Good Day at the Range

[mb3]

Ok so today was a good day. I took my Armisports CS Richmond to the range and for once had no failures to fire. I have had this rifle for about 18 months and every time I have taken her to the range I could get 3 to 4 shots out and FTF. I would take her down clean out the flash hole reprime and boom, two more rounds same thing. Today I shot 20 rounds without an issue. What I did different; I used SPG instead of Wonder lube, and I did a little work to the flash hole. Now I don’t recommend people try this as I have heard it could result in excess pressure, but I very carefully opened my flash hole by about 1/32 of an inch using a drill bit. I am not sure which remedy had more effect but no FTF and good performance is a good thing.
One difference I noted using the SPG lube was my rifle was a little harder to clean (could have been the higher round count).
I like this rifle it appears to be well made and it is accurate. Today I shot OS Minnie balls on 55 gr of Goex FFG. I shot at 75 yards on a steel plate (6 x8) and that got old quick- boom/ding. So I moved back to 120 yards on the same plate kneeling, and was able to get two out of four hits. I then moved to an eight by ten paper target and shooting from the kneeling was able to keep about 75 % of my shots on paper. My misses were all right of the target, but close to level with the bulls eye. I attribute this to the heavy trigger pull, heat, and the need for more practice.
One issue I ran into was while trying to shoot patched ball. I was trying to load a .570 ball with .015 patch, and could not get it to load easily. The patches I was using were the OX Lube prelubed patches. I thought it might need more lube so I threw on some Wonder Lube and forced the ball down the barrel. Got it about half was and the ball slide down very easy- like magic. As it turned out the magic was the patch stuck and the ball slid by. Fired the charge and hit the berm/ missed the target entirely. How much force should it take to properly load patched ball? My Richmond is a 58 cal and the patch and ball I used is the recommended size and thickness. Afterwards I thought maybe my barrel was too dirty for the ball and patch to load. Is there a recommended cleaning interval when shooting patched ball? Any other tips you guys would like to offer regarding shooting patched ball would be appreciated.

[pastore]

One issue I ran into was while trying to shoot patched ball.

You will notice that the ball/patch combination you were using is being loaded into a 58 cal weapon. .570+.015=.585. Your rifle was designed to fire Minne balls. It is not rifled for use with round ball.

[mb3]

I know my rifle was designed to shoot minnies but I thought I could also shoot PRB. I wonder if I could use .010 patches?

[Eggman]

During competition it is common for round ballers to clean after EVERY SHOT. In addition a clean bore makes loading the patched round ball much easier. You should be able to push the ball down by tapping it moderately with your loading stick. If you are using a loat of muscularity you need a thinner patch. If not cleaning between shots I recommend a "wet" lube like water and Black Solve -- disolves fouling while loading.
Like the man said your musket is designed for minies. Find the right bullet and load and nirvana awaits.
DId you drill out the base of your nipple?? Bad idea. If you want to do machine work have a machinist flesh out your flash channel. When you clean the gun do you flush out the breach vigorously with hot water -- get all the fouling out of the breach???
What kind of caps are you using. Are they by chance the new CCI wimp caps??
Any chance you could come up for like a Deep South skirmish sometime and hook up with some of our old pros??

[mb3]

Eggman,
Thank you for the information. I did drill out the base of the nipple last year in desperation, but it had no effect on the FTF. All it did was cause the hammer to reset. I threw that nipple away. I generally am very handy with most things mechanical and I have worked on many modern firearms. What I did was as you called it fleshed out the flash channel. In regard to the caps I have been using both the CCI and RWS four winged caps, both had the same effect, which eventually led me to fleshing out the flash channel. I may have gotten lucky but she works like a charm now. I think I am going try the .010 and .005 lubed patches, as it is obvious I am using way too much force to get the ball seated. Regarding cleaning: I use hot soapy water and clean everything thoroughly. I then leave everything with a light coat of Bore Butter, and then come back the next day or two and recheck that the rifle is clean. I have been reading more about cleaning with glass cleaner and may give that a try. I am considering trying to make it up for the Battle of Olustee in September.

[Eggman]

Sounds good. The flash channel work was an excellent move so long as the nipple threads weren't affected. Here's hoping you can make it a bit further north and hook up with some N-SSA folks.
To give you an example of the difference between N-SSA skirmisher vs. reenactor, the N-SSA has Charlie Smithgal who has fired THOUSANDS of LIVE artillery rounds and won numerous chamionships with his big guns. Charlie is a world class expert on Civil War artillery and a fountgain of good information. In contrast I'll sites the time about fifteen years ago when I had the pleasure of watching an impressive performance by a reenactor artillery crew at Petersburg. It rolled in, swung into action, and fired a blank for the great enjoyment of all. Later among the blizzard of questions from the spectators I asked the gun commander if he had ever competed with his gun. He said no, but they had actually fired a live round out of the thing at a range several years before.
I've also had discussions with some of the reenactor infantry folks, one who blithly told me he generally loaded his musket with about 170 grains of powder and used a chunk of sod for his "wad." VERY dangerous.
Now nothing against our reenactor friends, but if you want to learn about musket shooting, or any other type of Civil War shooting, please
go with the folks that fire the guns "for real."

[matt]

N-ssa members who also reenact tend to have the best maintained weapons on the field whether its a musket revolver or cannon they are also usually more in tune about who made the style of weapon and how it was actually designed to be used.
Mack

[Edwin Flint, 8427]

What we are saying is, a re-enactment is nice for show and such, but if you want to really shoot these guns, hook up with the NSSA live fire bunch. :D

[Southron Sr.]

You shouldn't be having trouble with mis-fires.

Here are some causes:

(1) You are not cleaning all the oil out of your barrel before you load your first round. When I am shooting on my range, I snap a few caps and then normally fire one "blank" charge before loading a live round. That blank charge dries out the breech. IF the blank charge misfires, all I have to do is point the muzzle at the ground and shake the remaining powder out. Then I run a cleaning rod & dry patch down the barrel, remove it and try another blank charge

(2) Your ""Clean Out Screw" might be too long. That could interfere with the cap flash making its way to the powder charge in the breech. Have you removed your Clean Out Screw, checked its length and then cleaned out the flash channel?

(3) After your barrel heats up from a few shots, oil migrates from the breechplug and/or the threads of the breech shoe, killing your powder charge. This usually problem usually cures itself after about 40 or 50 shots.

(4) Make sure your musket is unloaded and the barrel is "Squeaky Clean." Then get a small, powerful flashlight and go into a dark room. Look down into your bore. There is the off chance you might have the skirt of a Minie Ball lodged in your breech. Or you might have the build-up of "Cake" (a hard ring of powder fouling around the face of the breech plug.)
A Minie Ball skirt will have to be removed before the gun will be safe to shoot again. This might entail pulling the breech or breech plug. This might be a job for a professional gunsmith.

(5) Whenever I buy a new gun, the first thing I do is unscrew the nipple that comes with it and THROW IT AWAY. Google up "The House Of Muskets" and order a couple of AMPCO Nipples from them for your musket. Just make sure that they are of the COPRECT THREAD for your musket.

AMPCO nipples are made out of Beryllium which is a hard "Space Age" metal. AMPCO nipples will last much longer than steel nipples and don't "Burn Out" nearly as fast. IF you look at the bottom end of an AMPCO nipple, all you will see is an .028" Flash Hole. This looks about the diameter of your average sewing straight pin.

What the flash channel in an AMPCO nipple does is to "Focus" the flash from the cap, increasing the reliability of your musket. (In other words, it goes "BANG" everytime you pull the trigger.) It also prevents "Back Pressure" from the shot from exiting back thru the nipple.

Here is the problem with steel nipples: Their flash channel tends to erode and increase in diameter from the hot gases of the cap and also the hot gases from the discharge of the shot over time. I have seen nipples so "eroded" that when the arm is fired, the back pressure from the shot actually sends fragments of the spent cap flying and at the same time, re-cocks the hammer. In addition, the shooter gets some hot gases back in his face IF NOT some cap fragments.

So, by "drilling out" your nipple, you are just accelerating the wear process. Don't take shooting advice from re-enactors. Nuf-Said.

GOOD LUCK! Let us know how you solved your musket's misfire problem! We all are curious!

[mb3]

She is shooting good now, no more failures to fire. I am waiting for my .010 and .005 patches to arrive so I can try firing the PRB again.

[Edwin Flint, 8427]

Patched round balls should work very well with your gun. Used them several times teaching the 4-Her's BP shooting.

[Eggman]

A couple of other quick comments. You do have a short starter right?? And you can use any fabric for patching as long as it's pure cotton. Pillow ticking used to be most common; it comes in a variety of thicknesses.

[bilge water bob]

She is shooting good now, no more failures to fire. I am waiting for my .010 and .005 patches to arrive so I can try firing the PRB again.
mb3,

when I had mine, I had misfires due to the lock plate scews being reversed (back in front-front in back) if you look at them, the one that should be in the front is convex and if it's switched and put in the back, it will slow your hammer down. I was having this issue and an old crusty long time n-ssa member pointed it out to me and low and behold, I never had a misfire again.

[mb3]

Follow Up for My Original Post:
I went to the range today with my .010 and .005 lubed patches. I fired 10 shots using the .010 patch, .570 ball, 50 gr 777 and CCI 4 wing caps. The ranges were from 50 to 100 yards. Loading was fairly easy and became slightly more difficult as the round count went up but all was well. I used a large target (a B21 silhouette) so aim small miss small was out the window, but my 5 shots from 100 yards kneeling were within about eight inches of each other, centered on the target and reasonably close to point of aim. The 5 shots at 50 yards were fired standing and were about six to eight inches high but all solid hits. I did manage one head shot from the 50, once I figured out how far to hold low. I normally use Goex 2f but went with the 777 today because it is a little easier to clean up, and I had limited time after my range trip to clean. I was very happy with the range session; had no hang fires and the loading went well. I want to thank everyone for their suggestions and tips.

[xring2245]

She is shooting good now, no more failures to fire. I am waiting for my .010 and .005 patches to arrive so I can try firing the PRB again.

Don't waste your money on thin patches. You want to use .018-.023" thick patches. You might need a rubber mallet to get them started, but this is what you need for best accuracy. Anything that slides down the bore easily will NOT give you the best accuracy.

Here's an illustration: I was at a Brandywine Longrifles shoot yesterday in Southern Chester County, PA. I started out shooting .490 RBs with a .018" ticking patch. I was doing well. I shot four targets and took a second and a third place with this combo. After lunch, we had four more matches to shoot. I changed to a .500 RB and .023" ticking patch. My accuracy tightened up noticeably and I took two more awards on four very difficult targets. My first load was a hunting load; my second was my target load for the gun. A big improvement... A tighter ball/patch combination will give you the best accuracy assuming you will spend the time to find the best powder charge for the load.

Hope this helps.

James