rem870hunter
New member
i have a traditions tracker 209 in .50 cal. i have hunted with it since 2001. until last year it never gave me trouble. it misfired 2 times, the first time, i loaded it early in the morning carried it all day in the woods. dry cold day, no rain or snow. i took the primer out closed the bolt. i left the powder and bullet inside. cased it and it sat muzzle up in my closet for 2 days. took it out in the woods again. went to shoot to empty at the end. it made an off sound, i piece of burning embers(powder??) flew out of the barrel. bullet did'nt hit what i was aiming for. my dad took it home and cleaned it . loaded and carried it the next day.went to empty by shooting and had the same results. i shot it earlier yesterday. the first 3 did'nt fire right. i capped it 3 times before loading. the next 4 fired good. and hit their targets too. after that the next 3 i shot went all ove the place. firing right too is it possible that i need to fire a fouling shot then load the barrel? either 50 grain or 100 grains under a patch or an actual shot with bullet. the date on powder is from august 2001. it has been kept in a cool dry basement. the primers are good too. from 2004. the first 3 bullets went down fairly easy. it got tighter after that. after cleaning the rifle a light swab of wonderlube goes down inside. this is a habit my father has i picked up. could this be the problem? not a tight enough gas seal until barrel is dirty?