So it might be loaded!

T

TomADC

New member
Member off another board bought a old spanish smooth bore percussion about 28 gage. He just did the dowel check to see if its loaded and looks like it is.
Since he has no idea what its loaded with how would you safely clear it?
 
robhof

Oil the bore with some light vegetable oil, try to get oil behind the charge as well to nullify the powder and ease the discharge. Besides the CO2 discharger, if you have a good compressor or access to one with a tank with 120psi or above, you can use a spray nozzle and a short length of heavy rubber tubing, like brake line or grease hose and connect to the percussion cap and spray nozzle and power it up, be sure muzzle of gun is facing in a safe direction.
 
Has anyone seen the c02 discharger advertised in dixiegunworks in use before??? It almost looks to small & simple to work.
 
I own one. I don't think I bought it from Dixie but I own the same one. It works fantastically. It has saved at least 3 days at the range when I had a shot that would not go off. Twice from oil fouling and once I was not paying attention and double-loaded. I noticed the double load when my ramrod did not go down to its usual position.

CO2 blows it right out. I'll never fart around with a ball puller again.

Steve
 
Warning .
Oiling the charge will NOT nullify the charge . again it will NOT nullify a BP charge . the only thing it will do is raise the ignition temperature .
I have personally had old original charges go off while heating breech plugs after those barrels have been set to soak in oil tanks for up to a week ..
At one time I thought this not to be the case .

Its not uncommon to Buy loaded muzzle loading guns , be they original or reproductions . I have bout barrels from e-bay that showed up loaded with old original charges .
a lot of times people don’t even know they are loaded . I have even had cases where people brought me old guns that after I informed them they were loaded , they remarked how they had played with the gun when they were kids , even to the point of holding matches to the nipples and such.
Anyway , some years back I was working on an original set of SXS barrels that were over 130 years old . The barrels had a charge in them so I set them in a 50 gal drum of oil for over a week .
I then removed th barrels and drilled through the charge . What came out looked like dirt .
I then removed the nipples and drilled through the flash channel .
We went to de breech the barrels and found the plugs would not budge . So we went to apply some heat .a torch was held to the flash channel for a couple second with no ignition . So we ste the barrel to a barrel vice and began to heat the plugs while apply pressure from a breech plug wrench . Just as the first plug began to turn the barrel went off . A split second later the 2nd barrel went off .

Even though charges had been drilled and air could be pushed through the bore . There was still enough powder in the 12 gage bores to blow 2 ,1 inch deep holes in the floor .

Never ever think that concerning BP that you have nullified the charge . Even if you soak it in water . All the chemicals are still there unless the powder is actually rinsed completely out , the only thing you will do is raise the ignition temperature. Once it dries out or the resulting paste reaches the required temperature , it will go off

Co2 discharges work and work well as long as the charge has not set to strongly to the bore .
If the discharger does not blow the charge what I often do is try an air compressor. If that wont budge it , then carfuly remove the nipple and replace it with a grease zert . Use a grease gun to start to move the charge . One it moves or begins to move , then go back to the air compressor to blow it the rest of the way out .
If this is an original piece and the charge has set itself , there is a good chance the bore in the area of the charge will have been damaged beyond repair
 
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Agree that one should not rely on oil to kill the powder. It's the moisture that does it. Still, with the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, use the C02 discharger to unload it.
 
+1 on the C02 charger or compressor.

I use an air compressor simply cause that's what I have :)... but have used the C02 charger's with great success as well.

On the real stubborn loads, pour some soapy water or oil down the bore for softening/lubing purposes only. Then use the C02 or compressor.
 
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Change out the nipple with a Grease Zerk Fitting (metric size probably) and pump grease into the barrel to dislodge a load safely. Sometimes those little spendy CO-2 thingy's just don't have enough excessive pressure to get the job done before their little air cartridge tank is empty. I've never seen a pumped in greased job ever fail. A little messy to clean up afterwards. But it works. And the grease used is recyclable. (Just encase your pick-up needs a grease job too.)
 
maillemaker + 8 or so.

Not to do over-kill on the CO2 Discharger but to really emphasis their performance. I currently use the one from Dixie but I bought mine else where and mine came with more accessories. I have pushed most of the common projectiles and on two occasions, stuck ramrods. These work great and if used properly, are very safe !!!


Be Safe !!!
 
Should know today what they found, it surprises me just how many old muzzleloaders turn up loaded when sold..
 
Air compresses and water does not. Wouldn’t it be safer to use water under pressure? Don’t know how you would do it but 120 PSI sounds a little high when it finally let’s go.
 
The co2 dischargers work pretty good, but I've seen a ball stuck after 20 or 25 rounds on the range without running a patch down the bore that the discharge wouldn't even budge. It's always good to have a manual ball puller just in case.

Boomer
 
This old man once told me "two useless things are a unloaded gun and an empty whiskey bottle".
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I have teachers who kept their muzzle loaders loaded. That was a practice in the frontier days. That said, I wouldn't sell one that was loaded nor would I want to examine a loaded gun prior to buying it. I want to know it's loaded first.
 
Getting lazy, I guess !!!

It's always good to have a manual ball puller just in case.
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In the early years, I had a CO2 TC discharger that I hardly used. This was during my BuckSkinner days and pretty much took a bit of bride about pulling a dry-ball, manually. When teaching some of the new M/L instructors, I would purposely dry-ball and then demonstrate the process of manually pulling. Many M/L instructors had a real dry-ball phobia. They felt more confident after this pulling exercise. ...... ;)

Then one day, we met our Waterloo when we had a stuck ramrod. I was forced to use the pusher and with a "Thunk" the rod went flying into the bank. After that on other stuck rods as well as plated projectiles, started using them on a regular basis. Heck, now instead of popping a cap prior to loading, I use my CO2. ..... ;)

Be Safe !!!
 
Don’t know how you would do it but 120 PSI sounds a little high when it finally let’s go.
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Whether using the C02 or an air compressor, if muzzle is pointed in a safe direction when used, it doesn't matter.

Far as how to do it? Somewhere around here is an air valve I made up years ago that would thread into my Hawkins. Never had to use it.

I have a rubber tipped blow gun that I've always had success with. Remove the nipple, press the rubber tipped blow gun down in nipple port and use short burst of air. On really jammed loads, pour TC13 or soapy water down the bbl. and let set for 5-10 mins.
Have had a couple over the years people have brought to me that I had to leave the TC13/soapy water set in for a couple hrs or so before any success but from the looks of lack of maintenance on the entire rifle, it was hard telling how long the thing set loaded. :rolleyes:

On one CVA I remember doing many years ago, I had to end up pouring automatic trans. fluid into the breech, plugging the breech, then pouring some down the bore as well and letting it set for a couple days.
After dumping the ATF out, the load, with the jag of the busted off ball puller left there by when the owner was previously tryin to pull load, pushed out rather easily.
 
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