Hey guys I took my MLto the range last weekand would not fire. Only the no 11 caps would go off but not the main charge. So I cleaned the breech plug and then went and bought a new no 11 nipple from wal mart. Then I went to range this week and the gun would not fire even the cap (bought new caps too). What can I do please help?
You dont give us the right info to help much. what gun what caps what kind of powder?
A few suggestions, since the caps did fire on the old nipple make sure its clear [ push a needle through it] when you are sure its clear set it a side and dig any powder out thats in your touch hole [that goes from the nipple to the main charge, then get a hold of some 3 or 4 f black if possable pack that channel with it replace the cleared nippleand fire it immedately in case your main charge has drawen moisture; you should be able to clear the gun this way even if you left the powder out, if you can not get some black try some P pyrodex. Lee
The first thing you should do is deaden the charge. Remove the nipple and soak the breech in water. Once you are sure everything is wet, pull the bullet or push it through depending on your type of rifle..which is???
Thoroughly degrease the rifle, breech and nipple. If your rifle is an inline you should be able to see light from the breech to the muzzle when held up to the light. If not, then something is dirty. Take the nipple/breech plugand hold it up to the light, you should be able to see the light. If not it is plugged and needs to be cleaned.
What kind of powder are you using? T7 and No 11 caps don't go well together. If using gcaps you should use Pyrodex or Goex (or the like) style powders.
Once you are all done cleaning and choosing the appropriate powder, make sure everthing is bone dry, clear, then load. If it don't go bang then, I would suspect something mechanical.
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If you are using a Knight, make sure you are also screwing out the double safety...When you clean, do you make sure the breach area is dry?? If the powder gets wet, it won't fire...
First thing that I would check is if the hole in the breach plug is clear , next is fire a fowling shot ( just the #11 cap and see if you can see a small discharge from the barrel , if you get one the breach plug is clear and then load a charge with the barrel being clean and dry and a see if it goes off . If not check your powder it has got to much moisture in it .
Charlie
Monster Whitetails - as I remember, you have a Tradition's inline. I do not remember the model. But to get a Traditions to fire is not all that hard. A few things you have to make sure.
#1 clean that barrel of any oil before you load it. Don't pack it with bore butter, don't leave gun oil thick in it. So to get it ready and to solve the problem(and you can do this right at your home unless your better half is a worry wart.), Pull the breech plug and using patches clean the barrel with isopropyl alcohol or Windex on a patch. Now push some dry patches through the barrel. Since you said the caps went off but not the charge and it uses #11 caps I will guess it is an older model Traditions like an E-Bolt or Evolution...
#2 with the barrel clean, lets check the breech plug. With the #11 nipple out of it. See if you can blow air through the breech plug. If you can that means there is nothing blocking the breech plug. If not that means something is blocking the breech plug. Some of the older breech plugs have a very small fire hole. If you can not blow air through it, then get to an air compressor. Put a air jet end on it. Now blow air through the breech plug. If that air compressor will not blow air through the breech plug at is your problem. Something has it blocked and you need to push a nipple pick through it. Hold the breech plug up to your eye like a scope. Can you see light through it when you look at a light fixture? That is a good sign the breech plug is open.
#3 if you can move air through the breech plug, then we have to figure what else could be stopping it. Now look through the clean oil free #11 nipple. Hold that up to the light like a peep sight, and you should be able to see through that as well. If you can we will put the rifle back together now.
#4 grease the threads of the breech plug and install it in the rifle. Put the #11 nipple into the breech plug as well. Now with the ramrod you have, put a clean dry patch on it and push it to the bottom of the barrel on top of the breech plug. Load a #11 cap on the nipple and cock the rifle and pull the trigger. Did the cap go off? If not, you might have a weak spring in the hammer striker. If the cap did go off, pull the ramrod and the dry patch and examine it. There should be signs of burn marks on that patch. If not, push it back down to the breech and pop another cap through the nipple and breech plug. What we want to do is establish that the fire from the cap is making it through the breech plug.
#5 If you pull the patch and there is still no sign of burn... my next question would be; What kind of #11 caps are you shooting? Standard CCI, Remington, CCI Magnum? The reason I ask is if the nipple is open and the breech plug is open, there should be fire making it through the breech plug. If you pull the patch and there is some sign of burn, that means fire is getting through the ignition system.
#6 if fire made it through the breech plug and nipple then I suspect you have bad gun powder. How old is your powder? Had it ever been wet? You might simply need new powder. What kind of Powder are you shooting. If you have fire going through the ignition and you have good powder and the cap is going off, there is no reason that the rifle should not fire. with a clear fire channel and clear barrel I would not know where else to look.
These are just the places I would look to try and solve the problem. If no air will go through the breech plug, and you can not see light through it.. then you need a new breech plug. If the ignition system is working, then it is the powder... Hope this helps.
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My ML wont fire
