At the beginning of the season, give the gun a thorough cleaning, and a light coat of oil inside and out, followed by a dry swab of the barrel, and run a dry pipe cleaner through the flash channel. Load your gun with real black powder, and use an oil based lube on your patch (rather than water based).
After hunting, remove the percussion cap with a pair of needle noses, and throw it back in your tin (while pointing rifle in safe direction). Take the gun home.
Some guys keep their rifle in their garage, and let it ride in the back of their truck to go hunting to prevent condensation from forming when the gun is moved suddenly from a warm house/truck to the cold woods and causing ignition problems. This is good advice, and you would do well to follow it.
If at any time during season you do fire your gun, you will need to do a thorough cleaning before loading again. You do not want to ever leave a dirty rifle loaded, as black powder fouling is very corrosive and rapidly grows white oxides which will clog your flash channel and guarantee an ignition problem on your next shot.
After hunting, remove the percussion cap with a pair of needle noses, and throw it back in your tin (while pointing rifle in safe direction). Take the gun home.
Some guys keep their rifle in their garage, and let it ride in the back of their truck to go hunting to prevent condensation from forming when the gun is moved suddenly from a warm house/truck to the cold woods and causing ignition problems. This is good advice, and you would do well to follow it.
If at any time during season you do fire your gun, you will need to do a thorough cleaning before loading again. You do not want to ever leave a dirty rifle loaded, as black powder fouling is very corrosive and rapidly grows white oxides which will clog your flash channel and guarantee an ignition problem on your next shot.