Overnight loading

[Vaino]

A few years ago it rained 7 out of the 9 days during the Colorado MLer elk season...sometimes hard but mostly a light drizzle.

Loaded the perc Hawken the night before season opener and having failed to get a shot and so never reloaded, fired the gun on the night of the last day....it indeed did "go bang".

At night the Hawken was kept in the gun rack in the tent as were the other 3 MLers. During all the years that we elk hunted, there wasn't a single case of not firing.....no precautions were taken except that the first loading was made correctly as was the reloading in the field. How long a load was in the bbl varied....the longest was the time described in the 2nd paragraph. Were we lucky? I don't think so....it's just that common sense and simplicity prevailed in both loading and keeping moisture from entering the nipple. Other than the nipple, where else can moisture reach the powder?.....Fred

 

[Sandan027]

:bow:

 

[Sandan027]

Good points. I think this weekend is suppoosed to rain. i'll probably put a ballong or somethink like that on the nipple/cap.

 

[Sandan027]

deleted, double post

 

[longcruise]

There is even talk of snow Friday here on the flats!!!

it's almost a sure thing all this rain is going to turn to snow for some of us.

Snow in ML season! I love it and hate it.

 

[roundball]

LOL...this same kind of thread comes up every hunting season.
Whatever floats a boat I guess...to me, its just simple to pull a load and start every day's hunt with a fresh one.

For the life of me I'll never understand why we spend out lives learning to religiously follow all gun safety commandments and unload our centerfires...but when it comes to muzzleloaders some insist on wanting to leave them loaded.
To say nothing of the obvious risks of a hang fire or Kerlatch on a hunt after waiting all year to finally get the game in our sights.

Why do some insist on doing that?
Think MLs are a lot safer than centerfires?
Too hard to pull a load and reload?
Too much work to pull a load and reload?
Don't know how to do it?
Why do some takes those risks?
:hmm:

 

[longcruise]

IMO, this is A manageable risk. But, I tag the lock as loaded, lock it in a storage room at home or in a vehicle in camp.

there are times and places that are not safe, but that is a matter of individual judgment.

In my state it is legally unloaded if not capped or primed.

 

[Vaino]

"For the life of me, Ill never understand......" :grin: .....Fred

 

[jamesthomas]

For what its worth I don't leave mine loaded for the entire season, 2 days is my maximum for leaving it loaded, then the load is pulled, powder dumped, an barrel cleaned then a new load is put down, But I rarely am able to hunt more than 3 days in a row anyway :td:.

 

[Roguedog]

I guess to each their own. I start with a totally clean gun which means no oil in the bore, I then load with real blackpowder and I generally keep it loaded till the time comes when I discharge the weapon at a game animal. I have never had a failure to fire. I do keep my gun protected from temperature extremes. I don't bring a cold gun into a warm house for example. This is just the way I like to do it and up to now, it has worked. Each person has to do it the way they see fit. JMTC.

Jeff

 

[Grizzly Adams]

I have kept my over under smoothbore snake gun loaded for an entire summer. I keep a totally dry bore and put a 1/4" piece of nylon fuel tubing over the cap/nipple to keep moisture out. Worked for me.

 

[Sandan027]

Well thanks everyone for your input. We loaded Friday night. Didn't get ashot all weekend or Monday. After we were done, we discharged our rifles on Monday afternoon. both rifles went "bang". Also thanks for the tip about keeping the nipple covered with a "shock absorbing" material, in our case piece of folded leather from a work glove and letting the hammer down, slowly, on that.

 

[Michael Chambers]

I've deer hunted for many years with my .54 Lyman GPR caplock, and have never had a problem taking it inside or leaving it outside. The day before the season starts, I snap a cap, load it up, fire it to check zero, then immediately load it up again for the hunt, but don't cap it. The bore is clean, dry, and warm (no humidity).

If I'm expecting damp or rainy weather the next morning when I cap it, I paint around the cap with black nail polish, and a large finger cot goes over the muzzle (you can shoot right through it). If I don't get a shot at a deer, the gun stays loaded, capped, and on half cock for the weekend, but it's locked up, there are no kids around, and anybody else around knows that it's loaded, and to not mess with it.

At the end of the weekend, I unload it by firing it, then running a couple of lubed patches through it. Set up like this, we came in for lunch one year, and I leaned the rifle against the outside of the trailer. It started raining, and when we came out, my rifle was propped up in a waterfall coming off the trailer roof. It still fired perfectly the next evening. :thumbsup:

 

[juancho]

I keep my flintlock loaded until I see game in need of some lead.
I do , however, bring it inside the warm trailer for the night( or several nights).
Never had any problems firing the first time, but I prepare the gun for that.
I seal the pan with bore butter after loading , and put it inside the leather soft case BEFORE going inside for the night.
I have done this many times , even with light snow/drizzle, but never in heavy rain.If it rains , I go out with my recurve bow .

 

[pab1]

I forgot to mention that I'll be shooting Hornady Great Plains bullets so I don't believe lube contaminating the power will be any sort of problem. Ant mor ideas? Keep 'em coming.

The only thing I would add is to occasionally remove the cap and then check that the bullet has not moved forward in the barrel.