# Hangfires



## blackbear (Sep 5, 2014)

To prevent a hangfire,
#1-I shoot a few shots  to "Dry out" my barrel and to make sure it "click booms" really quick and actually shoots,,,then..
#2-I load up my gun and leave it like this until I get a shot while hunting or the season is over and I need to clear it out and clean up for storage..only takeing the cap off and on for safety,etc.the whole season
Is this the correct way or am I doing it all wrong?
Should I worry about rust in the bore or will the "bore butter lube" on my TC lead slug take care of everything?
Do you guys load up with pyrodex this way every new season? 

"There is nothing to compare in hunting  like the humble feeling you get when you finally get a good clean hard earned shot on a nice buck and your Hawken muzzle loader doesn't fire at all or your buck walks away 'cause your arrow fell off the string or flat out missed the mark', that's when you will beyond a shadow of a doubt for evermore understand why its called^^^ "Primitive"Hunting.-^^Ted 'Blackbear'Parsons


----------



## tv_racin_fan (Sep 5, 2014)

IF I shoot my gun I clean it that day. The fouling really attracts moisture. Most people will not leave one loaded even over night. I have left mine for months and had it fire without issue.


----------



## blackbear (Sep 5, 2014)

Do you take out the nipple and pack powder down in the hole and install the nipple back?
Will this help with Ignition of the pyrodex charge any at all or can it hinder the fire flame from the primer?


----------



## snuffy (Sep 5, 2014)

I had problems with hang fires with pyrodex also. Switched to REAL black powder and haven't had a problem since.

I will leave my gun loaded for weeks or longer if I don't shoot it. If I do shoot it I will clean it the same day.


----------



## Lorren68 (Sep 5, 2014)

I clean the barrel with a dry patch before loading.   After cleaning my muzzleloader I store it barrel down for a day, then I swab the barrel with a dry patch then store normally.


----------



## Nicodemus (Sep 5, 2014)

I`ve had one misfire in 30 years of muzzleloadin` and it was when I forgot to pop a couple of caps to burn the oil out of the nipple of my Plains rifle. It did fire on the third cap.


----------



## Wrangler Hunter (Sep 5, 2014)

Nicodemus said:


> I`ve had one misfire in 30 years of muzzleloadin` and it was when I forgot to pop a couple of caps to burn the oil out of the nipple of my Plains rifle. It did fire on the third cap.



Same here, when I used to use pyrodex powder I had that problem.  I switched to real black powder in my hawken and I havent had a problem since.

In my inline I use Pyrodex pellets and if I fire it, I clean it that day.  If I dont fire it, I leave it with the pellets in it until the end of muzzle loading season, then fire it and clean it.


----------



## FrontierGander (Sep 5, 2014)

blackbear said:


> Do you take out the nipple and pack powder down in the hole and install the nipple back?
> Will this help with Ignition of the pyrodex charge any at all or can it hinder the fire flame from the primer?



Exactly what you can do. Some rifles like the lyman brand guns have very small powder channels that allow the powder to flow under the nipple. Pyrodex RS and especially American Pioneer will normally stop up and cause a cap to just go POP and no bang due to no powder being under the nipple.


----------



## dawg2 (Sep 5, 2014)

blackbear said:


> To prevent a hangfire,
> #1-I shoot a few shots  to "Dry out" my barrel and to make sure it "click booms" really quick and actually shoots,,,then..
> #2-I load up my gun and leave it like this until I get a shot while hunting or the season is over and I need to clear it out and clean up for storage..only takeing the cap off and on for safety,etc.the whole season
> Is this the correct way or am I doing it all wrong?
> ...



I do not ever shoot my flints and leave them "dirty".  This is askig for corrosion.  Your process is great if you clean same day.  But I would keep any lubes or butter clear of the bore and nipple (dry swab everything) before loading.  Keeping it loaded is OK, but I would not burn off the barrel and let it sit.


----------



## mmarkey (Sep 29, 2014)

blackbear said:


> To prevent a hangfire,
> #1-I shoot a few shots  to "Dry out" my barrel and to make sure it "click booms" really quick and actually shoots,,,then..
> #2-I load up my gun and leave it like this until I get a shot while hunting or the season is over and I need to clear it out and clean up for storage..only takeing the cap off and on for safety,etc.the whole season
> Is this the correct way or am I doing it all wrong?
> ...





Ted, I think you're doing a couple of things wrong. I shoot only flintlocks. But with a caplock or any ML rifle if you want to hunt with a fouled bore your #1. You need to clean it at the end of the day or your barrel is at risk. Your bullet lube will not prevent this. 
I use real black powder in my flintlock rifles, and rarely have a miss-fire, and never on the first shot. It's usually caused by dirty lock parts or a dull flint for my shooting.
Try real black powder, it's easier to clean your barrel and I've heard it is less caustic on the steel as well. But if you've shot it, clean it that day not at the end of the season.


----------



## tcward (Sep 29, 2014)

snuffy said:


> I had problems with hang fires with pyrodex also. Switched to REAL black powder and haven't had a problem since.
> 
> I will leave my gun loaded for weeks or longer if I don't shoot it. If I do shoot it I will clean it the same day.



This^^


----------



## Warrenco (Sep 29, 2014)

I just pop a couple of caps first to dry it out then it's fine


----------



## kingfish (Oct 15, 2014)

For the Pyrodex users, I had issues with hang fires on both my Thompson Renegade and my Remington inline.  It cost me a 3pt and a spike.  Not giant bucks but they were both WMA bucks. What I started doing with great success is taking a tweezers and putting 2-3 very small grains of Pyrodex directly into the nipple.  This was done under the theory that the cap would fire and immediately ignite the Pyrodex grains creating a better spark either into the breech plug or the fire chamber.  I've been doing this for years and it seems to be working out for me.  I also shoot 3 dry caps before I load to dry out everything.  After the 3rd dry cap, I take everything out and pick all the holes and dry patch as much as I can get to.  One more tip I have is after I pour the Pyrodex (or powder) into the barrel, I put the butt on my knee and take the heel of my palm and hit the underside of the rifle above the breech up and down to shake as much powder into the chamber or breech as I can.  Then I load the sabot or ball and patch.  Kingfish


----------



## NCHillbilly (Oct 15, 2014)

With a percussion sidelock, the main problem that causes misfires is obstructions/fouling in the nipple, often caused by "popping caps" on it before loading. Always take the nipple out, look through it, and pick if necessary before loading up for hunting. Often, popping caps leaves part of the percussion cap material in the nipple, or causes corrosion buildup in the nipple touchhole. The other main problem is not cleaning the bolster. When you just run solvent patches down the barrel, it doesn't get the bolster and often leave residue and corrosion inside it. Cleaning by running a patch on a tight jag up and down the barrel while the bolster is submerged in hot soapy water will clean the bolster. Most bolsters also have a clean-out screw that you can remove and run a solvent-soaked pipe cleaner through it.


----------



## mmarkey (Oct 16, 2014)

kingfish said:


> For the Pyrodex users, I had issues with hang fires on both my Thompson Renegade and my Remington inline.  It cost me a 3pt and a spike.  Not giant bucks but they were both WMA bucks. What I started doing with great success is taking a tweezers and putting 2-3 very small grains of Pyrodex directly into the nipple.  This was done under the theory that the cap would fire and immediately ignite the Pyrodex grains creating a better spark either into the breech plug or the fire chamber.  I've been doing this for years and it seems to be working out for me.  I also shoot 3 dry caps before I load to dry out everything.  After the 3rd dry cap, I take everything out and pick all the holes and dry patch as much as I can get to.  One more tip I have is after I pour the Pyrodex (or powder) into the barrel, I put the butt on my knee and take the heel of my palm and hit the underside of the rifle above the breech up and down to shake as much powder into the chamber or breech as I can.  Then I load the sabot or ball and patch.  Kingfish





			
				NC Hillbilly said:
			
		

> With a percussion sidelock, the main problem that causes misfires is obstructions/fouling in the nipple, often caused by "popping caps" on it before loading. Always take the nipple out, look through it, and pick if necessary before loading up for hunting. Often, popping caps leaves part of the percussion cap material in the nipple, or causes corrosion buildup in the nipple touchhole. The other main problem is not cleaning the bolster. When you just run solvent patches down the barrel, it doesn't get the bolster and often leave residue and corrosion inside it. Cleaning by running a patch on a tight jag up and down the barrel while the bolster is submerged in hot soapy water will clean the bolster. Most bolsters also have a clean-out screw that you can remove and run a solvent-soaked pipe cleaner through it.


Some of these rituals must be fun to watch. It's not rocket science or voodoo hoodoo. Always wipe your bore with a clean patch before the first shot whether at the range or hunting. That will remove any oil in the bore that will pollute your powder. If you have a cap lock with a patent breech Pop a cap or two. You can't swab in the patent breech to dry it. Then just load normally.
      Good grief, these are "Primitive Firearms". If you maintain them properly they will fire very well. I've had modern centerfire weapons go click when you pull the trigger, and that's got nothing to do with the rifle. It's called, DUD.


----------



## NCHillbilly (Oct 16, 2014)

mmarkey said:


> Some of these rituals must be fun to watch. It's not rocket science or voodoo hoodoo. Always wipe your bore with a clean patch before the first shot whether at the range or hunting. That will remove any oil in the bore that will pollute your powder. If you have a cap lock with a patent breech Pop a cap or two. You can't swab in the patent breech to dry it. Then just load normally.
> Good grief, these are "Primitive Firearms". If you maintain them properly they will fire very well. I've had modern centerfire weapons go click when you pull the trigger, and that's got nothing to do with the rifle. It's called, DUD.



The point I'm making is that most of what few misfires I've had in thirty years of shooting blackpowder have been directly related to popping caps before loading: more specifically, cap guts obstructing the hole in the nipple. The junk inside the caps will often come out on firing, sometimes a whole little round disc, and it goes right into the nipple. I haven't had one in many, many, many years since I figured this out.


----------



## d-a (Oct 16, 2014)

NCHillbilly said:


> The point I'm making is that most of what few misfires I've had in thirty years of shooting blackpowder have been directly related to popping caps before loading: more specifically, cap guts obstructing the hole in the nipple. The junk inside the caps will often come out on firing, sometimes a whole little round disc, and it goes right into the nipple. I haven't had one in many, many, many years since I figured this out.




I have had that with Remington caps but never with CCI or RWS caps. One of the reasons I dislike Remington caps. 

If I'm hunting I always pull the nipple and ensure there is dry powder under it. 

d-a


----------



## FrontierGander (Oct 16, 2014)

zero trouble with remington caps here. I've fired over 400 of them in the past 5 months.


----------



## d-a (Oct 16, 2014)

FrontierGander said:


> zero trouble with remington caps here. I've fired over 400 of them in the past 5 months.



Im glad for you, hasnt been my experience with them. Maybe your dryer climate as contributed to your results.

d-a


----------

