the good,the bad, and the ugly

[jim m]

went shooting today at a public range and it was busy for a week day. the good: my .45 flint that I built performed very well. the bad: shot my .54 gpr{my reliable deer gun}  and the first 3 shots were all over the place. did notice the gun sounded funny. loaded again and popped 3 caps and nothing. well it aint the first time I've dry balled, so I pulled the nipple and started stuffing in some 4f. popped another cap and nothing, but did notice a good sized flame coming out of the vent hole. wait a minute, this is a cap lock ain't suppose to be a vent hole. yep the cleanout screw at the side was gone. loaded up and went home. the ugly: took the barrel out and put in the vise. put the ball screw on the rod and started trying to pull the ball. then the screw broke off in the ball and it still in the gun. oh $#@* what now!! I drilled and re tapped the clean out hole and installed a new screw. put a little more 4f in the nipple hole and reinstalled.  stepped outside of the garage, put a cap on and let the hammer fall. there was this horrendously loud boom!! oh chittt, guess it wasn't dry balled after all. before anyone goes into hysterics I did have the muzzle pointed at the ground and followed the other safety procedures at the range and did put oil down the barrel before I left the range. a little 4f was enough to set the charge off anyway. It goes to show you just can't be too careful. I'm just glad someone wasn't standing beside me when that clean out screw decided to go on a journey

[Harnic]

Those !@*%&@ "nippley guns" can be dangerous!    Now's a good time to convert it to flintlock Jim! 

[Jerry V Lape]

Guess you didn't notice your ramrod was stopping at the loaded mark when you decided you had a dry ball in there?   

[long carabine]

  A friend blew the lock off of his flinter a few months back at the range. He short started a ball and was lucky that he was not hurt or killed. Tim

[Harnic]

  A friend blew the lock off of his flinter a few months back at the range. He short started a ball and was lucky that he was not hurt or killed. Tim

Wow!  I've fired short-started balls from both my flinters several times with nothing that dramatic to show for it!  They just sound a bit funny & didn't hit where I was aiming!

[Daryl]

One must have a good enough fit between pan and barrel not to get prime into the lock mortice.  The fit should be close enough to not allow fouling to accumulate in there, either. Having powder accumulate in the lock mortice can leave someone looking for thier lock - perhaps in someone's ear standing beside them on the line.

[Roger Fisher]

  A friend blew the lock off of his flinter a few months back at the range. He short started a ball and was lucky that he was not hurt or killed. Tim

Okay Red help me out here - What did shortstarting a ball have to do with blowing the lock off that shootin stick??  Shorting the ball would at worst split the barrel at the obstruction less worse bulge $#*! out of her still less ring the old girl if lucky no damage I have seen all of the above..!

As stated in other posts blowing the lock off or loose is a result of prime getting between the lock bolster and the barrel side flat in to the workings.

[Jerry V Lape]

He must had used one of those self priming locks!   

[Daryl]

Roger- my post attended to that. The fellow had a loose fitting lock (against the barrel), he dribbled powder into the vent to clear the dry ball with much powder going down into the lock mortice. Upon firing the piece, the powder in the lock mortice ignited, blowing the lock off the rifle. The same sort of deal happened with the Hall rifles when used with loose powder and ball, and to some extent with early Sharps cap locks, ie; powder getting dwon into where it shouldn't be and ignition makes for surprises.  I thought everyone knew that or would have explained my post about lock fit a bit better.  Anyway, that's my guess.

[William Worth]

Gads!  I wonder how much 4F it takes to blow a lock off like that?

[t.caster]

One of the old guys in our club liked to shoot old original rifles he'd collected. He came in from deer hunting one day & said, "Look at this!" He had wondered why everytime he checked his priming pan it was empty. He had a big gap twixt the brrl. & lock! I pulled the lock off & must have had 50-70 grs. of 4f in his lock mortice! He was sure glad he didn't get a shot that day! Stopped shooting that old one, too.