funny moron deer hunting episode.

the moron- me
the scene- a crisp thanksgiving morning
the object of desire- christening my first fowler build, firing a 62 cal ball at a deer.

sunday- load the fowler.....no deer....unload the fowler

Monday-load the fowler.....should use paste lube on this patch.....ahhh.... i've got an entire fiber wad in between the powder and patch it will be fine, why i bet i can leave it like this for a week!..........no deer.

tuesday- no deer

wednessday- deer out of range

thursday- deer out of range.....followed by deer in range....YAY!!!!!!!.....stalk ten yards to get the shot.....hammer back.....front sight... trigger press......shhkkk- plap!......what happened?.......deer gittily bounding away as i sit chuckling to myself at her luck ( i already made meat this year for me and friends so now im hunting for pleasure and meat donations)


i don't know why i left it loaded with my target hunting lube. I really don't. just lazy i guess. figured it would be fine. it was not. anyway, lesson learned that i already knew, and something entertaining for you to read and the deer to be thankful for.


i did not hit the deer at all, im not even sure the ball reached it....no recoil, no real smoke, no crack, just --"PLAP!" instead of "Boom!" i figure only about 1/4 of the powder actually burned. pretty funny.

hope you enjoyed my moronic morning! use the right lube when hunting! DEERRRRHHHHHH

Sorry to hear about the fizzle instead of the boom.

I've had a gun loaded well over a year with a lubed wonder wad over the powder and when fired hit same as a fresh load (duct tape on muzzle, wax over the edge of cap).

You sure there was powder charge in it?

Left mine loaded for weeks before getting a shot and filling a tag.

I hear ya...since having a delay fire and shooting over the back of a wide 6 pointer with a caplock in the early 90's, I vowed never again to leave a sidelock loaded between hunts.

Caplock or Flintlock, this lube or that lube, doesn't matter to me...it's simply too easy & quick to pull a load, patch the bore, let it warm up / dry out over night, load fresh the next day.
Others mileage may vary.

yep been there and done that too,now I pull the load swab/clean it up and reload every AM flinter or capper. I'll probably jinx myself but so far with the TOTW covered screw it's been 100% for ball pulling, even with a severely fouled TC Hawken dryball of my grandsons

Personal opinion, I look at skipping the unloading / reloading fresh step like the dry-ball situation...the odds for failure to fire properly is inevitable...it's going happen sooner or later.
For me, I decided it's not going to happen to me...might be some other reason why I miss the buck or long-beard of a lifetime but it sure won't be from leaving a gun loaded between hunts...LOL

Yep. I usually do unload every night. The lube i had was alcohol, hyd per and murphy soap. Very wet slick stuff. Thought the fiber wad would stop the fouling but oh well. Ill go back to starting fresh each morning.

Only thing that stunk was it was my first go with my own build. They have to win sometimes too.......otherwise hunting wouldnt be any fun.

I always shot it off at the end of the hunt and then did a full cleaning that night. OCD baby!

Greg

Co2 discharger baby!

loaded at the start of the hunt and unloaded on bambi 4 days later without a problem. but i do use a dry wool wad between the powder and the patch.

i did however test this with a lubed wad. i left my gun loaded for 2 weeks with a lubed wonder wad over the powder. when i finally took it to the range it fired without problem.

-matt

yep I've even left a Grey Hawk loaded almost 2yrs once (was deployed for 20 mos)when I finally got around to shooting it she went off without a hitch,even with that I'll not trust any of them on a hunt.I will reload every AM and be confident that an old load will not be the reason it won't fire.Call me OCD :hatsoff:

majg1234 said:

yep been there and done that too,now I pull the load swab/clean it up and reload every AM flinter or capper. I'll probably jinx myself but so far with the TOTW covered screw it's been 100% for ball pulling, even with a severely fouled TC Hawken dryball of my grandsons

Click to expand...

Thanks papaw for telling everyone about my dryball lol

I always leave mine loaded, until I think they need changin..or shot fired,,never had a problem..my thought, for what it's worth..is there is no way to know if that would've fired first day or not..I've seen quite a few "fresh" loads not go off..
when I decide..its time for a fresh load. I shoot..then, wonder why..it did go off! and nothing says fresh load will when time comes. a bad load is a bad load i guess.. and if/when there comes a time where my old load does not go off, I'll wonder what I did when I loaded it,not how long its been loaded..
bottom line,I guess, is ya do what ever makes ya feel right, an works for you. :thumbsup:

Spose that makes sense. Maybe my alch swab didnt get rid of all the oil? It did go off. Just half power or so.


I was quite suprised. Musta been the patch lube. Thats all i can think of.