a shooting session.

 

[Ninering62]

It sounds like alcohol has helped a lot, but here's what I think is happening.
When you're swabbing your patch and jag combo is too tight, so you are pushing fouling DOWN the bore and blocking the flame channel. I fought this on my sidelock too. There are a few options, I'll talk about three of the main ones.
Many folks just snap a cap after swabbing to blow out any fouling that is in the way. Hold the barrel down next to something like a blade of grass, or someone mentioned putting a patch on the ground, and pop a cap. You should see the blade of grass or patch react, telling you the flame channel is clear. Another method is to point the barrel down and run a brush in and out of the bore to knock the fouling loose, but with the barrel pointed down it falls out of the bore rather than being pushed down to the flame channel.
I shoot at a range, so popping a cap has to be with the barrel pointed down range. Still works most of the time, but you can't point the barrel at something to verify.
Holding the rifle barrel down and running a brush through the bore is not an easy juggling act either at the range, plus I have a sidelock and can't easily remove the breech if I get a brush stuck in the bore.
The third option, and my favorite, is to turn the jag down a bit. I simply chucked my jag into a cordless drill and spun the jag on a flat file. I found a couple of nuts that I could put on the threads so I didn't damage them. I went a little at a time and tried to give it a very slight taper, smaller diameter in the front to an increasing diameter in the back. I did this while out shooting (not at a range) so I could check the fit on a fouled bore as I went. You are looking for a fit that allows the patch and jag to go down the bore smoothly, but then the patch will still bunch up and pull the fouling back OUT of the bore. The best jag for this is one of the slightly longer ones they sell that has a tapered shaft that gives the patch a place to "drop" into on the way down the bore. It took me a whopping 10-12 minutes to get the jag to where it was perfect.
Now I can run a slightly damp patch (nothing can be squeezed out of them) down the bore (I use Hoppes BP cleaner or Birchwood-Casey #77, I bought them to try as a wet patch lube for roundball shooting and just want to use them up) pause for about 8-10 seconds to let the fouling soften a bit, and then pull it back out of the bore. If it is a rainy or high moisture day where the fouling stays really soft I will run a dry patch, but if it is fairly dry/warm day I don't even bother with a dry patch most times.
It is a very rare occurrence for me to get a misfire now. I bought a second jag to leave at the factory size so it is very tight fitting and I can use it for when I do my thorough cleaning after a shooting session.

Awesome post. Great info & insight. Thank you