After returning home from a hunt

[Boudreaux]

Ok guys, I am still new to flint locks so here is my question. Ya go hunting, Prime pan and have it at half cock. When ya get back to the truck or house and remove prime then what? Let the hammer down? leave at half cock? How do you do it?
This is assuming your going back out within the next few days.

Thanks
Boswell

 

[tiger955]

I personally never leave mine loaded, but if I were going to...
I would dump the prime and brush out the pan, then stick a feather or toothpick in the touch hole. This would serve 2 purposes, one, to seal the hole against moisture or worse, a spark. Two, to remind me it is loaded. Then I would lower the frizzen and leave at half cock.
One thing to be aware of is changes in temperature, bringing a cold gun into a warm house can cause condensation leading to a damp powder charge.
Happy Hunting

 

[Swtodd]

I'm new too, but frizzen stall at half cock, or frizzen forward with cock forward. And yes feather in touch/flash hole with frizzen forward.

steve

 

[jethro224]

In Illinois the frizzen must be open and the cock all the way down to be legal for transporting in a motor vehicle.

Not PC but a small piece of electrical tape over the touch hole keeps moisture out. :thumbsup: And it won't get broke off in the hole like a toothpick might when putting it in the case.

Next time I go hunting I usually poke a few kernels of fresh powder in thru the touch hole for insurance. I leave mine loaded until I shoot a deer or the season ends. I just don't take it in and out of the house.

 

[BrownBear]

I use a toothpick in the touch hole.

 

[shortbow]

What tiger said. Also, I've found that a good feather like one from a flicker's tail or similar will not bread off in the vent and gives a quite decent seal.

 

[rabjr]

Frizzen closed down on a clean folded cleaning patch and gun stored in a cloth/wool gun case and kept at outside temp.

 

[Trench]

If you know you're going to let it set around for days, you might want to go ahead and shoot it out or pull the ball.

 

[Many Klatch]

Shortbow, we need to watch what kind of feathers we use. Our Possum Cops can fine you if you have a feather from a non-domesticated bird on your person. A friend got a couple hundred dollar fine for having a Cardinal feather in her hat.

Many Klatch

 

[stone knife]

I must be weird because I clean my muzzleloaders after every time I go out, I'll leave it loaded all day but at the end I fire it or pull the load. I like to have a fresh load every time out, I would hate to lose out on a nice deer because I got lazy or was inconvenienced. :2

 

[MSW]

I would fire the load, clean the rifle, and leave it unloaded and clean until the next day. Then, when you get to your stand or where you'll start your stalk, you reload it. This way you have a fresh load, you don't have to worry about having temperature changes possibly dampen your powder with condensate, and you're not carrying a loaded rifle around.

Just one guys opinion.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

I would fire the load, clean the rifle, and leave it unloaded and clean until the next day. Then, when you get to your stand or where you'll start your stalk, you reload it. This way you have a fresh load, you don't have to worry about having temperature changes possibly dampen your powder with condensate, and you're not carrying a loaded rifle around.

Just one guys opinion.

Of course if you see a deer while walking to your stand, you'll probably wish you'd loaded it when you left the house... :grin:

If I'm done for the day, I fire out the round in the barrel, clean the rifle, then leave the frizzen open and the cock all the way down so there's no pressure on the mainspring. Those Co2 gadgets for expelling a load work well too if you don't want to fire it out.

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

FWIW, here’s the approach I’ve settled on over the years:

1) I load before I leave the house, I put a couple layers of masking tape over the muzzle, I put a piece of G.I. dry adhesive duct tape over the vent, leather hammer stall over the frizzen...no chance of accidental external ignition source getting to it.
(I slide the long gun into a padded case for the drive just to protect it)

2) When I’m ready to hunt, I pull the tape off the vent and stick it to the lock’s off side for use on the return trip home;

3) When I get back to the house, I pull the load, wipe the bore, take the Flintlock into the house to warm up and completely dry out, load fresh for the next hunt whether that’s the next day, next week, etc.

HALF-COCK SHOWING THE STRIP OF TAPE OVER THE VENT / PAN,

HAMMER DOWN VIEW WITH TAPE OVER VENT / PAN

LOCK’s OFF SIDE SHOWING TAPE STORED FOR USE ON THE RETURN TRIP HOME

 

[zerb]

Once loaded for hunting, I leave the load in it until, either I shoot at a deer or the season is over. I have left it outside at times, but I've also bought it in the house after hunting, and never have I had a charge fail to go off. Not that there isn't a chance for the charge to draw moisture and fail, but it hasn't happened in the 25 years since I have been hunting with a flintlock.

 

[shortbow]

Wow Many Klatch, that is just weird eh? Seems a bit extreme that people can't have feathers from such birds, as they loose them so commonly. Up here, we can even have raptor feathers if they are found ones. How about birds like black birds, crows, starlings and such. You must be ok with those, surely? And from legally taken gamebirds?

 

[roundball]

Wow Many Klatch, that is just weird eh? Seems a bit extreme that people can't have feathers from such birds, as they loose them so commonly. Up here, we can even have raptor feathers if they are found ones. How about birds like black birds, crows, starlings and such. You must be ok with those, surely? And from legally taken gamebirds?

Agree 100%...always thought such laws were ridiculous...especially considering the endless list of real issues in our society that surface every day...to be wasting time on such things.

 

[ebiggs1]

That gun is absolutely gorgeous. :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

That gun is absolutely gorgeous. :thumbsup:

It is that... .40cal Late Lancaster/Matt Avance/TVM

 

[tg]

"Agree 100%...always thought such laws were ridiculous..."

Most agree, but the enforcement faction believe that if shed oor lost feathers from these birds were legal to posses then there would be countless numbers of dead birds laying arond from people killing them and saying they found the feathers, I think this may happen but not to an extend that it would be an issue with population management but I might be wrong on this, it just seems like a typical burocratic kneejerk overreaction to me, but it is the simple way for them to deal with the issue

 

[tg]

with the frizzen open the vent covered and a stall on the gun is safe, whether to leave a gun like this over a night or a season is entirely a mattrt of choice usually the main fcator to consider is what kind of weather the gun has been thru and how confient one is thta all is dry at the end of the day I have left a gun loaded for weeks with no ill results and have fired the gun at the end of the ay if I feel dampness is an issue, really no right or wrong or high ground on this one just a matter of choice which should be based on each individuals situation as for moisture and possibility of wandering young hadns finding a loaded gun IMHO