Little story about Triple 7.
 

I loaded my T/C 54 on the morning of Dec 18 for a couple of days of muzzleloader hunting. As you guys may remember from my posts the weather turned pretty nasty that evening and I only got to hunt one day. I came home to about 8 or 10 days of power outage and general chaos. Well I never unloaded the gun. So finally yesterday I decided to go to the range to shoot the centerfires and shoot out the 80 gr of T7 and the round ball out of the 54. Not only did it fire without hesitation it also was only out of the bullseye by about 3 inches at 100 yards.


It was in the gun from Dec 18- March 5 and fired flawlessly and to almost perfect poi. I figure it was a pretty good unintended experiment. So anyone thats worried about leaving their gun loaded for a few days with T7... I dont think you have anything to worry about..lol.

Doe Dumper

Glad to here it turned out to the good. It's nice to know that you can leave a charge in for an extended period and it will perform just as if it were fresh.

Doe Dumper: Did you take any precautions like tape over the muzzle or covering the nipple ?

I never had much luck leaving a MZ rifle loaded with T7, over a few days and not changing POI. I always blamed the powder.. figuring it got weaker or moisture affected it.

Maybe it was just poor shooting by me.:confused0024:

Doe Dumper

I have never had a problem leaving T7 loaded. it has always went boom and on target.

I even ran some experiments during the middle of winter here.

Thanks for the report DoeDumper. It's always been my practice to leave the gun(s) loaded until I take a shot, or the end of the three-month season, whichever comes first. I've never had a problem with GOEX, Pyrodex, or Triple Seven. However, my guns are always loaded on a clean dry bore - no fouling shot, no popped caps/primers.

Was your load on a clean barrel, or did you pop a cap or foul the bore before loading?

It was on an absolutely clean bore with not even a cap popped Semi. Thats the only way I'da left it that long. I get pretty panicky about leaving a muzzleloader thats been shot even a couple of days without cleaning. This gives me pretty good peace of mind for next season as I used to shoot the gun off every night at dark and clean it that night. Now I can leave it in there til I see soemthing to shoot at.


rt.. I didnt have anything covered. I hunted all that day with it... took it home and put it back in the cabinet and its been there until I shot it.

"Thanks for the report DoeDumper. It's always been my practice to leave the gun(s) loaded until I take a shot, or the end of the three-month season, whichever comes first. I've never had a problem with GOEX, Pyrodex, or Triple Seven. However, my guns are always loaded on a clean dry bore - no fouling shot, no popped caps/primers."

X2
I will re-emphasize for any newbies reading this that you can't do it with a dirty barrel. If you have fired the gun, clean it as soon as practical. With a clean bore.....no worries.

Loaded My Remington 700 54cal. Evening of Nov 14th. Left it on the screened porch when not hunting and it fired just fine on Jan 3d.

:D Al

I have left my ML loaded from Mid December to the next November, almost 11 months and it fired just fine. I have also had it loaded through snow, rain, constant temperature changes for weeks at a time and it fired just fine. My secret (and it's no secret) I always cover the end of the muzzle with masking tape, I believe this is the biggest factor in keeping moisture out of the barrel and having it fire when needed.
(BP)

X2 here, but no tape used.

Here I go again - contrary to most.... and I can only speak for T7 as I do not shoot Pryro...

But my routine is prior to the opening of hunting season, I will take my LM out and shoot 4/5 rounds to verify POI. Then I will will patch the barrel with a couple of windex patches to get the volme of the volume of the fouling out of the bore. Make sure that bore is dry and then I will run very lightly Montana Xtreme patch down the bore for protection. Dry patch that and reload for the morning hunt. If I shoot great but if I do not that same load may stay in the bore the whole darn hunting hunting season. In idaho weather during hunting season I always have a bit of oil in the bore to protect the bore. I have never wiped a bore prior to shooting with alcohol. I find it totally unecessary unless the bore is saturated with oil.

If I were to shoot the gun during the season the same routine would be repeated and the gun reloaded or it may even be reloaded in the field. In that event when I get home I will windex patch, to the top of the bullet, with a barely damp patch, dry patch, re-oil with a very lightly oiled Xtreme patch, dry patch and go hunting again the next day and for the rest of the season....

So i will tell you I shoot always shoot a Semi fouled barrel which is the same thing I do at the range.

Call me nuts but I have been nuts for 11 years now with out a problem.

T7 is not near the problem some make it out to be if you take reasonable steps. The powder is not corrosive the residue is and it can only be corrosive if it gets wet and is left wet for an extended period of time.

X2....this is exactly the way I do it, just like Sabotloader. And I have the exact same results. Also as Sabotloader a semi fouled barrel also gives me the best accuracy and a accuracy I can count on to be consistant. I know when I pull the trigger my ML will go off and it will hit exactly where Im aiming, no worries at all.
(BP)

Breechplug

Yep!

This has turned out to be a very informative thread. Kind of like 20 different paths to the same destination. I have got hooked on using the Windex patches also. Cheap and extremely effective! This forum has made things a lot easier despite all the extra steps I now take.

My only problem is with the trapped air in the barrel. That air will react to the outside temp and may turn into moisture and rust the inside barrel. Just a thought. I never did this, so it is just speculation on my part BP. While hunting I will always climatize my guns. I will leave my guns in my truck.

As to a reload after a shot in the woods, I will always fire it after coming out of the woods and give it a good cleaning. I didn't do this once and had a mess on my hands because of it!

rafsob
I never have to (climatize)...I Hunt in some of the Coldest, Snowiest, Rainest Weather around. During Hunting Season it may get to for example Zero outside, my MLer comes from the Warm House into the Cold Truck, then warms up in the Truck and back into the Cold when I get to my Hunting spot. Then Back to the cold truck, then warm truck then back to the warm house, and over again, and in all of the conditions I mentioned, rain, snow & cold.
I never had a problem with rust or moisture, Im sure it has to do with the end of my barrel being covered in Masking Tape.
(BP)

rafsob

I all these years I have never had any of those problems and like breechplug i hunt in crappy weather - I even violate another rule in that the gun is in and out of the house with me.... but remember it has been warmed slowly in the truck on the trip home. The real key is not to bring a really cold gun into warmth - going the other is not the problem....

BP and Sabotloader

Correct me if I am wrong. You guys using Windex in place of cleaning solvent to clean your barrels. Is this a quick range/hunting cleaning or can it be used all the time?

Thanks for the info

I loaded my bone collector about Thanksgiving..hunted for about 10 weeks in all kinds of weather from -8 degrees to the mid 40's and from driving rainstorms to two feet of snow, and you all know the amount of snow we had in north east this winter..during a break in late January I decided to fire it and then clean it..it went boom, right on target at 100 yards and the breech plug came right out with no problem and the barrel did need a little attention but all in all it was fine and that was with 3 pellets of 777..no problems that I can tell..

It's mostly for the range. I use regular soap and water after a shooting session to clean the barrel, a few scrubs with the soap and brush, rinse er out, dry patch, oil and your good to go.
But YES the Windex does replace the cleang solvent, it does a great job and it's cheaper too. Some just use a (spit-patch) inbetween shots as the range or wherever.
(BP)