Say I load loose powder in my muzzleloader and go hunting without firing it. How long can my rifle stay loaded before the powder goes bad? Would using it for the next hunt, within the next day or so be ok? Only asking because it is a pain to unload loose powder, because it gets everywhere.

as long as the rifle is not fowled (for reason of cleaning more so then the concern for the powder)and you do not expose the rifle to extreme temperatures where moisture can effect it, you can keep loose powder as a load, as long as you could keep pellets. Actually it will keep a very long time.

We read every so often in the news of someone with a "old muzzleloader" that takes it down from the shelf, cocks it and it goes off.. Some powders have been in those old rifles for many years.

I know of one person that kept his muzzleloader loaded for almost a year. He finally brought it out to check and make sure the sights were on for the next upcoming season. Out on the range he popped a cap to clear the nipple.. Well guess who forgot to unload their rifle the season before?

thanks for your help.

If there is any real advantage to pellets to offset the expense, it might be tied to the substance of this topic. Although I don't have any scientific basis for this opinion, I would think pellets could be left in a loaded gun without issue considerably longer than loose powder. And, of course, when it comes time to unload a gun that hasn't been fired, the pellets just fall out the breech. I even save them in a separate container marked "used pellets"- use them for practice loads. Never had one not go "bang".

I once went into a small antique shop in Munich, Germany, where the lady had a cased pair of approx. 44 cal. ML target pistols on display. She had been letting people pop caps on the nipples over the years, and the nipples becamepeened shut at some time during their existence.

I asked her if she were certain the pieces were not loaded. She was surprised by the question, having apparentlyalways assumed the weapons were not loaded. Shehad never had them checked. I took a pencil she had, and measured the distance from the muzzle to whatever stopped the pencilend at the bottom of the bore. Then when we compared the pencilon the outside, it came to about 1.5" short of reaching where I guessed the breechplug face was. She got ahold of a local gunsmith, who found that the objects at the bottom of the bores were soft-turned out that they were lead balls!! He drew the balls, and we then ignited the powder in an ashtray with a match-it whooshed just like it should have!

These pistols dated from the 1840's. It was impossible to say how long they had been loaded!! But the powder was still good. If those nipples hadn't been hammered shut from years of abuse-by dry snapping, probably-there is no doubt in my mind that there would have been a serious accident when she started to let people pop caps on them!!

The old adage, "treat every gun as if it were loaded" is a very good one!!