Why do some people leave a ML loaded?

[roundball]

What are the reasons why some people leave a muzzleloader loaded from one day (week, month, etc) to the next?

Is it too much trouble? Do people leave their Marlin .30-30s or Remington .30-06s loaded from one day to the next?

 

[jtmattison]

I guess ML's are too hard to unload compared to a centerfire. Especially if you don't know how to unload one safely without firing it.
Maybe they don't know of the ill affects that can come from leaving it loaded like corrosion.
I don't think there is a solid answer to your question.

HD

 

[musketman]

What are the reasons why some people leave a muzzleloader loaded from one day (week, month, etc) to the next?

Before the advent of CO2 dischargers, I would speculate that (unlike cartridge ammunition) a pulled roundball can't be reused, outside of recasting it first, also powder would get contaminated from the lube as you tried to dump it out, adding to the expence of replacing it with fresh powder each morning, it would not appear to be cost efficient to unload a muzzleloader every night over the course of a hunting season...

Whereas the self contained metallic cartridge can be extracted and reinserted at a whim's notice...

Remember, if you must leave a gun loaded, tag it as such, it could save someone's life in the long run...

 

[jim gray]

I have left my muzzleloaders loaded for a few days at time during the season. At the time it was easier to just leave it loaded and I have never had this practice result in a misfire or damage to the gun. Now that I have attempted to fire a flintlock without priming it and succeeded, I don't think that I'll do be doing it again.

As I mentioned in another post I have left C&B revolvers for long periods of time just out of curiousity. They always fire without any problem, and after months there was no sign of corrosion from the unburned powder.

A couple of weeks ago I loaded powder charges and wonder wads into my .44 cal navy, I'll probably shoot it this weekend to see if the powder was contaminated because there were no balls to seal the chambers.

 

[Old Ironsights]

I guess ML's are too hard to unload compared to a centerfire. Especially if you don't know how to unload one safely without firing it.

Maybe it's because they don't have a nice, removable breech plug like my Firestorm... :blah: :v

 

[Russianblood]

If I clean the oil out of my gun and load it but then don't get a chance to fire it, I leave it loaded until I can go out hunting again. If it's deer season, it may be the whole season. If it's off season, I will take it out and fire it after it's been loaded for a week or so and then give it a proper cleaning. Michigan law states a Muzzleloader is unloaded as long as there is no priming in the pan or cap on the nipple. So especially during deer season, I load before heading to the woods and prime when I get there.

No sense in wasting good powder and ball for nothing.

 

[arcticap]

I'm not sure why there should be an arbitrary time frame simply based on the setting of the sun that should imply that it's now time to unload one's gun.
Does anyone suppose that the powder suddenly spoils because the sun goes down?
It does take a certain degree of preparation to help insure that one's ML is going to fire the first time that the trigger is squeezed. To discharge the gun unnecessarily and have to clean and re-prepare the gun for tomorrows first shot all over again seems to me to be too much like making busy work, especially after what may have been after the conclusion of a long day of hunting.
If the preparations were done properly the first time, and the necessary (or extra) precautions are taken afterward to keep the gun in top firing condition (like sealing the muzzle from the elements and being careful about temperature related condensation), then judging the human error factors are left up to each of us to decide for ourselves within the framework of the laws. :hmm:

 

[mikelange]

Only during deer season do I leave my flintlock loaded, for the following reasons:

1. My wife and I have no kids, and no kids under the age of ten ever set foot in our house. The kids in question have all been taught to shoot, by me, and wouldn't touch one of my guns without specific, on-the-spot permission. If I doubted this, in the least, no kids would be permitted to enter my home. Ever.

2. When I leave the deer rifle loaded, it stays out in my shop, which is then locked, when I must be separated from it (my job has this most unreasonable policy about not showing up / not getting paid, even during deer season!).

3. I dislike wasting a good ball by pulling or firing it out (which can only be done somewhere on the sixteen acres I hunt, where of course I'm convinced that discharging my gun will spook the monster buck who was checking out the real estate in preparation for moving in the next day), and I don't own a CO2 discharge whatzit or have any intentions of buying one.

I get the impression, which may be incorrect (if so I apologize for the mis-assumption) that you consider leaving my gun loaded a questionable practice. While you are right (and in the case of some people it's more questionable than with others), the unfortunately natural extension of the logic "loaded gun=unsafe practice" is "guns at all=unsafe situation". I was taught and firmly believe that "gun safety" is almost 100% about the wingnut who owns and handles (or permits to be handled) the gun; not much at all about the gun itself, loaded or not.

Ah, but wait -- to quote dad: "They're all loaded." And thus should they all be treated.

No offense or hostility implied in the above statement! Simply my opinion, and if yours differs from mine I only ask that you disagree politely. :v

 

[Bountyhunter]

I was raised in a house where the law was that an empty gun was a club. If you wanted to get into real trouble with the old man, just let him grab a gun that didnt have shells in it.

The same laws applied in the house that my wife was raised in.

In my house the same rule applies. There arent any kids and the guns are in a large safe. If company comes, one of us walks by and spins the dial on the safe. Soon as they are gone, we unlock the safe again. If a varmit comes up in my yard, and I feel the need for a gun then it'd dang well better have shells in it.

Our black powder guns are loaded before we begin the hunt, and as soon as we fill, or complete the day, they are fired, and cleaned. If we hunt the next day, they are reloaded. I never leave a charge of black powder in a chamber over night if I can help it. That's just the way my grandpa and my dad said it was to be done.

In this area, I doubt that there are many houses that the guns are not loaded. It dont make it right or wrong, it is just the way that it is in this area. Around here, all guns are considered to be loaded whether they are hanging in the back window of the pickup, leaning in the corner of the utility room, or in the safe. The reason that they are considered to be loaded is that they are. Welcome to the Llano Estacado, pilgrim.

 

[Rebel]

That pretty well sums up my feelings on the subject. To me an unloaded gun is just a poor club. All of my cartidge guns are loaded ALL of the time. Our kids and grandkids were raised in a house with loaded guns and we never had a problem with it. They were taught from the beginning that they were not to touch any of the guns unless we took them out to go shooting. Never had one break that rule. When they had friends over the guns were locked up in the gun safe.

 

[roundball]

Good gracious no...it's no business of mine to take issue with what anybody decides to do in the world of muzzleloading.....just as I hope no-one takes umbrage about my choices.

In another thread I had just recently mentioned that I don't keep my MLs loaded during hunting season and stated why.....and it got me to thinking it might be a good thread to ask what the reasons are for those who do leave them loaded...just that simple.

 

[Halftail]

I was at our Clubs December "Meat shoot" one year and a fellow there had his muzzleloader that he'd hunted all the deer season(That ended earlier in December)We went to the line to "snap a cap" and he did so, only his still had a 100 grain powder and ball charge still loaded in.
What's worse he sent a spray of Pea gravel up into the air and it landed onto the Tin Roof of the shooting shelter cause he weren't holding his muzzle safely down range,Kinda standing sideways to the line.Luckily nobody was hurt.The guy in question earned himself quite a nickname too....
That being said I do at times leave mine loaded for a day or 2 at a time during hunting season.I got one of them blower thingys and it works good too but most of the time when it's time to unload I just shoot into a Tree.I love the Roar and all the smoke! :v

 

[chuck-ia]

I think the main reason people leave their muzzleloaders loaded, is they are just plain lazy. I think I might get flamed for that. I am a firm believer if a muzzleloader is loaded it should have a tag on it saying it is loaded. A modern gun is easy to tell if it is loaded, not so with a muzzleloader, to the inexperienced anyway. Do your family and friends a favor and tag your muzzleloader if left loaded. Ya never know if you will be around in the morning. Modern guns are a whole different ballgame, in my eyes a modern gun I pick up, I just expect it to be loaded until I see otherwise. Again, easy to check. I don't think there are many of us that actually use a muzzleloader for home defense. Different strokes for different folks I guess. flinch

 

[bwhoffman]

Halftail...
What did he end up with for a new moniker????
you have to tell us the rest of the story!

Brett

 

Good gracious no...it's no business of mine to take issue with what anybody decides to do in the world of muzzleloading.

That's a first.

 

Maybe they don't know of the ill affects that can come from leaving it loaded like corrosion.
HD

You may want to change lubes if your preseant one has the ability to cause corrosion.

 

[Pittsburghunter]

Yes Roundball a good question and I will bring it back to muzzleloaders again because that's what the thread is about.

I will leave mine loaded up at camp as long as weather permits. If I am worried at all about the integredy of the charge I will shoot it off clean and reload in the morning. If it is very cold I will do it every day because bringing a cold rifle into a warm camp will cause condensation. That will ruin your powder in no time flat. I seldom go more than a few days with a charge in the rifle but it does happen.

About three years ago I had a percussion gun charged that I brought home with the intent of hunting the next day but because of circumstances was not able to shoot it for two months and the shot rang true and the rifle was unharmed.

I guess it depends on how safe you can store the loaded weapon and the enviroment you store it in.

 

[MikeFromON]

Leave it loaded to save powder and a ball? How cheap are you? A 100 grain powder charge is worth 20 to 30 cents and if you are paying more than 15 cents each for your round balls, you are getting very badly burned. If your life or my life is not worth 50 cents to you, then I don't want you anywhere near me, especially if you are holding a firearm of any description. If you have a load in your gun, then fire it. That's the funnest part, isn't it?

 

[Slamfire]

I would imagine that before breech loaders were invented all guns were in fact, loaded all the time. Who has the time to load a muzzleloader when some varmint is tearin' up one of yore layin' hens? :youcrazy:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Ah, ya beat me. I was going to post along that line. An unloaded gun is just a club. :haha:

Assume any gun you pick up IS loaded (whether you just fired it or not). :winking: