LEAVING POWDER & BALL IN YOUR GUN

[Puffer]

How long can you (or should you) leave your Gun (ML/BP) loaded ??

The reason I am asking is that many times our ancestors needed to keep their weopons loaded for extended periods of time. Do to to avail. of powder etc., I can not imagine that they emptied it by firing every day or so. Plus pulling the ball is a PAIN. So how long did they keep it loaded & what were the results

Puffer

[vermontfreedom]

If the day was dry, I leave my ball in (provided the season isn't over). If temps are cool, I leave my gun in the cold; I'll take it inside only during the early season when it's often warmer outside than in.

I've never done this, but I know folks that will leave their powder and ball in all season - for a few months, and it still goes off fine.

I tend not to do this as my barrel is not a blued production barrel and tends to require anti-rust treatment every few weeks or so.

With a brass range rod and decent ball screw, pulling PRB is a breeze (I load 0.535 ball and 0.015 patch) in my .54-cal. [Quite a bit tougher with hickory ramrod and antler handle I made!!!] So I have few or no issues pulling when weather was wet/damp during the day. I'll often pour out the powder and let it dry for a few days, then put it back in the powder tin. Depending on condition, I'll even reuse the patch. I do use a fouling scraper to take out any excess stuck in the breech and run a couple dry patches to 'clean' after pulling ball.

[hawkeye]

I've left my smoothie loaded for a whole deer season (approx. 1 month) with no ill effects to either the load or the barrel.

[FG1]

As long as its dry and vent sealed with toothpic or quill ,should be fine.

[MikeC]

During the season if conditions are right I leave it loaded until I get a shot.

[SAWMA]

I hate to admit this, but one hunting season with a traditions little percussion, i did not unload the rifle. It was clean when it was loaded, sat outside in the garage where it was cool during the season(Dec.), then put inside. 9 months later boom! out she came first shot, but about 5" down and left. I think the trick is dry.

[Mitch]

I've left bp firearms loaded for MONTHS with no problems...keeping the touchhole plugged when not  using is a key...last year I ran a test on my smoothbore-it was loaded all year, when shot it was only field-cleaned-I had no ignition problems and no rust rings in barrel,etc...to each his own,Mitch

[Pichou]

If you have kids around you might want to think twice about leaving a loaded gun around. I was a kid not that long ago (19 now) and we like know how to get in the car trunk the garage and the gun cabinet.  Safes are safer unloaded is best.

[Mitch]

no kids in my house and I'm well aware of safety issues concerning loaded guns...I grew up in a house with loaded guns and was taught to respect them,leave them alone unless I had permission and suffered the consequences when I didn't follow the rules..that's the main problem I see-no consequences to minor rule infractions...folks seem to wait until it's a major consequence and then blame everyone but the parents and children....

[SAWMA]

Yes your right, unloaded is best. But if you can prime the pan, or cap the nipple, your old enough to know better. Just my opinion!

[woodman]

Just my humble opionion , but on keeping a gun loaded without it picking up moisture is very relevant to we're you live in the country. Places with higher relative humidities present more problems than out here in the drier west.
  I have left my smoothbore loaded for extended periods with the touchhole plugged and it has always gone off when needed.
  I really feel that the old mountainers left theres loaded except for when there was a real reason to wonder if it was going to go off.
  A few years ago during muzzleloading season we got hit with a early wet snow that left 18" of snow on the ground and was dropping big heavy wet clumps of snow from the trees. I got hit several times with big chunks of snow,the pan on my smoothbore took several hits soaking the powder in the pan.This was with taking precautions to keep the pan under my arm as well as I could.
   My smoothbore was loaded for the rest of the season (3 days). Then due to life and work it was a couple of weeks before I got a chance to unload. Fresh powder in the pan and she talked just like she always does..One of my biggest peaves during muzzleloading season is all those guy's out there that feel like they have to unload there guns every day when they leave the mountain.Usually by touching it off..Don't they know every shot out there makes those critters even more skittish than they already are..Just had to get that one off my chest..
 Woodman

[Hoyt]

I lived in this tent from the first part of Nov. till Jan.4th..spent every night there and hunted every day. I shot my flintlock at deer or hog 5 times during that time and left it loaded the rest. Thats the way I do during spring gobbler season also. Unless I get in a real heavy rain I leave it loaded till I shoot at game.

[Hawg]

There was a story in the paper a number of years ago about a local farmer that found a Civil War rifle barrel in his field. He decided it would be the ideal thing to fix a broken gate hinge with. He stuck the breech in his forge and the minie ball blew the top of his head off.

[Riley/MN]

I lived in this tent from the first part of Nov. till Jan.4th..spent every night there and hunted every day.

Man, where's Paul Harvey? I gotta hear the rest o' this story.

[oomcurt]

I've got to go along with what Mitch said...about not touching guns that don't belong to you. Kid or adult, the quickest way I know of to get into serious confrontation is handling a gun that isn't yours. A lot of my relatives were farmers when I was a kid...I cannot remember ever going into one of their homes and not seeing a shotgun or rifle loaded and standing in a corner. It wasn't just a case of not touching someone elses gun...you didn't touch anything that didn't belong to you...period! Same thing when your folks took you along when they visited someone..be it a close relative or not...you didn't touch things. This thing that seems so "popular" today..."they're only kids".....baloney! You were taught early on not to touch things that were not yours. If you did...you found out right quick it hurt. I see no reason that cannot be the way things could be done today.