I was RO for a competition today and had a young man come in with a brand new rifle to learn to use. It was a Traditions PA rifle in 50 caliber, percussion, 1:66 twist. He was using Goex FFg, a .490 round ball, Ox-Yoke 0.015" patches. He fired a cap downrange and another at a leaf...it moved.
He loaded 65 grains of powder, put a patch on top of the powder and fired it down range. Then he dampened a patch with a citrus cleaner and wiped the bore, down, up and out. Then loaded 65 grains of powder, patch and ball. At 25 yards he scored a hit inside a 3 inch circle. Wipe the bore with a damp patch, load and fire. Slightly off, but good. Wipe, load, fire. He did four shots this way.
On the fifth = misfire. The cap went off but not the powder charge. New cap, no go. Removed the clean out screw and there was a "wall" of [hard] carbon in the drum between the nipple and the powder charge. Broke through it, put things together, put a new cap on and it went off. Wipe, load, fire - misfire. Same thing, a hard carbon "wall" between the nipple and the powder charge. Two more times this happens.
Changed from the Ox-Yoke patch to my cut patching, pillow ticking lubricated with 7:1 water soluble oil and water - From Dutch Schultz's method. Same thing, three times.
Upped the charge from 65 to 70 grains Goex FFg. No improvement.
Changed from Goex FFg to 65 grains Goex FFFg. Short story, no improvement.
I've seen a carbon deposit form on the face of the clean out screw but never between the nipple and powder charge.
Can anyone give me an idea as to why and what can I tell this young man to cure the problem? He's really excited about getting into muzzle loading and I don't want to dampen his excitement.
Thanks