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POLL - Why People Don't Unload a ML
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sorry RB, I jus can't be any more specific about unnecessary..not necessary, isn't, don't need to,
evidently you do unload and that works for you,,why you do?
I don't know,I don't unload everytime and that works for me..why would I change what works? :hmm:"If pressing for that kind of detail makes some people uncomfortable, then my apologies of course"
Ya gonna havta press a whole bunch harder to make me uncomfortable about safely leaving my gun loaded overnight so I can grab it and go the next day or weekend, there are probably a lot of "reasons" if you dig deep enough, being ready to go on the fly is one,but in general I am the type that won't do anything that don't really need done, particularly if it gets me out the door quicker, adds to the experience of leaving a ML loaded as was done in the past, having/proving confidence in the performance of the loaded gun. this is a fun game, the more I think about it there are lots of reasons not to unload your ML at the end of the day, and as mentioned above if you are one that feels it needs to be done more power to you, it is a choice that we all make on way or the other.
Ya gonna havta press a whole bunch harder to make me uncomfortable about safely leaving my gun loaded overnight so I can grab it and go the next day or weekend, there are probably a lot of "reasons" if you dig deep enough, being ready to go on the fly is one,but in general I am the type that won't do anything that don't really need done, particularly if it gets me out the door quicker, adds to the experience of leaving a ML loaded as was done in the past, having/proving confidence in the performance of the loaded gun. this is a fun game, the more I think about it there are lots of reasons not to unload your ML at the end of the day, and as mentioned above if you are one that feels it needs to be done more power to you, it is a choice that we all make on way or the other.
GreyWhiskers
69 Cal.
I also checked "none of the above" because I will leave a rifle or shotgun loaded for a couple days while hunting. Not for an entire season though.
I selected "Don't want to waste my time".
If I loaded well and the day was nice there is no reason to pull the load and reload the next day. I walk out the back door to hunt and don't have to transport the firearm. No kids to worry about. Garage is unheated.
Why bother?
Pulling a load has it's own risks of damaging the rifling with the steel screw or putting hands and digits in front of a loaded firearm.
If I loaded well and the day was nice there is no reason to pull the load and reload the next day. I walk out the back door to hunt and don't have to transport the firearm. No kids to worry about. Garage is unheated.
Why bother?
Pulling a load has it's own risks of damaging the rifling with the steel screw or putting hands and digits in front of a loaded firearm.
DOUBLEDEUCE 1
69 Cal.
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I always unload no matter what. For me I would rather be absolutely safe. I have seen and picked up my share of people who were injured or killed with unloaded firearms. Safety devices can and do fail for a number of reasons. The safest condition for any firearm when not in use would be empty, no powder or cartridge, nothing. The cost of a few grains of powder and a chunk of lead is nothing when compaired to the loss of a finger, toe, a three hundred dollar coffee table, or worse.
buttonbuck
50 Cal.
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there was not the option for unloading on that noisy squirrel who keeps scaring away my deer. I admit I did legally harvest a squirrel with a 54 one year but It was time to go in the morning and he was really asking for it.
Russ T Frizzen
70 Cal.
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I always unload at the end of a day's hunt. Not for any safety reason though. I just like shooting and it gives me a chance to practice under low light conditions. I pick a mark 50 or 60 paces off and fire at it off hand. I've gotten pretty good at this late light shooting. For the price of a ball and patch , a little lube and powder and a pinch of prime I've learned a lot and had a bit of fun on a day when no deer were to be found. Besides, I have never minded cleaning a muzzleloader--I pretty much enjoy every aspect of these guns.
When I hunted I always unloaded after the hunt was over, not so much because of safety reasons but because I was so disgusted for spending all day in the frozen woods and didn't see a damn thing. So I set up a target and blasted the hell out of it, which in turn usually sent a deer running past me and my unloaded gun. :haha:
I was my dishes each time I use them. I do not wash my car each time I use it. Apples & oranges.
I usually have a wife at home waiting for me to take her out to dinner. I don't have an hour to waste cleaning a gun, because I shot it when there was nothing to shoot at.
I usually have a wife at home waiting for me to take her out to dinner. I don't have an hour to waste cleaning a gun, because I shot it when there was nothing to shoot at.
I hunted late season this year, I pulled the load each time I hunted. I didn't feel comftorable leaving it in the garage loaded, so brought it in the house and let it warm up and pulled the load. Different strokes for different folks. flinch
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as regards the security issue, as i told my kids, the best way to win a gunfight is to be out of town when it happens, and the best way to get through a home robbery is to have the thief crash their car on the way to your house.
if you want to do an intruder a mischief, i recommend a twelve guage pump with two or at most three target loads in the tube and nothing in the chamber, kept in a handy location, and secured from children (regardless of age). the proported bad guy comming up the stairs (assuming, arguendo, that Mr Dumbxss makes it past the dog- an unlikely proposition in my house) he or she will be confronted with the characteristic "schlack schlack" sound of you working the slide. If badguy is so dumb or stoned that they don't know what that noise is, well tough: it must suck to be them and they're about to find out soon. Don't turn on the lights: you know where things are in your house, but they don't. Tell 'em to stop, and if they don't heed your warning, aim for center of mass and (as the Israeli who taught me said) stop shooting when they fall down. (By the way, this will leave a dreadful mess, and at that range, you don't need a bunch of "manstopper" loads. Don't ask me how i know.)
as regards leaving a flint or percussion rifle loaded, i think it's a just inviting trouble in and asking if trouble would like a beer: i think it was Mark Twain who opined that the kid who couldn't hit the broadside of a barn from the inside of the structure if given a half hour to set the shot could easily pot his Aunt at the family picnic at a range of three hundred yards if given an empty flintlock.
so, for muzzloaders, unload it, clean it, put it away.
just one guy's opinion.
make good smoke.
if you want to do an intruder a mischief, i recommend a twelve guage pump with two or at most three target loads in the tube and nothing in the chamber, kept in a handy location, and secured from children (regardless of age). the proported bad guy comming up the stairs (assuming, arguendo, that Mr Dumbxss makes it past the dog- an unlikely proposition in my house) he or she will be confronted with the characteristic "schlack schlack" sound of you working the slide. If badguy is so dumb or stoned that they don't know what that noise is, well tough: it must suck to be them and they're about to find out soon. Don't turn on the lights: you know where things are in your house, but they don't. Tell 'em to stop, and if they don't heed your warning, aim for center of mass and (as the Israeli who taught me said) stop shooting when they fall down. (By the way, this will leave a dreadful mess, and at that range, you don't need a bunch of "manstopper" loads. Don't ask me how i know.)
as regards leaving a flint or percussion rifle loaded, i think it's a just inviting trouble in and asking if trouble would like a beer: i think it was Mark Twain who opined that the kid who couldn't hit the broadside of a barn from the inside of the structure if given a half hour to set the shot could easily pot his Aunt at the family picnic at a range of three hundred yards if given an empty flintlock.
so, for muzzloaders, unload it, clean it, put it away.
just one guy's opinion.
make good smoke.
Tumblernotch
69 Cal.
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I voted that I always unload and clean, but there are a few times that I don't. Generally during deer season I do mainly because it's cold and damp and I take my rifle into a warm house. I found out the hard way years ago that condensation will form in the barrel and dampen the powder when conditions are right. I lost a deer once because of this. I actually hit the deer (the range was pretty short), but did no damage. I was using a rifle-musket and it sounded like a loud air rifle going off.
Mike Brooks
Cannon
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I have rarely ever hunted with modern firearms since I was a kid. The only cartridge guns I have hunted with in the past 30 years have been SXS hammer shotguns loaded with BP shells. I unload them when I get to the truck as it is illegal to transport a loaded gun, and I don't feel like going to the slam. Actually I'm usually just going to another section a mile or two away and would prefer to not unload in a situation like that , but the Game Wardens are thick as fleas on a monkey here in Iowa the first few days of the season, and you better be doing things right or you're going to get in trouble. Now, for the drive home I'll unload......
"unloaded" primer cap or flint out of the gun, powder and ball or shot may stay in the firearm.
after I hunt , I "unload" the gun.
removing the powder and ball or shot is only done if it gets damp.
I also plug the vent with a tooth pick and rubber cap the nipple .
they stay out in the barn in a locker,safe and sound til the next hunt.
the end of season they all get fired and cleaned
after I hunt , I "unload" the gun.
removing the powder and ball or shot is only done if it gets damp.
I also plug the vent with a tooth pick and rubber cap the nipple .
they stay out in the barn in a locker,safe and sound til the next hunt.
the end of season they all get fired and cleaned
I don't unload it, just keep it loaded till I am ready to shoot next time.
As long as the powder stays dry, doesn't matter!
As long as the powder stays dry, doesn't matter!
RB
As I had said before. "None of the above"
In Minnesota a uncapped or unprimed(Not sure about the flint being out) BP firearm is considered unloaded. It does have to be cased in or on a vehicle. I carry mine on the four wheeler in a plastic gun case back and forth to the hunting area.
If weather is dry or in my judgement not justifiable IMO to unload I do not.Now saftey plays in on this as we all know. This past season I went four days in cold and some snowy weather without unloading. And have also done this in past seasons. At the end of my four day hunt I shot at a knot in a popular tree at about 35yds. I was happy to say I hit a little to the right of the knot and I was not surprise that it fired. I would have been surprised if it wouldn't have. Now maybe someday that big buck will be there and my judgement will be poor. But when I first started this BP shooting I was a little sceptical on this black powder shooting. You know you hear all the misleading stories on the do's and don't. I have had one misfire while hunting. And it was my fault and it was after I had already shot at this young dumb buck. Just my thoughts. :hatsoff:
As I had said before. "None of the above"
In Minnesota a uncapped or unprimed(Not sure about the flint being out) BP firearm is considered unloaded. It does have to be cased in or on a vehicle. I carry mine on the four wheeler in a plastic gun case back and forth to the hunting area.
If weather is dry or in my judgement not justifiable IMO to unload I do not.Now saftey plays in on this as we all know. This past season I went four days in cold and some snowy weather without unloading. And have also done this in past seasons. At the end of my four day hunt I shot at a knot in a popular tree at about 35yds. I was happy to say I hit a little to the right of the knot and I was not surprise that it fired. I would have been surprised if it wouldn't have. Now maybe someday that big buck will be there and my judgement will be poor. But when I first started this BP shooting I was a little sceptical on this black powder shooting. You know you hear all the misleading stories on the do's and don't. I have had one misfire while hunting. And it was my fault and it was after I had already shot at this young dumb buck. Just my thoughts. :hatsoff:
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