Muzzleloaders - leave them loaded?????

[torrente1]

Shoot it!! Why would you risk it?

 

[jicard3]

Digging the old debate up again, but I stumbled up on this article and thought I would share it with everyone. I kinda like this fella's angle on the subject.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/leave_muzzleloader_loaded.htm

 

[Hoyt]

I leave my flintlocks loaded during the season until I get in rain then I shoot it and start over...never had a missfire. Dump the prime when I get to the house or vehicle.

 

[ironhead7544]

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.

+1 on the safety issue. A person was killed near here at a yard sale.

 

[Lowjack]

After the Hunt always discharge the Muzzle loader, a Family down here almost one of them was killed when the dad forgot to empty the gun , it sat for 2 years before the teen age boy decided to put a cap on it and just pull the trigger and the bullet missed the father and mother by an inch.
No sir loaded guns in the house are stupid.

 

[tv_racin_fan]

UUMM yeah ok. Guess I best tell the wife to unload her handgun then... Might better unload mine while I am at it too...

 

[quigleysharps4570]

No sir loaded guns in the house are stupid.

Been loaded guns in my home since I was a lad...no one killed.

 

[Triton Mike]

Here is another option that I didn't read. On cold winter days on back to back hunts we didn't unload our rifles as the humidity wasn't an issue. But on most hunts we did. Instead of discharging your rifle why not invenst in a ball puller bit and pull the ball out of the gun then pour your powder out the end of the barrel. It's easier and faster to clean 1 inch of the breach vs the entire barrel. Ball puller costs less then $5 bucks. It looks like a bit with a wood screw tip on it. You ram it down the barrel with a ram rod with a center ring in it then screw it into the lead ball then pull it out.

Having said that if I am going to spend umpteen hours on a stand I don't want to jeopordize the chance of my load not going off.

Mike

 

[Marlin_444]

Unload them into a Deer...

Bama front end loader season starts Monday...

WOO HOO!!!

5 days of being in the woods...

All of that scouting during Bow Season will now pay off...

Ron

 

[quigleysharps4570]

Ball puller costs less then $5 bucks.

CO2 discharger works a whole lot better...flintlocks to those new "in-lines".

 

[whitworth]

I do it my way

Never left a powder charge in a rifle overnight. Never after a practice session. Never after a hunt.

And you can argue all you want. I've got the flintlock muzzleloader, ready to shoot, that's some 35 years old.

I'm sure you value your vast experience. Not about to deviate from mine.

 

[silentknight]

Hey...

How does that thing work?

Thats a mighty nice quote....

 

[torrente1]

Shoot it to unload!

 

[Hoyt]

I've left my flintlocks loaded for over a wk during spring gobbler season in Fl. which is a very humid place..especially in the spring. Never had one not go off yet. Could be because I would always be camped out in a tent and guns would be in there with me and not go through a change in humidity.

But..I've also left in line loaded from one season to the next and it went off also.

Not recommending anybody leave one loaded..but I got a flintlock loaded now in the house in Illinois ..I live alone..and it's been loaded for a couple of wks or more and I'd bet good money it will go off when I get ready to clean it.

 

[Russ Toole]

I always worried about corrosion to the barrell due to contact between oposing metals. However this article indicates that is a small risk.

http://www.bssa.org.uk/topics.php?article=89

 

[collardncornbread]

Powder isn'the same as it once was. Its not as corrosive. I leave mine loaded for the duration of the hunt. a few days. Not a year. I figure the old timers didn't tell the Bad guys"HOLD ON WHILE I LOAD MY BLACK POWDER RIFLE:" But since we have other protection, It is not smart to put un necessary punishment on a barrell. Thats just pure LAZINESS. Go ahead-- clean it once in a while---It wont hurt you.

 

[Big Kuntry]

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!

 

[Jim Thompson]

What he said-just keep away from moisture!

yeah but that was a real old quote dont do that with most powders cause it will usually pit the barrel. but mine did survive back then