Primer failure

[deermanok]

A

Here’s a new finding. The hammer coil spring is working against the inletting for the lock. I believe I should correct the inletting. What’s the advice from this site?
Thank you all.

A good sharp chisel to scrape off a bit of wood will correct the problem.

 

[Frontstuffer]

My opinion is that you absolutely have to correct the inletting to eliminate the interference. I recommend removing the wood just a little at a time, and after each removal, putting a little lipstick on the wood, re-assembling the rifle, dry firing (with a thick piece of rubber or leather over the nipple to keep it from getting damaged), and then taking the lock back out to see whether there are marks in the lipstick, or there's lipstick on the coil spring.

In addition to corrrecting the inletting, I also recommend inspecting, correcting if necessary, and polishing the metal parts in your lock. Here's why:

When I bought a new-in-the-box TC Renegade last year, it seemed to me that there was lots of friction when I cocked the hammer, and that the hammer strike was weak, and very slow. When I took the lock apart, I found that several burrs on metal parts that moved against other metal parts had actually engraved grooves, and I also found that many metal surfaces that slide against each other as the lock is cocked and then fired were quite rough. So... I removed the burrs, first with a fine flat file, and then with abrasive paper. Then I carefully polished all metal surfaces that move against each other, starting with 800 grit paper, and finishing with 4,000 grit paper. While I have no way of measuring these things, there doesn't seem to be any friction at all when I cock the hammer now, I'd be willing to be that the lock time has been cut in half, or maybe more, and the hammer strike is very forceful. I didn't fire the rifle until these things were done, but I've now fired around 100 rounds, and haven't had a single misfire, despite using caps that are around 10 years old, and despite using T7 that was about 8 years old for the majority of the shots I've fired.

I have had two "snabangs," though - one of them when I forgot to clear the flash channel by firing a couple of caps before starting my shooting session, and one that may have been due to contamination of powder that was left in the rifle through a two-week hunting season. See my thread "Powder Contamination in Hunting Muzzle-Loaders?" if you're curious about the details of these "snabangs", and possible solutions.

Thank you for your encouragement.

 

[Frontstuffer]

A

A good sharp chisel to scrape off a bit of wood will correct the problem.

Thank you.

 

[Frontstuffer]

Thank you.

 

[Frontstuffer]

The problem was resolved by clearing the hammer coil spring. All is good now and I’m looking forward to successful hunts with this rifle. Thanks to all for your ideas and encouragement. It’s truly great to be in this fraternity.

 

[bronko220002]

Here’s a new finding. The hammer coil spring is working against the inletting for the lock. I believe I should correct the inletting. What’s the advice from this site?
Thank you all.

Well that will definitely cause drag and probably enough to cause a weak hammer strike. That is why my first response mentioned checking the hammer for rubbing the side of the stock. Everything has to move freely without contact.
Glad you got it up and running smoothly.

 

[Frontstuffer]

Well that will definitely cause drag and probably enough to cause a weak hammer strike. That is why my first response mentioned checking the hammer for rubbing the side of the stock. Everything has to move freely without contact.
Glad you got it up and running smoothly.

Thank you very much. The comraderie shown here was very helpful and thanks to all.