neck4752

Question for any of you that hunt with one. Do you load it the night before and keep it in your car so that you dont build condensation. Last year one time my powder wouldnt light and some guy told me it was from taking it from my warm house into the cold, that it created condensation in the barrell.
Also how do you unload your muzzleloader. Do you fire it off each time before you leave the woods or do you just leave the powder and sabot in and take the primer out?

Thanks guys Wish me luck I NEED A DEER

Jim

MassBowhunter

Personally I load it before I walk in the woods.

Can't even keep an unloaded gun (unattended that is) in a car here in MA anyway though.

You might want to hit the Black Powder forum further down on the main page too. Lots of good advice gets thrown around in there.

sabotloader

neck4752

Often I do load the night before - I step in the garage pop a few caps and then load it up. I then leave it the unheated garage til the morning. My loads are really easy to load so there is not reason I could not load ath the hunting site - other than it is dark and I got to get a ton of ather stuff ready to go, and I do not know why... use to be that I would take a gun, a knife, and a chunk a rope and head into the woods - now I am carrying way to many things - but often I do load the night before...

Gentle temperature changes will not affect your load - rapid drastic temperaturechanges from warm to cold can really be tough.

I must of lost my head for a second or the computer didn'y type what I thought - you are right cold to warm

Paul L Mohr

It usually happens when going the other way, like taking a cold barrel into a warm house. I load the night before but leave the gun in the house until I go out the next morning. And then I leave it loaded until I shoot it. Never had a problem yet. Left mine loaded for months once and it still fired off when I shot it.

Paul

Sharp Shooter

Load it before I start my hunt and fire it at the end of the day!

Black Bellamy

I load it at the truck, right before I step into the field. I swab the crap out of it beforehand.

Afterwards, I pull the breech plug and push it all out. The 777 pellets and the sabot go in the garbage and the bullet is recycled.

sabinajiles

Yep, condensation forms when taking a cold object into a warm, more humid environment, not from taking a warm object into a cold, dry environment.

MassBowhunter

Also, I fire my gun at the end of each day but I've been debating the idea of pulling the breech plug instead. Still hung up on the safety factor for some reason.

Good luck out there. Be safe and successful!
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eldeguello

I don't load mine the day before, but I sometimes leave it out in the truck or in an unheated building overnight after removing the capwith the load still in the barrel.

Your problem mayhave been caused by condensation in the bore due to being taken from a warm room out into the cold, but this is unlikely! Condensation usually forms when you take a COLDgun inside into a warm, moist room, not vice-versa! That's why I leaveloaded ones out in the cold until the hunt is over.

I have hunted 7 days straight in wet weather in the Adirondacks with the same load in my gun, but I had a piece of plastic wrap over the muzzle and also around the lock and nipple portion. At the end of the 7 day hunt (no shot!), I fired it at a target, and it was still right on. That was with Clean Shot (American Pioneer) powder, which is worse than even BP for moisture problems. IF I am able to hunt more than one day, I usually leave the loaded but unprimed gun out in the cold overnight. If the hunt is over, I have found that it is just as easy to shoot the round out then clean at home at the end of the day, since if you draw the charge with a ball puller, you still have some bore cleaning to do because some of the powder always seems to remain in the bore anyway.