Firing muzzleloader with just the powder

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WhiteKnight

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Hello,

I have a muzzleloader that I believe may be already loaded. However, when I look down the bore as best I can with a flashlight, I can see nothing.

When I load a percussion cap, it does not fire.

Would it be possible for me to load it up with a little bit of powder (and no sabot) and attempt to fire it just to see if the powder burns? Would that harm the gun in any way? If the powder burns, then I'm good and can load up a regular charge. If the powder doesn't burn, I'll know that the bore's obstructed and buy a sabot puller.
 
A couple thoughts

First, try pulling the nipple (using an appropriate sized nipple wrench). Then shine a flashlight down the hole and look in the barrel to see if you see any light.

You have not mentioned what type of gun you have there. If you have a long barrel with a ramrod, you might check the gun with the ramrod to see if it goes almost all the way in. If it does, the chances are that nothing is in there. If it does not go all the way in, you might have something down there. In that case the safest way to handle this is to get a ball puller and use that as opposed to trying to put powder in from the muzzle end.

If you are fairly certain that there is nothing there, you can try putting some powder in the nipple opening, screw the nipple back in, and load up with some paper in the barrel. The paper should come shooting out if the cap sets off the powder.

In any event, don't shoot unless you are at a range. If you are also not certain of the barrel being clogged. tie the gun to an old tire and pull the trigger with a string. You do not want to be near it if there has been black powder in there for years and possibly corroding the barrel.

The Doc is out now. :cool:
 
If the bore is not obstructed, gases from the cap should exit the muzzle. Place a piece of tape over the muzzle and touch off a cap - if it blows the tape off you know there's no ball loaded.
 
This reminds me of a funny story(well I find it funny except for the making gun owners look stupid part)A few guys on the other side of town didn't know if a muzzle loader was empty or not so one of them put a cap in place and fired it,nothing!Then tried a few more caps,nothing!Then put one more cap on and fired it while the other one held his hand over the barrel to see if he felt anything.He didn't feel anything at first because what was left of his hand was numb untill they were almost to the hospital!
If you don't know how far in the ramrod goes for empty and loaded then use a good flashlight to look down the bore and if that does not work then pull the nipple off and shine the light in there while looking down the bore(all this has already been covered!)If you still don't know then get a puller and try using it!If you can't find a puller then take the nipple off but this time fill the bore half with water and put a patch on your ramrod and push that down the bore,Water should come out where the nipple came off.If it does not go then tap with a rubber mallet or something(incase it was not cleaned last time it was used and is clogged with rust) and if it still does not go then its loaded and you are back to getting a puller or a compressed air system made for unloading muzzle loaders and that would be the only safe ways if it is loaded and has been loaded for years!
Once you get this all figured out make sure you mark the ramrod!You need to put a notch in the ramrod lined up with the tip of muzzle to show you when it is sitting against the breech plug(GUN EMPTY)not a thin mark from a knife or pen mark or even a magic marker mark but a notch,something you can feel that will always be there.The corner if a flat file works great!
 
Quote:
when I look down the bore as best I can with a flashlight, I can see nothing.

Just want to get this straight. You're looking down the bore of a weapon you think might be loaded?
Click to expand...


Well yes he should look down the barrel of that "RIFLE"!!!

If the primer cap is not in place then the "RIFLE" is realy is not loaded,its just powder and ball,no ignition system capable of firing on that "RIFLE" unless you think lightning may strike while he is looking down the barrel of that "RIFLE"!!!
 
Hold on a minute.

Take your ramrod out and drop it into the bore.
Make a mark on the ramrod right where it meets the muzzle.
Remove the ramrod and lay it parallel to the barrel with the mark adjacent to the muzzle.
Note the end of the rod in relation to the touchhole. If the end is right at the touchhole or slightly beyond it, it's empty. If not, you've got something in the bore.

If you've got something stuck in the bore, you're supposed to use either C02 to force it out or you can go the old fashion way and use a stuck ball remover. The latter is a screw that fits onto the end of the ramrod. You drop the ramrod down the barrel, twist the rod such that the screw bores partially into the ball and allows you to extract the ball unfired.
 
I've used stuck ball removers and they are teh suck. On more than one tightly stuck ball, the remover just pulled out, its threads clogged with lead.
If the design of the gun permits, it's easier to remove the barrel, remove the breech plug, and (using a length of brass rod and mallet) push the ball out through the muzzle.
 
Just because light doesn't shine through the barrel from the nipple hole doesn't mean it's loaded. The flash channel could simply be obstructed with old powder residue. Sometimes it needs to be soaked to loosen it up a little and then shot out with a tiny bit of powder placed under the nipple.
But make certain that it's not loaded first, and just obstructed by carefully following 4v50 Gary's ramrod measurement procedure.
 
Where did you get the rifle?

There's always the possibility that someone loaded a ball into it and forgot the powder. Every ML shooter does that at least once. :uhoh:


I had a bullet puller. It worked great - pulled the ferrule right off the end of the ramrod. :( I ended up drilling and pinning it.
 
I fixed it!

Yesterday I tried the ramrod trick which told me that something was DEFINITELY in there (the approximate length of two 30gr pellets and a sabot). I tried removing the breech plug but it was long rusted to the point of near impossibility.

I tried sticking a dowel in through the backend of the gun and pushing out the charge, but the dowel cracked.
I went and bought a an airgun cleaning kit from Dick's Sporting Goods and tried to push it out, but it bent the rod.
I finally sprinkled about a half charge of loose powder into the gun through the back end and was able to get it to go off with my second #11 percussion cap. Woo hoo!

Thanks for all of your help! Let's just say that I'm buying one of the C02 dischargers from this point on (as well as properly oiling all of the internal parts).
 
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