I've had a mixed relationship with my Remington 700 ML. Bought it last year after collecting a yearling with a borrowed 45 Caliber ball rifle. Siighted it in. Cleaned the hell out of it and promptly missed a deer.

Sighted it in again this year and began to understand that you have to clean it between rounds to get a realistic sight-in impact point.

Missed the first deer with it this year.

Took it to the range today to check the sight-in and found that it was shooting higher than it was supposed to be from the last sight in. Probably the reason I missed the deer earlier.

Shot great groups at the ranges that I expect to see deer from my blind ... 35 and 55 yards.. Cleaned it up as I had between rounds and went home to the blind.

Deer appeared at 5:00 pm, pretty much as per normal.

Inspected heads as it is doe season here, and I'd be using an ML in place of a rifle or pistol. Good doe out there.

Carefully sighted and gently pulled the trigger. Cap went off ... but the main charge did not. The deer at 55 yards looked up and startled just a little, but did not move off in a hurry.

Then I remembered the guy next to me at the range this afternoon who was not able to get a light into the chamber on several caps on several reloads. He was pretty distraught ... but he kept at it.

I also remembered having pushed a wet patch down the bore before removing the breech plug the last time I cleaned it ... arrggghhhh ... did it to myself but good!

So after about a minute I opened the bolt. Had to fish around for a small pocket knife to get the remnents of the primer out of the bolt. Kept remembering to keep the beast pointed in a safe direction just in case there was a delayed ignition.

Fumbled around in the possibles bag for a decapper with the pin hidden in the rear end. Poked out the nipple hole some (while saying little prayer that it wouldn't go bang at the wrong time).

Fished out another primer and recapped the rifle. Took a few seconds to steady myself, and resighted the doe I had attempted to shoot a few minutes before.

Again, carefully pulled the trigger and the gun actually went BANG ... what a relief! When the smoke cleared I could see that the doe had dropped in her tracks and rolled over. She was very dead when I got there.

Shot was not perfect. The 245 grain Power Belt HP had impacted the left side at the back side of the scapula ... and had not exited the other side.

While tearing the lovely girl (she's a very nice big mature doe) down for aging in the refigerator, I found the remains of the bullet under the skin on the far side. No damage to the boiler room and the space north was filled with blood.

Made a serious error today ... will never again run a wet patch into the barrel without removing the breech plug first.

BUT ... I also did not make the error of giving up.

This one probably completes the season for me. Two with a bow, one with a rifle, one with a pistol, and one with an ML. Freezer is close to full with some fine eating for the entire next year.

Best of luck to all of you in the field!

YESSS!!! I have learned over the years that when a muzzleloader misfires, it is almost always the shooter's fault, not the gun's!! You are real lucky it fired right the second time! There's no substitute for having a clear flash channel and a dry bore before loading her up!!