Storing a Muzzleloader in a safe.

I was talking to a fellow I shoot with and told him I had acquired a muzzle loader. Since I am new to black powder and muzzle loaders in general, he gave me a suggestion that I always store a muzzle loader in the muzzle down position. Is there any particular reason for this? Why would that be different than any of my other rifles? Just trying to get better informed and do the right thing. I also store all of my rifles in a silicon impregnated sleeve to prevent scratches. Any reason why I should not store the rifle in a sleeve? I do keep desiccant in my safes to keep the humidity low.

It's cuz we oil em reeeeal good and then the oil can seep backwards and down the breached and into the nipple area and cause a mis fire and if too much oil can cause a nasty gunk when fired (cuz oil n black powder causes gnk when mixed with fire). I myself dont oil so heavy as o have to but have started anyway. Looks funny if yer gun case has a glass door :rotf:

I never used to store them that way until I heard it somewhere. I never really had much problem at all before. You don't have to store them that way though and if you leave it muzzle down a few days, that should be good enough to go back to storing breech down after that.

That makes perfectly good sense. I have never oiled a lot on any, so when I cleaned this one up, I oiled it like I do all my rifles. Wet a patch with Marvel, slick down the bore and put it in a sleeve. Never noticed any rust or pools of oil in the safe or on the stocks. Thanks for the info!

Makes perfect sense ... but I don't do it, never have and NEVER have had a problem!

FWIW I store mine with a coating on Birchwood Casey's 'Barricade' product on them, even in the bore, and NONE have ever collected manure in the breech area, even the long 60" barreled 75-caliber one.

I store mine muzzle up...but I place a folded up cloth between hammer and nipple or pan to catch any excess oil.....

The biggest things with muzzleloaders is to check them a few days, weeks, etc... after cleaning to make sure you did a good job and no rust has started.

Storing a gun muzzle down can be bad if the safe sits on concrete or in a basement. You'll end up with a rusty muzzle, desiccant or not.

I'm with you on this one cept I ain't looked at em fer over a year an expect no difficulty when I do.

75 caliber? DANG! How heavy of a bullet are you shooting and how much powder are you pushing it with?

Bet that one smarts a bit....


Griz

Nope, my safes sit on an exercise mat laid over a wood floor in a spare bedroom. AC and Heat always on. Powder cabinet is on the other side of the room. Benches are in between for loading and cleaning.
In 50+ years of shooting and collecting, I have never had cancer on any of my steel.
Griz

Griz44Mag said:

75 caliber? DANG! How heavy of a bullet are you shooting and how much powder are you pushing it with?

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She likes a 0.735" pure lead roundball weighing 598-grains.

Based on a great post here recently, I switched to 1Fg powdah and so far I love it! The 90-grain loads I shot the other were 'soft' (as felt at the shoulder) and accurate. She now sorely needs a dedicated 'load development' range session w/ 1Fg powdah.

sidelock said:

I'm with you on this one cept I ain't looked at em fer over a year an expect no difficulty when I do.

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It was advice for novices....You are excluded. :wink: