• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Ten year old loaded Hawken?

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Well I'm in the country half way between two towns with heathens cruising & boozing between both of em. Believe me, I've had to level down on several of em.
Anyway all of mine are loaded, unlocked, daughter knows how to use them (even the Walker) .69 tower with 2 oz buckshot as a critter gitter, double 10 gauge at the front door.
 
COMPRESSED AIR
forced through the flintlock drum, percussion nipple, or matchlock/cannon flash hole can be used if a CO2 powered unloading gadget is not available, or is not preferred.

The Compressed Air or Compressed CO2 method of pushing out the load is good for unloading a dry ball or an unknown and very possibly improper or unsafe unknown amount charge of unknown powder or propellant.

I would probably use compressed air...
{ because, that is what I have }
to push the unknown load out into a rubbish bin or out into a grassy area on a day when weather forecasters are predicting rain to come shortly.
Launching the mystery load into a body of water would have the effect of "wetting the powder".
 
Well I'm in the country half way between two towns with heathens cruising & boozing between both of em. Believe me, I've had to level down on several of em.
Anyway all of mine are loaded, unlocked, daughter knows how to use them (even the Walker) .69 tower with 2 oz buckshot as a critter gitter, double 10 gauge at the front door.
“Is that gun loaded?” Of course it’s loaded! What good is a gun that’s not loaded?!
That’s my policy and practice for all of my civilian lifetime. (The Armed Service’s don’t subscribe to this philosophy for... reasons...) My family knew it, our kids know it, their friends knew it and so do my grandchildren and great granddaughter. In the extremely unlikely event you come across a firearm in our house, (biometric safes y’all!) it IS loaded and you’d better have a damn good reason for touching it, examining it or doing anything but leaving it precisely as you found it...
My son once disarmed an 18 year old boychild at a party at a friend’s house. The fool was playing with his hosts fathers semi automatic pistol. I was and am very proud of him. Likely prevented a tragedy in that instance.

But yes, unloading with air or anything but pulling the trigger was your proper course of action.
 
My thanks to Blogman and Hawkeye2. The best thing that came out of that encounter was this: A couple of days later I was having coffee with the (then) NMLRA NH State Rep and told him about it in detail. We decided it was time we did something to fix the problem because nobody else was. He got in touch with some of his contacts in the NH Parks & Wildlife Department and fussed at them. Their response was that they had been concerned about the apparent fact that a) The ML Hunting Season was new, b) A lot of sporting goods stores, department stores, and shooting supply outlets were trying to get in that new market by
actively promoting ML firearms and supplies, c) Most of the sales force in those stores were uneducated in the particulars of ML shooting and ML safety, and d) Some of them were perpetuating "Old Wive's Tales" and other misinformation on the subject with no awareness that they were endangering anyone. The Parks & Wildlife folks wanted to do something, but admitted they didn't have anyone on staff who were knowledgeable enough to do so.
They asked if we could help. The answer was a loud
"You betcha!" We suggested a Muzzleloading Hunter Safety Course to be taught by volunteers from our local ML Club and directed by Bob (State NMLRA Rep) and myself. We prepared course material, designed a poster to announce the course, with tear-off sheets containing the key information on location and timing plus contact info for the two of us, and a single sheet tri-fold information pamphlet titled "Welcome to Muzzleloading" which contained critical information on muzzleloading firearms safety including loading information, sketches, and suggested load data for popular firearms that were available a the time --- as offered by the manufacturers.
The State Fish & Game funded printing and distribution of the posters and pamphlets, the instructional material and
a short slide program. Our club members were the instructors including Bob and myself. It was a success! After the first sessions, we started getting people from neighboring states coming to sit in and watch, then ask for more info and help. We taught the course in several states, intending them as "Train the Instructor" courses. After the first season, Bob sent a complete set of our course material to Friendship and they adopted it as their own and took it nation wide. It still exists as the NMLRA Muzzleloading Hunter Safety Course and the tri-fold pamphlet we designed is still used, but with the heading changed to read National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association and the load chart deleted because of liability restrictions, we were told. So, you see, something good really did come of that potential disaster. Every once in a while you get lucky.
Tanglefoot
 
Got my Plainsman unloaded last weekend. Sprayed some lube in the bore amd touchhole, used a garage sale multi piece ramrod with t handle and the ball puller it came with. Clamped a small vice to my Jeep bumper, wrapped the barrel in foam and it came out in the second pull. Cleaned it good and the bore looks good. Gonna fire it first weekend in Febuary.
View attachment 22362

Thanks for letting us know how you remove the bullet. So often people ask for help and we never here from them again.
 
SDS Post 3.Years ago while stalking in Western Scotland I found a Derelict Leather covered 2 shutter powder flask in an antique shop.It obviously had something in it but it wasn't until I was back in England that I managed to open and remove the top.1/2 full of fine grain, possibly No.2 Powder.Looked in good order but it had something mixed in. A very small amount of what turned out to be an early NITRO.Still have it.Never used any>>>. Just hope the flask was not lost on the hill Because whoever's nice 450 deer rifle had blown up. In the words of Rudyard "AVIAT EMPOR"
OLD DOG.
 
I believe I wrote' Caviat Emptor' .' let the buyer beware' which apart from 'Cavendus Tutus' viz ' Saftey in Caution' & my personal Favourite 'Astra ,Castra, Numen,Lumen' The Stars my camp providence my guide' about exhausts my latin ! . I do like' Quid pro quo' It sounds like money ! Cheers Rudyard
 
I believe I wrote' Caviat Emptor' .' let the buyer beware' which apart from 'Cavendus Tutus' viz ' Saftey in Caution' & my personal Favourite 'Astra ,Castra, Numen,Lumen' The Stars my camp providence my guide' about exhausts my latin ! . I do like' Quid pro quo' It sounds like money ! Cheers Rudyard

Might as well add "noncorborundum illegitimi" to your string of pseudo Latin phrases. (Rough translation, "don't let those with no legitimate provenance wear you down". Some translations are more salty.)
 
' Non Iligitimus carborundum is the banner of the 'Whitehorse Yukon' Star' Newspaper 'With typical Yukon humour it stand s for "Don't let the bastards grind you down." Very Robert Service I thought . Well it was in 1984 when I was up that way.
Regards Rudyard
 
Dear Old Dog. Don't worry about the miss spelling my wrists are both good but my spellings often questionable, Very, Its the stops on this E machine they keep mooving about . . Regards Rudyard
 

Latest posts

Back
Top