Damp Weather and Powder

[7danny]

Someone mentioned it on my site and it got me thinking:

Does moisture effect modern muzzleloaders and what do you do to minimize it?

I am sure it is different for loose vs pellet. I also know that condensation is a killer, bringing a gun in the house after hunting in cold damp all day. I also know some people have a problem and others don't.

[ADVWannabee]

I gave up on the old fashioned side hammer guns because I could never get mine to fire after being in the field in damp weather. I snapped 4 caps on a deer one time and missed because of I flinched during the hang fire on the 4th cap. Funny thing was, the deer stood their looking at me the whole time and finally ran after the gun fired.

I now use a Knight Revolution and can leave it loaded all season and it will fire like I just loaded it. I use pellets and the Knight has the primer in the jacket which forms a water tight seal. I do not store the gun with the primer though. The video that came with the gun has a guy load it up, walk out into a pond and fully submerge himself and the gun. He comes out, drains the water out of the barrel and fires it without a problem.

So far, I have had no problem with a modern inline rifle and hope I never do.

[cayugad]

Even an inline can be compromised, whether it is loose or pellet. A lot of it depends on the weather conditions you hunted in, the design of the rifle, and just dump luck.

To try and control moisture you can use a muzzle mit over the end of the barrel, and make sure your breech area is as water tight as possible. Other then that a rabbit foot in the pocket might help.

I used to leave them loaded but had some bad experiences because of it. So I unload them at night on the way back to the house and load them fresh in the morning.

[nchawkeye]

I've hunted with my flinters in a downpour and still had them go off...It's just a learning process that you go through if you want to be authentic...

Keep the lock up under your arm pit and a poncho or a coat on and the powder stays dry...Prime with FFF instead of FFFF and the priming doesn't absorb moisture...You can also seal around the pan with bees wax if you'd like, or make a cow's knee to go over the lock but the real key is keeping the lock area dry...