Having problems with my mountain rifle.

[ndswede]

Yesterday I was shooting my percussion rifle and was cleaning it with a spit patch after every shot. After a few shots it started to misfire. If I didn't clean it, it would fire every time. When I cleaned it, it would misfire 2 or 3 times before it would go off. Anyone know what the problem was and how to avoid it?

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[dbowling]

Re: Having problems with my mountain rifle.

Are you popping a couple caps after spit patching, if not you could be pushing stuff in to flame channel..

 

[ndswede]

I did a couple times. Is that necessary after every cleaning? That seems like a lot of extra effort and expense. After how many shots do most people clean their guns? I don't mean at the end of the session, but between shots.

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[ShawnT]

Re: Having problems with my mountain rifle.

I swab between shots with a slightly damp patch, not Wet and then use both sides of a dry patch, no caps except just prior to loading the First shot.

Do you follow the Spit patch with a dry patch? How wet is the spit patch? If it is pretty wet that might be the problem. Dampness in that are is not good for ignition.

I used a Spit patch when hunting. I put the patch in my mouth to get it wet but then suck as much of the spit back out as I can so the patch is only slightly damp.

How do you clean after the range session? Do you pump hot water from bore through the drum? If not maybe the drum and end of the bore have crud in there closing it off?

 

[ND Swede]

The patches I use for cleaning are pretty big, cut from an old tee shirt. I lick both ends and run it through, turn it over and run it through again. It is barely damp. I didn't think of running a dry patch through afterwards. I was really wondering if I was pushing crud into the flame channel. Is there any way to prevent this?

The gun was clean when I started shooting. I put dawn dishwashing detergent in a bucket of hot water and put the breech end in the water and scrub the heck out of it until it's clean and then run an oily patch through it.

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[ShawnT]

Re: Having problems with my mountain rifle.

Well your cleaning it like I do mine.. Might try following up the damp one with a dry patch. I never had a problem pushing crud down into the drum or far enough to block it, not sure how you would prevent not pushing some down. What Powder do you shoot in it? Do you use a mag style #11 cap, such as the #11 CCI Mag or RWS 1075? If not that might help too.

By the way, what brand is this mountain rifle? Just curious. I have an old CVA Mountain Rifle that was US made back around 1980.

 

[Idaholewis]

Re: Having problems with my mountain rifle.

Are you popping a couple caps after spit patching, if not you could be pushing stuff in to flame channel..

What dbowling said is your problem, I have 1 rifle that is identical to this, if i don't pop 1 cap off after Swabbing Between shots it will hangfire almost everytime. 1 shot costs me 2 caps, I don’t see that as being a big deal?

If you have access to a steam cleaner, i would HIGHLY advise you blast hot steam through the nipple hole, do this for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, Wrap the barrel good in a towel or it will BURN ya! This will clean any crud out of the flash channel, Patented breech/Powder chamber

This came from a rifle that i was POSITIVE was clean, As you can see it wasn’t! This gunk came from the Fire Channel/Patented breech

Here is what the fire channel, Patented breech looks like, this is a Cut away from a TC Hawken barrel

And another

 

[bubba.50]

Re: Having problems with my mountain rifle.

Yesterday I was shooting my percussion rifle and was cleaning it with a spit patch after every shot. After a few shots it started to misfire. If I didn't clean it, it would fire every time. When I cleaned it, it would misfire 2 or 3 times before it would go off. Anyone know what the problem was and how to avoid it?

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if it fires every time when ya don't swab 'tween shots, I'd quit swabbin' 'tween shots.

 

[Idaholewis]

Re: Having problems with my mountain rifle.

As you can see from the photos i posted above, When you Swab/push a damp patch down a fouled bore you are pushing the fouling straight to the powder chamber/Patented breech, there is a certain amount of that fouling that DOESNT come back with the patch, It stays down at, in the Patented Breech where you pushed it to. After Swabbing between shots I ALWAYS hold my rifle as straight up and down as i can and i pop 1 cap off, you will see the crud ‘trickle’ out on the ground. By doing this you are clearing the Fire channel/Patented breech of the crud that you push in it from Swabbing. I have popped as many as 2-3 caps off, but i find that 1 is all that is needed. By doing the above, i NEVER EVER have hangfires

After Swabbing I use to push a dry patch down the bore til it stopped on the shoulder of the Breech plug, i would then pop 1-2 caps off against the patch, when i pulled the the rangerod i could inspect the patch for burn? I quit doing this procedure quite some time ago, i feel like the patch seated against the shoulder of the breech plug doesn’t allow the fouling to be blown out thoroughly? I can’t prove this, but it makes better sense to me to hold my rifle straight up and down, Muzzle pointed straight down and pop a cap off, i can actually see the debris trickle out on the ground. Then reload

 

[Idaholewis]

Re: Having problems with my mountain rifle.

Yesterday I was shooting my percussion rifle and was cleaning it with a spit patch after every shot. After a few shots it started to misfire. If I didn't clean it, it would fire every time. When I cleaned it, it would misfire 2 or 3 times before it would go off. Anyone know what the problem was and how to avoid it?

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if it fires every time when ya don't swab 'tween shots, I'd quit swabbin' 'tween shots.

LOL, Pretty good advise here as well! :lol: If you are shooting greased bullets.

With paper patched bullets i have no choice but to Swab between shots, otherwise I would be shooting my rifle 1 time and heading home to clean it, With real Blackpowder (Swiss) And Paper Patched Bullets it leaves a REALLY rough dry fouling that will strip my paper. Idahoron uses Pyrodex P powder and he is able to reload MANY times without cleaning between shots, Pyrodex P leaves a totally different fouling, more of a soft Goo as Ron describes in one of his videos. After watching Ron’s torture test video I bought a can of Pyrodex P with the intention of switching from real black powder to the Pyro P, but I didn’t like the idea of needing to drill my brand new nipple out in order to get reliable ignition with the Pyrodex P, so i gave up on it and went back to my Real Blackpowder And Swabbing between shots. One needs to find what works best for him and stick with it :yeah:

 

[ndswede]

Re: RE: Re: Having problems with my mountain rifle.

Well your cleaning it like I do mine.. Might try following up the damp one with a dry patch. I never had a problem pushing crud down into the drum or far enough to block it, not sure how you would prevent not pushing some down. What Powder do you shoot in it? Do you use a mag style #11 cap, such as the #11 CCI Mag or RWS 1075? If not that might help too.

By the way, what brand is this mountain rifle? Just curious. I have an old CVA Mountain Rifle that was US made back around 1980.

Shawn, thanks for the help. I'll try following up with a dry patch.

My gun is a Traditions Mountain Rifle. Not real expensive, but I like it. It has a 1:48 twist and I'm going too try and shoot sabots with it. Last weekend I was shooting 225 grain bullets. Next time I'm going to try 250 grain. I want to see how long of bullets will stabilize in it.

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[ndswede]

Re: RE: Re: Having problems with my mountain rifle.

Yesterday I was shooting my percussion rifle and was cleaning it with a spit patch after every shot. After a few shots it started to misfire. If I didn't clean it, it would fire every time. When I cleaned it, it would misfire 2 or 3 times before it would go off. Anyone know what the problem was and how to avoid it?

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if it fires every time when ya don't swab 'tween shots, I'd quit swabbin' 'tween shots.

LOL, Pretty good advise here as well! [emoji38] If you are shooting greased bullets.

With paper patched bullets i have no choice but to Swab between shots, otherwise I would be shooting my rifle 1 time and heading home to clean it, With real Blackpowder (Swiss) And Paper Patched Bullets it leaves a REALLY rough dry fouling that will strip my paper. Idahoron uses Pyrodex P powder and he is able to reload MANY times without cleaning between shots, Pyrodex P leaves a totally different fouling, more of a soft Goo as Ron describes in one of his videos. After watching Ron’s torture test video I bought a can of Pyrodex P with the intention of switching from real black powder to the Pyro P, but I didn’t like the idea of needing to drill my brand new nipple out in order to get reliable ignition with the Pyrodex P, so i gave up on it and went back to my Real Blackpowder And Swabbing between shots. One needs to find what works best for him and stick with it :yeah:

Idaholewis, thanks for all the help. I liked the pictures you included. I'm new to percussion rifles. I've been shooting in lines for years, but just got this rifle recently. I'm going to put the Williams FP hawkin sight on it before I go out again.
That steam cleaning looks very interesting, where did you get the steam cleaner? Was it expensive?
I've been using pyrodex P and the fouling is a damp goo. I was able to shoot 6-10 times without cleaning. We were shooting off hand and not overly well, so I wasn't able to tell if accuracy was going down hill from not cleaning.

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[Idaholewis]

Re: RE: Re: Having problems with my mountain rifle.

Idaholewis, thanks for all the help. I liked the pictures you included. I'm new to percussion rifles. I've been shooting in lines for years, but just got this rifle recently. I'm going to put the Williams FP hawkin sight on it before I go out again.
That steam cleaning looks very interesting, where did you get the steam cleaner? Was it expensive?
I've been using pyrodex P and the fouling is a damp goo. I was able to shoot 6-10 times without cleaning. We were shooting off hand and not overly well, so I wasn't able to tell if accuracy was going down hill from not cleaning.

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The steam cleaner is an AMAZING tool for cleaning Blackpowder fouling, Pedersoli markets and sells a high end unit around 800 bucks, that is where i got the idea from. Mine is a cheap little handheld unit i got off Amazon, they make a BUNCH of them! I have wore mine out, the thumb press trigger is junk on mine, the steam cleaner stil works VERY well but every now n then when i let go of the thumb trigger it wont stop, I’ve thought about pulling it apart and seeing if i can fix it somehow? Again, they are cheap, just do a search on Hand Held Steam cleaners and you will see a BUNCH of them, it’s likely they are all made in the same chinese sweat shop? Fact is they work, and work very well!!

Now for the Warning, i had a NIGHTMARE of a time with my cold clean bore shot after using the steam cleaner to ‘Deep Clean’ through the snail/nipple hole. The very first shot of the day (cold clean bore) would go AWOL? I couldn’t catch the first shot on a 3X3 foot square at 50-60 yards, Totally missed the entire target??? I stil have no idea where those first shots went/go? BUT i did narrow the problem down to ‘Slip Fit’ Paper Patched Bullets, The problem was NOWHERE near as bad with a tight fitting Grease Groove bullet, the Grease Groove bullets were slightly off as well, but nothing like the ‘Slip Fit’ Paper Patched bullets? After the first shot (Cold Clean Bore) my rifles would shoot DEAD ON from that point on, The problem was in the Cold bore shot only. Just be aware that it can have a MAJOR affect on the Cold bore shot. NOTHING cleans Blackpowder fouling like the power of piping hot steam, after blasting the steam through the nipple hole it literally cleans it back to brand new looking metal again inside. I use the steam cleaner for my locks, Hammers, Barrel exterior around the nipple/snail area, and the nipple itself. The steam cleaner works AMAZING! It will definitely clear a gunked up Fire channel/Patented breech (which is 99.9% of hangfire causes)

 

[280Bravo]

Just a suggestion this is what I do and never had a problem.
Put barrel in hot water clean barrel then I run a 38 cal mop down the barrel twist to the right pull it out it will be black stick mop in hot water to rinse and repeat down the barrel untill mop comes out clean. This help get to the concave part of the plug.


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