leave it loaded or discharge at end of the day?

[strand]

I have read a lot on this and I seem to get more confused the more I read, what do you guys do at the end of the day especially in cold temps where there is a large temperature gradient from the outside into the house? I'm not sure I'm comfortable leaving a rifle in the garage overnight whether it's locked or not because I'm a little nervous about stuff like that, I was wondering if one of those de-ionizing rods that are placed in gun safes would work to keep the moisture out of the charge? And if it's freezing outside shouldn't the same results occur when the gun is placed in the pickup with the heater on, or is the time it takes to heat the vehicle gradual enough to keep moisture from forming?

Sorry for the long post I am really new to this and have a lot of questions.

Thank you guys for your patience I sure do appreciate it.

 

[roundball]

I guess there's different reasons people do different things, but I don't leave them loaded...I pull the load or blow it out with compressed air, wipe the bore, take it inside to get it warm, dry, and lubed...start with a fresh load every time and there's no doubt it'll go off, no worry's about a loaded rifle, etc, etc...
:m2c:

 

[crockett]

If I get your question, you are worried about condensation effecting the power charge. ANYTHING is possible but relax, I don't think you have to worry. Seven years after the Civil War someone noticed that Robert E. Lee's 36 caliber Colt Navy was still loaded. The cylinders were greased. They took it outside and it shot fine. Want a better story than that? Many moons ago I was at the Hermitage, someone had recently found a flintlock pistol up in the rafters of the log cabin in back. It was Jackon's. He had lived in the cabin before giving it to his favorite slave. In any event they took it outside and BANG. Shot fine. Was probably there a 100 years.
I'd worry more about potential danger, like accidently loading another charge into the already charged gun, etc. One of the CO2 ball dispensers is an essential accoutrement these days.

 

[strand]

Hey thanks guys that pretty much summs it up.

 

[Old Charlie]

This past week two guys at my hunting club had their rifles fail to fire after leaving them loaded. They were shooting in-lines and I do not know what their loading regiment are. But the powder had turned to soup! I just now went and fired my GPR after being loaded for three days. It fired , I leave it loaded a lot and it has never failed to fire.
Old Charlie

 

[Hawkeye]

Just another reason inlines are best used as tomato stakes. Just kidding :relax: eace:

 

[Ohio Joe]

A clean dry breech of a muzzleloading rifle is no different then a clean dry breech of a ML pistol, or the chambers of a BP revolver's cylinder.

Loads will last provided you have done your part before loading. That is - clean and dry. It can not be anyother way. Make sure the lock area is clean and dry also. Make sure the weapon is clean!

A loaded muzzleloader will climatize with temperature change provide you have kept the load dry, and the prime fresh. A piece of leather between the hammer and nipple will keep a percussion load fresh when not capped. A small feather quil works in the vent hole of an unprimed flintlock.

Clean and dry before loading... Protect the prime... :redthumb:

 

[Rat]

I've left my ML's loaded for long periods of time during, and after the hunting seasons. Never a hang fire or failure to fire. I do not leave my guns outside, or in the garage over nite...I bring them in, dry them off and oil the metal parts.

I always carry a cap-n-ball pistol when I hunt. I do not fire the gun through the whole season, normally. I still don't have a flap holster for it, so it's pretty exposed, maybe not quite as much as a rifle. It goes out all day, and comes in the house or camper, or tent at nite. Then I can leave said revolver in the closet for months after season, change caps, take it out and it fires normally.

I am VERY meticulous when I dry the breech, barrel, and flash channels, or touch hole. I use pipe cleaners, and little tiny rags on little tiny screwdrivers to get into all the far away places. Days before loading the rifle I will put a long strip of rag on a slotted tip, poke most of the rag into the barrel first, then run the rod down to the breech and let the rag/patch soak up any oil. Just let it sit in there for a day.

I truly believe that when a main charge becomes damp it is from cleaning or loading procedures. I believe people just don't take the time required to dry the breech, barrel and flash channels. Some people might think they don't need to if they just pop a cap or two.

I just can't buy into the theory that the main charge draws much moisture from the air, especially through a capped nipple. As OJ suggests put something between the hammer and nipple when it's uncapped, or plug the touch-hole on a flinter. If main charges draw so much moisture, sealed on both ends, why do powder horns remain bone dry, with just a loose fitting wood plug in the end??

Again, I think that if a main charge becomes damp, or oil fouled, that moisture came from somewhere else, and obviously it didn't draw oil in from the air. (I also believe that the main charge sometimes soaks up oil left in the breech/barrel, and that is mistaken for the powder drawing moisture from the air)

:yakyak:

Rat

 

[ryoung14]

Uh, I've had 'Pop-Bang' type hangfires when I do this; but I use Pyrodex. Maybe those of you who have no problem with it are using something else; Goex perhaps? Could Pyrodex be more sensitive to airborne moisture over time than true BP? If you weigh in on this issue, let us know what powder you're using.

Robert E. Lee and Andy Jackson probably weren't using Pyrodex.
Bob

 

[GrayBear]

Like Strand, I also get confused about a number of modern black powder rules and practices. When I was a kid in the 1930's my Grandpa who was born in 1870 had an always loaded musket hung on wooden pegs in his barn. It was the one his daddy had brought home from the Civil War in 1865.

It was shot maybe three or four times a year, mostly at a chicken hawk or a fox that got too close to the hen house. It would be wiped down with an oily rag and and have a spit lubed cleaning patch run down the bore. Then it was reloaded and hung up again. BTW, every gun in his house was always loaded and all twelve grandkids knew it!

The musket, I believe it was a Springfield, was wiped with oil, probably the Singer sewing machine oil he always used for light lube jobs. Every winter he picked a wet "inside" day and oiled all his garden tools and wiped down all the shovel handles, axe, rake and pick-ax handles, etc plus all his gun stocks with linseed oil. He then drafted any nearby grandchildren to circle up around the big wood stove in the :tack room" to rub the oil in while he sipped coffee and told us stories.

He'd have rolled on the ground laughing at some of the modern antics we go through and all the expensive modern products we buy and use.

GrayBear

 

[mowolf]

I always leave mine loaded through the season. After a days hunt they go in my locked truck outside with a window cracked enough for air circulation, unless it is raining. Never had a misfire. Used to unload and clean every day after finihing the hunt for the day. Decided one day to let it go, seemed like less work .

Waya

 

[Rat]

Short Start, I am talking in terms of real BP, in my experience I have found BP to be 100% reliable, per this discussion, whereas with Pyrodex and T7 I have experienced hang-fires.

Last time I took the Half-Stock Zouave and the 1861 to the range, I didn't go through my meticulous drying out of the breech and flash channels, just popped a couple of caps and then loaded. Both guns did not go off first try with T7. I have not had the '61 for very long, but the Zouave has never done that with real BP.

Rat

 

[leadball]

I unload at the end of the day. If I go out in the morning and come in for lunch, I leave the gun loaded with cap removed in the garage but at the end of the day, I pull the ball.