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Old September 16, 2012, 07:14 PM   #1
Roshi
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Range mistake

Imade a major mistake today loading my Pietta 1851 Navy. Got distracted and placed a Wonder Wad over an empty chamber. The cap went bang and the cylinder wouldn't turn. The ball was lodged half way into the forcing cone. Of course the loading lever was lined up with an empty chamber. Finally placed a screw driver to bridge the gap over the hole and pulled off the barrel. Got the ball out of the forcing cone with the edge of a sharp knife.

Be paying a lot more attention next time.
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Old September 16, 2012, 10:09 PM   #2
4V50 Gary
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Stuff like that does happen. You learn from experience.
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Old September 16, 2012, 10:50 PM   #3
Fingers McGee
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There are two types of C&B revolver shooters.

1. Shooters that have made a bonehead mistake like that, and:
2. Shooters that are going to make a bonehead mistake like that.

There are more of us #1 boneheads out there than you know.
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Last edited by Fingers McGee; September 17, 2012 at 06:47 PM.
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Old September 17, 2012, 09:32 AM   #4
Noz
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I have NEVER done a dry load(no powder) such as that since April 2012 and I have NEVER NEVER loaded a chamber with the wad under the powder since December 2011.
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Old September 17, 2012, 05:14 PM   #5
straight-shooter
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I once loaded 5 chambers correctly but left a ball out of the sixth with only powder and a wad in that hole. Made a nice POOF! LOL
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Old September 17, 2012, 05:50 PM   #6
Shotput79
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Run a patch & ball down the bbl of my Hawken without the powder first.
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Old September 17, 2012, 07:20 PM   #7
PetahW
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Now ye know what a "dry-ball" means...........



.
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Old September 18, 2012, 12:42 AM   #8
brazosdave
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I too loaded a a wad and ball in with no powder. Had to take out the nipple and use a small punch to pop the ball out. Talk about embarrassing! I definitely did not feel cowboy that day, lol!
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Old September 18, 2012, 07:25 AM   #9
mykeal
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Those things happen when you get distracted during loading. Make it a practice to never answer a question or acknowledge anyone in the middle of loading. It's no insult to say, "Be with you in a second.", finish loading and THEN answer the question.

How do I know this?

Was cleaning the ROA one evening when the wife dumped part of a hot soup pot on the kitchen floor. Took an hour to get it all cleaned up and of course I helped. Went back downstairs, cleaned up the work area, put the guns away and went back upstairs. Next day at the range I was demonstrating how to load the ROA for some newbies and one of them mentioned that there was black powder all over the floor and my shoes. Forgot to put the nipples back in.

You'd think you could eventually live something like that down. Believe me, ain't gonna happen.
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Old September 18, 2012, 07:52 AM   #10
bedbugbilly
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I've never done it - YET - but I have come very close to it - but sooner or later, it happens! By the same token though, I have forgotten to cap my rifle!

I can remember being at an informal shoot with about 7 or 8 guys one Sunday - we were taking our time and just having an elimination shoot - I think we were shooting at cans or something. We were all standing there watching one of the fellows reload his flintlock rifle as he was up next and I swear that none of us even caught on that he hadn't put powder down the bore - and we were all watching him load! So I guess you could say that all of us were "boneheads" that day!

Glad you were able to get it taken care of and hope it didn't spoil the rest of your shooting time - just remember our forefathers had the same problems we do!
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Old September 18, 2012, 09:01 AM   #11
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Had a buddy that broke himself from smoking with a Thompson contender by having a lit cigarette in his mouth while putting powder in his barrel. The ashes fell from his smoke into the barrel and ignited the powder, blowing the cap off of his head, and burning his eyebrows off. He hasn't smoked another cigarette since.
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Old September 18, 2012, 03:53 PM   #12
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BTDT. You get better over time ('cept for poor ol' NOZ).

Ever done the opposite: putting way too much powder in the chamber and can't even get close to seating the ball? Besides whittling the ball with a pocket knife, the Colt's are cool 'cause you can knock the gun apart rotate the bulging chamber in line with the barrel at full cock then re-attach the barrel, cap, & shoot it out. I still live by the adage that you can't overload a cap & ball revolver. So far, so good (still got all my fingers, eyes and toes).
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Old September 18, 2012, 04:24 PM   #13
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Not lost; just a might confused for a time

Quote:
Those things happen when you get distracted during loading. Make it a practice to never answer a question or acknowledge anyone in the middle of loading. It's no insult to say, "Be with you in a second.", finish loading and THEN answer the question.
Absolutely and if you load long enough, you will get a Dry-Ball, along with other silly stuff. Mostly just lose your place. ....
During last Saturday's hunter safety class, we had a large number of students and as usual, I do most of the talking and all of the loading. When I start loading, I tell the students to save any questions till we finished shooting. I had to load two M/L's to keep up. Even at that, a couple of times I lost track of what was loaded and not. More than once, I had to refer to my marked range-rod. Same range-rod with two marks. ...

Be Safe !!!
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Old September 19, 2012, 01:57 PM   #14
orangello
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Don't feel bad, my nephew managed to load two lead round ball projectiles into a chamber on his 1858 Remington replica, then the cylinder wouldn't turn.
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Old September 19, 2012, 07:57 PM   #15
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In my cap and ball shooting box are two 9" long hardwood dowels. One is 5/16" diameter for the .36s, and the other is 3/8" for the .44s.
I epoxied a fired cartridge case on each end, to keep from splitting the wood when tapping out a stuck ball: .32 ACP for the 5/16 and .40 S&W for the 3/8.
A cheap fix, and effective for tapping out a stuck ball or wad.
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Old September 19, 2012, 07:59 PM   #16
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Quote
"Don't feel bad, my nephew managed to load two lead round ball projectiles into a chamber on his 1858 Remington replica, then the cylinder wouldn't turn."
I did the EXACT same thing, had to pop out the cylinder and then the extra ball. PLUS I cast me some RB's and was having trouble loading them (I suspect it was NOT pure lead I got off the person) and so I was using my Power Inc loader, could NOT get the ball down, almost bent the handle trying so hard (not really) then I looked, (I laid out the 6 balls beforehand) I was trying to seat the last ball, looked down and saw a greased wad...Hmm Now I know why it wouldn't seat..That cylinder is still loaded till I get a chance to empty it..At the range..lol
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Old September 20, 2012, 02:41 PM   #17
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Cylinder Loader

This is one of the handiest items you can have for revolver shooting. Load powder charge add dry cornmeal to fill cylinder and seat the ball flush. Works wonders.

Clint
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