Please tell me this has happened to you experienced guys...

[manni7mm]

This is my first year of muzzleloading and today I fired a dang cap at a doe.  I was all excited to break in my christmas gift to myself, but i just wasn't meant to be.  Wrong time for a misfire.

I've got a CVA Elkorn and am shooting the german musket caps and pyrodex.  I'm about 99% sure its operator error. 

[fair-chase]

Sucks, but yeah it happens. I have far fewer misfires since switching from Pyrodex to Triple Seven, but it will always be a concern no matter what you do. Usually new comers are exempt from the misfire rule long enough to allow for a solid addiction to black powder, then the misfire curse slowly creeps it's way in.  You just happen to be one of the poor soles cursed from the get go. 


Keep after it and keep your head up, you'll turn it around. 

[carpsniperg2]

Could be lot's of things. Hard to say. Make sure you get a new fresh powder load and make sure your caps are not older and still in good condition.

[wrangler]

always remember to pop 3 or 4 caps after you clean it, this will help ensure the bore is dry. i also like to fire a cap with a small dash of powder right before i load it the night before the hunt. wet powder is a buzz kill!

[splitshot]

i loaded my muzzy on sept.  26 and just shot it yesterday to finish off the season.  not at meat but at a beer can to see if it would work and yes it did.    it has been in rain, snow and all the elements possible and still worked.  no answer.   will hit it hard next year.  am thinking of going muzzy for antelope?    mike w

[bobcat]

Two years ago, on Thanksgiving, I snuck up on a blacktail doe. She was feeding on the back side of this little dirt mound, and keeping that mound between her and I, with the help of the snow melting out of the trees and dripping loudly on the ground, I was able to get within about 15 FEET of her. She had no idea I was there. I poked my muzzleloader up over the mound and aimed for a lung shot, and CLICK. The cap didn't fire. I crouched down, got another cap on, stood up, and she was a little nervous, but she didn't know why, and she hadn't moved. Aim, fire, CLICK again. She runs off this time. I put another cap on and took a couple steps but figured she was gone. Nope, there she was, 40 yards, looking back trying to figure out what made that weird noise. The third time was the charm, the cap went off, and she went 100 yards and was done.

That's the first and only time I ever had a cap not fire. 

Yes, they can be frustrating. I've also had hangfires or the powder not ignite at all because it got wet.

[bendotti]

Opening day elk in eastern wa that happened to me as well sucker came in in to abour 25 feet and ajajust the cap went off big old 5x6. It does happen at the wrong times.

[MADMAX]

Totally why I gave up on frontstuffers and went to archery
could not keep my powder dry

[TG509hunter]

My buddy had that happen to him twice this year ..... 2 big 4 points on different days at 40 yards.  No BOOM, just a pop.  He shoots, well .... use to shoot a CVA as well, but switching over to a Knight after this year.  I shoot a traditions and knock on wood, but I've never had it not fire. I'm sure with the comment I just screwed myself for next year 

[Sabotloader]

This is my first year of muzzleloading and today I fired a dang cap at a doe.  I was all excited to break in my christmas gift to myself, but i just wasn't meant to be.  Wrong time for a misfire.

I've got a CVA Elkorn and am shooting the german musket caps and pyrodex.  I'm about 99% sure its operator error.

Shooting a ML and understanding all the things about a ML - it is a learning curve.  The more you get out and shoot the quicker you will learn the curve.

Your misfire can be tracked back to many different things and until I know what preparations you did before the trigger pull I might be able to help, but at this point I am in the dark...

Everything that has been suggested is possible, but as for the real answer until we know more it is all specualtion...

I think you said the cap went off... so that leaves the fact that possibly your BP was plugged or the powder was damp. Did you happen to mount and try to shoot a second shot?  The first cap could/might have cleared your BP and things might have worked.

Did you clear the BP prior to loading.... Most store their rifles vertically which allows everything in the bore to run down hill and deposit themselves in the breech plug.  Running a dry patch with several quick downward strokes before loading and listening for the air to be forced out of the nipple will help clear the nipple.  Touching off 2/3 caps prior to loading will also clear the nipple.

Lots of little things - good luck...  That is one of the things that make ML shooting so much fun - 'the varibles'

[manni7mm]

The way I figure is better do this vs a doe than some 5x6 like a previous poster...  man that must be frustrating.

Here's where I probaly screwed up:

1. I left my gun loaded from the previous evenings hunt.  no cap of course.  I was sure to pic the nipple good before loading for this days hunt.  fired caps to dry bore.
2. There was light rain the previous evening, although I thought i did well of keeping things dry - balloon on barrel, nipple under armpit, etc...
3. I did not fire any caps in between hunts becuase I left the gun loaded. Stored gun horizontally in my truck overnight.  Switched out caps for the next day.
4. The nex day shot on the doe was at about 1:00.  Was in a mist all a.m.   Anybody switch out caps if in wet weather during a hunt?
5. The 1st shot on the doe did not fire the cap.  only a dud.  The 2nd shot fired a cap only.  The 3rd shot fired.

Going after it again.  Got one more week.  About to lose my girlfriend because I'm choosing muzzleloader over her!

[Elkslayer]

Two years ago I was down in Utah hunting elk. I had sold my muzzleloader a year prior so I  had borrowed my brothers Whites muzzleloader for the hunt. It has a double safety future on it. I had shot it a few times at the range but when I went hunting and walked up on a spike at 30yds I pulled up and pulled the trigger I completely forgot about the second safety switch.

[Sabotloader]

The way I figure is better do this vs a doe than some 5x6 like a previous poster...  man that must be frustrating.

Here's where I probaly screwed up:

1. I left my gun loaded from the previous evenings hunt.  no cap of course.  I was sure to pic the nipple good before loading for this days hunt.  fired caps to dry bore.
2. There was light rain the previous evening, although I thought i did well of keeping things dry - balloon on barrel, nipple under armpit, etc...
3. I did not fire any caps in between hunts becuase I left the gun loaded. Stored gun horizontally in my truck overnight.  Switched out caps for the next day.
4. The nex day shot on the doe was at about 1:00.  Was in a mist all a.m.   Anybody switch out caps if in wet weather during a hunt?
5. The 1st shot on the doe did not fire the cap.  only a dud.  The 2nd shot fired a cap only.  The 3rd shot fired.

Going after it again.  Got one more week.  About to lose my girlfriend because I'm choosing muzzleloader over her!

Not unless I believe that it may have gotten wet.. but even then I weater protect the cap. One thing I should add though and this is just me... I do not hunt with Musket Caps - they are hard to protect.

I will add this and you can dismiss it if you choose. I use a #11 Mag caps that fit tighly on the post of the breech plug.  This tight fit and makes the cap near water proof. the water is stopped right on the post.  Also they do make raingear for #11 caps although I do not use them. Ihave amuch easier way using plastic wrap when necessary.

And there is your answer... the first cap was your undoing... it must have gotten wet and when you dropped the hammer - it filled the nipple post with wet goo from the first cap... The second, fresh cap, probably dried the material and blew it through the nipple - the third cap with a cleared BP set the whole works off...

If I could find it a few months back I wrote a little snip-it about finding the right nipple to help insure water proofing... Back in the old days DOC White use to say shoot one of his rifles with a #11 cap and you would never have to worry about a wet cap.  The caps fit so tight water could not get to the ignition material.  Course if you did not shoot the cap you had to pry it off the post with a knife.  Oh! and it needed to be installed with a capper to get on tight correctly...

[washelkhunter]

Dump those german caps and switch to cci magnums.

[Kowsrule30]

Clean your gun and change your load everyday....

I remeber this like it was yesterday... Still hurts...

I drew a Cowichie any bull tag in 2008... First evening right before dark I called a bull in from @ a 1/4 mile away from dark timber, across an open ridge, to 62 yards from my ambush point quartering toward me... Perfect... Lined up... Pop.... He runs to @ 125 yards up slope... Another cap... Pop.... He's now close to 200 yards and stops to look back broadside... Pop... I'm now pissed as could be and thinking about offing myself.. But the gun wouldn't shoot..    I did fill that tag with a respectable 330 class bull 2 days later... But the big, wide, long tined, dark, massive antlered, 6x bull I popped 3 caps on was closer to the 370+ mark... All because I skipped on fully/correctly, cleaning the nipple after sighting in... Just be glad it was a doe..... I still have nightmares...