After days end

[The Hungry Hunter]

When you get done hunting for the day.. Do you shoot the rifle to clear it at days end or do you just take off the cap and use the same charge the next day. I have heard that some hunters have left the charge in for days and the gun fired. I tried it. I did not fire the rifle till the next day and would not fire. I had to pull the ball out.

 

[narraway]

Good question.
I am wondering what they did in the old days.

 

[rabjr]

I'm guessing your a pyrodex user?

I use only good ole black powder, in all the years I used cap guns, 20 years, I always took care to load it the morning of openning day of hunting season and it remained loaded until I was granted a shot or I spent the day in extremely wet weather. It only takes a minute to unscrew the nipple and trickle some 3F under it. After a days hunt, decap and use a pipe cleaner or leather thong to cover the nipple. Next morning before you recap use a thin wire and poke the nipple. I never experienced a misfire or a delay in the woods hunting. I have however laughed my ass off at a few friends who wouldn't go through the motions I did and insisted on using pyrodex which almost always resulted in a pop!.....pop! right around 4:00 pm.....

 

[BrownBear]

It depends a lot on your climate and what you do with the gun overnight.

In wet climates like we have Pyro seems to hold up lots better than black. I've gone as long as a week with a Pyro charge in the gun and no misfires, but black in the same conditions can pfutz after a couple of days. But ball and powder are cheap compared to missed game opportunities, so I pull them every night anyway. I use a CO2 discharger, BTW.

On the overnight bit, if you drag a cold gun into a warm humid building at the end of the day, it's going to condence moisture from the air like crazy. If you're going to leave a charge in overnight, no matter whether Pyro or black, keep the gun overnight in a cool dry place without bringing it indoors.

 

[Kentuckywindage]

I leave them loaded until i need to fire the rifle. Pyrodex or black powder.

 

[Rancocas]

I use both flintlock or percussion as the mood strikes me.
I change the priming powder in the pan often, several times during a day's hunt. I put on a fresh percussion cap each morning, and if the day is very damp I might change the cap at some point during the day. However, I generally leave the main charge in my muzzleloaders for several days at a time during the open hunting seasons. The gun stays outside this whole time. I don't bring it inside to a warm room where a cold gun barrel will condense water vapor to trickle down and wet the powder. Leave it outside in your unheated vehicle, on a covered porch, or some such place.
I often hike into remote areas and camp under a tarp lean-to, not a tent. The gun spends the night lying beside me, but without a cap or priming powder. I have been out in those places for days in pouring rain and fierce blizzards. I've been hunting with muzzleloaders for over 20 years in such conditions, but I can recall only 3 times when they did not go off when I needed them. Once with a percussion gun, it was the cap that failed to fire. I put on another and the gun went off just fine with that one. The other two times were with a flintlock. One was a hang fire and although it did go off, it seemed to do so in slow motion. The other time I kept getting a flash in the pan, but the main charge wouldn't ignite. I had to pull that load.
Of course, in each of those cases, I missed the deer.

 

[roundball]

When you get done hunting for the day.. Do you shoot the rifle to clear it at days end or do you just take off the cap and use the same charge the next day.

I never fire a muzzleloader to clear it...just makes an unnecesaary cleaning chore...I always pull the load (or blow it out with compressed air) and patch wipe the bore.

The rifle spends the night in the warm house and gets bone dry ready for the next morning and a fresh load...that way I never have to worry about ignition when the flint drops.

 

[longcruise]

Everything said so far is good advice. Some just do it different than others. I loaded one year for ml elk on the 9th of September and did not get a shot till antelope season in the first week of October. Went off perfect and made meat. That was a Lyman GPR cap gun.

I did not fire the rifle till the next day and would not fire.

I would bet that it would not have gone off if your tried to fire it five minutes after you loaded it. :2 :grin: You probably had moisture or oil or whatever in the breech area that contaminated the load as soon as you poured it.

 

[The Baron]

As long as it has not been a wet or unseasonably humid day, I will leave my turkey load in for up to 4-5 days. I've never had any hesitation after that long, but I will still fire it off and do a full cleaning if I have carried it that long. I'm sure I could leave it longer than that, but I don't want to risk missing a chance at a gobbler. I could just pull the load, but I feel more comfortable knowing the gun has been thoroughly cleaned of any dust or debris that might be working its way into the flashhole or any moisture (dew from wet grass, or leaves) that might be sitting on the metal.

 

[playfarmers]

I have gone as long as a week and a half using 3f black, and it got my whitetail. That was years ago, and I have never had a problem with my rifle going off, but I now more often than not shoot the rifle at a target, and clean it up for the next day.

 

[juancho]

I always fire mine,and since I fired it, then I fire it some more.Hate to clean it just for one shot.

 

[roundball]

I always fire mine,and since I fired it, then I fire it some more.Hate to clean it just for one shot.

Bet that doesn't work too well when you're standing at the side of a country road after dark :grin:

 

[Robert Egler]

When you get done hunting for the day.. Do you shoot the rifle to clear it at days end or do you just take off the cap and use the same charge the next day. I have heard that some hunters have left the charge in for days and the gun fired. I tried it. I did not fire the rifle till the next day and would not fire. I had to pull the ball out.

It depends on whether I'll be hunting the next day or not. If not, I shoot it out. If I am hunting the next day I dump the prime, put a toothpick in the touch hole, and leave the charge in. I put fresh prime in the next morning. I've never had a charge fail to fire after sitting overnight.

 

[David G]

I pretty much unload it everytime. However, I use a CO2 discharger to unload it, which makes clean up a snap. Is all that necessary? Maybe/ Maybe not. I just need the assurance of a fresh load in the barrel when the time comes. :thumbsup:

 

[Britsmoothy]

I will dump the shot but keep the powder in if I'm going out again soon and the air is dry. I also put a note in the muzzles about it's status.
Britsmoothy.

 

[Allan Gray]

I'll shoot.

I don't like having a loaded flintlock in camp or in my home. When I hunt with center fire I'll unchamber the round while in camp.
Not that leaving a weapon charged is a bad thing but
I tend to be forgetfull so this a safety measure I take for my own piece of mind.

 

[mark starr]

I plug the touch hole with a flicker feather she will most always shoot the morning after

 

[roundball]

"...will most always shoot the morning after..."

:grin: and that's the risk I'm not willing to take when I've waited all year for a Tom to break the 40 yard line in front of my Flintlock during the spring season, or waited all year for a 10 pointer to step into range during the rut :wink:

 

[Halftail]

Since I do all my Deer hunting in remote areas I either c02 discharge mine or shoot it out every night.I like to start every day fresh and new.It only takes one contaminated load to convince you of that.That being said,When I hunt up here in the cold snowy,wet weather in the morning I wipe my gun down and never take it uncapped into the warm cabin over the lunch break.I have a couple of limb crotches nailed up under the eaves to hang it out of the weather with the gun still capped.

 

[BrownBear]

"...will most always shoot the morning after..."

:grin: and that's the risk I'm not willing to take when I've waited all year for a Tom to break the 40 yard line in front of my Flintlock during the spring season, or waited all year for a 10 pointer to step into range during the rut :wink:

That's the bottom line for me, too. After waiting all year for the shot at game, why risk it? Compared to all the powder and lead we use up between season for practice, the few rounds discharged between hunting days are nothing. Savings never enter my thought, and if I'm too tired to discharge it the night before, I'll always do it the next morning before starting another day of hunting.