owning a repro .45 kentucky rifle i have been having trouble with it misfiring.i am using summonte resina caps and to me they look quite dull and old when i compare them to the troidorf ones.do caps have a shelf life?.the powder i use is ff and they guy i bought it off had it for about 6 years and did bugger all shooting with it so ot is probably 6 to 7 years old.could this also be a problem?.about the only way i can get it consistantly firing is to stick a needle down the nipple to clean some of the crap out but my mate doesn't seem to have the same problem on his hawkens .50.i want to get away from doing that because its just one more thing that you have to do.also the nipple has about a 1mm flash hole and i have thought of taking it out to 2mm to see if it helps.any info regarding my problems would be greatly received

First of all never open a nipple's flash hole .030 to .033 is the proper size, above .033 replace it ! Proper cleaning will solve your problem ,Remove the nipple put barrel in a bucket of hot soapy water ,now use ramrod and cleaning patch to pump out all fouling in barrel , after the bucket is so dirty and black from fouling get new water and repeat , Now get rid of the 2F powder! a 45 will shoot faster and cleaner with 3F! 45 cal= 90 grains max ! 80 grns work very well, after shooting you must clean out fouling as directed above ! I use Hodgton 3F Triple 7 Powder in all my calibers ,from .400 to .58 Zouave including cartridge calibers , and flintlocks !

thanks for the advice concho.going out next weekend so hopefully i will get sowm better results.just as a matter of intrest why should you not drill out thr flash hole?

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy.308:
thanks for the advice concho.going out next weekend so hopefully i will get sowm better results.just as a matter of intrest why should you not drill out thr flash hole?

The size of the vent in the nipple is optimized for two functions: One is to concentrate and "squirt" the flame from the cap to best ignite the powder charge. The other is to prevent too much powder gas/pressure from coming back up and out of the nipple, possibly blowing your hammer back off the nipple and causing cap fragments to go places where you don't want them!

If you are in doubt about the nipple you are using, by all means, replace it before trying to shoot again. Nipples are pretty cheap, and a good stainless steel or AMPCO nipple will last a long time. When you clean the channel and hole in your nipple, use a round wooden toothpick and hot, soapy water to do this when cleaning the rifle at home. In the field, if you have to clean the nipple, use a DRY round wooden toothpick. This prevents enlarging the hole in the bottom of the nipple channel.

Caps, if stored in a cool, dry place, have an indefinite shelf life, if they were made right to begin with. Since I have never even heard of the caps you mention, I cannot comment on them!

What brands of caps can you get? I find about the best ones I've used are those made by CCI and those made by RWS. I especially like the CCI No. 11 Magnum caps. Remington Arms has recently started making better, hotter caps also.

What kind of powder are you using? Some of the substitutes like Pyrodex need hot caps like the CCI No. 11 Magnums, as their ignition temperatures are much higher than real black powder.

Powder will also last indefinitely, if it is stored somewhere that is cool and dry, in a sealed container which prevents the powder from absorbing moisture. If you are using real black powder, and it pours freely, I'd expect it to be OK regardless of age.

When cleaning your rifle's bore, make sure that the flash channel from the nipple seat all the way into the breech of the barrel is completely clean, and before loading, make sure the breech and flash channel are totally dry, with NO OIL or GREASE inside. You can do this by swabbing out the bore with a patch saturated in rubbing alcohol, then dry the bore with several dry patches. Use a pipe cleaner inserted from the nipple hole to ensure the flash channel has no oil or crap in it!

When you are ready to load up, before you put any powder in the gun, put a cap on the nipple, cock the gun, and place the muzzle an inch or two away from some grass or leaves, etc., on the ground. Pop the cap! The "wind" from the cap should be sufficient to make the grass or leaf move a little. This shows you that the blast from the cap is indeed going all the way into the gunbarrel. Do this two or three times. When you are sure the flash channel is clear, then go ahead and load her up. If all oil, grease, etc, was out of the gun's bore and the flash channel is clean and dry when you put the powder down, the gun will fire.

Any time a GOOD caplock or flintlock rifle fails to fire, it is the shooter's fault!

i have been using elephant ff but am just about out.the caps i bought of trademe which is the new zealand form of ebay.i'm pretty sure that cci's are pretty easy to comeby in nz.we are going out this weekend to have a bit of a bomb up so hopefully with all this info i should be able to sort out what the problem is

Well done El Deguello ! I have Elephant powder but I only buy 3F , I also use a wooden bowl and pestol and grind my own 4F for flintlocks from 3F powder , Make sure you don't have a cigarett hanging out of you mouth while doing this job !

quote:

Originally posted by concho:
Well done El Deguello ! I have Elephant powder but I only buy 3F , I also use a wooden bowl and pestol and grind my own 4F for flintlocks from 3F powder , Make sure you don't have a cigarett hanging out of you mouth while doing this job!

Agreed! Actually, I have used Swiss and GOEX FFFg and "Austin Musket" (Curtis & Harvey) powder, about an FFg size., as priming powder for a flintlock-just to see if it would work.

With the FFFg, I found that I could not detect any difference in lock time from GOEX FFFFg. The musket powder was indeed a little slower, but it worked.

Of course, military muskets were always primed with a little powder out of the same cartridge that was used to load the main charge and ball....

Jimmy .308 Please post your results !