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Leaving a blk pwdr rifle loaded
Azhunter
Member Posts: 2,205 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have been drawn for a muzzleloader hunt and I was wondering if it is adviseable to leave the rifle loaded overnight. It is a inline, and we will be useing pyrodex pellets. We can take out the primers to be safe.
Comments
I have left a Hawken loaded with black powder for six weeks and it fired fine and the deer died.
I have left a Savage muzzleloader loaded for a year and it fired fine.
One guy showed up with an old TC Hawken. Said he had bought it four years prior and had hung it over his mantle over the fireplace. One of the instructors for the day was showing the crowd that had gathered around that you should always put a cap on the nipple and fire it off to clear any oil or dust out of the barrel. He pointed the rifle down range and pulled the trigger. The rifle fired and shocked the hell out of all of us, especially the guy who showed up with the rifle to begin with. He had no idea it was loaded and had been the whole time it was hanging over his fire place.
I'd say leaving one loaded over night would not be a big deal especially with pyrodex and an inline set up.
Bode
Plus, when I bring the rifle in after hunting in cold weather, this prevents warm moist air from circulating in the barrel.
With the cloth strip in the bore the moist air can't circulate.
I like to think of how the pioneers used their guns. They had to have the gun loaded at all times. They had to bring the gun into the house at night. They couldn't afford to discharge the gun every night, plus, like me, they didn't want to have to clean it every night. I don't know what tricks the pioneers used but they had some way of keeping it loaded for long periods. Plus they weren't just worried about missing a shot at a deer, they might have needed to shoot a charging Shawnee.
I once re stocked a lyman .50 cal plains rifle for someone and went to do a hammer to nipple test after I had reassembled the rifle to make sure the hammer would pop the cap. I was sitting in my den about to pull the trigger when I realized I had never checked the rifle to see if it was loaded. Well guess what it was. I took a drive out to the country and discharged the round. The fellow I re stocked the rifle for used it for hunting deer. He did not see any deer on the last day of the hunt so he returned home with the rifle loaded and gave it to me 1 year later for a re stock job. He totaly forgot that he had left it loaded. In my opinion it is better to discharge it in the field clean it and remove any chance of a mishap.
How pitted was the barrel? Assuming he didn't clean it before reloading?
I personally found ignition problems after having only had it loaded for a week. A rifle could be different. Historically, I read that
Wild Bill Hickok fired his navies off every few days so as to have fresh loads. But I agree it would definitely be fine overnight.
There is no reason to assume the barrel would be pitted. Nothing in the story leads you to believe the rifle had been fired during season. Loading it, not firing it, leaving it loaded, nothing about this would cause oxidation.
That's right.
I have left my Encore loaded over night, only if I know I will be out the next day but if headed home to work the week
I will shoot it at something
My $.02.
SS
Moisture can be in the powder itself or weep in through the nipple hole.
Some old percussions, and I believe they may be military, have a brass nipple cover on a chain that goes between hammer and nipple when not in use.