Cold weather can play tricks on a muzzleloader in more ways then you might expect. First off the pyrodex pellets will not actually freeze per say, as they would need to be wet in order to freeze like ice. They will get verycold of course but as long as they are kept dry, they will go off just fine.

Before you start your hunt for the day prepare your rifle like you normally would. Swab the bore with alcohol to remove any grease, dirt or water. Then be sure and run a couple of dry patches. It is critical to make sure there is no moisture in the barrel. Now load as normal.

If you're going to be hunting where it might be raining or snowing. Put a finger cot over the muzzle of the rifle. A finger cot can be purchased at any pharmacy. They are a small rubber/plastic balloon like device that people place over a cut finger to keep dirt and moisture out of a wound. By rolling this over the muzzle of the barrel, it will keep all moisture from going down the barrel in the form of rain or snow. You can also shoot right through the finger cot without taking it off should the need arise.

If you are hunting with an exposed breech like my Black Diamond XR I simply take a piece of cling wrap or handi wrap and stretch that over the open breech . This will keep the moisture out of the breech area. Again, you can still shoot the rifle without taking it off.

If you are hunting with a percussion side lock, a small piece of cling wrap can be placed over the percussion cap to keep it dry. Other like to use candle wax. They rub a candle along the bottom of the cap so water can not get under it and kill the cap. Also it does not hurt when hunting in wet conditions to change the percussion cap every hour. Face it, better to waste a few caps then miss that critical shot you waited all day for.

When you return home from the days hunt, and lets say you have not fired the rifle, you have a couple choices. You can fire the rifle off, and take the UNLOADED rifle into the house and clean it, starting with a fresh load the following day.

You can pull the load out of the rifle and simply wipe the bore out (I done that today on the range when stubborn projectile refused to be seated). If the rifle has not been fowled then there is no need to really clean it. Then you reload the following day. It is safe to drop the breech plug and let the powder fall out the back end of the rifle and then push the projectile out of the barrel. Then you wipe the barrel out and reload with a new projectile the following day. In the case of pellets, if they are dry you can reuse them also. Personally I would change out the pellets and use new ones, saving the others for range duty or as a back up pellet load.

The last choice is to leave the rifle loaded. Here you need to take some very important steps to protect yourself and other. If I am going to leave the rifle loaded, I put a red bandanna or cloth through the trigger guard. This signals everyone that the rifle is loaded. I also take measures to be sure that the rifle is in an area where it will not be disturbed. I tell those around me, the rifle is loaded and warn them do not touch. The other thing you need to remember if you are coming from hunting in the cold, do not bring that loaded rifle to a warm place. As we all know for those that wear glasses, you come into a warm house for being outside and what happens? Condensation of course. The same will happen in the barrel of the rifle if you bring a cold rifle into a warm house, car, cabin, etc. So I take the rifle to the wood shed. Here, I remove the finger cot. I then place a cotton cloth on the ground. I place the rifle muzzle end down onto the cloth. That is for the event that any moisture would form, it would flow downward, away from the powder charge. On the breech I remove the cap, 209, what ever, and lay a paper towel over that area. Make sure the rifle is in a place where it will not fall over and will be dry. In the morning I replace the finger cot, and cap the rifle with a new cap.

Personally , I fire my rifle off at the end of the day, clean it, and reload. This tells me a couple things. First that my water proofing habits worked, and the rifle would have fired. Next it tells me that the rifle tomorrow will start clean and with a fresh load, so if it fired today then there is no reason to think that it will not fire tomorrow. I do it for piece of mind. I used to leave them loaded, but got stung even though I took all the necessary steps to water proof and to store the rifle. The choice is yours.

As for hunting all day in the cold, I do it all the time and the rifle will always fire for me 99% of the time. That is the beauty of a muzzle loader you have one shot, one chance, and then there is always the possibility that it might not fire. What could be better?