In October of 2015, on opening day of deer season I hunted with my .62 cal Renegade smoothbore flintlock. The gun/barrel were both clean when it was loaded for that hunt. The gun contained a load of 80 grains 3F Goex topped with a nitro card, Crisco lubed cushion wad and finally a .595" patched round ball. I planned to hunt with that gun the next day also. That evening, as I was packing my gear for the next days hunt, I had the sudden urge to hunt with my .54 cal Lyman GPR. I took a deer with the GPR the next day. I devoted the rest of that season to helping an elderly neighbor get out for what turned out to be his last year hunting.
I planned to take the loaded .62 cal Renegade out to the range after season. Every time I went to the range I was in the mood to shoot something else. Before I knew it years went by. This went on and on until today, almost 5 years later, when I was finally in the mood to shoot this gun. I should point out that while it was stored there was no powder in the pan and a frizzen stall was in place. It was also marked with flagging tape as a reminder that it was loaded.
So back to my original question. The gun has been loaded for 5 years. What do you think will happen when the pan is primed, the trigger is pulled and the flint scrapes the frizzen?
I'm sure most of you that have been around these guns know exactly what will happen. It did exactly what I expected. The gun fired with no hesitation and I hit my target at 100 yards. I had a similar experience with a .32 cal Crockett percussion rifle years ago. I wound up leaving a charge in the clean gun after a hunt. I planned to hunt with it the next day but that didn't happen. It didn't go out again until two years later. When I took it out it fired without hesitation. I missed the grouse I was aiming at that day but I couldn't blame the gun for me pulling the shot.
I also came up with a small game load for this gun today. I found that a 40 grain charge of Goex 2F was pretty accurate in this gun. On a previous target this load impacted to the left consistently enough for me to be sure it wasn't me pulling the shots. I adjusted the rear sight and put up a new target. The next shot was a little closer. After another sight adjustment the next two shots were right on target.
This is the first time I've had a light charge in a big bore muzzleloader not impact at the same point as heavier charges at close range. Usually out to around 30 yards light charges don't require sight adjustment. With the easily adjustable sights on this barrel its not a problem. I marked the sight so I can easily return to zero for my big game load. Hopefully I can try this load out on some small game this fall.
(I just noticed I wrote 06 instead of 07 for the date/month on the target.)
I planned to take the loaded .62 cal Renegade out to the range after season. Every time I went to the range I was in the mood to shoot something else. Before I knew it years went by. This went on and on until today, almost 5 years later, when I was finally in the mood to shoot this gun. I should point out that while it was stored there was no powder in the pan and a frizzen stall was in place. It was also marked with flagging tape as a reminder that it was loaded.
So back to my original question. The gun has been loaded for 5 years. What do you think will happen when the pan is primed, the trigger is pulled and the flint scrapes the frizzen?
I'm sure most of you that have been around these guns know exactly what will happen. It did exactly what I expected. The gun fired with no hesitation and I hit my target at 100 yards. I had a similar experience with a .32 cal Crockett percussion rifle years ago. I wound up leaving a charge in the clean gun after a hunt. I planned to hunt with it the next day but that didn't happen. It didn't go out again until two years later. When I took it out it fired without hesitation. I missed the grouse I was aiming at that day but I couldn't blame the gun for me pulling the shot.
I also came up with a small game load for this gun today. I found that a 40 grain charge of Goex 2F was pretty accurate in this gun. On a previous target this load impacted to the left consistently enough for me to be sure it wasn't me pulling the shots. I adjusted the rear sight and put up a new target. The next shot was a little closer. After another sight adjustment the next two shots were right on target.
This is the first time I've had a light charge in a big bore muzzleloader not impact at the same point as heavier charges at close range. Usually out to around 30 yards light charges don't require sight adjustment. With the easily adjustable sights on this barrel its not a problem. I marked the sight so I can easily return to zero for my big game load. Hopefully I can try this load out on some small game this fall.
(I just noticed I wrote 06 instead of 07 for the date/month on the target.)
