Leaving gun charged

[Horace]

I am experimenting with leaving my gun loaded just to see if the charge will stay hot after several months. The barrel is lubricated above the charge. Several people have argued that I am damaging the chamber. I don't see how. What do you guys think?

 

[roundball]

Several people have argued that I am damaging the chamber. I don't see how. What do you guys think?

I think that most of the folks who claim to do it would not do the same thing with a centerfire rifle...and if so, it has to be because its easy to jack the shells out of a centerfire.

Based on that, it suggests they don't do the same thing for a muzzleloader because "it's not easy"...when it reality it takes every bit of 90 seconds to pull a load and wipe a bore.

At any rate, to answer your question, you couldn't pay me to leave one of mine loaded like that...runs against everything I believe in when it comes to firearms...maintenance care, longevity, reliability, safety, etc, etc.

But you're entitled to pack your own parachute, of course
:thumbsup:

 

[playfarmers]

I leave mine loaded until I shoot it during deer season. It may stay loaded for 2 weeks if it dosen't rain or snow, then I will shoot and clean. I have seen no damage done, but I would not leave it loaded longer than that.

 

[Mulebrain]

As long as moister does not get to the powder charge, it will not be a problem.

If this holds true and no moister gets to it, I guarantee it will still go off after over 100 years!

 

[Leonredbeard]

Muleskinner,
DON'T let your gonne loaded with pyrodex or triple se7en. Chuck Dixon told me that there is no need for moisture to get to the load to create rust. The oxydizer will do that all by itself.

Also, Fred Stutzenberger did a test in short pieces of barrel. He loaded them and left them for a year. The powder had rusted deep into the bore, making the barrel unshootable. Soft iron with silicones naturally there will not rust like carbon steel will. So when you find a loaded gonne over a hundred years old and you shoot the load out of it, it may not burst. A carbon steel barrel in that condition may not have a breach after a hundred years loaded.
volatpluvia

 

[Hawken12]

Blackpowder is corrosive and sucks up moisture,sounds detrimental to me.Several months,not up here ,When I'm huntin mite leave a load for a coupla days(long as it is dry)she kicks like a mule when I do leave a load in for a time
Hawken

 

[mudd turtle]

Well written brother, enough said. mudd Turtle.

 

[jdstrang]

Several people have argued that I am damaging the chamber. I don't see how. What do you guys think?

Aside from safety concerns, which would prevent me from attempting this, I would worry that the naturally humid climate of the Carolinas would result in the powder attracting moisture and starting a corrosive process in your breech.

But, as the man said, it's your parachute to pack. Just one thing: Write a note on a piece of paper - "This gun is loaded!" - and tape it around the breech, just in case you step in front of a train or somesuch and it is left to your heirs and assigns to deal with what you leave behind. Those folks often do not think to check as to whether a gun is loaded. You could thus postumously save somebody a lot of grief.

 

[boar]

Did you dry fire a cap? If you did your chamber is dirty. I never dry fire and have left them loaded a week or more and they go off.I do run lube patch before I go hunting. Dilly

 

[Mulebrain]

If Black Powder is so corrosive in a pre burned state, then why isn't it eating through almost every tin powder can?

There is opened powder tins many moons old, and show no corrosion!

:hmm:

 

[sidelock]

I wonder if L&C in 1805 fired off every night ,cleaned,and reloaded in the morn. I just wonder!!!!! I have heard that some people polish the soles of their boots too. :surrender:

 

[Adam Isrow]

I think it's a great question, and would like to know myself. I've been tempted to have one handy for pest control. I used to live on some acres and had chickens. I kept a shotgun handy to take care of 4a.m. visitors :wink: I find it a little hard to believe that in the old days a farmer would hear something molesting his livestock, get his scattergun down, find his powder, his measure and his shot, than proceed to load at 3a.m., in the dark no less. I think it's the safety factor that kept me from doing it, too.

 

[Rod Lassey]

On the frontier, when a loaded gun could mean the difference between life and death? You bet they were loaded all the time. If memory serves me, I believe it was Joe Meek who commented on a fellow trapper shooting the load of his rifle into a tree to so he could clean the rifle. This tells me that a)the rifle had been shot, reloaded, and needed to be cleaned at some point when it was safe to do so; b)he wanted to recover his lead. Guns were tools to these guys, not works of art (the gunmaker may differ with them on that point!).
If you ever examine old rifles that were truly used on the frontier--and they are excedingly rare--they were used hard, and for the most part used up.

The practice of keeping them always loaded may not have done the gun much good in the long run, but many times it kept the owner of the gun alive.

 

[roundball]

All this is well and good of course, but if 200 year old practices of leaving guns loaded are being used as legitimate justification to leaving guns loaded today, then that would also include leaving every .22, .30-30, .30-06, 7mm mag, etc, etc, loaded as well.

Yet I'll bet lunch that the practice of UNLOADING those rifles every day would be hotly defended by those who insist on unloading them.

You can't have it both ways guys... :shake:

 

[shmrck1]

Mule Skinner,
Not real sure what you want to know!But,if the
question is do you leave your gun loaded over a
period of time,my answer is,I do for up to three
days.Weather I use my F/L or P/L during deer
season,and I do use both.I always make sure I use a
fresh primer cap and a fresh F/L charge.:hmm:
snake-eyes :hmm:

 

[Bearbait2]

Mr. Mule Skinner,
We have left several of our muzzleloaders fully loaded in excess of six months. Never a failure to fire. With a tight fitting cap on the nipple and a lubed patched round ball, there has been no problem with moisture reaching the powder.
With our flint locks, we usually remove the powder from the pan when returning indoors. When hunting, it is usually left in place but replaced with fresh at the beginning of a new day.
As for our modern centerfires, several of them are loaded at ALL times, other than when being cleaned. Especially the heavy caliber pistol riding on my belt every day.
My training, experience and mind set enables this to be a safe practice around our homestead. I do not necessarily recommend it for others, especially those uncomfortable (for whatever reason) doing so.
The advice of others is all well and good but the bottom line (imho) is: do what you are comfortable with AND willing to accept the RESPONSIBILITY for.
The above is merely my opinion/experience and not intended to offend anyone. To each, his own.
Best Wishes

 

I am experimenting with leaving my gun loaded just to see if the charge will stay hot after several months. The barrel is lubricated above the charge. Several people have argued that I am damaging the chamber. I don't see how. What do you guys think?

I don't see any part of this question calling for sermons on safety issues. I see a question about the possible deterioration of the bore. Am I correct in my estimation?

 

[LFC]

I recently used CO2 to blow what turned out to be an old load out of a CVA barrel. The load had been there for an unknown time, probably years, maybe decades. The bore was pretty clean (just a little light surface rust) down to where the load was. There appeared to be some heavier rust down where the powder had been. I'm not sure what kind of powder it was, though the few grains I was able to salvage after blasting the bore clean with CO2 looked very much like FFG black powder. I got the rust cleaned out pretty well, I believe, but it was noticeably more rusty where the powder had been.

You figure that sulfur is going to oxidize and form acidic compounds over time. I'd avoid leaving the gun loaded for that reason alone.

And, of course, as mentioned before, any time you leave a gun loaded, you are leaving a trap for the many people out there who don't know TO test, or HOW TO test, a muzzleloader to see if it's loaded. You could easily be leaving a lethal and attractive trap for your kids' kids to chance upon 30 years from now, if you have a heart attack, misplace the gun, etc., etc.

 

[jdstrang]

I don't see any part of this question calling for sermons on safety issues. I see a question about the possible deterioration of the bore. Am I correct in my estimation?

Yes, your estimation is correct - as far as it goes. But, consider this:

Suppose you are walking down the street with a friend, and he breaks into his latest version of the Texas two-step. As he prances toward the intersection through which a speeding semi is about to thunder, he looks at you and asks, "How's my dancing?" Now, he may be putting Fred Astaire to shame, but if you don't mention the approaching truck, have you fulfilled your duties as a friend?

I believe safety to be everybody's business, especially as concerns firearms with which even much of the generally gun-knowledgeable public is not familiar. As one who sat through interminable hours of fire-and-brimstone preaching before he truly saw the light and walked out, none of the cautionary words I've read here come close to sermonizing. They are simply friends calling to the attention of another friend a consequence that he might not have fully considered, that all hope does not obtain.

Selah.

 

[roundball]

I was going to respond as well, but yours is so thorough and to the point it can't be improved upon..well put.
:hatsoff: