How do you keep your muzzleloader during Hunting Days? LOADED EACH DAY????OR LOADED FOR DAYS?

[TWANG]

Talking muzzleloader routine during your hunting time when you know you will be going out a few days in a row!!

Do you keep the charge in the barrel for a few days ---or--- discharge each evening OR in the morning and recharge for each day?

[MLKeith]

I leave mine loaded but pull the primer and seal the primer area (eraser from a wooden pencil works). I hunt in Arizona and the weather is usually fairly stable so there is not a lot of temperature change. I leave the rifle in my hunting vehicle overnight and just add the primer when I get to the hunting area. If there was a lot of humidity or rain or major temperature change I guess I would consider blowing the charge and recharging the next day.

[cayugad]

I am one that shoots the rifle off at the end of the day, cleans the rifle, and starts fresh the next day. I live in Wisconsin where the weather is damp, humid, usually snow or rain, and there is no telling what the rifle/charge might have encountered during the day. If I see nothing to shoot at, on the way out of the woods I will pick a spot and left fly. This tells me if all the things I did to make sure the rifle was waterproof worked. It also gives me more confidence in having a charge in the rifle that I am sure will go off the next day.

If for some reason I can not shoot the rifle off, I will pull the primer/cap/clean the pan... seal the breech/nipple/vent hole and set the rifle outside in the wood working shop muzzle end down on a piece of cloth. That way any moisture in the barrel (if there is any) will move away from the powder charge. Then in the morning put a fresh primer/cap/fill the pan...

If you're leaving your rifle loaded and unattended, be sure and tell all the people who might come into contact with it that the rifle is loaded... I also tie a red bandana around the trigger guard that tells me the rifle is loaded and advise others what that means. I saw a young kid almost fire a rifle off one day inside a building for nothing more then lack of brains on the part of him and his father. We stopped him and believe me, after we were done there was no way he was going to touch another rifle anywhere.....

[kevin1]

It stays loaded until I fire it .

[roundball]

ORIGINAL: TWANG

Talking muzzleloader routine during your hunting time when you know you will be going out a few days in a row!!

Do you keep the charge in the barrel for a few days ---or--- discharge each evening OR in the morning and recharge for each day?

I unload after every hunt as I don't want to worry if it'll go off some time in the future, and I don't want a loaded rifle around.......$#&@ happens, etc.

But I never discharge one just to unload it...just pull the ball or blow it out with air, depending on where I am...load fresh tne next morning...no noise, no fuss, no cleaning.

[Pittsburghunter]

It all depends with me. If it is a dry low humidity day and there is not much of a difference in the tempature between inside the car/house and the outside and I am going back out in the morning I won't shoot it off. Up at camp when we come back for lunch we will leave our rifles on the porch to keep them from condensing water in the barrels. When that is not possible I at least lean them against the wall upside down (barrel down) so if there is any condensing it should flow away from the charge.

I have because of cicumstances beyond my control had to leave my Scout Carbine charged without being able to shoot it for almost 4 months and when I did finally get a chance to shoot it that round hit in the black at about 50yds.


It seems to have not harmed the gun at all it was well cleaned and had 777 under a sabot with a bt bullet. If it was a conical I would have pulled the charge but that was out of the question.

I have read stories of people finding old rifles thinking they were usless mantel pieces playing with them and having them go off. That is after hanging around for 70-80 years.

[H2OmAn]

I guess I'm old school, but I usually fire at something on the way
out of my stand. I live in Kentucky and the weather is a lot like a
woman, changes without ryme or reason. Lots of humidity also.
I pick out an object around 50 yds and put my scope on lowest
setting then fire my ML. This serves two purposes, first that my
powder, bullet, primer were all ok. And second it tells me that
my scope is still dead-on where I sighted it. But as stated by
others, please please please use the utmost caution if you
must leave your ML loaded, remove primer or cap. Remember
safety starts with the large nut behind the stock.

[rick_reno]

Mine stays loaded. Last year it was loaded at 10:30am, went to get a tag at 11:30 and by 1PM had fired it and filled the tag. It's pretty easy to get deer here. For elk I loaded it and blew the maxi-ball out at the end of the season with one of those compressed air gizmos.

[Striper Phil]

I am not the expert here but I use an inline and removr the 209 primer on one BP and reload the prime the next day. Last year it stayed loaded for a month with 10 or so trips into the woods. She went off just fine. This year I loaded up an older inline with a musket capcenter fire, no bolt the hammer type and removed the cap many times and just left the hammer over the nipple she also fired just fine after six weeks. I work and hunt 3 or 4 nights a week for just the last hour or so before dark and don't have time to clean every night. By the way I am using Pellets. I have dropped pellets in the snow loaded them and had them fire just fine while practicing.

[Triple Se7en]

On the first morning of the hunt, mine gets fired about one mile away from where we hunt.... then gets fired at mid-day before leaving for lunch.... then fired again after the evening hunt..... meaning three times the very first day.

Any hunts on following days will get it fired twice ... once after the morning hunt - once after the evening hunt. My bullet, plastic sabot & powder cost for each shot usually is in the 60 cent ballpark... pretty cheap so I shoot often.