Misfires

[wolc123]

Others have reported a few of them this year, and one regular had it happen twice.   For those who had them, what powder were you using ?   Were you using an in-line or side lock ?   Were you using primers or number 11 caps for ignition ?    I had a few issues with a sidelock and number 11 caps, with loose pyrodex.   My in-line, with primers and loose pyrodex or 777 pellets has gone off every time, without delay, in any weather conditions.   I always make sure not to keep bringing that gun in and out of the house in cold weather, I just lock it up in the unheated garage.  I have also left the load in there for up to two weeks, just removing the primer.  

After the season, I remove unused loads by pulling the breech plug and pushing the sabot and pellets out with the ramrod.  I keep those "used" powder pellets, as well as a few extras that I carry in my pack while hunting, seperate and only use them on the target range (they have always worked there).   When my current supply of 777 pellets is exhausted, I will probably change to blackhorn 209 powder but I am wondering what may be causing folks to have trouble.

One issue I did have with my inline was the "stainless" breech plug closing up tight with corrosion one time after about 6-months in the safe.  I had to use a small carbide drill to clean it out.  Fortunately, I always check to make sure that is clear before hunting.  That only requires pointing the unloaded gun at a light and making sure you can see thru the tiny hole from the back side.  With my old side-lock I would fire off a few caps and make sure it would blow some leafs around with the muzzle prior to loading.  I never waste primers if I can see the breech plug is clear on my inline.   They have ignited the main charge for me every time, so why waste them ?     

   

[Lawdwaz]

I've had one no-fire situation in the last 10 hunting seasons with my smokeless ML'r........IIRC it was the first or second year I got it and it resulted in a gimme that got by me.

TWICE in 60 seconds!

 

[BigVal]

My buddy had it happen with triple seven on the last day. Gun fired after a couple second pause but not at full power, sounded like a cap gun lol

[fasteddie]

I have been lucky enough to not have a misfire . I use Triple Seven loose powder . I plan to go to a friend's house tomorrow and shoot the load out of my ML . In the past I have I had pushed the load out of the ML and tossed the powder and the Sabot . 

[turkeyfeathers]

I’d be that guy with 2 thwacks of bad loving with the front loader. 

Rewind : approx 16 years ago  Wife bought me a Winchester apex ML. Put a Bushnell elite 3200 3x9 on it. Few shots on paper abs ready to go. First time hunting my brothers property I killed my best buck to date with it. Lucky for sure. Always brought it in house subjecting it to condensation. Never had a problem with a misfire. Used as primary weapon from regular season into ml season   Put one round in it at 25 yards and half inch or so high. 100 yards and center punched the bulls. So after opening day of gun I brought in house into basement. Electrical tape over end. Next day I had a doe at 60 yards. Primer popped and 3 seconds later boom. Flinched and shot four feet over her. So now I reloaded and kept gun in unheated detached garage thinking I’m good. Well Monday it rained a bunch and 42 degrees. Take gun out Tuesday. First real hunt of late season and only hunting til 8:30 or so. 8 am and 6 point at 25 yards appears. This will make a story book ending to my season. I think with a last minute deer. Pop and no bang. Long story short , I pull breech plug to clear crap load , ram rod hits stand platform ,buck looks up and see ya. Twice in same year and never had an incident before  777 pellets were kept in basement and just bought within last year. Original box lasted me many years stored in same place. Had 2 golden opportunities this year and snake bit both times. Going to ditch the rest of this pack of pellets and start fresh. Going to see how long in microwave they can go before igniting he he.  Loved my ml up until this season   This year not so much. Rookie mistakes after so many flawless years makes it tough. 

[G-Man]

I've always used loose powder . Never had a powder problem just caps on sidelocks. Inlines no problem.. cap on sidelock issue,when walking and snow dropping all over it

[landtracdeerhunter]

I drilled my breech plug out on my Inline and ended the miss fire with Blackhorn 209.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Ive had 1 misfire, it was with BH209 in an inline using shotgun primers. It happened due to extreme temperature fluctuations (20s in the morning, close to 70 afternoon and low 30s in the evening when the misfire happened).

[covert]

In my Traditions inline I had some trouble with #11 caps so I got a bigger nipple to use musket caps.  That made a big difference.  With my NEF and the 209 primers I've never had any trouble.  I used to use Pyrodex pellets but have been using IMR White Hots.

Edited December 21, 2017 by covert

[blackradio]

Happened to me twice this year. Was out with my CVA Optima last Saturday and stalked around a big bedding area without seeing much and then across a field and to another bedding area. Saw a deer bedded downhill about 100 yds away. Wind blowing in my face. Snow was a bit crunchy in some area but I figured I had nothing to lose at this point so I thought I'd stalk up to the deer and get nice and close. I stalked to the deer for about 45 minutes and when I popped up (deer was over a small knoll so I couldn't see it for 20 minutes of the stalk) the deer was still laying there facing downhill, never once looking back. I realized now that it was a buck. It was a pretty decent 8pt outside it's ears. I was so pumped and my heart was beating. I was at 25 yds at this point and I walked a few more yds downhill to rest on a tree (didn't want to mess this up).

I got all settled, took my time, set the scope behind his shoulder as he was bedded and looking the other way and squeezed the trigger. There  was a pop and a sizzle and a bunch of smoke came out of the barrel. The buck jumped up as I was cursing to myself and looked around. I see his front shoulder was broken. He looked around and all I could do was watch him hobble away.

The weird thing is that the bullet was gone as well. 100% sure I loaded it the day before. So the powder sort of lit enough for the bullet to come out of the barrel but it didn't shoot. Got home and cleaned the barrel. Could not get the breech plug open to clean, maybe that's the problem.

Well, on Monday. I left work early and went out for my last time of the season. Made a big loop around the property and saw a small 6pt. Figured I didn't have enough time to still hunt anywhere else so I sat in a stand on the edge of a huge field. Haven't hunted this stand in years and didn't have much hope. 15 minutes before sunset, I see a doe 250 yds across the field. Then two more came out, and then two more. I figured the chances were low that they'd come my way but after a few minutes, two of the deer broke off from the rest and walked the 250 yds right under my stand, a doe and a button buck. They came within 10 yds and I set on the doe and squeezed the trigger. Same horrifying pop and sizzle and puff of smoke and the deer ran back the whole length of the field to the others. Same thing, the bullet came out of the gun but no bang.

So, I ate tag soup this year.

Will bring to gunsmith to figure out. I'm thinking the breech plug is gunked up or the powder is old or something.

 

[fasteddie]

I have my 777 in the basement with the cap on tight . I have the bottle inside of a larger plastic bottle with a tight lid . I also have 4 speed loaders that a capped tight . No problem so far . Knock on wood ! 

[Jeremy K]

I bought the breech plug for Blackhorn and compared it with the stock plug , the flame channel is really short on the Blackhorn compared to the stock one . I never shot the blackhorn with the stock  plug so I'm not sure if it's a condition to misfire or not.

[genesee_mohican]

I've never had a mis fire in my hawken caplock, a few hang fires so follow through is important.  Keeping the gun outside in the cold is very important as condensation will happen inside the barrel if you take it from cold to warm to cold over and over. Careful cleaning before and after use is real important and when then is neglected is when I see people have issues.

[NYBowhunter]

Never had an issue, I use 3 pellets of the 777.  Once my ML is  loaded and after each hunt it never comes indoors, always sleeps in the car or barn. Only comes in if the round was spent. Another key is to thouroughly clean the ML at seasons end, i take out the breach plug and plop it in a cup with a cleaning solvent and set it aside. Once the entire ML is cleaned then ill go back and meticulously clean the breach plug. I also take a fine sewing needle and pass it or pop it threw the breach plug hole to ensure theres no blockage. Pass the solvent thru the beach plug hole to ensure the liquid passes threw freely.  Another thing before you put in your first load of the season, is to swab the barrel of any excess oils and to just shoot off one cap (no powder or bullet), just the primer.

[Just Lucky]

Had a misfire 10 or more years ago. I had a traditions at the time. It happened maybe 2 hours after i had shot the gun. Guy i was with used a knight and his wouldnt go off neither.  Couldnt tell you why. One thing i always do after cleaning at end of season is put bore butter down barrel and on breech plug for storage. Prior to getting back out always take apart and clean. Then shoot a couple caps, load, shoot once, then make sure its shooting straight. I find a little bit of a dirty barrel shoots better.

[DDT]

Get a Savage 10ML II load a factory approved load and misfires will be a thing of the past.

[Pygmy]

I had a misfire the last day of MZ season last year....My rifle is a an early 1970s  TC Hawken sidelock and I was using  #11 caps and 3F Triple 7....It is the only misfire I have had in 40 years of hunting with that rifle...

However, one was enough, so this year I bought one of those  nipple thingies for my rifle that would accept 209 primers... It goes BANG every time now....There are a couple of downsides to the new priming system....It employs a screw on nipple that would be very easy to lose in the leaves or the snow, and is slower to reload... Also, the 209 primers tend  to stick in the device after firing,  further slowing the reloading process...

 

Edited December 21, 2017 by Pygmy

[vizslas]

If the flash hole is dirty or clogged most of the fire from the primer will just blow back. you can soak the breech plug  but i think without using a drill bit you will never get the crud out of the hole. I was surprised at how much i actually got out the first time i did this. i actually had to use smaller ones to work up to the right size. I too had a gimme walk away like the bullet just bounced off of her. trigger squeeze , then a  pop then  sizzle sizzle thoop . last day last minute thing. I always leave my gun outside, and i cover it in my hunting coat when i leave and heat the car up a bit.

[Doewhacker]

The only time I had a hang fire was when I had the bright idea to use 777. Never again. Goex always goes boom no matter if it’s an in-line or side hammer. 

Some of the Breech plugs have long flash channels, I would replace one if I had an in-line that had it. 

[dbHunterNY]

1 hour ago, Pygmy said:

I had a misfire the last day of MZ season last year....My rifle is a an early 1970s  TC Hawken sidelock and I was using  #11 caps and 3F Triple 7....It is the only misfire I have had in 40 years of hunting with that rifle...

However, one was enough, so this year I bought one of those  nipple thingies for my rifle that would accept 209 primers... It goes BANG every time now....There are a couple of downsides to the new priming system....It employs a screw on nipple that would be very easy to lose in the leaves or the snow, and is slower to reload... Also, the 209 primers tend  to stick in the device after firing,  further slowing the reloading process...

 

you Pygmy paid to have a nipple covered? now I've heard it all.

[dbHunterNY]

never have had a hang fire or misfire.  I've only used 209 ignition systems though.

[Lawdwaz]

I didn't add any of my history with flintlocks, patched round balls and REAL black powder.  My stories would provide hours of belly busting good times for all that would follow along.

If I recall correctly, one deer in NYS and a couple in Pennsylvania fell to the mighty 50cal round ball.  It's been probably 20 years since I've shot it, thank the inline for that.

[vizslas]

check your primers after the shot and look to see if the outside of the primer is excessively dirty. if so try another kind. they are all not the same size. I have found that the winchester primers fit very snug in my thompson triumph. I actually have to squeeze a little harder to close the gun than with the remington or cci. Thats a shame because i have more remington primers than i could ever use in two lifetimes

[Pygmy]

1 hour ago, dbHunterNY said:

you Pygmy paid to have a nipple covered? now I've heard it all.

Shucks, DB, I'd never cover THEM up....Most of my body has gone to hell, but I've still got pretty nice nipples for an old fat guy....Hehehehe...

[wolc123]

 

21 hours ago, turkeyfeathers said:

I’d be that guy with 2 thwacks of bad loving with the front loader. 

Rewind : approx 16 years ago  Wife bought me a Winchester apex ML. Put a Bushnell elite 3200 3x9 on it. Few shots on paper abs ready to go. First time hunting my brothers property I killed my best buck to date with it. Lucky for sure. Always brought it in house subjecting it to condensation. Never had a problem with a misfire. Used as primary weapon from regular season into ml season   Put one round in it at 25 yards and half inch or so high. 100 yards and center punched the bulls. So after opening day of gun I brought in house into basement. Electrical tape over end. Next day I had a doe at 60 yards. Primer popped and 3 seconds later boom. Flinched and shot four feet over her. So now I reloaded and kept gun in unheated detached garage thinking I’m good. Well Monday it rained a bunch and 42 degrees. Take gun out Tuesday. First real hunt of late season and only hunting til 8:30 or so. 8 am and 6 point at 25 yards appears. This will make a story book ending to my season. I think with a last minute deer. Pop and no bang. Long story short , I pull breech plug to clear crap load , ram rod hits stand platform ,buck looks up and see ya. Twice in same year and never had an incident before  777 pellets were kept in basement and just bought within last year. Original box lasted me many years stored in same place. Had 2 golden opportunities this year and snake bit both times. Going to ditch the rest of this pack of pellets and start fresh. Going to see how long in microwave they can go before igniting he he.  Loved my ml up until this season   This year not so much. Rookie mistakes after so many flawless years makes it tough. 

Are you certain that your nipple was not plugged ?  It don't matter what kind of powder you use, if there is not an open path for the spark to get thru to it.  Maybe it was almost plugged on that first hang-fire, and plugged up solid on the later misfire.   If it turns out that it was plugged, then you probably still have a good bunch of 777 pellets.  Like I said at the tail end of the initial post, I found mine plugged up solid one time when getting ready for a hunt.  I had to drill it open before proceeding.  It sounds like others have had similar issues.    A sure fire way to see if that was the cause would be to remove the breech plug, hold it up to a light, and see if it shines thru.