Over the years there have been quite a few threads asking "how long do you leave your gun loaded?".

My response has always been something like "I load on a clean dry barrel and leave it loaded until I take a shot at game, or until the end of the season, whichever comes first. Sometimes it's loaded for several months and I've never had a failure. Been doing it for years and years."

Well guys, I had my first failure Sunday morning. Not a failure to fire, but a significant weakening of the charge.

Here's how it went. On November 12th. I loaded my Omega X7 with 95 grains of GOEX FFFg and a 250 grain Gold Dot in a Harvester short black sabot. I passed a shot on a medium size 80/85 lb. doe the first day of the season (figuring I could do better the next day or next week) and on a young 5 point buck (because I usually don't shoot bucks that look to be a year and a half old). Those were the only "club legal" deer I've seen so far this year. The only other deer I've seen were either bucks of less than five points (not club legal) or six month old does and button bucks.

Well, it turns out our club is having the worst season we've had in our 15 years of existence. Very very few deer sightings and only six deer killed so far when we would usually have taken at least three times that number and passed up many more. Now with two months of our three month season already gone and no meat in the freezer, I'm getting to the desperation point.

So at 8:10 a.m. Sunday morning I'm staring at a food plot lush with oats, wheat and clover pondering why I haven't seen a deer on that plot for three weekends running, when a really nice doe steps out of the tree line at the rear of the plot - 97 yards out. Under the circumstances I was calm and cool. She was broadside, standing still and munching grass when I placed the cross hairs of the 4X ProDiamond for a perfect double lung shot, and confidently squeezed the trigger. I knew exactly where those cross hairs were when the gun went off. Perfect shot!

Now we all know it seems you hardly hear the shot or feel the recoil when shooting at game. Nothing unusual about that. But that shot sounded and felt "funny" to me. As the white smoke began to diminish I could see that doe standing exactly where she was when I shot, except facing me instead of broadside. She was bobbing her head up and down and side to side, trying to figure out what that drifting white cloud was. After about fifteen seconds of that (a long, long time under the circumstances) she calmly turned around and stepped back into the woods.

Well, I reloaded and sat there for another three hours staring that that empty plot and replaying the shot in my head. I know I made a good shot - good sight picture, good trigger pull, no jitters, etc.

We've had lots of weather changes over the last two months, with fronts moving through to the Gulf of Mexico and then backing up. Warm S.E. wind when you go to bed and cold fog when you wake up. I did notice a little sweat on the barrel a time or two when I took the gun our to the box in the truck for a morning hunt. I can only conclude that the load got damp enough to greatly reduce velocity and that Gold Dot went into the clover somewhere between me and that doe.

When I got back to camp the landowner to the South of us was sitting on the deck of my little hooch. "Was that you who shot", he asked. "Yeah", I said, "I missed a nice doe." "I was hunting my stand just across the fence from your stand" he said. "But I wasn't sure it was you because it sounded kinda` funny."

Scope Check (naturally ): I walked out to the range, put a target on the 100 yard board and fired my reload. It hit 3/4" from the dead center of the bull.

So guys, the next time one of those "how long" posts shows up listen to Cayugad who always says he clears his load at the end of the day and always hunts with a fresh load. I may not go quite that far and will probably leave a load in for two or three days depending on the weather. But I guarantee I'll have a fresh load every weekend.

Over the many years of hunting with muzzleloaders, misfires and no fires have kind of taught me to not be lazy. I used to not shoot them off because.. well I just did not want to have to clean the rifle. That to me is lazy. After my experiences... I can say with pride I am not lazy. And I don't take chances. When I come out of the woods, the load goes out. Either shooting, in the case of a traditional. Or in the inlines cases, I push the load out. I wipe out or clean the rifle what ever might be the case. And load fresh in the morning.

I know the sound you heard. Just not a full blow BOOM!! And you're lucky you did not wound that doe. I do hope you score some venison again.

We just recently had this very discussion on a local forum. Heard the same "been doing it forever" responses despite my warnings not to.

Coincidentally I had a customer come in to the store shortly after that thread started that leaves his stainless TC encore loaded the entire season and "never had a problem" either. Aside from your personal experience being one "side effect" to not unloading the barrel, his "chamber area" looked like this below. Otherwise his barrel was spotless.

Interesting. Sorry to hear that...hopefully you'll get a crack at another. What Dave said...at least you got a clean miss and didn't gimp her up. That would have just added insult to injury.

Makes me wonder, do you think that real BP is more succeptible to drawing moisture than substitutes?

I'm with Dave on this one but I don't shoot mine as it is usually after dark when I come out. I use the EC Unloader. Then an easy clean. Load in the morining after a dry swab or two.

Cheap insurance.

HA

I too unload my gun after hunting. I'll keep it loaded for the weekend I am hunting but I always unload sunday evening. I'm not worried about a misfire but more concerned about moisture in the barrel and what it could possibly do. I unload, and run a bore snake through the barrel a couple times and reload the following weekend. It just makes me feel better.

Well I dont reload after hunting each day. Doing that has never cost me a deer, but I loaded my wifes gun for the 3 day hunt dec 17th and did not shoot it until this past weekend. The cap went off the first time, but didnt ignite the powder. I had to shoot off a second cap to get it to fire. Kinda made me think about loading it more often.

I think this is where BH209 has a supreme advantage for hunting applications. In your inlines, shoot GOEX, Pyrodex, T7…whatever for range sessions, etc. For your hunting load, use BH209. In its unfired form, it’s non-corrosive and non-hydroscopic. I agree that the GOEX must have absorbed water on some level, which weakened the charge and cost you a much-coveted doe.

I have had my Omega loaded with BH209 since Thanksgiving, and if it doesn’t go boom by the time the season ends on 1/7/12, then I will still leave it loaded (for testing purposes) and not fire the load off until my next range session. I have full confidence that it will fire accurately when the time comes, but the proof will be in the pudding. I keep the Omega in my trunk through the entire hunting season. It’s in a RedHead padded case, which acts as an insulator. Since it’s in my trunk and then in a case, if there is a massive temperature change outside, the gun will slowly reach equilibrium with no condensation.

After firing and cleaning, I'll also examine the "chamber area" of the bore. I have not noticed anything like what BigBulls posted.

My $0.02

It is my belief that what 7.62NATO wrote is 100% correct.

Last season, i hunted in rain without covering the muzzle of the rifle i was carrying. I usually cover the muzzle of rifles, when i am hunting, but for some inexplicable reason i didn't that trip. The rifle was carried in the rain on my shoulder with the barrel pointed to the sky. I didn't think about it afterward either. My failure at taking care of my rifle is inexcusable. Too much fun around the campfire perhaps. A month later, or more, the gun fired normally. The powder used was BH209. When i went to clean it i was shocked to see that where the powder was located, the barrel was quite rusted. When i finish typing, i will head out, and hunt with that very same rifle. It shoots good.

Whenever i hunt in rain or falling snow, i (always) cover the muzzle of my rifle.

Semisane I hate to hear that about your missed opportunity.

I've always left my guns loaded unless the load was compromised. On several occasions I've reloaded after hunting in the rain or I found condensation on the gun. Other than that, if it's dry, it stays loaded.

Unfortunately, a lot of people do not have the advantage of shooting the gun off at the end of a hunt because they don't have a range at their home or live too far from a gun range. Or they don't want to shoot in their hunting spot for fear of spooking game and don't want to be arrested for shooting after legal hours. I think sometimes we forget that.

Hopefully you can redeem yourself and get some meat in the freezer before the season ends.