Leaving load in overnight??
 

I hunted today, and will be going out again in the morning. Should I pull the bullet, and remove the shot charge, or can I leave the gun as is tonight? My father always says to leave the gun in the car so the temperature change won't affect the shot charge, but I live in the city, and hunt a suburban wood lot 15 minutes away, so i don't feel comfortable leaving the gun in the car. Opinions please?

RE: Leaving load in overnight??
 

I've left my load is for as long as a week. had no problems when I fired it. I did however take out the primer.

Leaving the load in there will be fine.

I also even brought mine inside after being outside. 20degrees out side. 70ish inside, Never had any problems

RE: Leaving load in overnight??
 

In your situation where you do not feel safe leaving the rifle in the car then by all means take the rifle and pull the load. Dump the powder, push the projectile out, and simply patch the barrel dry. Be sure and wipe the outside down, and then reload fresh in the morning...

RE: Leaving load in overnight??
 

I leave mine loaded up to 2 weeks before. Especially during ML season.

RE: Leaving load in overnight??
 

Do as your father recommends-just don't take it into a heated room where condensation can form in the barrel and wet the powder charge, but only if you have a safe, unheated place to leave it. If not, then draw the ball and dump the powder! Always remove the cap, regardless!

One week in the Adirondacks I left my rifle loaded all week, and left it in an unheated woodshed at night. At the end of the week (NO DEER!!) I fired it at 100 yards, and it was still dead-on (Clean Shot powder, Power-Belt bullet.)

RE: Leaving load in overnight??
 

yeah i always leave mine in for like a week, but always store it in the same temp.

RE: Leaving load in overnight??
 

I also leave mine in the car like your father. I just remove the primer.

Tom

RE: Leaving load in overnight??
 

I leave mine loaded without the primer in,and store it over night in my unheated garage.

RE: Leaving load in overnight??
 

By all means empty that gun and reload the next morning. Some people are just plane lucky I'm not I wrote in here about 2 years ago what happened to me deer hunting with my muzzleloader and condensation. Iwill never (repeat) Never leave a charge in my gun and bring it in the house and think its going to work. It did hundreds of times but the one time I really needed it to work it didn't. By the way how luckyare you.

RE: Leaving load in overnight??
 

I always unload using my C02 Load Discharger. Even if I go out in the morning I will start fresh in the afternoon when I go back.

RE: Leaving load in overnight??
 

I keep anold blanket in my truck and when I'm done hunting for the day
I wrap my unprimed gun up in it. Icarry it from the truck into the house
an vice versa leaving the gun in the blanket till I'm ready to use it again.
Knock on wood, I haven't had any ignition problems so far.

RE: Leaving load in overnight??
 

When it's raining out side,and I want to store the gun for hunting the next day, I use a spent primer with some card stock glued on the end to seal the chamber from moisture. I use a paper punch to cut out the disc,and glue them on the spent primer with super glue. I keep three,or four in my pocket,during damp weather. The gun will close up tight sealing the powder charge from moisture. Works great,and it's cheap! Ron