Leaving gun charged

[Capt. Jas.]

Unless they experience moist conditions MY guns stay loaded til the season is over or until something is taken with them. Our season runs from first of November thru the first week of January. Never had any complaints or anyone knocking on my door telling me to unload them. :grin:

 

All this is well and good of course, but if 200 year old practices of leaving guns loaded are being used as legitimate justification to leaving guns loaded today, then that would also include leaving every .22, .30-30, .30-06, 7mm mag, etc, etc, loaded as well.

well I don't know ALL my guns are left loaded ALL the time...........yes even my muzzlestuffers and c & b's. Some I shoot, clean, and reload once a week others may go several weeks with no problems, but I've never gone several months - and yes I've done the inspection thing so I know that at least in my case no problems when one loads right and here where I live in the SW.
Why the heck would you keep cartridge gun unloaded (or even brings this up regarding the original question)? - it's just a clumsy club otherwise - and please don't preach safety - I KNOW the rules and I've been packing guns of one sort of another for better than 45 years and have NEVER had an accident...

 

I'll give Mule Skinner the benefit of thinking he probably knows how to handle a gun. Why expect otherwise? He didn't ask any help on safety issues. This is exactly how threads get sabotaged. It is best to just answer the question without the sermonizin'. He aint dancin' towards destruction for keeping a gun loaded. Guns are of no use otherwise.

If a gun is clean there should be no problems keeping it loaded. The powder will still be good for a long time. Every gun in my house is loaded and treated as such whether it is or it ain't. I suppose Mule Skinner has the brains to figure that out for himself.

 

[bioprof]

I've seen some spare bp revolver cylinders for sale in the Bargain Cave at Cabelas that had been returned by customers. In just about every one I looked at, one cylinder had been pitted with corrosion. It looked like to me that one cylinder had been left loaded for a long time and the customer returned it after cleaning out the unfired charge.

As to why the blackpowder cans don't corrode, I think it is because the lids are usually screwed down tight so the powder can't absorb moisture. Also, the metal is probably a different alloy than is used in a barrel. In a flintlock, you have the vent hole which can let in moisture. In a percussion rifle, you have the hole in the nipple. Now if you sealed it up tight, you might not have a problem under conditions of low humidity, but I for one am not going to take a chance.

 

[roundball]

All this is well and good of course, but if 200 year old practices of leaving guns loaded are being used as legitimate justification to leaving guns loaded today, then that would also include leaving every .22, .30-30, .30-06, 7mm mag, etc, etc, loaded as well.

well I don't know ALL my guns are left loaded ALL the time...........yes even my muzzlestuffers and c & b's. Some I shoot, clean, and reload once a week others may go several weeks with no problems, but I've never gone several months - and yes I've done the inspection thing so I know that at least in my case no problems when one loads right and here where I live in the SW.
Why the heck would you keep cartridge gun unloaded (or even brings this up regarding the original question)? - it's just a clumsy club otherwise - and please don't preach safety - I KNOW the rules and I've been packing guns of one sort of another for better than 45 years and have NEVER had an accident...

You must have me confused with somebody else...you won't find a post of mine where I was "preaching safety".
And FYI...your comment: "...packing guns of one sort of another for better than 45 years and have NEVER had an accident..." sounds a little preachy to me.
:thumbsup:

 

[tg]

"There is opened powder tins many moons old, and show no corrosion!"

Let's not bring any factual data into this...,I have left guns and revolvers loaded for up tp 6 months with no ill effects, best kept in a dry place I would assume, I would not do this with substitute powders, but have no concern over the course of a hunting season unless I get drenched than I unload and clean if I can find a goat handy...

 

[Leonredbeard]

Bioprof,
The inside of BP cans are tinned. Even so I have seen some old cans that were used over and over with rust inside. I even had flakes of rust come out into the powder measure with the powder. Maybe these cans got wet at some time.
volatpluvia

 

[Adam Isrow]

Safety is paramount, and sadly it's more often than not an innocent that suffers the consequence of stupidity. But...
The purpose of this thread is whether it's okay to leave black powder (or a suitable substitute)in a barrel for an extended period of time. I also would like to know the official position, as well as personal experiences from forum members. What's the real deal here? Someone mentioned that they've recovered civil war muskets that were loaded 5 or 6 times and never shot. How do those barrels look? Lets stay on topic, please.

 

[paulvallandigham]

ON the hostorical artifacts, and antique guns pulled out of old barns, and farm houses, the bores always are pitted and corroded. The problem is that you can't tell if this pitting occurred before the gun was last loaded, or since. I can't remember seeing an old gun that had a powder charge in it that was not pitted and rusted. The powder would still fire, but the barrel was in very poor shape. You see this a lot with old single barrel ML shotguns, which were just as cheap then as the new breechloading, cartrige singe barrel shotguns can be.

 

[Adam Isrow]

That makes sense to me, and finding a civil war musket on a battlefield after 100+ years wouldn't help to differentiate which rust is from powder and which is from exposure to the elements.
I am still very curious, though.

 

[CrackStock]

Place your ML is a safe place, set the lock in a safe manner. Mark it as loaded.

Plug the vent or nipple and the muzzle lightly.

Store so that condensation does not run down to your patch.

You may or may not damage the bore where the patch contacts it depending upon some answers to the following:

As asked above, did you pop a cap to clear your channel?

If so, there is primer fouling and you will get rust.

What lube did you put on the patch?

Spit or water will do a number on your bore while others may not.

I have done this, but only in the most contrrolled of environments. (Locked room at a deer camp with all experienced shooters)

CS

 

[Britsmoothy]

Bitching aside and not getting cranky. I have just been using my double for the past 3 weeks on rabbit, pheasant and duck. I have in this period kept a powder charge in the gun with just 4 cards on top of it. I do pull the shot as that is the real dangerous part :wink: The longest period was one week. Why does it matter if the chamber rusts a little? How many years will it take to make the gun useless? Are we worrying to much?
I do stuff paper in my muzzles stating "CHARGED BARRELS"
My barrels are allways fired on a felt wad first before use so any charged barrel over night is not totally clean and so any damp weather and it is burnt off. I do put alot of faith in olive oil and think it is real good at getting in the nooks and so limiting corrosion.
Good luck.

 

[Adam Isrow]

Generally, corrosion is corrosion, and any isn't good. More specifically, in a rifled barrel corrosion will compromise accuracy, apparently rather badly.

 

[colt100]

First off, the arguement saying you don't leave smokeless cartridge guns loaded is flawed IMO. When I take my ML inside I do not leave the cap on, so the rifle is not able to be fired without putting a cap on the rifle. This is also how I transport my ML in my vehicle, which is considered unloaded by the state. If you remove the primer from the loaded smokeless round, then I would say leave it loaded. Since you don't remove the primer, and the rifle can be fired just by removing the safety and pulling the trigger, this is apples to oranges to the ML. :youcrazy:

Well, you guys got me to thinking about the rust issue as I have my cabela's 54 cal traditional hawkens rifle sitting in my gun case that I loaded in 11-06. The rifle had been cleaned with no cap popped prior to loading.

The load was 100 gr of goex FFg, lubed felt over powder, and a bore butter lubed patched .535 lead round ball. I always mark my ML's with paper stating "loaded" by the nipple if I leave them loaded after hunting when no round was fired.

I loaded it the night prior to a ML hunt which in the morning, I decided not to go out as the weather was poor. I never got out the rest of the season and figured that I would just take it out when I shoot one of these days.

needless to say, everytime I when out shooting, it slipped my mind to take it so it had sat inside my gun case for almost a year.

I just got done pulling the ball and powder, which took me more then 5 minutes, not 90 seconds, which is why i normally shoot off my load then clean.

When I got the ball out, there was no evidence of rust anywhere in the barrel. I then pulled the felt wad and there was no evidnece of rust there either.

The powder was dumped and again, no evidnece of rust. I shined a light down the bore and found the bore to look fine, although dirty from the BP.

I put a dry patch down the bore and the patch came out black with BP. I repeated this twice more until the patch came out only slightly dark. Again, no evidnece of rust.

I then wet a patch with hoppe's BP solvent and put the patch down the bore. The patch came out dark with no evidnece of rust.

After drying bore, I shone the light down again and found eveything to be bright and shiny with no evidence whatsoever of any corrosion or rust.

Now I would err of the side of caution and not leave the barrel loaded for long periods of time.

If the BP gets wet, maybe it will cause rust but won't anything that is wet and left in a steel barrel?

Take this for what it's worth.

 

[roundball]

I just got done pulling the ball and powder, which took me more then 5 minutes, not 90 seconds, which is why i normally shoot off my load then clean.

:grin: sounds like you either don't have the right equipment or need to eat some more wheaties...I walk into the garage, lay the rifle on a carpeted bench, slide in a ramroid with a puller on it, and simply pull the ball up out of the barrel in one stroke...its in a lubed patch...and actually only takes 5 seconds...the other 85 seconds is to blow out the powder, and patch lube the bore.

You mentioned that since it takes you 5 minutes to simply pull a ball, that you can shoot one out and then clean/lube your muzzleloader in less than the 5 minutes it takes you to pull a ball...would be interested in knowing the details of your cleaning / lubing regimen. :wink:

 

[Adam Isrow]

Hmm, an actual field observation. I suspected as much. If BP would eat through the breach in a matter of months (if not weeks) we'd have a lot more warnings coming down from the ancients. As is, i've only heard the moderns warn against certain destruction of our guns.
Again, I must state, leaving a gun loaded, even without the cap, is still risky. Be careful!!!
All guns are loaded!

 

[Adam Isrow]

Mr. Roundball,
It would take me some time to pull a ball, also. I am not set like you are. I tell you what, I need to though. Sounds pretty smart and easy to me. Safe and fast. I currently shoot off my round at the end of the day and have to spend half an hour cleaning. :shake: I'd much rather blow out the powder and run a couple of quick patches. :bow:

 

[chuck-ia]

I think you would only get corrosion and pitting if the gun was fired and then loaded and left uncleaned. If I leave a gun loaded overnight, it will be with a clean barrel, (not shot) and will have a tag on the trigger guard LOADED. I normally pull my load at the end of the day when hunting. About 8 years ago I was hunting late season muzzleloader, got home and put the gun in the garage so it would stay cold. Next morning I had a heart attack, laying in the emergency room first thing I did was tell the wife to get ahold of my hunting partner and ask him to take care of the rifle. What if I had died? How long would the gun set in the garage? Would it just get put back in the gun cabinet? What if a not so gun savvy person ended up with it and decided to pop a cap? I personally see no reason to leave a muzzleloader loaded for days or weeks. Now a different story. 2 years ago a friend had a muzzleloader stolen out of his shop, the gun was loaded, police recovered the gun and held it for I am guessing a couple months, he got the load out and the barrel is junk. I am guessing the gun was fired at least once and reloaded. What residue we got out of the nipple hole did not even resemble black powder. flinch

 

[Runner]

My 36 is loaded right now. It has a cap on it and is standing behind the door. Unloaded guns are expensive clubs! I kept a third model Dragoon with all six loaded and the hammer down on a between cylinders hammer pin for many years. It hung from my bed post in the holster. I would shoot it empty every few months or whenever I though of it and had time to clean it afterward. I reloaded it after it was cleaned. At no time have I seen any rust problem caused by fresh loads loaded into clean guns.

 

[colt100]

I just got done pulling the ball and powder, which took me more then 5 minutes, not 90 seconds, which is why i normally shoot off my load then clean.

:grin: sounds like you either don't have the right equipment or need to eat some more wheaties...Sorry I'm not stronger :yakyak:

I walk into the garage, lay the rifle on a carpeted bench, slide in a ramroid with a puller on it, and simply pull the ball up out of the barrel in one stroke...its in a lubed patch...and actually only takes 5 seconds...the other 85 seconds is to blow out the powder, and patch lube the bore.

You mentioned that since it takes you 5 minutes to simply pull a ball, that you can shoot one out and then clean/lube your muzzleloader in less than the 5 minutes it takes you to pull a ball...would be interested in knowing the details of your cleaning / lubing regimen. I have not edited my post, please show me where I said I cleaned my ML in 5 minutes. :shake:

This board is getting as bad as some of the others I visit.