I went out for my first hunt of the late muzzleloader season here in VA today. First time I have taken out the muzzleloader in5-6 weeks. I had seven bucks come under my stand in the last 30 minutes of light, and the last one was a shooter. I took a chip shot and there was a misfire. He retreated 20 yards, and another misfire. This was the first time my TC Omega has misfired in the 20 years I've had it.
There was something when I left this afternoon, I did a ramrod check to confirm it was loaded with a charge. It did, but the ramrod went down further than I expected. I should have gone out and discharged the load at that point. Instead I chalked it up to having switched from 3 regular 777 pelts to 2 magnum 777 pellets a couple of years ago.
After the misfire, I figured I must have reloaded it in the field during the early season and loaded the sabot without the powder.
I went home and pulled the breech plug, and pushed out the contents of the barrel. Two powder pellets, and the sabot sleave came out, but no bullet. The Parker round was gone.
Thinking carefully about the last time I loaded it...my wife had shot and missed at last light in early November, I took it home and cleaned it carefully and loaded it. I hunted several more times without shooting it, but not in the rain or wet. I know for a fact I did not load it with a sabot sleave and no bullet. It takes a special spin jag to load the parker sabots. The round is .45 caliber and the sleave is .50 cal. At some point while hunting, the .45 cal round must have come loose and fallen out of the barrel. This must have allowed moisture in the barrel that normally doesn't occur, neutralizing the powder and causing the misfire. If the gun had fired with no bullet when I shot this afternoon, I wouldn't have known it and would probably have spent days trying to find the buck with no blood trail at 15 yards, too close to miss.
I guess there are several lessons learned for me here, the biggest being to pay closer attention to the ramrod level...I knew it was off but also knew the barrel wasn't empty. Should not have dismissed it without investigating further.
I used to us TC shockwaves. Hopefully they will be back in production. I can't see a shockwave bullet falling out of the barrel. The parker sabots do not seat as well in the barrel.
There was something when I left this afternoon, I did a ramrod check to confirm it was loaded with a charge. It did, but the ramrod went down further than I expected. I should have gone out and discharged the load at that point. Instead I chalked it up to having switched from 3 regular 777 pelts to 2 magnum 777 pellets a couple of years ago.
After the misfire, I figured I must have reloaded it in the field during the early season and loaded the sabot without the powder.
I went home and pulled the breech plug, and pushed out the contents of the barrel. Two powder pellets, and the sabot sleave came out, but no bullet. The Parker round was gone.
Thinking carefully about the last time I loaded it...my wife had shot and missed at last light in early November, I took it home and cleaned it carefully and loaded it. I hunted several more times without shooting it, but not in the rain or wet. I know for a fact I did not load it with a sabot sleave and no bullet. It takes a special spin jag to load the parker sabots. The round is .45 caliber and the sleave is .50 cal. At some point while hunting, the .45 cal round must have come loose and fallen out of the barrel. This must have allowed moisture in the barrel that normally doesn't occur, neutralizing the powder and causing the misfire. If the gun had fired with no bullet when I shot this afternoon, I wouldn't have known it and would probably have spent days trying to find the buck with no blood trail at 15 yards, too close to miss.
I guess there are several lessons learned for me here, the biggest being to pay closer attention to the ramrod level...I knew it was off but also knew the barrel wasn't empty. Should not have dismissed it without investigating further.
I used to us TC shockwaves. Hopefully they will be back in production. I can't see a shockwave bullet falling out of the barrel. The parker sabots do not seat as well in the barrel.
