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Keeping a Cap and Ball Pistol Loaded Long Term

allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,611 ✭✭✭✭
edited August 2009 in Black Powder and Cowboy Action Shooting
I have had this pistol loaded in the house for 3 years.

DSCN0540.jpg

It is the Uberti Cattleman with the ejection mechanism removed. Don't need it for cap and ball, and it handles better without it.
I use 28 grains of Goex fffg, and CCI number 11 caps.

I live in the humid North Carolina mountains, in a little log cabin. I only have a window unit ac, and don't run it much. It is real humid in my house 6 months of the year.
I keep the pistol in this drawer.


Today I went out and fired my pistol. As no surprise to me, it fired fine, all 5 cylinders. It had same power as normal, and blew right through 2 inches of pine.


I also have a Pietta 1860 Army that I have kept loaded for 2 years, and it also fired fine.
No corrosion in the cylinders of either gun.
I know for a fact that CCI primers will keep just fine for 30 years, my brother has a little tin of them that old and they shoot fine.
My conclusion is that these pistols can be kept loaded just about indefinetely, and will fire when called upon.
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Comments

  • hillbillehillbille Member Posts: 14,392 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I think the biggest secret is to make sure they are extemely clean to begin with, and any oil is removed from the cylinders.
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  • sockssocks Member Posts: 189 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Thanks, Allen. A good answer to a question that
    gets asked ALL THE TIME around here.
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  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,611 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yes, it does, and I see people saying you can only keep the gun loaded if you seal the chambers with wax, or that keeping it loaded will corrode the cylinders, etc.

    I live near the river, and for half the year, my house is enveloped in fog all night long, comes up off the river. I am talking about 100 percent humidity.
    I run fans to draw the air through the house, it may be moist, but it is cool!
    In other words, I live in a semi-jumgle environment.
    I doubt anybody in the US lives in a more humid environment, at least, spring through fall.
    Winter, I run a wood stove, so the house is real dry all winter.
    If a pistol will not absorb moisture in my house, it won't absorb it anywhere.
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  • ColtDoctorColtDoctor Member Posts: 97 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Howdy Griggs,

    Gud to know. I wondered how long I could leave 'em loaded. Got a 1863 Colt Special Musket still loaded. Think that damn yankee dropped it on the battlefield when he saw us a comin'.

    MW

    PS Nice shooters ya got there.
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  • v35v35 Member Posts: 12,710 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I checked a few cans of DuPont black powder I've had for 40-50 years and found the cans were rusting through from the inside.
    In emptying the cans, some good rust flakes came out with the powder.
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  • 44caliberkid44caliberkid Member Posts: 925 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Real black powder will last indefinetly, if kept dry, I can't say for subs. Pistols and rifles have been dug up from the civil war that have been capped and still fired. I have bought antique cannisters of BP that were 80 to 100+ years old and the powder still worked.
    A proper fitting ball and snug cap should keep moisture out of the chambers. You could put it in a zip lock bag with a couple packets of dessicant (absorbs moisture) if you're concerned.
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  • v35v35 Member Posts: 12,710 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    That's true but it's delequescent, absorbing moisture every time the can is opened. It may fire well but the moisture can rust the chamber over time as it rusted out some old cans of mine.
    Bill Hickock discharged and reloaded his Navies daily.
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  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,611 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    "This ain't Dodge City
    And I ain't Bill Hickock."
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  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 51,593 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Naw, he was purty, was ol' Bill.[}:)]
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  • machine gun moranmachine gun moran Member Posts: 5,198
    edited November -1
    BP will stay good indefinitely. Civil War ordnance still goes off regularly, if screwed with. In the 1930's a famous singer (I don't remember his name) was killed when he was examining an antique muzzle-loading pistol. It was still loaded, and it went off when he turned on an electric light for a closer look.
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  • dandak1dandak1 Member Posts: 450 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My experience is similiar to yours. I only did a 4 month experiment with my Colt 1851 navy and Pyrodex P. Everything was cleaned up with alcohol (to remove all oil) and the gun was loaded and capped, then locked up and a label applied "danger loaded gun" (hey...never know...I may have gotten in an accident and my brothers, etc find the thing...better safe than sorry). No other precautions were taken against moisture in the air and believe me, we get 90% humidity all the time in the summer. After about 4 months I took it out and it fired normally.
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