Loaded ML on Multi day hunts
 

The last couple weeks I have learned a ton of good info on this site. Thanks to all.

I mentioned on another thread that I experienced about a half second hang time ignition of BH and a CCIM primer when I was ML hunting in the UP of Michigan last December. The ML was preloaded a couple days earlier and when the time came on the third day of the hunt, I experienced the slight pop-bang. Dead deer so it was a non issue, but it got me to thinking.

So here is a question I have when hunting on multi day hunts in cold, wet, or sloppy weather.

Do you guys shoot off your ML at the end of the days hunt and then start the next day hunting with cleaned ML?? Or do you just leave the ML loaded for an extended period of time. Do you leave it in the vehicle overnight, protect it in some way??? Just looking for more helpful tips.

I have bowhunted for more than 35 years but am only into my second year of ML hunting.
Thanks kl

klundin2000

To be honest with you I very seldon shoot a load off to clear it or even remove the breech plug and pull the load. The only time that i might do that is when I think I might have contaminated the load accidentally. If I am confident that i have not contaminated the load I will/have hunted long extended periods of time with it that same iniatial load.

If you are confident that you have protected the load during the load... the next biggest problem is bringing a very cold gun into a warm enviroment - you do stand the chance of collecting condensation... For my part when i have hunted all day in really cold weather - then I get back to the truck the gun goes in the cab with me and we begin the trip back home - after all the cab is cold also almost as cold or as cold as it is outside. The cab warms slowly so does the rifle. When I get home the rifles goes in the non-heated garage and then in the morning back out into the cold cab to warm up slowly on the drive to the hunt but we never really warm the truck up a lot after all we have cold weather hunting clothes on also.

Here is a test i did a few years back....

http://huntingnet.com/forum/black-po...ther-test.html

But it still goes back to your own personal experiance and feelings...

I'm with Sabotloader. My frontstuffers stay loaded until I get a shot or the season ends. Last year I loaded a .54 Great Plains, a .50 Mustang, and a .58 Zouave in mid-November. Hunted with each of them on various days. Killed a doe with one but the others stayed loaded for weeks until I shot them off on the range. Of course, the guns are loaded on a squeaky clean bore. I never leave a load in a fouled bore more than one day.

I have never had a hang fire , but i always unload my ML by removing the breech plug . I save the bullet but toss the powder . When i get out of the truck to go hunting it around 6-30 deg out , then i ride back home and its 70 deg in my truck . I live 20-30 minute away from where i hunt Elk so i just drive home every night . I am not sure if i need to unload my ML but i alway worry about the powder getting damp from the temp changing so much and getting some condensation inside . I don't get a lot of chances at a Elk and i want it to go boom .Last year i sure screwed up and forgot to put a primer in my ML when i left my truck in a hurry and it was the last day of my hunt just before dark . I had a bull at 60-70 yards and CLICK !!!!! He just walked away and went into the timber . But i had to laugh , my son did the same thing on opening morning 3 years ago ( boy did i rib him ) but he shot a bull three days later !! The good thing ( still trying to convince my self ) is i did not have to make 4 trips out of that deep canyon in the dark , in 18'' of snow . I was hunting alone !!!

It was Catch and release Elk hunting !!!

Ah! The silver lining.

Ya, but i sure would have don't it , even if it took me all night and it would have !!! I could have called a friend , he owes me big time . He shot Two Elk last year , a cow and a bull and i helped him pack out and butcher both . The cow , i got a phone call from him at 10 pm and we had it back and hanging in my tree by 4 am . The bull , we dragged whole down to a road and through( GRUNT PULL AND GRUNT ) it in the back of my truck . He's a young kid going to collage here in town and he only has a car . Where was he going to put these elk ?, in his trunk ?? I keep waiting for another call again , he's been using my tree stand the last week for the archery Elk hunt and my tree stand is way "UP " this canyon . I try to only hunt above the road !!

i also leave my gun loaded for up to a week during hunting season,but not with powerbelts!!!i think these easy loading bullets allow moisture to get into the powder.i've only had hangfires or FTF when using them......karl

Sometimes my guns are loaded for months. They have always gone bang when called upon to go bang.

Well and I am just the opposite of many here. I unload my rifles every night. I walk back to the house, and blast into the bullet trap. I then clean them and reload fresh in the morning. Then I know that the rifle will go off.

Many years back, I had left a Renegade loaded for a couple days in season. It was second to the last day, and I had not seen a deer all season. Finally a small buck stepped out. It was legal and I like venison. I took aim and "click- snap" the cap went off but the main charge did not. I re-capped. "click-snap" same thing. Well the deer did not hang around as third time might be a charm.

I pulled the nipple packed a little powder under the cap, reset the nipple and capped. "BOOM" with just a hint of hangfire. That was the last time I let a Renegade sit with a charge, that I was going to depend on for hunting. I would have swore under oath that there was no way that charge could be contaminated. I was of course wrong (which is not uncommon to me). I have played with the rifles since them to see if I can make them fail. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. So I don't play for odds when it means meat in the freezer.

I have also had inlines fail. I had a T/C Black Diamond fail, with a 209 primer. I was kind of shocked actually. All my rifles were brought in from the cold (and in northern Wisconsin in December we mean cold) and put into the wood working shop which is unheated. They sat muzzle end down on a towel in a corner, and the shop locked.

This winter I am going to do some extensive testing with rifles to see what or how to make them fail. It will give me something to do.

Also I might add this to your question. If I were hunting with a powder that does not cause corrosion quickly, and seems to be sensitive to the amount of fire from a primer... why would I NOT shoot it off, and then load fresh in the morning. Its not like you would have to clean the rifle each night. I would think you could shoot it off, swab it with solvent and a dry patch, load fresh in the morning, and do that all season long. Or perhaps a few days, then clean it some night. I like a fresh load...

I was out sighting in yesterday and I had this happen.......CVA ACCURA ....250g BARNES TEZ.... 150g TRIPPLE SEVEN PELLETS....TRIPPLE SEVEN 209 PRIMERS.

When I was sighting in I swabbed in between shots well about the 6th shot I got a click...1/2 second pause....BOOM.....swabbed again pulled the breech plug out and cleaned it up and continued sighting in.....Well took about six more shots it happened again.....Anybody have any suggestions on too why this occured? or Just a dirty breech plug...moisture?? (alcohol swabbed also)