ORIGINAL: metaldonnieg
I was super excited today because I was going to get to take a trip to the range and sight in the Bobcat. I also took my Savage .270 and S&W 9mm and I'm glad I did, otherwise it would've been a wasted trip.
I got out there and ripped off a couple of shots with the .270 and while letting the barrel cool I was going to work on the Bobcat some. I swabbed 2 wets and a dry just like always and sent 90g Pyrodex RS, the patch, and the ball down the tube. I capped like always, drew a sight picture at 50 yards and squeezed the trigger.
That was one of the most disappointing excuses for a bang ever. I've had a hang fire before so I just held the sight picture for around a minute or so and recapped and tried again. Same story. This time I laid the rifle down pointing down range and shot the other guns a bit and came back and tried capping and shooting again. Nothing.
Long story short I tried everything I could think of to get it to shoot but it looks like I'm just going to have to pull the load.
I feel pretty sure that I know what caused it, too. When I cleaned it for storage and I put that Bore Butter down the barrel I bet it packed the nipple area full of it and even though I picked at it I probably just moved it around.
Any advice on what to do here? Like I said, as far as I know I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to pull it. Any advice for that other than make the powder inert, be careful, and have patience?
[hr]
First off, so you're sure the rifle is still loaded. You said you had a hang fire. But did the rifle actually fire? Put the ramrod down the barrel and it should almost disappear down the bore if the rifle is not loaded.
If the rifle is loaded, I think you might be onto the problem of why this happened, with the over bore butter problem. First thing we need to do is to get that rifle unloaded.
If you have an air compresser, remove the nipple, with a jet air attachment, put the end in the nipple port hole and apply air until the pressure blows the projectile out the end of the barrel. Aim it at a cardboard box or something. You will see the ball come out and hit the box. Sometimes it is necessary to put a small piece of something to make a good seal on the jet air attachment to the rifle.
If you have a ball puller, then pull the ball. With all the bore butter in there it should come out pretty easy. Some people drown the load, I personally do not. That is my business though, and any manual will tell you to pour water down that barrel and kill the powder charge.
If you were on the range I would tell you to pull the nipple and pack Pyrodex into the bolster through the nipple screw out port. Then replace the nipple. With your ramrod make sure the projectile is seated properly, and now fire the load out the end of the barrel. Aim at something you are sure that you will be able to spot the ball hitting. But do not aim right in front of your feet like I saw one person do. Lucky he did not shoot his toe off.
If you swab with bore butter it is critical that you get as much of that stuff out of the barrel before loading, as possible. Normally some dry patches will pull it out. Also before you load, put a clean patch on your ramrod jag. Push that down the barrel to the breech. Now pop a cap. Pull the patch and see if there are burn marks. If there is not, that means the fire channel is not open. Pop three caps through the rifle and repeat the patch test. Do not load that rifle until that patch comes back burned.
I hope you get everything squared away. Nothing worse then going to the range and have something like that happen.