Leaving Powder in horns

[pab1]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :haha:

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Nit Wit

 

[Loyalist Dave]

There is no reason to empty. My horn gets refilled as needed. I make my horns so they are moisture/air-tight.

Me too.

LD

 

[wattlebuster]

All my horns are air tight so I leave powder in them yr round. Been doing this 40 yrs with no problems so far.

 

[BrownBear]

Do you leave powder in your horns for extended periods of time? I have multiple horns and have been emptying after every shoot. Would like to just keep them loaded. Experiences? Pro's and Con's?

I've been doing a little experiment. In 1982 I put a pound of 2f powder in a big horn I hate to carry. Each year since then I've been checking it for clumps and firing a couple of loads. What is that? Something like 36 years? It's still as good as they day I poured it through the loading funnel.

If a horn is well made and well sealed, I can't imagine that it's any different than a powder can for storage.

 

[Billnpatti]

Whether you can leave powder in your horn will depend on how well it seals out air and moisture. Some well-made horns will seal up well enough that you can leave your powder in them with no ill effects. Most cheap horns will not seal up well and your powder can likely become clumped in your horn and you will have a difficult time getting it to pour the next time you go to use it. I would never leave a substitute powder in a horn no matter how well the horn sealed up. That stuff needs to be sealed up in a good screw top container. Even then, it has a specific shelf life. I only shoot black powder and my personal choice is to return any unused powder in my horn to the original container and then just re-fill my horn the next time I go out. But, that's just my personal preference.

 

[Rifleman1776]

my personal choice is to return any unused powder in my horn to the original container

I developed a few safety habits when i was doing reloading for modern stuff. A biggie is to keep original powder containers right on your loading bench next to the dispenser. If you put it away and return later there is the possibility you don't remember correctly which powder you left in the dispenser. Same with your practice, IMHO, a potentially not so safe thing to do. Not as extreme a risk as with modern propellants but enuf that I wouldn't do that. As I said :2

 

[Billnpatti]

I understand your safety concerns and agree for those who use more than one granulation. But, I use only Goex 3f in all of my rifles. I do have a couple of cans of Goex 2f but that was for my shotguns which I no longer have. Those cans are never opened now that I have only rifles to load. Oh, and I do have one can of Swiss Null B for my flintlocks but it is clearly marked with a different label and is kept in my range box. All of my 3f stash is kept in a box in my shed.

Now that you have brought up the subject, I think I will go out to my shed and put tape across the screw tops of my 2f powder so that I eliminate any chance of accidentally returning 3f powder to one of the 2f cans. Thanks for the safety tip. :hatsoff:

 

[tenngun]

I set up my bags and horns to each gun. So my horns are full of the powder for that gun. Ive never returned powder to a container.

 

[MSW]

I don't have any 'substitute' powder in horns, so I can't speak from personal experience as to whether it clumps or not. Here in hippie-ville, it's such a pain to get either subs or real BP that I have to drive even further into the middle of nowhere, so I just buy 3F and save a little money ”¦ had one guy actually ask 'what are you going to do with this?' When I sarcastically told him that the stuff tastes terrible, so I shoot it off in my flintlock, he got all shirty ”¦ then I had to show him my drivers license, am I really a state resident, etc. etc. etc.


I've kept 3F in horns for many years with no ill effects (note that all of my horns are well sealed).

So long as you keep it dry, the shelf life of BP is pretty much indefinite.

Make good smoke!

 

[Elkeater]

I have 2 horns, the larger one has the larger granules 2f. The smaller horn 3f. I keep them full.

 

[hanshi]

I never empty my horns unless It all gets emptied into my flintlock.

 

[hawkeye2]

I have left powder in my horns for several years with no ill effects. My only reason for not doing so is that I wouldn't like to have a horn on display in my living area with powder in it and if I left powder in it I will place it in the area where I keep my powder. Bill and rifleman have brought up good points in that it's a good idea to put it back into it's original container or identify it to avoid a potential accident. I always empty my powder measure completely after each session for that reason. I have dedicated horns for my rifles and muskets and priming horns so it's no problem keeping 2, 3 & 4f separated.