Powder FIRST!

[indian joe]

+1
Just had to clear the barrel on a Neighbor's ML a couple of days ago. Drizzled in as much as I could get, screwed the nipple back in, capped and let her rip, went over 12" in the wet clay of my berm. I stopped digging after 12".

12 inches into a clay bank ? dont sound like he dry balled it to me - more like let the powder channel get clogged up and she wouldnt fire the charge ................................................

[GregLaROCHE]

I once loaded a normal charge to mark my ramrod. This was in my basement, so I planed to remove the charge with a screw worm I had recently purchased. I couldn’t get the screw to stay in the ball. It kept stripping out. I finally went outside and shot it. Only drawback was I had to clean the gun just the same as if I had shot it a couple of dozen times.

I started trying to figure out why the screw worm Wouldn’t work. I found that some sold have deeper threads cut into them than the one I bought. So if someone is buying a screw worm, pay attention to that. Also people have told me that it’s important not to screw it in too tight, because it expands the ball making it a tighter fit.

The time I actually dry balled, I was at the firing line and besides being a bit embarrassed, I didn’t want to take the time to leave to deal with it. I was shooting a Flintlock, so I couldn’t unscrew the nipple and put a little powder in. It took a little time, but I was able to work enough 4F through the touch hole and the ball came out with a plop. So that method can work too, even in a flintlock.

[Martin Luber]

mnemonic till it is in there, powder, patch, ball, powder, patch, ball, powder, patch, ball

roll:

The restvof the quote...

Follow this rule Or it won't shoot at all!