Click! (I need a new gun!!!)
 

Hey guys I need recommendations on a new gun??

But first I would like to vent if I may.

I never get out much at the end of the season during muzzleloader so I have never taken a deer with Black powder....

I have a CVA Firebolt or something (its an inline from 2003).

Anyway yesterday I was tracking deer in the snow and didnt see anything until about 5 miles later and at 4:00 a doe jumped up but had no idea and wasnt really frightened. I dipped my primos can and walked up another 10 feet and noticed she hadnt taken off and I could see her in the pines...She trotted out of the pines into the open at 45 yards and I grunted to stop her BROADSIDE 45 YARDS looking the other way! I cranked the scope up and settled right behind her shoulder....CLICK! The gun didnt go off!!!! I fumbled to get another primer in and she took off. I was so bummed. I got another primer in and the gun fired. What happend I guess was the primer froze or got iced. I had slipped and fell in the snow with the gun earlier....

Any recommendations on a VERY Reliable gun where the primer is not exposed to the elements????

Anyone want to buy a CVA?

Thanks for letting me vent! and thank you for any recs

Jim

RE: Click! (I need a new gun!!!)
 

Well, any of the "break action" inlines have the primer enclosed. This might be the time to either get one of the CVA's like a Wolf, Optima,a TC Encore or Pro Hunteror a TCOmega. CVA Buckhorn or Kodiak that aren't break action, but have enclosed breech. Some states require open breeches - check your reg's. And ALWAYS check everything out real well if you stumble or fall (of course, you know that now).
Good Luck

RE: Click! (I need a new gun!!!)
 

Thanks Jaybe for the recs on guns...my buddy is telling me to check out the TC Omega's for sure. He has one of them and a Knight Disc Extreme.

I like the shorter barrell and the Omega X7 looks awesome but I am a little cheap on spending that much plus I need a scope.

Also I did check the gun really good and blew out the snow everywhere...I should have changed the load and the primer (the load ended up being fine...it was the iced up primer)

PS I like the ripped up ear on the deer in your avatar. My buddy shot one this year that had an ear that was just demolished.

Jim

RE: Click! (I need a new gun!!!)
 

I don't think you NEED a new gun...you just got unlucky, or maybe a little careless. If you got moisture on the rifle during your fall, the best thing to do is wipe off as much moisture as possible and then CHANGE THE CAP/PRIMER. Just takes a tiny drop of water to inert a primer. Also, did you snap a primer or two before you loaded the rifle to clear any oil, moisture or crud from the flashhole? If it wasn't the moisture contamination from your fall, then it sounds like a clogged flashhole is the culprit.

Chalk it up to a hard lesson learned. I bet you won't make that same mistake again.

Mike

RE: Click! (I need a new gun!!!)
 

Actually if the rifle did not fire it could be for a number of reasons. You hate to throw out a rifle that you know is accurate. Old primers ... maybe. Brand of primers.. most likely, just your luck.. I would guess that way.

Yet, since the rifle primer did not fire, I suspect a couple things. Perhaps due to the weather the spring that controls the force of the striker, be it a hammer striker or firing pin, got wet when you reported you fell. Of just the annual snow fall was enough to settle in the wrong place and compromise that mechanical condition of the rifle. That little moisture was enough over time to freeze in place. So when you fired the rifle, it slowed all things down enough that it was not able to hit the primer with sufficient force to cause the primer to ignite. Of course after your first attempt the ice or what ever that might have formed was shaken off the mechanical part of the rifle that assists in the ignition of the primer and hence your second one went off without a flaw. That would be my first guess.

Another perhaps scenario would be that over time the accumulation of oil and dust in the hammer striker area, or the firing pin area also stiffened under the weather conditions you faced and like the last scenario. Oil can be a danger in any cold weather hunting conditions when you face moisture or frigid temperatures. Even modern center fire rifles can fall prey to this one. So it is a matter of proper cleaning and getting the rifle ready for cold weather conditions. When I hunt in the cold, I clean all the oils off the hammer striker/ what ever area and then apply a light coat of silicone spray.

These two scenario could be faulted on just your dumb luck, or not using proper maintenance to meet the challenge of what the rifle was going to beintroduced into. This is not the rifles fault...

Primers are normally water proof. You can drop them, even soak them, and they normally go off. You might have just picked the lucky primer. Again, this is dumb luck and I advise you not to waste money on the current lottery in your state with luck such as you would have displayed.

I would guess, had you simply re cocked the rifle and tried the first primer over.. it would have fired. It could have moved back even a small amount to cushion the blow of the striker, The first strike would have seated it, the second would have fired it. It sounds like instead, you simply removed it and replaced it..

As for buying a new rifle.. as a wise man once said when his better half was not listening.. "Now is the time for all good men to purchase a new rifle and sneak it into the house." Perhaps a T/C product, or a Knight product. It sounds like you have had enough of the BPI line of rifles. Any of them are excellent choices...

RE: Click! (I need a new gun!!!)
 

First off are you using #11 caps? if so the 209 systems offer some advantages unless you like a side lock.
To me all the money and time that I put into a hunt requires tools that I have complete confidence in, you proably would not believe how many muzzleloaders I have bought or built since 1962 and I shot them before that of all of them I like the new TC Triumph the best for quite a number of reasons. I had a CVA once too,some people like them mine was not reliable. I have an Omega and like it very much,as a rule they are an excellant choice the Triumph is really a much improved Omega [and that says a lot] but a sabot gun is an open system with out doing some thing about it you can get water in both ends of almost if not all of them. There are ways of dealing with that, #1 water can and will get past the sabot if given a chance but a finger cot over the end of the barrel will stop it. Even most of the closed actions leak water in if the circumstances are right, but the Omega and the Triump and likely a few of the others can be sealed by putting bees wax or candle wax over the outer back of the barrel where it meets the action. Lee

RE: Click! (I need a new gun!!!)
 

Sounds like ya should have reprimed when you fell in the snow. I have a Winchester X-150, exposed primer, and never had a misfire in wet weather.

RE: Click! (I need a new gun!!!)
 

You can buy a stainless/black Omega now for a little over $300... I had one of these and sold it to fund a Pro-Hunter and while the PH is awesome it has a awesome price tag.I really miss my Omega... they may go down in history as one of the best muzzleoaders of all time. So I say go get yourself one of these... and while your at it, get a Leupold scope, shoot APP, and Nosler bullets...;)

RE: Click! (I need a new gun!!!)
 

I second this. Generally, when a caplock rifle, inline of sidelock, fails to fire, but the primer did, it is due to there being something in the flash channel that diverts or blocks the primer flame. If the primer failed to fire, it very easioy might have if you had just recocked the gun and tried it gain, as Cayugad suggested. Sometimes a primer is not fully seated, and the srtiker blow is partially absorbed by re-seating the primer, and it does not hit hard enough to fire it the first time. Your fall could have contributed to this.

If one is hunting in conditions which can permit the primer,cap and nipple to get wet, it is a simple matter to wrap a strip of kitchen plastic wrap around the lock section to keep water out. Most guns can be fired without having to even remove this stuff first, especially if you have a scope on the gun so the wrapping is not blocking your sighting equipment..

RE: Click! (I need a new gun!!!)
 

Might also try some duct tape to help water proof the area...