black powder and weather

[Electric Deacon]

Being a newbie to the game, I'd like to know if there's anything special to do to prepare for a hunt. I live in a cold climate area, snow and all that stuff, and I'll be keeping my weapon and powder safely stored in my basement. When I'm ready to leave for a hunt, should I: :hmm:

1)Take my equipment and acclimate it to the cold by transferring it to the garage prior to transport?
2)Just let it normalize in route to the hunting site,(2+ hours away), by placing it in the bed of the truck?
3)Worry about the powder "sweating" when it goes from a "warm" basement to a "cold" garage?
OR...not worry about it at all because there's no cause for concern?

Thanks for letting me pick your collective brain.

 

[Black Hand]

I don't do any of it.

Load my gun at home, transport it inside the truck, prime in the field. Hunt. Dump my prime and bring the gun home. Hunt the next day (or more).

I pull the charge and put a new one down-bore every week or every other week (or if I've been rained on).

 

[jdkerstetter]

Welcome.

To your concern, it's the other way around friend. When you bring a gun in from the cold to the warm is when condensation forms on the steel. Just like that glass of lemonade on a hot day. :wink:

After hunting on a dry cold day and I'm leaving my gun loaded, I simply case it and leave it locked in the truck over night or leave it in the cold garage.

If it's been wet during the day I generally clear the gun after hunting hours. Take it home and clean and reload it.

If you have a long drive home, just case the gun in a padded case and put where the vents won't blow right on it, it won't warm up as fast as the vehicles cab so likely won't build condensation. Leave it cased when you bring it in the house and it will warm up more slowly too. Well, don't prop it up next to the radiator. :haha:

That's what's worked for me and my Dad before me. Enjoy, J.D.

 

[Trench]

Sweating typically happens from going to a cold environment to a warm one. Leaving from the house to a hunt shouldn't be a problem. Coming home usually causes the sweats on the barrel. I'll leave my rifle in the garage mid-day before I go back out in the afternoon.

My preference is to pull the load at the end of the day and start with a fresh one in the morning.

 

[George T.]

I'm sure our cold weather in Texas does not compare to yours. In November we do get lomg stretches of damp foggy weather that cause fits with a Flint lock. I always shot them at dusk and whipped them down and reloaded the next morning. I now have a CO2 un loader so it is much less a hassle. I have had guns stay loaded for a couple of days and they fired great however they were cap locks.

Geo. T.

 

[Spikebuck]

Sweating typically happens from going to a cold environment to a warm one. Leaving from the house to a hunt shouldn't be a problem. Coming home usually causes the sweats on the barrel. I'll leave my rifle in the garage mid-day before I go back out in the afternoon.

My preference is to pull the load at the end of the day and start with a fresh one in the morning.

+1

 

[gunner69skmc]

Usually I shoot the rifle, clean it when I get home, and charge a new load prior to the hunt I go on (less primer).

 

[necchi]

Well Spikebuck and I are both here in Minn with ya, so we got a little first hand Minnesota weather going on with ya.

Go ahead and load inside, but once it's cold don't bring it back in.
A few years back I loaded the day before regular season, and kept that same charge in the rifle through ML season (saw no deer worth taking either season) and fired the load a few days after New Years.
But, that rifle never came back inside the warm that whole time. I kept it in the locked garage, or in the trunk of the car or behind the truck seats those 2+ months.

The rifle was a cap lock, the only thing I do extra for hunting is;
* Use a new clean dry "proven" nipple, meaning I'll shoot a few rounds with the new nipple then clean it completely.
* After loading the main charge and patched Ball, I'll pull the nipple and add a little powder to the fire channel below the nipple to make sure the nipple flash reaches the powder charge.

Hang around for awhile Nice Shot, there's a ton to learn here, :hatsoff:

 

[Big John]

Hunting northern VT in December it gets 15 to -10 degrees daily, I use mink oil on my patches and once loaded, keep the rifle in the back of the truck when not hunting...each week I fire it and load again.

 

[RC]

I leave it loaded,,I bring it in the house at end of day.I just put in cool corner barrel down...years never had a problem..and there is no way anyone will ever convince me that their gun did not go off because they left it loaded .....because they cannot prove it woulda went off the first day...a properly loaded gun, taken care off...will be fine (my opinion,my experience..) if you get rained on sloppy wet snow, get it wet,,then yes by all means empty clean an reload,, but up to you..all the years I've hunter cap or flint never had a problem..actually when I do eventually empty the gun,,an it goes off without hesitation,,I'm sorta hopin I can reload it the same way I had it,,,to each their own..! :thumbsup:

 

[Sean Gadhar]

You didn't ask. . . But lube (gun & patch) can be your weather headache. I was shooting last year in -10 and had to clean about all the oil from the lock. And for me 2/3 Murphy's oil soap & 1/3 Alc. was my patch lube. Just used the same lube yesterday about 98 & sunny and it still worked fine. :2

 

[Electric Deacon]

Thanks....I do think I've found a place where I can pick up some great information and learn from OP's (other peoples) experience. I'm already way ahead of where I was when I woke up this morning.

Thanks to all... :hatsoff: