torrente1
Senior Member
Shoot it!! Why would you risk it?
I will leave mine loaded for a couple of weeks when I'm hunting regularly. A few simple precautions are in order though.
First you must make sure all the oil is cleaned from the bore and action. Before loading for hunting I remove the locks from my flintlocks and clean all the oil off the insides. This stops any oil from migrating to the pan and contaminating the prime or main charge.
Don't bring your loaded gun into a cold (Air Conditioned) house then take it back out into the warm air. In Georgia you will often find yourself in these conditions. Condensation can occur and contamimate your powder.
If there is even a chance that moisture (dew/drizzle) could have dampened the powder the gun is either fired or the ball pulled, then the gun is cleaned before reloading.
But the main thing I don't see mentioned here is the saftey issue. Whenever I leave a muzzloader loaded I put the ramrod down the barrel and attach a note to the gun stating that the gun is "LOADED!!"
Who knows? You may have a heart attack tonight and die. Then your family is dealing with a weapon they DON'T know is loaded.
And humans have a way of forgetting things. Things like that smokepole was left loaded.
Blackpowder does not go bad with age and wet powder drys out to fire again another day. Many people, especially kids, have been killed or maimed with great grandpaps rifle that hung over the fireplace for a few generations and everybody assumed it was unloaded. A flintlock or percussion or inline (I wouldn't really know about these) doesn't need prime or cap to fire, just a spark.
The guys that have been around awhile always check out a new/old rifle to see if it is unloaded. Usually this is done by checking with the ramrod.
It's a wonder to me after shooting these things for over 35 years that our 1 week season doesn't cause a lot more accidents from inexperience than it does.
No sir loaded guns in the house are stupid.
Ball puller costs less then $5 bucks.
I left mine loaded after last season and shot it just fine a month or so ago
What he said-just keep away from moisture!