How long do you leave your rifles charged during season?

[txcookie]

So I am hunting with a trad rifle this yr and have no idea what Im doing. Question is simple how long can I leave it charged and still expect to be able to shoot it on target?

 

[txcookie]

any of yall hunt???

 

[Semisane]

Our season is just under three months long (13 Nov to 30 Jan. I hunt just about every Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday morning during the season.

Here's my story:

At the beginning of the season I load six muzzleloaders; .45 Renegade, .50 Renegade, .54 Renegade, .50 TC Hawken, .58 TC Hawken (all with Green Mountain barrels), and a .54 Great Plains flintlock. I usually hunt with a different gun each day, and sometimes a different one morning and evening. If I shoot something I clean the gun fully and reload.

Now you must understand all of these guns are sighted in for a clean cold barrel. I don't pop a cap or foul the bore prior to loading. I swab the fully clean bore with an alcohol patch, really pumping it to blow air through the nipple/touch hole. Once I'm certain it's oil free and dry, I load it. Then I run a lightly oiled patch to the top of the load, followed by a dry patch. I've never had a failure to fire or rust problem.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Usually over the weekend. As a test I left one loaded 11 months in the unheated garage and it went off first try.

If it rains I pull the load and clean the rifle. And, of course, if it's been fired I fire it off or pull and then clean.

 

[necchi]

Being carefull with temp swings, and not getting rained on, one year I loaded on Nov 6th,,
, and fired that charge without a hitch on Jan 2nd.
That was the regular season and ML season.

No venison that year,

 

[CaptainKirk]

Generally, if the hunt is over for the week,or weekend, as the case may be, when I get home, the gun gets emptied and cleaned.
This is accomplished by:
a) discharging the gun in my hunting area, if I feel rowdy and nobody is around, or;
b) using a ball puller after I get home
The pulled balls (REAL bullets) go back in the melting pot, and the powder(Pyrodex....if dry) goes back in with the rest. Otherwise, it gets dumped.
But that's just me... :grin:

 

[saber]

I leave mine loaded till I shoot it unless I go for a swim with it

 

[Mad Professor]

Some people say you should run a fowler shot first before hunting, WHY?

Sight your gun in on a clean barrel then the shot that counts, this one, right on, today or tomorrow, with no rust or fowling in your barrel.

I clean to strorage clean for hunting ( no petrolem ) , spotless, load, run a lubed patch down the barrel to coat any dry spots after loading, then cap the barrel with dutch tape , and the nipple with melted wax.

Carry a candle with you on the hunt, it will come in handy anyway ,......

No rust, no problem mis-firings. Even when hunting in sleet/rain, not on a stand but stalking......

I've a few rifles used 2-3 years like this, I don't use these guns for a fresh hunt. But they have flipped a bunch of woodchucks in the garden, without a miss, 2-3 years after loaded with same point of impact (head). :thumbsup:

 

[Josh Smith]

I keep mine loaded. Discharge it every day (or every two at most).

Clean, lube, dry patch, reload.

A piece of seasoned leather is tied around the trigger guard and goes between the hammer and nipple.

Seals it completely from air far as I can tell.

Any doubt as to how to go about things, just do as the old gunfighters did. Wild Bill, for example, fired and cleaned is weapons every night, and then reloaded them when dry.

Josh

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I have two rifles that have been loaded since the season before last, that's a year and a month or two. One of these days I'll take them out and fire them off and I have every confidence they will fire right off and shoot accurately.

 

[Pete Gaimari]

I've left C&B revolvers loaded for 2 years and it shot fine.

 

[Bill Hall]

I just spent four days in the woods and kept the same load in my rifle the entire time. There were some guys camped down the road from me who would fire their rifles off every night. I ran into one of those guys on a trail (hunting?) off his four wheeler, and he informed me that you need to clear out your ML and add a fresh load everday. I told him I just didn't know that, and thanked him for the advice :rotf: . When I left to go home (no deer this year), I emptied the rifle into an old washtub by the side of the road and it fired just fine.

I have left loads in rifles for a month or two and they always fired just fine. Bill

 

[cable]

had a T/C renegade that i had no time to unload, and left it that way for over 2 years. sold it to the boyfriend of one of our employees: he was [ is ] a federal fish and wildlife agent. i told him it was loaded. about a month later he was sitting in their rental house, and holding the rifle while watching a movie. he capped it, aimed it at the fireplace [ it had a steel liner ].she reminded him what i had said, and he scoffed, and pulled the trigger. BOOM, and the ricochet embedded in the wall a little behind them and above them!!! Idiot is inadequate to describe him. she married another guy next year. so that one worked just fine two years after loading.

 

[hanshi]

If the gun isn't fired or gets wet I leave it till the end of the season or until it takes game whichever comes first.

 

[SgtSchutzen]

I`ll shoot out the load and clean the rifle at the end of hunting season if I haven`t shot at game. Otherwise I leave them loaded between hunts. I remove the cap and lower the hammer onto a small square of leather placed on the nipple to keep out moisture. I also keep them out of the warm house or truck cab to keep condensation from wetting the powder. Been doing it this way for years with no problems. The gun always goes off when I want it to.

 

[John Wasmuth]

I've left mine loaded for up to 6 months at a time with no negative results. Keep them nice and dry and there is no problem. Make sure you decap or dump and clean the pan, on flinters I use a cock feather to seal the vent.

 

[Josh Smith]

I've left C&B revolvers loaded for 2 years and it shot fine.

Hi Pete,

I don't doubt it a bit.

Those were different times, and the folks carrying cap'n'ball revolvers and caplock long guns just couldn't risk a misfire, if they carried 'em for a living.

As well, look at how much practice they got by doing this!

I need practice right now, and therefore figure that the old ways are probably best right now.

Another reason I want to get rid of this danged plastic stock is because I want wood to care for.

I'll find one eventually, or just get a Hawken. Can't be laid off forever!

Josh

 

[Pete Gaimari]

I keep my hunting guns clean. The revolver I keep loaded is for home protection.

 

[ebiggs1]

I leave my TC flintlock loaded all deer season or hopefully until I shoot at a deer. I put a round toothpick in the touchhole.

 

[luieb45]

Not that I don't think black powder can store for a long length of time but I want as fresh of powder as possible so this year in the morning I will load the gun once it's been clean and oil free then unload it by firing it when I come in. I might or might not wipe the bore with a few patches then clear the flash channel by snapping a few caps then pick the nipple. Then I will load again before I leave for the evening hunt.