A few tips for your rifle and others:
To avoid hangfires in caplocks, flintlocks and even inlines with long breech plugs having a cup at the front, do this: pour in the powder, then hold the rifle upright with one hand while you soundly knock against the breech area with the heel of your palm three or four times. I was taught this by old-timers 65 years ago. This is all the more important with many of the mid-range and cheap caplock MLs of modern times, whose flash channel may be convoluted in form and perhaps narrow in one or more spots. You want some powder to get right to the bottom of your nipple. And this also means cleaning out that channel as best you can,using solvent and a fuzzy"pipe-cleaner", after removing the nipple -- when you are cleaning your rifle. It can also mean using the trick of turning your barrel upside down after you wire- brush it or clean mildly with a patch when there may be a good bit of crud in the barrel. Tap the inverted barrel end on a piece of wood, or anything else that can't ding or otherwise damage it. You'll be surprised what comes out!
If you don't do this, that loose crud will be part of what goes into your flash channel as you load, thus causing a misfire or hangfire.
Always wrap your nipple threads with a narrow piece of plumber's teflon tape, so it will come out whenever . Especially important with corrosive substitute powders like Pyrodex.
Keep a matching nipple wrench with you at all times, and a little powder, because sooner or later you are going to forget to load powder, or have a misfire that just won't fire with a new cap. Remove the nipple and work in a little powder to the flash channel, tapping on the area to settle it in AMAP as you add a bit more. Fire this off and a barrel with no powder in it will nonetheless have the ball or bullet moved forward a bit. Add some more powder, and seat the ball or bullet back down. Repeat, getting in a little more powder each time. Two or three tries with this trick to fully fire out the "dry ball" improper loading can save your hunt!
Next, your nipple and cap must be of compatible size. If too loose, it will fall off while hunting - likely before you come upon an easy shot at a deer ! -- so if cap is only a little loose pinch the base mildly with your fingernails -- so it goes clear down on the nipple, yet snugly. And if cap is too tight, it's either the wrong size or you have a slightly oversized nipple. That is the classic situation where you try to shoot and get a misfire, yet you cock the hammer and try again..... BOOM! The first drop of the hammer had to drive the nipple further down on the nipple, and the second drop then had enough energy to fire it off. Solution, if the cap goes on but not all the way down, is to use a fine diamond file to carefully reduce the diameter of your nipple slightly til a cap firmly pressed onto the nipple seats it clear down on the nipple top. A little measuring of the cap depth with caliper or whatever can help you determine where the seated cap needs to be on the nipple when fully seated. You need the end portion of a knife blade, etc, to remove a well fitted cap from a hunting nipple/cap setup, gently prying with muzzle in a safe direction. If it comes right off with your fingers it's too loose on the nipple, or not fully down in place on it.
And fix in your mind the wise words above in this thread: never hunt in a colder temp and then bring your rifle into cabin or tent, etc. Let it stay cool or cold, somewhere outside or in your vehicle, so it doesn't "sweat" on its metal inside.
Lastly, and just take my word on it from extensive testing with a T/C .54 Renegade using Pyrodex RS in a moist climate like Hawaii and firing immediately after loading... use a Spitfire nipple for consistent ignition. (It's likely the same with other substitutes, except Blackhorn 209, which isn't for your situation.). And the moreso if leaving your load in while hunting for days in any climate. Spitfires come in many sizes, including metric (yours is likely metric), and probably available from Treso, etc., not your local store. 1/4-28 is usual U.S. size for nipple threads, but most cheaper MLs from Spain or Italy will use metric size. Check with manufacturer by phone or online re size you need. Or somebody on this forum may know, or its in the Archives. Also, cheap calipers to measure your nipple diameter are at Harbor Freight or online, often $20 or less and useful for many years. Thread count requires a tool, but these are pretty available too -- U.S. or metric.
Aloha, Ka'imiloa
