Temperature and misfires

Four Eyed Floyd · April 26, 2008, 07:37:37 PM

Does anyone know if cold affects shooting in regards to squibs? I had a bunch of squibs in the cold, but shooting the same ammo in the warmer weather everything ran great. I was shooting Black powder in 38's.

Dick Dastardly · April 26, 2008, 08:17:57 PM

Help me 4 I Floyd,

Gun? Ammo? C&B or cartridge? Primer? Powder?

Please help me eliminate any variables and I may be able to point you to a solution.

Thanks,

DD-DLoS

Four Eyed Floyd · April 26, 2008, 08:28:05 PM

Right DD, 1st one was a 73 bang bang...pop pop 38's loaded with GOEX with slight compression 158 grain lead flat nose (not BigLube's) the temperature was about 30 degrees. Next time was an AWA six shooter bang, pop. again around 30-45 degrees. Undaunted I went out this week with the same ammo 38's loaded with GOEX 158gr Flat point. and the 73 and the AWA ran perfect. The powder was not burned in the cold using Federal Mag primers.
Could it be that the barrels were cold and the lube (blue standard) could not handle it? I have no clue. Not that it will be a problem for 6 months or so but it was rather frustrating. I did manage to shoot through around 300 rounds Friday and not so much as a hiccup.

Doctor Bill · April 26, 2008, 09:41:10 PM

Floyd,
I have shot 0.45 BP rounds at +9 degrees without trouble though my Ballistol did assume the consistancy of axle grease. If you were getting good detonation of the primers I'm not sure why the rounds were not firing. Did I understand that you pulled some of the bullets and didn't find anything off-normal with the powder in the dud rounds? Very curious.

Four Eyed Floyd · April 26, 2008, 09:51:49 PM

Doc, I pulled a couple but the ones that misfired just popped and the bullet stuck in the barrel. The powder was not even burned. If you say you have had no trouble in even colder weather, perhaps I had all the duds at one time then. Stranger things have happened. I was just curious if there was a temperature related reason. Or maybe condensation in the barrel?

Noz · April 27, 2008, 08:02:38 AM

If your primers had enough oomph to push the bullet into the barrel and you had powder in the case then you almost had to have some sort of physical barrier between the primer and the powder.
My vote would be for tumbling media stuck in the bottom of the case. No, Don't ask me how I know.

Montana Slim · April 29, 2008, 06:38:15 AM

Floyd, Cold has no effect. Look closely at your loading process & components.

best,
Slim

Dick Dastardly · April 29, 2008, 07:34:13 AM

Temperature would be the last place I'd look for failure to ignite. The primer went pop, that's all it can do. Since there was no failure for the primer to ignite, but the powder didn't, I'd look for some contamination in the powder. It's very truly said "keep your powder dry". That didn't only mean dry of water. Oil can wreck powder also.

If you have any other failures, save the dud ammo. Back at your loading lab, carefully dismantle each dud. Check the condition of the powder. Check under the powder. Examine the primer. . . did it actually pop? If the primer(s) went pop but the powder didn't ignite there was something wrong with the powder.

I'd set that powder aside and load some more ammo from a fresh can. If it runs good and a parallel test with the faulty ammo gives duds, you have your answer.

Nothing on this planet is perfect anymore since we hung perfection on the cross and killed it. Suspect everything and eliminate the variables one by one. You will find your answer(s), and they may surprise you.

Take notes and report back. This is an interesting problem and we can all learn from your work.

DD-DLoS

litl rooster · April 29, 2008, 07:55:25 AM

did you have a lube cookie in these loads, that may have melted in the powder while stored?

too understand more, you say the primer detonated, and the bullett was a squib, (in the barrel) Where did the powder end up? Casing, breech, forcing cone ?

Four Eyed Floyd · April 29, 2008, 05:32:42 PM

Sorry Pards I was out of town for a couple. All the bullets worked fine with no other squibs when the temp got higher. what I suspect that the black powder and poor lube caused the bullets to stick. Some of the powder did not burn which may have been from some sort of contamination and freakishly the only duds were the ones I shot in the cold which may have been a coincidence. I have ordered some snakebite bullets from Slim which should help. I'll let you know what transpires.