# Unloading a Muzzleloader...



## Hammack (Oct 14, 2013)

How do you guys deal with your muzzleloaders when you go hunting and do not fire it?  Do you fire it anyway, or do you just remove the primer, and leave it?  If I am gonna be hunting for a few days with it I have been just pulling the primer and storing it.  Not sure how long I can do that before it causes an issue.


----------



## LittleDrummerBoy (Oct 14, 2013)

The powder will attract moisture, so it cannot be left loaded long term without firing or otherwise unloading.  I've left 'em loaded for a week and still had good results upon firing.  A time or two I've unloaded by pulling the breechplug, but it's easier just to fire.  On the last day of ML season, it is common to hear a lot of bangs right at the end of legal shooting time.


----------



## the ben pearson hunter (Oct 14, 2013)

I just shoot mine after a day or two. That way you get to do some target shooting mid season.


----------



## Nicodemus (Oct 15, 2013)

I use to start out each day with a fresh load, but now, at the end of the day, I`ll brush the powder from the priming pan and plug the flash hole with a feather. Next morning I when I get in place, I`ll reprime and be ready to hunt. Same way when I use my percussion rifle.

I`ll keep it this way for up to a week at a time before I fire and clean it. Never had a misfire.


----------



## LittleDrummerBoy (Oct 15, 2013)

flyfisher76544 said:


> Wrong, it is only "hydroscopic"(attracts moisture) after it has been fired.... not while it is dry. If you plan on leaving it loaded, make sure you store it correctly. I.E. not taking the gun from a warm house or car out into the cold. Do not leave it inside a gun case either. I have left a charge in mine for over a month and it went off just fine.



See: Taylor, G. B. (1919). Hygroscopic Properties of Black Powder. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry, 11(11), 1032-1034.

Unfired black powder is hygroscopic.  It attracts moisture.  Depending on the quality of the seal in a loaded firearm, and the ambient humidity over the exposure time, it may not absorb enough water to prevent ignition, but odds are it will absorb enough water to decrease the muzzle velocity.


----------



## jp233 (Oct 15, 2013)

Put a piece of tape over the muzzle and the primer hole.... it can last the whole season if you don't shoot it.

when I know I'm not taking the smokey out again though, I just shoot it at the end of the last hunt. then take it home and clean/lube as usual


----------



## Supercracker (Oct 15, 2013)

I've left my flinter loaded for weeks and weeks at a time before (vent plugged with toothpick)and it fired fine. Including multiple trips in and out of the car and into and out of the woods. 

I leave my Navy .44 in my truck console loaded for God knows how long. Some cylinder holes for months at a minimum. Can't remember ever having a non cap related problem. 

A couple of month ago I used some brass shotshells I loaded with Black powder year before last and had nary a misfire. They are, in effect, the breech section of a caplock. (Primer and lubed feltwad).

People die every year from antique MLs that have been loaded for a century. 


If it's loaded properly with a lubed patch and you plug the vent there shouldn't be enough air for it to absorb moisture from. I'm sure you could calculate some infinitesimal amount of water absorption but it's probably not anything any human could tell the difference in.


----------



## flyfisher76544 (Oct 15, 2013)

LittleDrummerBoy said:


> See: Taylor, G. B. (1919). Hygroscopic Properties of Black Powder. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry, 11(11), 1032-1034.
> 
> Unfired black powder is hygroscopic.  It attracts moisture.  Depending on the quality of the seal in a loaded firearm, and the ambient humidity over the exposure time, it may not absorb enough water to prevent ignition, but odds are it will absorb enough water to decrease the muzzle velocity.



Ok, so that works..... found several other links and sites that are more up to date than a study done in 1919.




> It appears that sporting black powder FFFFG is glazed while the MIL-P-223
> counterpart, i. e. Class 7, is not. There may be other differences between
> commercially available black powder and black powder procured to the
> military specification



This "Class 7" was the black powder that would have been used in the study back in 1919. More recent studies do show that it will absorb some moisture, but we are talking about .001% or less. Studies also show that for some reason, BP has improved ignition at a moisture content of 7%. Which in turn has me confused as well.


----------



## NCHillbilly (Oct 15, 2013)

I wouldn't worry a bit about it. I've hunted for several days in the rain with the same load and it went bang. Once, I left one loaded from the end of the last muzzleloader season to the beginning of the next one. After a year, it went bang just like it was supposed to. If you have to reload your gun every day or few days because it won't go off, there's something wrong with your gun.


----------



## Milkman (Oct 15, 2013)

Like someone said use black electrical tape on the end of the barrel if it is rainy and you should be fine. 

I use the black powder pellets and 209 primers, never a problem leaving it loaded for a week or more between shots.


----------



## Bernard goldsmith (Oct 15, 2013)

Put tape over the end of the barrel, use a screw protecter on the nipple. You can also use a finger rubber on the barrel. If you leave the gun loaded put a red flag in the trigger or barrel.
Bernie Goldsmith
Field Rep NMLRA


----------



## georgia_home (Oct 15, 2013)

On my inlines, sometimes I would shoot the last day of the season, sometimes I would just drop the breech plug and load, then clean.

During season, just remove the cap/primer and use the next day.


----------



## stabow (Oct 17, 2013)

One time just for fun after loading a patch round ball I poured water down the barrel then dumped it back out after a min or so and she still fired......


----------



## Okie Hog (Oct 18, 2013)

If the gun has not been fired it stays loaded.  Sometimes my guns are left loaded for several months.  They always go bang when they are supposed to.


----------



## 7Mag Hunter (Oct 18, 2013)

I always start fresh each hunt....

My Hawken, remove cap, nipple and bolster, pull ball, dump powder and swab
with dry mop....Reinstall bolster, and nipple and ready to load up and go again...

My in-line, I pull breech plug, push out bullet/powder...I reuse bullet and save
sabot for target practice...Reinstall breech plug and ready for next hunt...

About 3-4 minutes and I don't have to worry if they are going to go bang when
I pull the trigger....


----------



## TJay (Oct 18, 2013)

I generally just shoot mine.  We have an embankment at camp that we shoot into.  Just let everyone in camp know that you are about to "light one".  I don't know why anyone would knowingly leave a ML loaded from one year to the next.  What's the point?  No place to shoot it?  Don't want to clean it?  I don't get it.  My current inline is an Omega and it was sold to me with powder and projectile in place.  The seller either didn't remember it was loaded or forgot to tell me.  I pulled the breech plug to check the bore when I got home only to have powder spill out.  Again, I don't get it.


----------



## saltysenior (Oct 18, 2013)

at the 65k ac. Gov. property we hunt on, a large % of the hunters believe that according to the amount of shots heard,the best time for deer hunting during black powder season is right at dark.. of course this changes when modern gun starts the next weekend....

     not to forget the folks who think they must ''unload'' in the middle of nap time...


----------



## littlewolf (Oct 18, 2013)

I just shoot it. Call me lazy but its much easier and cleaner.


----------



## Old Winchesters (Oct 20, 2013)

Shoot it....


----------



## grouper throat (Oct 20, 2013)

I shoot mine if its still loaded at the end of BP season.


----------



## Mtns2hunt (Jul 7, 2014)

7Mag Hunter said:


> I always start fresh each hunt....
> 
> My Hawken, remove cap, nipple and bolster, pull ball, dump powder and swab
> with dry mop....Reinstall bolster, and nipple and ready to load up and go again...
> ...



I agree wholeheartedly with the above statement. Lot of pitted and rusted muzzleloader barrels on the used gun racks due to a poor cleaning regime.

The worst experience, IMO, would be a failure to discharge when shooting at an animal. It has happened to me but not since I clean my ML prior to each hunt. It only takes a few minutes.

One thing I was recently told during a gun safety course is that one should not pull the breach plug and tap out the bullet and load due to the possibility of accidental discharge. Take it for what it's worth - I had always done it that way.


----------



## dwinsor (Jul 8, 2014)

If you have an Inline ML Clean the Breech plug and Breech plug threads.  Lightly Oil the threads in the gun and on the breech plug.  Put white Teflon tape on your Breech Plug threads and put it in the barrel.  Now If you don't shoot it, when you get home just remove the breech plug stand the barrel up and the powder should fall out, if not tap the barrel.  Now push the bullet out.  You won't get any powder in the threads as you would have If you had used grease.  Put new Teflon on your breech plug and put it in your gun.  You can load it for the next time you go hunting.  Doesn't take long at all to do this.

If you have an Inline and don't want to unload it, take a used Primer, put plastic saran wrap over the primer.  Put the primer in your gun and cut off the excess.  Close the gun, next use a piece of plastic saran wrap and put it over your barrel, now put a rubber band over the barrel and wrap.  Now you don't have to worry about moisture because both ends of the barrel are sealed.  This also works when you bring a cold gun into a warm house, absolutely no moisture will condensate in the barrel.  As the barrel warms up it will warm the air in the barrel and decrease the relative humidity in the barrel.    Do this before bringing your gun in from the cold.  I have been doing this for 20 years.

If you have a Cap lock gun, put enough plastic saran wrap over the nipple so that when you drop your hammer it will seal the nipple.  Then put plastic saran wrap on the end of your barrel with a rubber band.  Now your gun is sealed.

All of these methods work great in the rain also.
If the plastic saran wrap is not thick enough to seal your primer, you can use the plastic from a sandwich baggie.


----------



## Mtns2hunt (Jul 8, 2014)

dwinsor said:


> If you have an Inline ML Clean the Breech plug and Breech plug threads.  Lightly Oil the threads in the gun and on the breech plug.  Put white Teflon tape on your Breech Plug threads and put it in the barrel.  Now If you don't shoot it, when you get home just remove the breech plug stand the barrel up and the powder should fall out, if not tap the barrel.  Now push the bullet out.  You won't get any powder in the threads as you would have If you had used grease.  Put new Teflon on your breech plug and put it in your gun.  You can load it for the next time you go hunting.  Doesn't take long at all to do this.
> 
> If you have an Inline and don't want to unload it, take a used Primer, put plastic saran wrap over the primer.  Put the primer in your gun and cut off the excess.  Close the gun, next use a piece of plastic saran wrap and put it over your barrel, now put a rubber band over the barrel and wrap.  Now you don't have to worry about moisture because both ends of the barrel are sealed.  This also works when you bring a cold gun into a warm house, absolutely no moisture will condensate in the barrel.  As the barrel warms up it will warm the air in the barrel and decrease the relative humidity in the barrel.    Do this before bringing your gun in from the cold.  I have been doing this for 20 years.
> 
> ...



I can see a run on saran wrap and Teflon tape. My safety instructor would really like the technique for unloading the inline as stated in the first paragraph.


----------



## mmarkey (Jul 10, 2014)

I don't hunt much anymore but if I was on a hunting trip I think I wouldn't hesitate to leave it loaded for an extended time. State law here says if it isn't primed it isn't loaded. But this is assuming the barrel wasn't fired before it was loaded. To me a fired barrel needs cleaning.

On the hygroscopic properties of black powder. Any black powder grade with a "g" after it ex. FFFg. is coated with graphite to help to waterproof the granules. Military powder is uncoated. In a loaded barrel where the only actual opening to the air is the touch hole or nipple, unless the rifle is exposed to a downpour or huge change in humidity, you would be safe for several days at least. I've had powder in my horn with no problem for several years. A horn is not that much tighter than a loaded barrel.

My opinion, others may vary.


----------



## Cornfed (Jul 26, 2014)

I like the Teflon trick, I've been putting anti seize on my breech plug threads all this time and I think I'll change it up, to keep things cleaner and make it easier to unload if I ever want to.  

I sometimes go 2 or 3 days without firing my TC Omega. I remove the 209 primer, put electrical or duct tape over the primer port and close the action, and also tape over the muzzle. I have never had a problem this way. I discharge my rifle before leaving our farm, and no one handles my inline but me. If I shared it I would not keep the powder and bullet in it.


----------



## harryrichdawg (Jul 27, 2014)

If I don't shoot it, I pull the breach plug and push the pellets and bullet out.  Much easier to clean if not fired.  I've never left mine loaded for any length of time and then fired it, but my uncle left his loaded in the barn for 3 years one time.  Out of curiosity, he put a primer on it and took a practice shot.  It hit dead center.


----------



## dwinsor (Jul 30, 2014)

Mtns2hunt said:


> I can see a run on saran wrap and Teflon tape. My safety instructor would really like the technique for unloading the inline as stated in the first paragraph.




That is the very technique as described in Thompson Center Manual for the Omega.


----------



## tv_racin_fan (Aug 8, 2014)

I left my flinter loaded until next season without doing anything except empty the pan. It shot just like a fresh load.


----------

