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unloading
- Thread starter bstro70
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Depending on when you are going hunting again and the weather, you mite consider leaving it loaded until next time. I left my 50 flinter loaded from Oct 15 throught Nov 6 and it fired perfectly. This is in Wyo where there is generally low humitity.
Othern
Othern
Welcome Bstro70!
I leave mine loaded (and outside) if I'm hunting the next day. Otherwise, I find a likely stump or clod of dirt/rock before I get back to civilization, or just a stream bank near the road if I've been waiting out a good spot and not wanting to disturb the area (but that's usually when I'm coming back the next day - so I leave the gun loaded). Our legal shooting time ends at sunset and there is usually 15 or 20 minutes of good enough light left, especially in the fields.
I leave mine loaded (and outside) if I'm hunting the next day. Otherwise, I find a likely stump or clod of dirt/rock before I get back to civilization, or just a stream bank near the road if I've been waiting out a good spot and not wanting to disturb the area (but that's usually when I'm coming back the next day - so I leave the gun loaded). Our legal shooting time ends at sunset and there is usually 15 or 20 minutes of good enough light left, especially in the fields.
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I use one of those CO2 dischargers if the situation won't allow me to shoot, then clean the gun. Nothing PC about them, but man, do they work.
bstro70 said:
Different approaches for all of us of course, but I never unload my ML after a hunt by shooting it out for a few reasons:
I don't like making unnecessary noise in an area where I hunt or park that calls attention to me and my location;
I worry that residents within earshot might have a negative reaction to shooting after dark, and I / we don't need any more anti-gun or anti-hunting sentiment;
I don't like shooting after dark for fear that it could be misunderstood as poaching, or just plain unlawful...residents can draw incorrect conclusions, complain, etc;
I don't like having to completely clean a ML when it's not necessary;
So I pull my loads with a ball puller, or blow them out with compressed air...safe, simple, quiet.
Others mileage may vary...
:thumbsup:
Pulling the ball may work great when using a patent breech or if you have an air compressor to blow the powder out. But since I don't shoot a patent breech anymore and I don't have an air compressor then pulling the ball doesn't work so well for me.
With a custom straight wall chamber area barrel I've found that the powder is compressed by the seating of the ball and must be "drilled" out with both a breech scraper and vent pick, then cleaned.
In the end it takes me just as long to do all this as it does to completely clean the rifle and know its all done right.
So for me, shooting is my preferred way to unload a rifle.
With a custom straight wall chamber area barrel I've found that the powder is compressed by the seating of the ball and must be "drilled" out with both a breech scraper and vent pick, then cleaned.
In the end it takes me just as long to do all this as it does to completely clean the rifle and know its all done right.
So for me, shooting is my preferred way to unload a rifle.
wwfeatherston
40 Cal.
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Hunting out the back of the farm, I usually do a little batistics testing, by firing it off into the firewood pile, then digging the bullet out later.
Those soft lead balls expand just like, if not better than, the newer hi-tech projectiles!
I have one right here that is a lead disk 22mm across, after going into a block of Blue Gum. Hitting a bone should do the same.
Those soft lead balls expand just like, if not better than, the newer hi-tech projectiles!
I have one right here that is a lead disk 22mm across, after going into a block of Blue Gum. Hitting a bone should do the same.
CrackStock
69 Cal.
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What does a patent breach have to do with pulling a ball? I have pulled many a ball with a ball screw from a standard breach.
CS
CS
CrackStock
69 Cal.
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No, seriously. Do you load that loose of a patch and ball combination?
I have found that if I need a short starter, then I can pull the ball.
(I read my earlier post and it seems rude now. Not meant that way then or now)
CS
I have found that if I need a short starter, then I can pull the ball.
(I read my earlier post and it seems rude now. Not meant that way then or now)
CS
I carry a couple of 3 x 5 cards with X's on them and some push pins in a pill jar. If it is the last day I'll be hunting for a spell, I'll find an old stump and tack on a card for something definite to aim at. If I'm hunting the next day, the charge stays in with half a round toothpick stuck in the touch hole. The cards and pins go next to the tp in my fanny pack. :thumbsup:
Crackstock,
The breech type makes no difference in pulling the ball. I do have a couple of patent type breech rifles, a GPR and a TC but I don't shoot them anymore. I can also pull a ball from a badly fouled barrel, I keep a rope with a noose hanging from one of my sheds to grip the ramrod.
The problem is the powder. After loading a hunting load and keeping it loaded for a couple of days I find that in a regular breech the powder is compacted and doesn't just pour out the barrel when the ball is pulled. Whereas in my patent breech rifles the powder is not packed tight and will just pour out and the rifle is unloaded.
But when the powder is packed in tight it must be "drilled" out so to speak and in the end its just as quick to shoot and clean the rifle.
Where I live shooting at any time is not a problem. I am 8 miles from town and a mile from my closest neighbor. I understand that people with other circumstances may not be able to shoot to unload their rifle, in which case pulling the ball is the best option.
Why is my powder packed? I don't know. Maybe I use too much force when seating the ball. Maybe its the humidity. I've never heard anyone else mention this so I don't know how many folks have experienced this.
I hope this clears things up.
The breech type makes no difference in pulling the ball. I do have a couple of patent type breech rifles, a GPR and a TC but I don't shoot them anymore. I can also pull a ball from a badly fouled barrel, I keep a rope with a noose hanging from one of my sheds to grip the ramrod.
The problem is the powder. After loading a hunting load and keeping it loaded for a couple of days I find that in a regular breech the powder is compacted and doesn't just pour out the barrel when the ball is pulled. Whereas in my patent breech rifles the powder is not packed tight and will just pour out and the rifle is unloaded.
But when the powder is packed in tight it must be "drilled" out so to speak and in the end its just as quick to shoot and clean the rifle.
Where I live shooting at any time is not a problem. I am 8 miles from town and a mile from my closest neighbor. I understand that people with other circumstances may not be able to shoot to unload their rifle, in which case pulling the ball is the best option.
Why is my powder packed? I don't know. Maybe I use too much force when seating the ball. Maybe its the humidity. I've never heard anyone else mention this so I don't know how many folks have experienced this.
I hope this clears things up.
Darkhorse said:
I do too...I really compress my powder and most of it packs into a solid pellet even in my patent breech rifles...so before I started using an air compressor, I use one of those long screw on patch retrievers that looks like a cork screw.
Kept it on an old spare ramrod hanging on the wall and after pulling a ball, slid that down and rotated it a few times to break up the powder...
I perfer to leave it loaded but, when conditions suggest that a new charge should be put in before another day's hunting, I fire it off if at all possible. Seems to me that it takes more time to clean out a barrel that you pulled the load from then one that you fired once. If I couldn't "shoot it out" then the ball puller method is my choice for unloading.
CrackStock
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I was doing that once when a friend commented that I was grinding a steel screw against a steel breech to loosen black powder. :shocked2:
I then figured that I would try a brass breach face scraper to avoid any possibility of creating sparks, but it did not work all that well.
I now use water to dissolve the powder, blow it out with a silent ball discharger or leave it charged, locked up and cleary tagged.
CS
I then figured that I would try a brass breach face scraper to avoid any possibility of creating sparks, but it did not work all that well.
I now use water to dissolve the powder, blow it out with a silent ball discharger or leave it charged, locked up and cleary tagged.
CS
CrackStock
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I kind of thought the same about what it might take to generate a spark, but I also stopped doing it.
CS
CS
My thinking is along the same lines as stumpy but a little different. Legal shooting time ends with about 20 minutes of light remaining. It takes me about 20 minutes to field dress a deer and since I've dressed a deer or two in the waning light with a flashlight, I don't want to do THAT anymore. So, my day ends about 20 minutes before the legal day ends. This gives me a good 40 minutes to walk back to my truck in daylight.
It is just my opinion that it is never good practice to leave a gun loaded at the end of the day. I don't want it in the house loaded and I don't want to be thinking I should have loaded a fresh round when I finally do get my sights on an animal.
I only hunt with the flinter 4-6 days a year, so for me, firing the weapon on the way back to the truck, cleaning her well and starting with a fresh round the next time out helps me sleep better at night. A little extra practice doesn't hurt and half a dozen rounds a year doesn't cost much.
Finnwolf
It is just my opinion that it is never good practice to leave a gun loaded at the end of the day. I don't want it in the house loaded and I don't want to be thinking I should have loaded a fresh round when I finally do get my sights on an animal.
I only hunt with the flinter 4-6 days a year, so for me, firing the weapon on the way back to the truck, cleaning her well and starting with a fresh round the next time out helps me sleep better at night. A little extra practice doesn't hurt and half a dozen rounds a year doesn't cost much.
Finnwolf
