How to clear a obstructed muzzle loader barrel

[Dragonflydf]

This morning I picked up a Cabellas Hawkings .50. Overall it is very good shape with a few stock bangs and such, but there was one little problem. Someone had managed to break off the end of the ram rod in the barrel, almost at the breech plug. I had to clear the barrel if I wanted anything more than a wall hanger.
The cap nipple is 6mm x.75 thread, which just happens to be the same thread as a metric grease zerk fitting. I removed the barrel and nipple, installed a metric grease zerk and grabbed the grease gun and went to town. In less the 5 minutes, the end of the rod and patch were pushed out of the barrel by the grease, a quick blow out of the barrel with compressed nitrogen and a good washing out with brake cleaner and a barrel brush and it is good to go.

Here is the thing that caused all the problems



The gease zerk in place of the precussion cap nipple

the tools I used


and here it is, ready to go to the range and let the world hear it's roar.

Information

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[AZPhil]

Now thats slick!(No pun intended)

[jimb16]

You could have just used the nitrogen. It would have blown the tip and patch out without wasting the grease.

[Dragonflydf]

no, because I had no way to attach the hose to the barrel,and I don't think I could hold a hose against the nipple fitting with close to 2000 PSI coming out of the hose, also I did not want a projectile coming out of the barrel suddenly. The grease allows for a very controlled push, also, nitrogen is up to 2000psi, a grease gun can do close to 7,000 PSI

[RobSmith]

Interesting idea. I do wonder if such a "device" could be made in such a way that the nuzzle screws in where the nipple would normally go, and ultimately standardized.

Also good for storage once the hunting season is over.

[SmokeP]

You can get a compresed air devicce that will clear out the barrell of 99.9% of obstructions. It is just a C02 cylinder that screws into the nipple threads. They come with adapters for the various sizes of nipple. Just check out Midway, Cabella's, Gander Mountain or Natchez Shooters Supply.

[Dragonflydf]

and pay $40, vs $1 for a zerk fitting and $3 for grease. I'll pay the $4, and keep the other $36 for other things.

[armouredtrooper]

My .50 cal is identical to yours, down to the trigger guard and patchbox. Do you have a set trigger and is yours made by investarms in Italy as well?
50 gns of triple 7 FF. I find is accurate for patched ball at 60 meters
I replaced my rear sight with a Tang mounted graduated style peep site.
The front sight I replaced with a fiber optic sight for low lite conditions.

[Dragonflydf]

It sounds like we have the same rifles. Mine was missing a thimble and of course, I did not have a ram rod. I contacted the manufacturer in Italy and the parts I needed were going to run me $100. I called Cabellas and all the parts from them including a extra thimble and a clean out screw were $51.

I am shooting 100gr with a patched ball.

The greatest thing about shooting a smokepole is getting to teach others how to shoot them. I was at the range on Friday and there was a guy shooting in the lane next to me, that when I fired off a round he said That was great. I asked him if he would like to try it. You never saw a bigger grin. I have a rule that if you want to shoot my smokepole, you have to load it yourself, so I showed him how to load it and fired off that round and handed him the rifle.
I coached him thru the measuring of powder, seating the ball, putting the cap on and using the set triggers. After he fired it, his grin was even bigger than before.

[Bob Womack]

With a percussion rifle, do you still the the satisfying time-lagged "Ka-pow!" with the gap 'twixt the pops of primer and main charge? 'Tis a lovely thing.

Bob