Unloading a muzzleloader question

[Ole Mule]

OK you load powder and a Prb and go hunting at the end of the day you were not lucky and went home empty handed. Now you have a loaded gun. What is the proper procedure on how to handle this?

 

[silly goose]

Speaking for myself, I put a small piece of leather over the nipple and let the hammer down onto it, or a rolled up piece of leather in my empty pan, against the barrel and lower the cock so the flint holds it in place. Remove the leather for the next hunt.

 

[chazz1975]

I have one of those CO2 dischargers. I use it to unload the gun when I am done with a day of hunting. I just unscrew the nipple, put the tip of the discharger in the nipple drum, and push the trigger on the discharger. Make sure to point it in a safe direction. Those CO2 dischargers can push that ball and load out with some authority.

 

[David Grout]

I do the same as silly goose and put a piece of leather on the nipple (after taking the cap off) and lower the hammer on it. Keeps out moisture and makes the gun completely safe.

 

[bpd303]

For me it would depend on if I could get back out into the woods in a reasonable amount of time, whether to leave her loaded.

 

[George T.]

Your right as rain! Second best use right behind dry balling!

Geo. T.

 

[jamesthomas]

I have a flintlock, but what I do is tape a spare short starter in the barrel an put a tag the trigger guard with the date an type of load it has, if it is more than 2 weeks before I get to go again I'll go to the range (10 miles away) an shoot it awhile then clean it up for the next time.

 

[Black Hand]

Remove the prime, lower the hammer on an empty pan and go home.

I will pull a load rather than shoot it.

 

[Shooey]

If I'm hunting the next day, I just take the cap off and lower the hammer on a piece of buckskin. I don't bring the rifle into a warm tent/room/cabin. :nono: I keep it cold, in the truck.

If I'm not hunting, I like to fire it at a safe target and then see where I hit. One more practice shot! I don't mind cleaning it. :thumbsup:

 

[Dphar]

OK you load powder and a Prb and go hunting at the end of the day you were not lucky and went home empty handed. Now you have a loaded gun. What is the proper procedure on how to handle this?

If its a percussion and has been capped SHOOT IT OUT. Its not safe to screw around with a percussion gun even if the cap has been removed.
Any remnant of compound that might have come out of the cap and is on the nipple can fire the gun with very little provocation, much less than if it were still capped.
So shoot the thing.

If a FL I would deprime, put the cock in the fired position and pull the load.

Dan

 

[750k2]

I pick a stump or log or tree knot or such and shoot it out.
If no viable targets I shoot the ground.
I always like to hunt with a fresh load.
It only takes a few minutes to clean anywho.

 

[Ole Mule]

OK will shoot all loads out at the end of each day returning from hunting. I believe this will be my safest option.

Thanks for all the good replies.

 

[Bugflipper]

I just take the cap off and put something under the hammer. Not anything in particular, just something to seal it. Can be a piece of a plastic bag or whatever. Next time I go hunting I recap it. They will keep a lot longer than I will stand to go without shooting them. If loaded properly you can go the whole season without shooting it and hunt with it the next year. It's a good idea to tape the muzzle up to remind yourself it's already loaded though.

 

[robinsroost]

I just take the cap off and put something under the hammer. Not anything in particular, just something to seal it. Can be a piece of a plastic bag or whatever. Next time I go hunting I recap it. They will keep a lot longer than I will stand to go without shooting them. If loaded properly you can go the whole season without shooting it and hunt with it the next year. It's a good idea to tape the muzzle up to remind yourself it's already loaded though.

I do as Bugflipper does. The only difference is that I use a 1/2" square of an old inner tube over the nipple. I punched a hole through one corner, tied a 6" piece of waxed linen cord through it, and tied the other end to the trigger guard. I have left it thus stored, for over a year, and it fired first try.........Robin

 

[TraprMike]

Legally, in mn,, simple take the cap off or remove the BP from the pan.. done..

 

[Ron_T.]

I have one of those CO2 dischargers. I use it to unload the gun when I am done with a day of hunting. I just unscrew the nipple, put the tip of the discharger in the nipple drum, and push the trigger on the discharger. Make sure to point it in a safe direction. Those CO2 dischargers can push that ball and load out with some authority.

*******************************************

Like Charley, I have one of those CO² dischargers too. Mine has two different screw-on nozzles, one to fit percussion rifles and one to fit flint-lock rifles. Just fit the correct nozzle onto the CO² discharger and blow the ball & powder outta the barrel. With the correct nozzle in place, you don't have to removed the nipple.

Or... you can go to the old method of using that manual screw un-loader... or you can shoot it out, but that requires a thorough cleaning after you shoot it out.

The "secret" to using the screw-type un-loader that screws into the soft lead rifle ball is to have a range-rod with a "T" handle so you can wedge the "T" handle in the crook of a tree or in something that will hold the end of the range-rod solid so it can't move towards you as you pull the rifle away from it.

Then simply attach the screw to your range-rod, put it down the barrel and screw it into the lead ball, then carry the rifle and range-rod over to something into which you can wedge the range-rod's "T"-handle solidly, then merely "walk" the rifle off the solidly-held range-rod being careful to keep the rifle level and in a straight-line with the range-rod (so you don't bend the range-rod) leaving the range-rod with the screw-type un-loader & attached rifle ball dangling and the unloaded rifle in your hands.

Then simply shake-out the powder, run an oily patch down the barrel to clean out any remaining black powder and put the rifle away.

Of course, the first thing you always do is take the percussion cap off the nipple or it's it's a flint-lock, remove any traces of black powder from the pan, push the frizzen up outta the way, then lower the cock down to the frizzen pan.

Either method works just fine and you don't need to do a major cleaning of the rifle since you didn't fire it to get the ball out of the barrel.

Problem solved...! :grin:

Make "good" smoke...


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

 

[Roguedog]

This may not work for everybody but I load on a clean barrel. As a result, I may leave my gun loaded for several weeks at a time. I like to do extended day camping hunts and don't want to have to fire and reload my gun every day.

In my percussions, I decap and put a piece of leather over the nipple. Since this is my first year for a flinter I plan to dump the prime and open the frizzen. One other thing is that I always treat every gun as if it were loaded and ready to fire. Always keep that muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

Jeff

 

[Adui]

I've always just left the rifle loaded unless I hunted in rainy or otherwise wet conditions. But, my ML was always (except one particularly wet year) my secondary hunting rifle to be used if conditions were dry enough to satisfy me. Otherwise it stayed loaded, (after the first time I chose to carry it that season) uncapped, and in the truck / house till the season ended.

This was of course quite a few years back, I havent even hunted in over 5 seasons now.

 

[Drago]

If leaving it loaded for long periods, does anyone use anything to lube or protect the exposed bore from rust?

 

[Adui]

I cant remember doing so, but that was a long time ago, and I was still learning a lot about this game (come to think of it, I still am)