Check your barrels.

[Mickey the Finn]

What do you call that? A "hangfire"? My Dad taught me when I was kid, with his Brno KAR98K [is it still a KAR98K if it's Brno manufactured, with no Waffenamt markings?] and firing south-west European ball ammunition: "Jos se on suutari…(if it's a dud)…"...give it a good thirty seconds, and if nothing happens, eject it into your hand and, quick as lightning, "paiskaa se puskaan" (throw it into the bush).
Blackpowder might be a bit "touchier" than metallic cartridges.
My Dad and my younger brother's Godfather [like Grandpa, to me, in a way], sighting in rifles, only ever yelled at me once, as far as firearms were concerned. They were shooting, using the roof of Dad's car as a rest, and I deked around front to get around (between shots, running at a crouch, head down, of course; they do it in war movies all the time. I couldn't have been safer borne on the wings of angels). They served me notice that I was never to pull a stunt like that again. After that day, I took anything they said with respect to firearms as dogma to be obeyed without question.
Mein Dank an die Königlich Preußische Armee (indirekt).

[rickystl]

Hi David

So true. First thing I do when I get a muzzle loading gun is check and see if there is still a load in the barrel. Hard to believe that 150-200 year old powder, if kept dry, will still ignite.

In my case, I've only had one. An Albanian Tanchiks musket that was still loaded. Good thing someone didn't put priming powder in the pan to test the lock.

Rick