leaving powder in

[hanshi]

Black powder is NOT hygroscopic but black powder FOULING is highly hygroscopic. I've left guns loaded for weeks and weeks and they fired fine. One MUST keep the powder dry though there is no need to worry over it sucking water out of the atmosphere. That just doesn't happen. Also if a gun DOESN'T fire after being loaded for an extended period, it's not necessarily due to wet powder.

 

[texcl]

I leave my guns loaded but I use a greased patch with hornets nest under it and I plug the vent with a tooth pick. I haven't had an issue yet even when the outside of the gun sweats
(which I try to avoid, like the others said don't take the gun into a warm place and you should be ok. I have to say that if it was an expensive, once in a lifetime hunt or if I were hunting something that could eat me, I'd probably discharge it with my co2 gizmo every day, it is really easy and if any problems were to occure it would be on a really expensive hunt at the worst time.

 

[chuck-ia]

If I am going to hunt the next day, depending on weather conditions, I may leave the gun loaded, with a tag, LOADED, on it. If I am not going to hunt for a few days, I will unload the gun and totally clean it. I will get flamed for this but,I feel that people that leave a muzzleloader loaded for weeks at a time, with no intention of hunting or using the gun, are just plain lazy, and irresponsible. flinch

 

[Rogue River]

I put a lubed patch over the nipple and drop the hammer and a cardbore OP wad in the end of barrel. I'm careful of tempature swings and I leave the rifle in the truck during the season. If I have no luck by the end of the season I shoot it off and clean good, never had a problem! Sometimes if I have any concern I will run a dry patch down the barrel to the load just to check for rust (with cap removed)!

 

[hanshi]

Hey, how is it you know me? Did we go to school together? :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

 

[slumlord44]

I am in Southern Illinois about 25 miles East of St. Louis Mo. Use Pyrodex triple 7. Load in late November and leave it loaded until the end of the mid January doe season unless I get a deer before then. Use bore butter lubed patches. Have never had a failure to fire and no corosion problems. Shot some really old original Pyrodex in the old cardboard containers for target practice. Went bang just fine. Did seem to be below the power level that it should be but hit the target where it should.

 

[grizs50]

An unloaded gun is absolutely useless and a really poor club! :thumbsup:

All my guns are loaded and are treated as such even if they are not. :shocked2:

 

[luieb45]

So if I loaded my gun with pyrodex at the beginning of the day and for the rest of the day we hopped around to different places on deer drives the gun would go off fine?

 

[smokymtnsmokepole]

Sure. Do you think the old-timers unloaded every day? As long as your powder stays dry, you can leave it loaded for months and it'll go bang just like it did the day you loaded it.(From the previous post about the rusted balls, I wouldn't try it with a spit-lubed patch, though. :shocked2 Black Powder or Pyrodex, no difference I've seen for picking up moisture. The only time I unload mine at the end of a day's hunt is if I've been out in the pouring rain all day with my flintlock. Usually goes bang fine, but why take a chance if you could have gotten some moisture in it? Never had a problem either way with my percussion rifle.

 

[MSW]

for what it's worth:

out of curiousity, i loaded the cylinder of a c&b revolver and left it in the dresser drawer while we were building my house (the revolver itself was in the gun case) three of the shots were nearly thirty year old pyrodex and three were FFFg Goex, with the caps on.

the thing sat there for about eighteen months and i took it out into the woods and put six shots into a coffee can with no problem.

as regards the wisdom of leaving a gun loaded, i don't, and while your in my property you don't either, but what you do on your place is your business and i don't think it's for me (or anyone else) to insist that you do or don't do a certian behaviour... recommend maybe, but insist, no. ... just one guy's opinion.

so, will it work? yes, probably. should you do it? no, probably not, but it's your call.

 

[smokehouseman]

My approach to your question goes something like this..........I've learned over the years that under "normal" conditions I can leave a load in my gun and it will fire for about 3 days. When I say normal I mean no radical changes in temperatures moving it in and out of hot and cold temperatures and allowing it to sit for long periods of time. If an event occurred that gave me reason to question whether it may or may not go off I opt to discharge it and re-load. I put too much time and effort into preparing for the hunt for me to take a chance that a 35¢ powder charge is going to make me take a chance on a discharge failure. Now having said that I truly believe that if proper care is taken to tape the muzzle when hunting in wet weather conditions and taping the nipple over so moisture doesn't enter and protecting the gun against against severe temperature alterations, that load would probably successfully last for weeks and fire but why take the chance.

 

[hanshi]

When I was young and single the only handgun I had was a c&b Remy. I kept it loaded all the time and lying on a bedside table. Every few months I'd go out and fire it, clean it and reload it. It never failed to fire and the powder was always dry. And that was in the humid deep South.

 

[William O.]

If you live in a very high humidity environment then you won't want to leave it that way for very long (read many months) unless you take steps to keep the water out, and several ways of doing that have been pointed out already. Leaving the powder and ball charge in overnight after an unsuccessful hunt is perfectly alright, just be sure to un-cap the nipple for safety. The only thing you might have to worry about in case you leave your rifle that way for several weeks in very high humidity is the powder getting a little weak from absorbing water, but it's not going to invite rust and corrosion. Properly sealed, traditional gun powder in your rifle will last for many years, however, substitute powders get weaker over time, and it wouldn't be a good idea to rely on them if stored in your rifle for many months.
Hope this helps.

Sorry, should have been qualified the difference between gun powder formulations where the nitrate used is sodium nitrate, which are hygroscopic, and those which use saltpetre, which are not.