How long can you keep a flintlock loaded?

Am traveling home in a few days and won't be able to shoot it off to clear it before then (I am at my girlfriend's parent's farm and these hippies are very against guns of any form. Can it stay loaded for five or so days? (with no powder in the pan obviously)- Larry

Absolutely, just store it muzzle down, to be safe. It does depend on how much lube you put on the patch, but not that much for 5 days.

Eterry said:

Absolutely, just store it muzzle down, to be safe. It does depend on how much lube you put on the patch, but not that much for 5 days.

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I put a bag over the muzzle and rubber banded it, and put a pick in the vent hole. Will this help?

Sure, but if stood in a corner the lube may migrate to the powder. That's why i suggest keeping the muzzle down.
I've left my flintlock loaded well over a week. My percussion guns over a month with no problems.

thank you! I just put it muzzle down

My smooth bore has been loaded since May 2nd which was our turkey season opener. It's in its case on my work room table. I will unload it at the end of the month when the season ends(unless I get a sit on a bird). I know from experience that it will fire. As long as the gun is not kept in a humid environment it will fire.

I have left a muzzleloader loaded from the end of one hunting season to the next with no ill effects.

There are instances of guns that have been left literally for decades that have been primed, or capped and fired successfully.

TNGhost said:

I have left a muzzleloader loaded from the end of one hunting season to the next with no ill effects.

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What kind, and brand was it ?
More details please.

No limit on time. But the load must be in a barrel that was absolutely clean. If it has been fired then loaded, I would not leave that way more than one day. It was my practice during hunting season to load into a clean bore on the first day and leave the charge there until I murdered Bambi or the season ended. Just practice safe gun handing, meaning keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

Having just inherited a T/C .54, sort of plains style, I inspected it and found powder in the pan and a load in the barrel. It was most likely from 3 years ago!
I cleared and cleaned the pan (there was rust), added new 4f prime and touched it off on the first squeeze wit out delay. It had hung for the last 3 years on a rack on the wall with no pick or muzzle cap.
I've got some more work ahead of me to get this gun in excellent shape.

Daryl Crawford said:

I cleared and cleaned the pan (there was rust), added new 4f prime and touched it off on the first squeeze wit out delay

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At the risk of sounding like Mr safety guy, I would never fire a gun that I did not load, I would have pulled the ball. Glad things worked out for you. To the OP's question, if the rifle was clean when loaded, no problem.

I don't like leaving mine loaded but really it has nothing to do with being bad other than I'm afraid I will forget about it and end up leaving it for a long time. When hunting, I certainly would leave it loaded until I finished the hunt whether it be a few days or a month. I might fire it half way through a long period to insure it would fire when I needed it. Last time I hunted it was snowing heavy and a heavy wet snow at that so at the end of the day I fired it. It took sever caps before I could get it to fire.

tallpine said:

At the risk of sounding like Mr safety guy, I would never fire a gun that I did not load, I would have pulled the ball. Glad things worked out for you. To the OP's question, if the rifle was clean when loaded, no problem.

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I hear you but it was my father in law's rifle and I was aware of the load he used. He and I had shot and hunted together for years. I didnt realuze that he left it unfired when he hung it up in January 2017. If it wouldn't have fired I would have pulled the ball.

Rifleman1776 said:

No limit on time. But the load must be in a barrel that was absolutely clean. If it has been fired then loaded, I would not leave that way more than one day. It was my practice during hunting season to load into a clean bore on the first day and leave the charge there until I murdered Bambi or the season ended. Just practice safe gun handing, meaning keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

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My findings are different.
I have kept them loaded fouled for weeks with no issues.

Britsmoothy said:

My findings are different.
I have kept them loaded fouled for weeks with no issues.

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Same here. A few years ago I killed a doe opening day, reloaded, and didn't get a shot on a buck until weeks later. I checked the bore regularly, even ran a patch down the bore to check.
All is well.

A very good friend, who is 83 and has shot black powder since the 60s hunts dove and doesn't clean his shotgun until season is over. But he hunts almost every day.

If you are leaving it loaded, put a tag or some other note to remind you and others there is a charge in the barrel. I take a piece of masking tape and wrap it around the ramrod with the word loaded on it just in case I forget or if something would happen to me. I do this even if I plan on shooting and cleaning the next day.

In 1968 my father bid on a flintlock pistol at auction. We were outbid. The new owner sat in front of us inspecting his new possession. Unbeknown to any of us it was loaded. It fired and the ball lodged above the heart of the new owner. A medical team from the hospital which was next door rushed in and he was saved. Father reckoned that pistol had been loaded for well over 100 years.

I have seen in museums the use of a a small birds feather in the touch hole, CHICKADEE size. you will find them under your bird feeder. it will keep moisture out because of the wax that is on the quill. of course the weapon was not loaded just for historical presentation. I have used it at F&I reenactment's. try it it works.

I put a piece of red flagging tape over the nipple (without a cap) and ease the hammer down on it to remind me it is loaded.