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Loaded gun

Different DrummerDifferent Drummer Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
edited January 2010 in Black Powder and Cowboy Action Shooting
How long can you leave a black powder revolver loaded?
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    redneckandyredneckandy Member Posts: 9,686 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    If you pull the trigger and it doesn't go bang you waited too long.[:D]
    If the pistol is kept out of contact with moisture/ high humidity I don't see a problem leaving it loaded indefinitley. I personally wouldn't leave it loaded but to each his own.
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    dandak1dandak1 Member Posts: 450 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I once experimented with a Colt 3rd gen 1851 Navy. Cleaned and dried the cylinder, loaded all 6 with Pyrodex P, a wonder wad, and a ball. Left the nipples uncapped, put a "Warning Loaded" sign on it in case anything happened to me and other family members found the gun, and safely locked it up in the basement here in humid Ohio. I'll have to check my notes to get the time I left it loaded, but IIRC it was on the order of 3 months and the humidity WAS very high. Took it out back to my little range, capped the nipples, and all 6 fired off w/o any problems.
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    allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,242 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    DSCN0540.jpg

    I have left this beauty loaded for three years.
    Took it out back and it fired fine, all 5 cylinders, full power.
    I used 28 grains of Goex fffg black powder and a round ball. The cylinders were capped. No wads, no sealant on the ball or the caps.

    This is in the humid NC mountains, I have ac but don't use it much.
    I just kept the pistol in a drawer.
    There was no corrosion in the cylinders.

    I have heard of these pistols being left loaded for decades and they fired fine. Black powder, when sealed up, does not degrade.

    I will tell you something else. Those caps last a long time.
    My brother came up here last year with his pistol, I got him into muzzleloading in the seventies and then he lost interest.
    He had a tin of CCI caps that he bought in 1978, and a can of Goex powder. We loaded his pistol with 31 year old powder and caps, and it fired fine. We fired 30 shots without a misfire.
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    44caliberkid44caliberkid Member Posts: 925 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    As long as it's protected from moisture, black powder will last indefinetly. There have been antique rifles and pistols found loaded since before the Revolutionary War that have been primed and fired.
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    Different DrummerDifferent Drummer Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I would like to thank all that posted very much!! It helps to have all this info at your finger tips...Thanks again I got my answer...
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