How to keep yer gun loaded for an extended period

[rambler]

If'n you ever want to make a few greenbacks, I'd love to have one for my 51' navy!

Rambler

 

[Four Fingers of Death]

Thats a nice revolver and a great group, butttttttttttttttt, that hat shoulda bee made into felt wads years ago,

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I keepa tellin' him but he don't listen. :haha:
Actually that's a very valuable hat. A decorator once gave me fifty bucks for my old, battered, misshapen and sweat stained hat and one hundred for a filthy, rotten old set of chaps I had used as a pattern to make a new pair. Them flat land furiners will buy anything. :haha:

 

[Greenmtnboy]

If'n you ever want to make a few greenbacks, I'd love to have one for my 51' navy!

Rambler

Hey buddy remind me this winter when I am able to get into the shop and we will do a little bartering.
:hatsoff:

 

[Greenmtnboy]

Thats a nice revolver and a great group, butttttttttttttttt, that hat shoulda bee made into felt wads years ago,

what... it's just broke in, broken.
:haha:

 

[Greenmtnboy]

I keepa tellin' him but he don't listen. :haha:
Actually that's a very valuable hat. A decorator once gave me fifty bucks for my old, battered, misshapen and sweat stained hat and one hundred for a filthy, rotten old set of chaps I had used as a pattern to make a new pair. Them flat land furiners will buy anything. :haha:

I wonder if they take off for smelling like mule pee.
don't ask how I got mule pee on my hat but it wasen't on my head at the time.
:shocked2:

 

[msuspartan]

Had a friend who was not too smart but his mule was. He was pushing his mule a bit too hard and the mule whipped around and double kicked him in the chest then looked at my friend, then me and walked over to my friend lying down in the dust and proceeded to pee on him. Then the mule calmly walked away.
I do not think to this day I have ever laughed that hard but then that mule thought I was pretty cool after that!!
And the say mule's are stupid..... :rotf: :rotf:

Cheers, DonK

 

[hunman55]

YES, HE DUZ HAVE MANY GUNS, BUT NOT TOO MANY. HUNMAN55

 

[Poor Private]

I agree with Mykeal, Why would you not shoot that pistol in over a years time? I have 15 BP pistols and I bet they all get taken out at least 3 times each over a years time. For several reasons, just because of the shere enjoyment of shooting them, inspection of condition and action,and to show them to friends and neighbors.
When a pistol is left loaded it is for a reason such as-taking them out the following week, home protection or loaded up for my wife to use while I am not home (farm animals do get injured, and need to be put down quickly). But who can resist taking out a loaded BP to the range after a while to fire it?

 

[CoyoteJoe]

GMboy is out chasing the wily elk right now so I will try to answer for him. I can tell you he takes his shooting very seriously and really works at it, systematically, one gun at a time, both BP and modern. As you can see by the posted target his 1860 doesn't require any further development. So he has spent the past year breaking in, working up loads for and practicing with his rifles, both target and hunting rifles along with a couple of new centerfire revolvers. That all pretty much occupies the spare time of a man who really doesn't have any time to spare.
Myself, I have guns I haven't even dusted off in years. :haha:
I get a new-to-me gun, play with it a while working up loads and sighting in, wring it out so to speak, then put it aside and play with something else. I shoot what interests me at the moment and see no reason to establish a rotation to shoot them all once a month. Guns don't require regular exercise to keep in shape. :haha:

 

[DUSTY 14]

IT IS A GUN. IT IS ALWAYS LOADED!!! LET EVERYONE KNOW THAT TO THINK DIFFERENTLY IS THE ACT OF A FOOL
i worked on a bankers house when an apprentice carpenter and when they moved in he told me all his weapons had at least 3rounds in them and the wife and children knew this. i adapted the same philosophy in my own home while raising 2 sons. they started going to the range shooting at 3 and knew GUNS KILL if not handled safely

 

Well you have two problems: moisture from the nipple end and moisture from the chamber end. I've mentioned this before so DON'T SHOOT ME but Robert E. Lee's Colt Navy was lying around for 6-7 years after his death and someone decided to shoot it. All six chambers went off- yeah- I know- you are supposed to only load 5. In any event if I recall correctly the ends of the chambers were plugged with red sealing wax. I'm not sure how good a seal that is, it may be that ole Bob just had that lying around so that's what he used. If I recall there was also some sort of seal at the nipple end but I can't recall if that was wax or something else. The other issue is when this particular revolver was loaded- it could have been at the start of the war in 1861 or 2 not 1865. That would mean about 10 years.

Well, I would go with the 6-7 years as the minimum time the revolver remained loaded. Red sealing wax would definitely work to not only seal the charge, but also, to give warning that the arm was indeed loaded. A little wax around the nipple would seal that end as well.

It has always amazed me that once black powder is put into a firearm we all have a panic attack about sealing out moisture. We don't pour wax or smear crisco over the canister cap on a can of black powder or on a flask spout or the spout on a powder horn- all that black powder seems to weather things pretty well. In any event I think a loaded black powder gun will be good to go for quite some time.

I suggest that you look inside the powdercan's cap. You will find a waxed piece of card stock there. My powder horn is sealed with beeswax and I use a small amount of beeswax based lube to seal the wood of my spout stopper.

On keeping a loaded black powder gun lying around- I'm sort of split on the matter. As a general rule I think it is a bad idea because too many folks assume a muzzle loading weapon is empty. During our 3 day muzzleloader season I just put the ramrod in the bore at day's end as a sort of flag that the rifle is loaded and if I didn't get an animal I unload the rifle at the end of the third day. On a revolver- if it doubles as a home self defense pistol then I can see why someone would want to keep it loaded and I think that's okay if there aren't any kids around and the gun itself is kept out of sight and anyone else in the household knows it's loaded- or put a pencil in the muzzle as a reminder, etc.

I grew up with guns, and I was always told that all guns were loaded, therefore dangerous. And my children are raised the same way. And a gun SHOULD NOT be left where curious hands may find their way into trouble.

But, even if you lock it away, a curious mind will always find a way to it. Therefore, children should learn at a young age the frightening destructive power of a gun.

CP

 

[Grumpa]

AMEN! I had my young daughters (single digit) fire a K-22 into a thick phone book. Then I opened the book an inch or so at a time, letting them see the holes getting bigger (as their eyes did the same). I explained that the same effect would be had on the neighbor's dog, or one of their little friends. They knew not to touch any gun except they asked me, and I would show it to them. Never had any problems with them and guns.

 

[Wes/Tex]

When you could get it, bars of Fels Naptha were a good visual aid for showing kids what bullets could do. Nothing like a nice big gaping hole and the comment, "It'll do the same to your or your sister" gets the point driven home pretty effectively. :thumbsup:

 

[Poor Private]

Those of you who have concern about a loaded wheel gun in your house, try this. Load the gun and then pull the cylinder(works best with a top strap pistol). If you take the time to practise you can place a cylinder in a pistol in less than a couple of seconds. Kids and others are less likely to pick up a gun when there is no cylinder in it, in my experience.

 

[Robert Egler]

IT IS A GUN. IT IS ALWAYS LOADED!!!

Of course this is one of the standard rules we all learn, but it is ridiculous to say a gun is ALWAYS loaded.

Would you clean a loaded gun? If not, and your gun is ALWAYS loaded, you can never clean it. Ever inspect the bore by looking down the muzzle? Can't EVER do that if the gun is ALWAYS loaded

There are MANY exceptions to the vastly oversimplified "rules of gun safety". Its silly to try and insist on a set of rules that are obviously NOT true as they are stated.

Fact 1: my gun is NOT always loaded. FACT 2: I do not treat my guns as if they are always loaded.

People don't need a set of 4 absolute rules, they need to THINK and CHECK when they're handling guns. If someone thinks my saying that makes me unsafe, then don't be around me when I shoot. That will make both of us happier.

 

[azmntman]

happy happy happy :blah:

"unloaded guns kill more people than loaded guns" well.... not with bullets?

 

[AZbpBurner]

IT IS A GUN. IT IS ALWAYS LOADED!!!

Of course this is one of the standard rules we all learn, but it is ridiculous to say a gun is ALWAYS loaded.

Would you clean a loaded gun? If not, and your gun is ALWAYS loaded, you can never clean it. Ever inspect the bore by looking down the muzzle? Can't EVER do that if the gun is ALWAYS loaded

There are MANY exceptions to the vastly oversimplified "rules of gun safety". Its silly to try and insist on a set of rules that are obviously NOT true as they are stated.

Fact 1: my gun is NOT always loaded. FACT 2: I do not treat my guns as if they are always loaded.

People don't need a set of 4 absolute rules, they need to THINK and CHECK when they're handling guns. If someone thinks my saying that makes me unsafe, then don't be around me when I shoot. That will make both of us happier.

From a safety standpoint, a gun IS always loaded. What you've failed to grasp of this longstanding statement regarding maintaining 100% safety, is that it's a lot easier to treat any firearm as loaded - Always point it in a safe direction, and keep your finger off the trigger. It's a simple concept that effectively eliminates the "I didn't know it was loaded" defense.

I don't really believe that, at your age, you're actually that obtuse.

 

[mtmshieldshotmail.com]

AMEN! I had my young daughters (single digit) fire a K-22 into a thick phone book. Then I opened the book an inch or so at a time, letting them see the holes getting bigger (as their eyes did the same). I explained that the same effect would be had on the neighbor's dog, or one of their little friends. They knew not to touch any gun except they asked me, and I would show it to them. Never had any problems with them and guns.

This thread you replied to is almost 3 years old.

 

[AZbpBurner]

AMEN! I had my young daughters (single digit) fire a K-22 into a thick phone book. Then I opened the book an inch or so at a time, letting them see the holes getting bigger (as their eyes did the same). I explained that the same effect would be had on the neighbor's dog, or one of their little friends. They knew not to touch any gun except they asked me, and I would show it to them. Never had any problems with them and guns.

This thread you replied to is almost 3 years old.

It's never too old to emphasise safety.