Pennsylvania Game News - February 2014 - 63

of powder that equals the caliber
size number, and you will see an
improvement.
The bottom of my scope gets all
fouled up. This is a result of blowback
gases. Commercial scope protectors are
available, or cover the base with easily
removed electrical tape.
My gun seems to go out of
alignment every time I shoot it. If
you have a wood stock, the rise and
fall of humidity can swell or shrink the
wooden barrel channel. Because many
barrels are anchored by a bolt under
the barrel, this can be responsible for
small changes in zero. Store your gun
in a dehumidified cabinet or gun safe.
Or, you could spend some money and
retrofit the gun with a synthetic stock.
My synthetic stock has fingerprints
and smudges. Don't use DEET and
other bug repellants on your hands
when you touch the stock. The
chemicals have the ability to melt
plastic.
My rifle fires inconsistently. If
you use a #11 percussion cap, try
a #11 magnum percussion cap.
Retrofit to a #209 shotgun primer
system. Use bulk powder over pellets,
especially black powder that has a
lower ignition temperature.
When the gun was new, it shot very
accurately. But not two years later. If
you have been using plastic sabots, you
need to remove the build-up of plastic
that has laminated onto the lands of the
rifling. This makes loading more
difficult, and changes the zero of your
sights. Scrub the bore with a bronze
brush and plastic solvent (the type used
for shotguns) or hydrogen peroxide.
Replace the nipple or vent liner of the
#209, because the worn and enlarged
hole in the flash channel changes
FEBRUARY 2014

velocities, and causes blowback gases,
and inconsistency of ignition. If the
barrel heats up, the plastic in the sabot
gets soft. This could allow blow-by
of gases and inaccuracies. Check the
sight and scope bases. If the mounting
screws loosen from recoil, you may
want to reinstall with Lock-Tite.
Why can't I use smokeless powder
in my inline? Unless you have a
Savage 10ML muzzleloader, your rifle
is not designed with the vent liner
that keeps the very high pressures
from blasting back into your face.
Many muzzleloaders are built with
mild steel barrels that won't withstand
the pressures generated by smokeless
powder.
My gun shoots fine in practice. But,
when I go hunting, it misfires. You need
to remove the oil/grease (anti-seize that
you put on the breech plug threads)
which you applied after cleaning.
Snap a cap/209 primer to clear the flash
channel, but do it into a clean patch
on the end of your ramrod. Sometimes
the exploding primer jams fouling/
grease into the flash channel or breech
chamber. A loose fitting pellet/sabot
load will leave too much space in front
of the cap/primer. Really cold weather
can constrict the nipple/flash channel.
Use magnum primers.
Why does my #209 primer get
stuck in the breech plug? The
standard 209 primer generates a
lot of gas that expands the brass/
aluminum primer case. Some of the
gas condenses in the primer chamber
and some of the primer compound
also may cause fouling. These three
things demand a cleaning/lube of that
chamber if you do repetitive shooting.
Get, make or buy an extractor, if you
don't have one.
63
Pennsylvania Game News - February 2014

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