how long can you leave it loaded?

[carey]

Newbe . How long can you leave a percussion loaded and expect it to fire. Overnight? Two Days ?

[BEAVERMAN]

Depends on the humidity in your area, living here in the PNW it's pretty humid, during hunting season(if it isn't raining, I load then when I'm done for the day I lock the rifle in the truck loaded, don't want to take it in to a heated camper or motor home and let condensation build up in the barrel overnight, I will hunt with it a second day, if no meat was made, I shoot that ball and load out, quick wipe and will reload in the am, leaving the rifle locked in the cold cab, if it's raining, I do it daily

[sse]

If you don't have the humidity issue, don't know of any reason the charge would be affected over time.

[sse]

Newbe

Welcome.......................

[carey]

Thanks
does it help to use the rubber covers over the end of the barrel and the nipple?

[sse]

Only time I cover the muzzle is when I'm in the woods and I use camo masking tape, to keep rain, snow or dirt outta there.  I have some of those rubber things but they don't stay on because the front sight is in the way.

I always take any muzzle cover off when back in the house, becaues you don't want that to trap any humidity in the barrel.

I never use anything on the nipple, but might wrap something around it if caught in heavy rain.

[Bigsmoke]

I have carried a rifle loaded in the woods for over a week and it fired immediately with no problem.
The real issue is whether or not you cleared the nipple pasageways before you loaded it in the first place.
Several years ago, I was visiting a gunshop in Modesto, CA and a fellow brought in a c & b revolver that he said had been loaded for 20 years or some such.  The gunsmith took it into the shop, and fired it into his shooting tube.  5 out of 6 went of the first time.  Soooooo..........

Welcome aboard.

John

[BEAVERMAN]

Thanks
does it help to use the rubber covers over the end of the barrel and the nipple?

I cover the barrel with heavy duty masking tape dots that a freind of mine gets from boeing

[Uncle Russ]

Thanks
does it help to use the rubber covers over the end of the barrel and the nipple?

I cover the barrel with heavy duty masking tape dots that a freind of mine gets from boeing

Jeeesh! No wonder those airplanes cost so much, they're held together with masking tape!

There are many stories of muzzleloaders being loaded for fifty or even more years and still shooting.

I have personally left the powder and ball in one of my own muzzleloaders for years while it sat in the corner of the garage....starting reading that this would cause a rust ring and possibly a walnut on shooting,  so I shot it just to check the barrel....wiped the barrel first, then dropped a bore light down and it was clean as a whistle.
There was no ring, no rust, no nothing.

Still yet, others have said they find that ring after just a few days....go figure.
 
Uncle Russ...

[Loyalist Dave]

Yes it's partly in the level of humidity, partly in the humidity itself..., salt breeze from right off the ocean might have less humidity than the air on a 104 degree day in Wichita..., but it will rust metal quick for sure, especially if dew forms on the metal overnight.  

So like a cartridge, if the moisture was kept out..., the thing could stay live for many many decades.  Might not be a safe barrel to shoot after 50 years,.., but the powder still might explode.

Don't they have a couple of documented cases in the 1960's of "solid" shot from CW artillery that was dug up actually being a fused mortar round that got hot when placed next to a wood fire in a fireplace in a home..., and went boom..., 100 years after it was made?

 

LD

[Captchee]

Black powder  never really goes bad . Well I guess it could if one rinsed it repeatedly.  
 What does happen is that the ignition temperature  raises .

Some where here on the board is a long warning  concerning as I recall a 130 year old set of SXS barrels  that I had go off . After I  thought I had made them safe .
 
 BP need moisture to  speed it corrosion. .Be that moisture  that’s already in the powder OR induced after the fact . But I can tell you  with all certainty  that old powder is still very much viable  even after  so much time has passed that it has reduced itself to looking like dirt

But as to the question .

 here is my thoughts on the subject .
 One of the things with Traditional muzzle loading , is the process of learning  how to make the rifle as reliable as possible.  In order to do that you have to reduce or eliminate  as many of the variables as you possibly can   .
 In doing so  not only does the rifle become more consistent but also more accurate .

 So now lets say your out hunting . You guns been loaded over night ..  Just as the sun is breaking over the skyline , you get your shot .
Will the gun go off ?
 You taped it up . Condoms were put on the muzzle  .
 But the real question is what has happened since you last loaded the gun  not to mention through the night while it was un attended.
 Maybe nothing . But maybe  something . The point is you don’t know .
 
 How many stories have we all heard  or had the same thing happen to us .  You get your shot and the gun either flashes in the pan or pops the cap . All  because a little moisture or lube was in the flash channel .
So I ask . Is  that one load really worth  rolling the dice ?
 IMO no . I unload every day after the hunt and replace the load with a fresh load .
 Now don’t get me wrong . A fresh load doesn’t mean it will 100% go off .  But IMO the % is much higher then  the load left in the barrel .

 Now the other reason  I don’t leave my guns loaded after hunting  for a day .
 None of us know what tomorrow will bring . For that mater if there will be a tomorrow.

 Muzzleloaders are not like  centerfires . Most folks don’t know how the check for a load .  So we mark out loaded guns with tape , flags . Sticky notes and such .
 But  in reality  if we don’t let others know what that means  then the gun can  end up being loaded for a lifetime .

 I have bought  muzzleloaders at gun shows that were loaded .
 I have bought barrels off of internet auction site’s that  when delivered , were loaded .
I even have bought 2 such loaded guns at the muzzle loading Gun show at Monroe .

 I have even had people bring me old muzzleloaders that have been in the family for generations . As kids they played with them as toys  .
 You should see the look on their face when you explain that the gun is loaded .
 Why were they loaded ?  Who knows .
Maybe the gun was used for home security . Maybe it was an old barn gun . Or maybe  grandpa was last out hunting . Left it loaded thinking he would use it in a few days  on his next hunt . But that hunt never was to be .
  Years after the fact  his grand kids are using it as a  plaything .

So guys . don’t leave your muzzleloaders loaded . If you don’t want to have to clean it then get a Co2 discharger and blow the load   when your done with the hunt
 that’s my 2 cents

[carey]

Thanks for your responses.
Will I see any big difference when using Pyrodex vs FFF?

[Trois Castors]

I have bought  muzzleloaders at gun shows that were loaded .
 I have bought barrels off of internet auction site’s that  when delivered , were loaded .
I even have bought 2 such loaded guns at the muzzle loading Gun show at Monroe .

I bought a used T/C Renegade from Canadian Tire in Kenora over the phone. It came in the mail loaded
with powder,sabot&bullet.

Years after the fact  his grand kids are using it as a  plaything .

My cousin is going to bring up two "family"
muzzleloaders for me to check out in February.

[greyhunter]

Sound wisdom Cap, I have bought two guns  also loaded, and unloaded an old sxs for a friend. It had mixed shot and old newsprint wadding. None of us knows when our last hunt will be over, so we should not leave any possible grief behind.

[Mitch]

Living "out" and using my muzzleloaders as my primary "varmint/itdon'tbelong" shooters, I leave all mine loaded most of the time....if I'm going to "hunt", I'll recharge with a fresh load...I also live alone with 3 dogs, so no kids or anyone else in my house....I've done some serious experimenting along these lines and it works for me....in NO way am I suggesting anyone else do what I do-in the world in my mind, I live in the early 1800s