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Old November 13, 2013, 05:52 PM   #6
Captchee
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 2, 2013
Posts: 439
Warning .
Oiling the charge will NOT nullify the charge . again it will NOT nullify a BP charge . the only thing it will do is raise the ignition temperature .
I have personally had old original charges go off while heating breech plugs after those barrels have been set to soak in oil tanks for up to a week ..
At one time I thought this not to be the case .

Its not uncommon to Buy loaded muzzle loading guns , be they original or reproductions . I have bout barrels from e-bay that showed up loaded with old original charges .
a lot of times people don’t even know they are loaded . I have even had cases where people brought me old guns that after I informed them they were loaded , they remarked how they had played with the gun when they were kids , even to the point of holding matches to the nipples and such.
Anyway , some years back I was working on an original set of SXS barrels that were over 130 years old . The barrels had a charge in them so I set them in a 50 gal drum of oil for over a week .
I then removed th barrels and drilled through the charge . What came out looked like dirt .
I then removed the nipples and drilled through the flash channel .
We went to de breech the barrels and found the plugs would not budge . So we went to apply some heat .a torch was held to the flash channel for a couple second with no ignition . So we ste the barrel to a barrel vice and began to heat the plugs while apply pressure from a breech plug wrench . Just as the first plug began to turn the barrel went off . A split second later the 2nd barrel went off .

Even though charges had been drilled and air could be pushed through the bore . There was still enough powder in the 12 gage bores to blow 2 ,1 inch deep holes in the floor .

Never ever think that concerning BP that you have nullified the charge . Even if you soak it in water . All the chemicals are still there unless the powder is actually rinsed completely out , the only thing you will do is raise the ignition temperature. Once it dries out or the resulting paste reaches the required temperature , it will go off

Co2 discharges work and work well as long as the charge has not set to strongly to the bore .
If the discharger does not blow the charge what I often do is try an air compressor. If that wont budge it , then carfuly remove the nipple and replace it with a grease zert . Use a grease gun to start to move the charge . One it moves or begins to move , then go back to the air compressor to blow it the rest of the way out .
If this is an original piece and the charge has set itself , there is a good chance the bore in the area of the charge will have been damaged beyond repair

Last edited by Captchee; November 13, 2013 at 06:12 PM.
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