Well after 10+ months of my triumph being loaded I shot it today.
Went bang and that was about it. There was a very small smoke cloud and there was no hole in the target.
There was alot of unfired 777 powder in the barrel and I did not find the bullet.
Question, not sure I want to ask, when I was swapping the barrel between shots I had some brown color come out is that rust?
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If you want peace, prepare for war.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it's natural manure." - Thomas Jefferson
Team 17: Kickers and Stickers
That very well could be rust. Was this shot, then loaded and stored? If so you might have some rust in the bore. All you can do is take the breech plug out and check.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
I used to Hunt with My ML with a Clean Barrel and then mabey twice at the end of the Season I stored it for mabey 10 Months like you, but both times it shot just fine. But I Always cover the end of My Barrel with a Pice of Masking Tape to prevent Mositure from entering it and fouling the Powder.
But now I found that My ML shoots just where I aim when the Bore is slightly fouled (after shooting it once) so now I no longer would store it without firing it and cleaning the Barrel and Oil befor storage.
You could very well have Rust in it if it was fired, then reloaded then stored for 10 Months. Clean it and look inside and then you'll know for sure if there's any sign of Pitting.
You cant always go by the Color of your Patch after Swabbing, sometimes there's a reaction to whatever you use and causes the Patch to be Brown even though it's not Rust but appears to be so.
I have seen a few MLers go Bad after what you described you did though.
(BP)
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Clean it up - might even have to use some JB's, but it might not be near as bad as think it could be. Especially if the load was contaminated by oil running down the lands to the powder charge. I guess I assume you stored it vertically.
But, that is another good thing about TC - you can send it to them and you might be surprised what they might be able to with it.
On the other hand...
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Keep on Shooting Muzzleloaders they are a Blast
I cleaned it with the TC no 13 bore clean I got on the way in to town yesterday. She cleaned up great. The bore looked as good as she did new.
Last time I shot it I fired it cleaned it spotless and oiled, then a week later when I went out hunting I loaded it after a few clean patches to remove oil. So it was clean when stored or it would have been cleaned.
No rust it looked perfect, I am guessing the brown/gold color was copper fouling and such. I was worried cause there seemed to be a build of of rough rust but when I ran the brass brush through it it came out and was just fouled powder and fouling.
Wont be left loaded again, glad it was no worst then out of the box. It did fire fine, I had two shots 1/2 from each other and the third was off on it's own but that was my goof with the lead sled.
I think part of it is I use 777 and not true black powder.
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Si vis pacem, para bellum.
If you want peace, prepare for war.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it's natural manure." - Thomas Jefferson
Team 17: Kickers and Stickers
I suspect those few clean patches didn't get enough of the oil out before you loaded it. They will seldom get the oil that resides at the front of the plug right against the barrel. It would take very very little oil to contaminate some of the powder over a ten month period.
When I'm loading on a clean barrel and expect it to stay loaded for a while if I don't get a shot, I swab with a very wet alcohol patch and then a dry patch or two. Then after I load the bullet I run a lightly oiled patch down to the nose of the bullet, then a dry patch. Never any rust and always a full charge BOOM.
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Things I've Learned: (1) It's not possible to please everyone, but quite easy to piss everyone off. (2) If you love animals as I do, then you're not a vegetarian. (3) There's no need to act stupid, even if you're very good at it. (4) If you eat right and exercise, don't smoke or drink, you're going to die anyway.
what a let down
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