Well, I am getting back to using my sidelock hunting. But cheated this weekend as it was pouring rain all early ML season. I took a deer with my inline.

But I still havn't given up on using my sidelock this year. When I used to shoot it, I had the occasional misfire. I always contributed it to oil in the barrel. Thats been years ago. But I hear of folks putting some flash powder in the nipple hole. Just a tad to ensure fire? Anyone else do that with flash or even ffg? Does it affect accuracy?

I have a new englander sidelock in 54 cal.made by t/c never had to put powder in the nipple area to shoot.I think snapping a couple of caps before the main charge is drop is the way to go.
I snap 3 caps ,then run a clean patch in the barrel then use a well scraper with a clean patch .load the main charge and cap,I can say I never had a mis-fire.I also found a new nipple like hot shot work great and I use RWS 1075+ caps .

Yes, I have powdered the nipple lots of times. Especially when sitting on a stand. I will take out the nipple and drizzle a little powder in there and put it back. Be careful you do not put too much under there. It might cause a fuse effect.

Thanks cayugad, I will experiment a tad. Lone, if you ML hunt long enough, sooner or later, you will have a misfire.We all have taken deer with ML, thats not the question. But I like to discuss different aspects of ML. Don't you?

BC- before switching over to my Encore a few years ago, I often sprinkled a little bit of powder underneath the nipple of my T/C Renegade to make sure the charge lit when I fired. Prior to that, I also fired a dry cap to burn off any moisture that may be lurking underneath.
Maybe these two steps were a bit of an overkill, but I never had a misfire.

Most people use it if they have a misfire, usually it works.

I have been using a Traditions Deerhunter 50 cal. for the last 18 years. I always put alittle powder under the nipple to avoid misfires. I haven't felt the need to change over to an inline for I have filled my ticket with my Traditions every year. If it not broke then don't fix it. Or maybe I just love old school.

I don't remove the nipple to place a charge underneath. If I remove the nipple (which I do after 25 shots or so) then I detail clean with alcohol the nipple and flash channel in the bolster or detail clean the powder drum.

Prior to going shooting:
Swab clean the bore and run a natural lube patch.
Pull the nipple and clean with alcohol inside and out and dry completely.
Then "fish" the flash channel in the bolster with alcohol soaked pipe cleaners to remove any oil. Follow with dry pipe cleaners.

Then grease (I use Birchwood/Casey Choke Tube Lube) the threads in bolster and nipple and snug in the nipple.

If your rifle has a powder drum, remove the nipple, cleanout screw and powder drum and clean with alcohol inside and out and dry completeley. Clean the drum port on the barrel with alcohol and dry.
Then re-assemble with anti-seize lube.

When loading, ensure that the lock is on "half-cock" to allow air to escape when loading powder and projectile. Otherwise then charge powder does not "collect" into the flash channel near the nipple.

Also, when adding powder "bump" the barrel 3-4 timesnear thenipple/bolster with the heel of your palm. This is to collect powder into the flash channel under the nipple.

On occassion every 5-10 shots use a nipple pick to clean the nipple port.
And remove the cleanout on powder drums and fish with a pipe cleaner.

RWS Dynamit-Nobel #1075 caps.

After several thousand caplock shots, I think I can only recall a handfull of times when I had a misfire and that was at the range. Those were due to cleaning when I either used too much alcohol or spit on a patch and forced liquid down into the flash channel near the nipple.

Otherwise I have never had a misfire in a hunting situation following the above procedure.

Good luck.

Tahquamenon