Frustration

[buckman202]

I swear I am hunting cursed. I have had 3 oppurtunities in  my short 4 years of hunting to kill a buck. All three times my muzzleloader has malfunctioned in one way or another. Tonight might have been damn near the last straw. 2 of these 3 instances have been at less than 5 yards, After a morning hunt with only seeing some does at a very long range I decided to head to my fav little wheat field and wait for a nice fat doe to walk on by(since I had actually never seen a buck on this property before.) I set up on this thinck out cropping on the wheat stubble. About 1 1/2 hour of waitiing in the prone position finally here some rustling in the tall stuff near the creek about 150 yards across from where i'm situated. Low and behold out pops a deer. After closer and finer inspection with the nocs turns out he's a small 3x3/ I think (sweet maybe he'll come close enough for a shot.) With in 1 minute he b lines right for me I hold still he actually comes in with about 8-10 feet. Safety off , pull the trigger cap goes but not the powder. He's frazzled, I'm frazzled. we stare at each other for what seems like forever. He trots out I pull out another cap and whistle he stops. Pull triggers cap goes again and no boom. *censored*! Trots out to about 100yds stops broadside one more time. ANother cap. Pull trigger, BOOM! clean miss though figure I was so thrown off with the misfires I def hurried my shot. Sorry just needed to vent.

[dscubame]

Sorry to hear that.  It sounds like you have some issues to work out with that gun being the load and cap set up.  Or the gun/nipple itself.  Again sorry to hear your frustration it has happened to many of us muzy guys but seriously something is off that you need to discover.

[buckman202]

Each time it has been something different played with many nipple/ cap combos. Didnt have a single issue (probably 15 shots) sighting and practicing  before season. Both caps went off but didn't ignite powder, i'm just at a loss. Oh well.... there were does in the field 15 min after shot only 30-40yds from where I was set up initially i'm sure they'll be back Tuesday night when I head back out and hopefully I can make it to the range inbetween now and then just to make sure it's not going to happen again.

[carpsniperg2]

If you are not shooting musket caps switch!!!! 11's are crap.

What gun do you have?

[buckman202]

Switched from 11's to musket two years ago, cause I was having issues having to fire twice on an 11 to get it to fire.

[carpsniperg2]

Are you shooting the german caps?

what guns do you have? Are you cleaning your nipple hole to make sure the fire is not blocked?

[Wacenturion]

Curious as to what gun.  Some just like to go pop.  Others always go boom.  Get the German caps.

[buckman202]

All my issues have been with my cva appollo(not one of the exploders), I have a tradition tracker(northwest edition) however my dad is using it this year. The caps are cci

[carpsniperg2]

Get the germans and check the nipple. Pick the hell out of it to keep it clean.

[BOWHUNTER45]

Sounds like a nipple issue to me or the breech plug hole has something stuck in it 

[buckman202]

nipple was clean when put on.. I even blew a little air through it after the last cleaning (as I always do) Oh well maybe gods way of having me hold out for a bigger buck.

[BOWHUNTER45]

sorry Carp . we must of been typing at the same time 

[Mudman]

Exactly why I gave up blackpowder. Me get angry at gun....

[buckman202]

Bad caps maybe??? Could have sat on the shelf awhile from the small gun shop I bought em from

[carpsniperg2]

nipple was clean when put on.. I even blew a little air through it after the last cleaning (as I always do) Oh well maybe gods way of having me hold out for a bigger buck.

Do you snap caps before loading? If so you should still pick or check the nipple before hunting. After snapping cap/s the little paper inside the cap can get stuck in the nipple and block the fire from going threw to the powder.

[buckman202]

I don't snap caps. Eventhough people have told me to I still don't.

[fishunt247]

Are you putting an excessive amount of grease on the nipple and/or breach plug? Have known several guys who have done that at home. Then they get in the field, the weather heats up, the grease must leak around, and the gun just goes pop. Could be your issue.

[BOWHUNTER45]

I don't snap caps. Eventhough people have told me to I still don't.

well you may want to start 

[buckman202]

What is the benefit to snapping the cap?

[carpsniperg2]

I don't snap caps. Eventhough people have told me to I still don't.

well you may want to start 

AND BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!!!! SNAP A CAP OR 2 BEFORE YOU LOAD YOUR GUN!!!!

If you don't you can have breech plug grease or solivent in there and that will eat you fire up!!!

[buckman202]

well from here on out, i'll snap a cap. Well time to give the gun a bath.

[carpsniperg2]

Yes new caps "get the germans" and snap a cap or 2 before loading your gun. I think that will really help you out.

[erk444]

Also, if your using pellets it can happen too. I had a gun that would miss fire almost half the time with pellets. I switched to loose powder, and it has went boom every single time now for over two years. I was using the german caps the whole time too.

[buckman202]

Loose powder is all i've ever used.

[Blacktail Sniper]

At the end of the day's hunt, do you fire the load out and clean it for a fresh load the next day or do you leave your charge in there overnight?

Reason I ask is the ONE AND ONLY time I did not fire the charge at the end of the day and left it overnight, was the time I crawled to with-in 25 yards of a bedded buck only the have three caps go "POP" while he lay there looking up at me.

Had to crawl back away, get to the truck and use the rod with the bullet puller to break the charge loose till it would fire clean, reload, crawl back to the buck, who was surprizingly still beded and manage to get a shot out and tag him.

That experience was enough to never leave the woods without an empty barrel.   

[MIKEXRAY]

When I used to muzzy hunt I had the same frustrating problem,  drove me crazy for a couple of years !  One time I had a successful hunt & reloaded just in case.  Not needing a follow up shot I tried to fire into the ground and pop.  I pulled the nipple and that is when I realized I was not getting powder far enough down into the breach.
After that day I would load normally,  pull the nipple & pour just a VERY small amount of  FFF  into the breech from the nipple and I never had a miss fire again. Shot every time.  Pissed me off thinking about the elk & deer missed those couple of years.

I also took all of the standard west side moisture precautions, I even reloaded with new powder at lunch for the afternoon hunt. The FFF in the breach was my fix, did not put enough to mess up my load / shot. Just enough to give the primer something to hit.  Mike

[Kioti]

I am shooting a Knight front stuffer with musket caps from Germany.  I have never had a problem with my cap popping without the charge going off.  But then I always snap a few caps before I go into the field...gets the grease and gunk out of the way of the breech plug hole.

I use Pyrodex pellets in my Knight 54 cal and never had a problem.  Taken lots of deer and elk with it and has fired every time. 

[turbo]

Sorry for your luck! Thanks for reminding me why I don't/won't muzzy hunt. 

[Wacenturion]

When I first started muzzle loading back in the 70's it was common to hear the same thing with the same guns...CVA's (and a couple others).  Never have had my old Thompson Renegade or my now newer Knight Bighorn or Wolverines ever misfire.  Not trying to knock any particular gun, but for the most part you can pretty much trace misfires to some particular brands.

Usually empty when finished for the day, but on occasion have not, and the next day...BOOM.  I can remember chasing elk 30 years ago out near the Humptulliups with a friend in a continual downpour.  You were soaked as soon as you stepped out of the rig.  I hunted with with my old Renegade and at the end of the day when I emptied it, it went boom.  My partner's gun went pop.  It too was a CVA.

For what it's worth...get a T/C or Knight.

[lokidog]

When I first started muzzle loading back in the 70's it was common to hear the same thing with the same guns...CVA's (and a couple others).  Never have had my old Thompson Renegade or my now newer Knight Bighorn or Wolverines ever misfire.  Not trying to knock any particular gun, but for the most part you can pretty much trace misfires to some particular brands.

Usually empty when finished for the day, but on occasion have not, and the next day...BOOM.  I can remember chasing elk 30 years ago out near the Humptulliups with a friend in a continual downpour.  You were soaked as soon as you stepped out of the rig.  I hunted with with my old Renegade and at the end of the day when I emptied it, it went boom.  My partner's gun went pop.  It too was a CVA.

For what it's worth...get a T/C or Knight.

My ex had a CVA in the 90's that liked to "pop" as well.  Before switching to my underhammer (rarely misfires) I would tilt my Hawken toward the nipple and smack it a couple of times to settle the powder into the flash passage.  This really seemed to make a difference.

Also, agree with evryone, snap a cap before loading while aiming at a leaf or something that will move when the pressure comes out the barrel.  I then blow down the barrel and make sure the smoke is blowing back out the clear nipple hole.  You might also look for a nipple with a larger hole.  I would ream mine out with a micro drill bit (**do this at your own risk**    ).

[buckman202]

All great ideas guys thanks for the tips. Yea after this season I will be retiring the CVA as was the plan for this year however i'm letting my pops use my Traditions Tracker That I bought (new to me) over this last spring. To answer a couple questions as far as leaving it loaded usually will only do if I know I am going out first thing in the A.M. Otherwise usually stop at the shooting range  couple blocks from the house and discharge then clean. I think my biggest frustration is the fact that these issues never come up when practicing but as soon as I have an easy shot on a buck something always happens. Oh well maybe he'll be around tomorrow night. If not I know there will be a doe to choose from.

[whacker1]

some observation I have made over the last several years:

1) snapping caps drys the barrel as others have said

2) Leaving a ml loaded overnight from one cold setting to warm setting to a cold setting can lead to condensation.  i.e. loading in warm house to going out to a cold pickup to the heater blasting to trudging out to a dewey cold morning in the field.  Granted it is pretty dry out right now, but I try and reload my gun every morning and unload at the end of each day. 

3) some of the earlier model inlines had many different designs leading to multiple challenges with ignition.  Some guys have drilled the nipples to get an increased flash hole for better chance of ignition. I use a welding tip cleaner to clean the nipple, and since it is a small scale file, the opening should get slightly larger after each cleaning. 

4) I get far fewer miss-fires after trying multiple types of powder to my final and current powder 777 fffg.  The 3f does two things: one, since it is smaller granules it fills the breach plug better, and two, it is hotter.

All of these things have helped me reduce my # of miss-fires dramatically.

Best of luck

[MADMAX]

Wasp nest patches

[lokidog]

Wasp nest patches

He said WASp, where's Bow45?