Barrel fowling

[wetpwdr53]

I've had a T/C Renegade for years, and always fire the gun at days end. Is this necessary, and if not, how long can the powder charge be left in the barrel before fowling/rust begins. I shoot black powder fffg. Thanks for your input.

[cayugad]

The powder can be left in the rifle if the rifle was loaded on a clean barrel for as long as you trust the load. Try and keep the temps you hunt in the same as what you store the loaded rifle in. Be sure to pull the cap, and set it muzzle end down on cloth. That way if any condensation does form, it moves away from the charge and out the barrel.

[Semisane]

I'll be hunting this week-end with a Renegade that I loaded on the 14th. of November with GOEX (clean dry barrel). If I shoot it I'll fully (and I mean fully) clean it that night and reload. It will stay loaded until I shoot it again, or until the end of the season on Jan 31st. At the end of a hunt I pull the cap, fold up a clean dry patch and place it over the nipple, and lower the hammer. Right now I have three guns so loaded that I alternate with for hunts, depending on the stand/area I'm hunting that day.

I also have a bunch of one-foot pieces of trail marking/surveyor's tape that I wrote "LOADED" on with a Sharpie marker. I tie one of those to the trigger guard of each gun I have loaded.

[txhunter58]

I have never put a bird (fowl) down a barrel, but I do fire a charge (foul) my rifle. LOL.

So, the statements above holds true if you load up on a clean barrel. However, if your gun shoots better with a fouled barrel, then I would shoot it at the end of the day, clean and reload. Lots of work! That is why I now use BH 209 in my guns it works in and 777 in those that don't. I have hunted up to 5 days with a fouled 777 barrel before I cleaned it and not had any problems.

Cleaning daily after each shot with real black powder seems to be the best course. One of the inconviences of using the real stuff.

[wetpwdr53]

Thanks for the input. It took me years to finally find what my renegade likes such as bullet, charge, powder, cleaning etc. So far It seems to like black powder, Thompson 320 gr. maxi ball w 85 grains. For now I'll probably try to avoid leaving that charge in the barrel.

[lonewolf5348]

I used 3f also goex in my flinter remember I don't snap any caps to remove any oils left in the barrel from storage.I do run a few dry patches down the bore,remove the vent liner also make sure no traces of oil I then re-install the vent liner and load my charge 95 grains of goex 3F.I use 4F for priming only 2 grains and on damp days will switch to 3F.I try to always tap the charge away from the vent liner when posting.I will not shoot out the load at the end of the day but will cover the bore and insert a tooth pick in the vent liner and install a frizzen boot and store the gun outside over night.
I will shoot the load if it rains or snows but I have left a charge as much as a week without any problems.I also refresh the primer charge every 1/2 hour.