lemoyne

The type of gun makes a big differance.A hawken assuming a well made one like a custom made or TC with PRB that is tight enough to shoot good with a heavy load can be cleaned with boiling water and dried compleatly be for loading then you wax the sides of the nipple so it seals moisture out with the cap on and replace the cap with a plastic cover and let the hammer down on it to seal out the moisture. If you use a sabot gun you need to seal both ends like with a condum or baloon over the muzzle and something to seal the back to I turned a piece of plastic to the shape of a 209 for my omega and wax the junction between the barrel and the drop block. A bit of thought and a good habits will keep the problems away;I have never had a misfire hunting and I started in 1962 with a muzzleloader, but the key is proper preperation and keeping the oil and moisture away from the load. Lee

frontier gander

i see no reason to discharge your ML everyday after a hunt. Ive left my winchester x150 inline loaded for 2 months untill rifle season started and it went off perfectly. Ive left my flintlock loaded for 2 weeks with no ignition problems at all. What type of muzzleloader are you using? Now if you are using a flintlock and its a wet hunting season then sure, i would discharge the ML and reload in the morning. But in dry weather, just pull the cap or empty the pan and store it in the rifle case untill morning.

roundball

I never shoot out a load...just creates a pointless cleaning chore.
I pull the loadwith a ball puller, or blow it out with compressed air back at the garage...then just wipe the bore with a lubed patch, load fresh the next morning.
Other reasons notto shoot after dark isbecauseI don't want to make unnecessary noise...don't want anybody to know where I'm hunting...don't want a neighbor to overreact and call 911, etc, etc, etc

cascadedad

I'm a newbie to MLing, so I'm just wondering. Why would you do that?

PA Bow/Flinter

I use something very similar to that. Different brand name, but same idea. After blowing the charge out, I run a patch or two through the barrel, and I'm good to go in the morning with a fresh charge. During our flintlock season, I leave my gun in the unheated garage 24/7 so I know the barrel will always be cold (PA's flintlock season starts after X-mas). The only time I bring the rifle inside is to completely clean it after I shoot it (hopefully at a deer), or if it happens to get wet/dirty.....then it goes back out to the garage.

mnsqueeze

i to leave my load ., unless there is dew., snow or rain ., then i pull the load out ., i also hunt when there is snow and cold therefor i do not bring my gun in a warm house or anywhere ., i pull it out of the case and set it up somewhere in the garage., thats how i do it and i have not had any problem with doing that .,

frontier gander

why did i leave it loaded for 2 months? simple, there was over a foot of snow and there was no way i was going out to shoot 1 bullet off! Besides, i used that load to take down a deer during rifle season. No point wasting power and lead!

cascadedad

Dang, over a foot of snow for 2 solid months prior to season. Where do you live anyway?

Sorry, but another newbie question. Why did you load it 2 months prior to hunting season if you weren't going to shoot it?

Doegirl75

I now know what this newbie hunter will do at the end of a hunting day. Some things are just so darned obvious, yet it never occurs to you[&:]....Thanks Cayugad and Wolfhound!

frontier gander

i live in colorado. in september i shot a doe and reloaded incase i needed another shot when i got down to her. i didnt. So i just swabbed the barrel out with some rubbing alcohol to get all the crud out and hung it on the wall untill november when my dad and brother went deer hunting. I had an elk tag and didnt get lucky. I got my dads deer tho. and that 2 month old load went off perfectly.