Wet weather hunting?

[TLanoy]

Do any of you hunt on a mildly rainy day? If so, what steps do you take to keep your rifle dry? Here in my part of Oregon our season starts in October and it is rainy and wet during that time frame.

This is my first year muzzleloading and I'm worried about keeping my rifle dry. Do not hunt with firearms so, my knowledge is limited. I am normally a traditional bowhunter. :grin:

 

[necchi]

With cap locks I do nothing,, when in the field I use the cut off fingers of a surgical type glove (found at Pharmacies for a few bucks) to cover the muzzle.

 

[Col. Batguano]

masking tape over the muzzle. With a non-stainless steel, make sure you pull it off at the end of the day though.

 

[BrownBear]

We hunt a lot in heavy rain, both flinters and cappers. It takes a little forethought and precaution, but is pretty straight forward when you get into the swing of it. I'd sure pick some rainy days and make some range trips before hunting to learn the ropes and establish the good habits. Best part is, you'll have the range to yourself on rainy days! :rotf:


Electrical tape over the muzzle since it's not always possible to keep the muzzle down. Cow's knee over the lock. Folks will say just keep the lock under the flap of your raincoat, but I suspect they're sitters rather than stalkers.

Your biggest challenge will come if you need to reload. Best I've found is to move the butt away from you so you aren't pointing the muzzle right at you when you lean over it to keep the rain off. Load as normal, then angle the bore down as you pick it up so no rain gets in there. Bring the lock over in front of you and lean over it again. Dry it off as best you can, then prime as the gun dictates.

Drops of rain or drops off you raise cob with loading, so you want to avoid them getting where you don't want them.

 

[galamb]

I was given this as a gag gift - "condoms for your gun". It's a little pack from Traditions with covers for the muzzle and little keepers for the cap.

They work fine. I use them in crappy weather and only hunt with cap guns.

 

[nchawkeye]

It rains quite often here in NC, I put some lube around the pan to my flinter, wear a large coat and keep the butt and flint up under my arm...

Once on stand, I place a floppy hat over the lock...

Oh, I also use FFF as prime and change every hour or so...

 

[TLanoy]

Thanks for all the tips so far! I am using a percussion rifle and was thinking of sitting in a natural or pre-made ground blind. I might do stalking if the rain is not there but, thought my chances would be better set up on a trail waiting.

I have plenty of surgical gloves as I use them when cleaning my gun. Do you remove the tip from the muzzle or just shoot it off?

 

[nchawkeye]

If you are going to be in a blind, just carry it to the blind in a case and load in the blind...

 

[nchawkeye]

Sorry, I just reread your post and read the into it as "tent"...Not blind... :grin:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Do any of you hunt on a mildly rainy day?

I prefer hunting with a flintlock on a mildly rainy day over an all day soaking rain; but deer stay out in the rain and so do I.

I used a waxed cows knee and keep the muzzle down and find a hemlock to sit under.

 

[AllenHawken]

I hunt in all kinds of weather. Rain, snow, sleet, you name it. One of the most beautiful days of deer hunting I can recall is when I hiked up a steep draw on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia and perched high on a rock crag as the snow started to fall. Didn't get anything that day, but oh was it heart-achingly beautiful as the snow fell silently in the bare woods.

In rain or snow, I put a vinyl disposable glove or a zip-lock baggy on the muzzle and hold my hand over the hammer/nipple area. The vinyl gloves are left over from when I blued my new Hawken barrel a couple of years ago. I got a nice gray squirrel in the rain last year in the Washington-Jefferson National Forest near West Virginia.

 

[Mad Professor]

I sight my guns guns on absolutely clean barrels, they stay that way until I shoot.

Seal my nipple/cap with hot wax. Put some gorrila/duct tape over the end of the bore, just a bit, on the end.

It should fire well for YEARS, any weather.

 

[longcruise]

I spent 14 days floating and hunting in AK last September and before departing did a lot of thinking about how to deal with the inevitable wet weather. The rifle was percussion and I'm happy to say that my solutions worked perfectly. Our only shelter was a light weight unheated tent and a rain fly.

if the weather was dry, I took no special precautions. The weather was mostly wet! When wet, I carried the gun in a sort of oil cloth gun case that weighed only a few ounces. The nipple was covered with an automotive vacuum hose plug. It slides tightly over the nipple and keeps the ignition system absolutely dry! It is used with the nipple uncapped. Caps were carried in a conventional leather capper around the neck along with the powder measure, both of which were tucked into the pocket of whatever shirt was under a rain jacket. One can very quickly pull the rubber cap off the nipple and cap it. The muzzle was covered with electrical tape, which never failed to stay in place.

all other shooting supplies were carried in a canvas shoulder bag that had been saturated six times with waterproofing. No matter how wet that bag got, the interior stayed dry.

Powder was carried inside the bag in a clean, dry mustard bottle with a 1/4" squirt hole in the cap. The powder stayed dry.

the gun had to be wiped regularly with an oiled rag. Every 3 days or so I fired the rifle (with the muzzle taped) and it functioned flawlessly and accurately every time.

when at home in Colorado I avoid hunting in the rain!😊

 

[Britsmoothy]

I cut a large piece of leather from biking leathers. Added two thongs and use it to wrap the lock.
It worked recently when a thunder storm arrived. I wrapped the lock, dove under a spruce and sat it out. I was drenched but the lock worked just fine!

B.

 

[Woodsman1752]

I use a bee's waxed cow's knee, never had a problem,back in the 80's I have been know to wrap the lock in a plastic sandwich wrap, BTW I forgot to mention I only use flintlocks

 

[tenngun]

I grease withlard around the frizzen/flashpan joint, often keep a thick greasy wool snow cover on since I hunt from a ground spot often under a tre for deer I have time to slip it off. Tree rats or bunnies I kep the lock up near me and often in to my arm pit with muzzle sown to the ground

 

[Britsmoothy]

I recently noticed grease and stuff had got on my frizzen and was lessoning the sparks! Degreased it with lighter fluid and itwas like the 4th of July!

 

[Loyalist Dave]

My first flintlock deer was taken in a mild rain storm. On that day I put the rifle lock up under my right armpit underneath my capote. The only creature more surprised than me that the rifle went off was the button buck.

Now I have a cloth cow's knee that I treated with boiled linseed oil. I place a small bit of grease where the right flat of the barrel meets the stock paralel with the forward edge of the lock, which keeps water from running down the edge of the stock like a rain gutter to my lock pan. I use a very well greased patch on my hunting loads, so I don't worry too much about water getting down there on the odd times the barrel isn't pointed to the ground in bad weather.

LD

 

[BrownBear]

...water from running down the edge of the stock like a rain gutter to my lock pan.

Probably the biggest challenge of all to overcome in the wet. Seems like water running down the outside of the barrel is like a radar-guided missile aimed at your pan.

I don't like grease and such around my pan, as noted for the potential of interfering with spark. Maybe not an issue on a one-shot hunt, but especially with small game I might be shooting a dozen or more shots in a day. Sooner or later the grease is going to get where I don't want it.

My solution has been a good, tight fit of the front of the cow's knee. If I was going to grease anything, I'd grease that spot. Haven't needed it yet, but you've got my mind working. Thanks!

 

[Britsmoothy]

...water from running down the edge of the stock like a rain gutter to my lock pan.

Probably the biggest challenge of all to overcome in the wet. Seems like water running down the outside of the barrel is like a radar-guided missile aimed at your pan.

I don't like grease and such around my pan, as noted for the potential of interfering with spark. Maybe not an issue on a one-shot hunt, but especially with small game I might be shooting a dozen or more shots in a day. Sooner or later the grease is going to get where I don't want it.

My solution has been a good, tight fit of the front of the cow's knee. If I was going to grease anything, I'd grease that spot. Haven't needed it yet, but you've got my mind working. Thanks!

And mine :thumbsup: