Transporting a Charged Muzzle-loader
- Thread starter Wlhofer
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Stonyman88
Well-Known Member
Or take the CO-2 and put it where the sun doesn't shine of the people who write the rules.
Ninering62
Well-Known Member
Theres a whole lot of stuff that you're just not getting dude.
1st) nowhere that I know of, is there any law or rule of " no shooting after dark ". There IS - NO hunting or shooting at any game 30 min after sunset genrally. NOTHING - ANYWHERE says one can not fire their muzzleloader into the ground to discharge it, if thats what they choose to do.
2nd) There is NO NEED to discharge your muzzleloader at the end of every day. Period!
My sidelocks charged with Goex or Pyrodex ( back when I hunted with them ) didn't get discharged at the end of the day, only the cap removal is necessary & making sure the gun does not get put into a drastic temp change to where the barrel will sweat. No big deal!
My inlines charged with T7 or BH 209 get loaded before I head into the woods & stay charged until I shoot something. They stay charged the whole deer season essentially. Again, no big deal.
3rd) RCBS makes a handy little C02 bullet/charge dischargee tool so one can use that into the nipple or BP & safely blow their bullet & charge into a towel or teeshirt & reuse the bullet as well as recover most of the reusable powder.
4th) With inlines, the best way to remove your charge is to remove the BP then just push everything out the breech end ( maybe over a tray or something to catch most of your powder. By simply NOT using anti-seize or grease on the BP threads, instead of only using Teflon tape on your BP's threads, you'll easily negate that prob/excuse as well. SIMPLE - RIGHT
5th) A muzzleloader IS NOT the same or same classification as a centerfire weapon. By simply removing the cap or primer, renders that gun 100% UNFIREABLE = a bludgeoning implement & nothing more. The same rules/laws DO NOT APPLY.
Hopefully, you can wrap your head around this, bc it won't ever get put more completely, more plainly, & more simply for you anywhere.
My muzzle loader season is 23 days long. I hunt with a Remington 700ML converted to 209 primers topped with a Leupold 3x9, I bought the rifle in the 1996-97 timeframe. I use pyrodex pellets two 50gr and one 30gr. Using 250gr Barnes MZ Expander mono bullets. This load was chronographed at 2010fps. I leave the gun charged the entire season removing the primer when I leave the woods. I always save a spent primer to put back in the primer hole to keep it covered. I've shot deer on the last day of the season after leaving the gun charged as I've described. Two seasons I have checked the velocity over a chrony after the season, after leaving the charge in the entire season and recorded velocities both times within 25fps which was my original ES for this load. In my case it doesn't seem to make a difference. I am lucky and can shoot in the back yard. One year before the season was over I had a heart attack and never got the chance to empty the rifle that year. On 4th of July the next year I shot at a target in the yard 50yds and was within 2 inches of my POI. It doesn't seem to make a difference one way or the other for my rifle under these conditions. After a days hunt I usually stand the gun in a corner of the barn for the next morning, I keep it oiled. At the end of the season I usually break the gun down completely and clean and oil it generously.
Lefty38-55
Well-Known Member
Well, YES and NO. For example, 3 to 4 of us will hunt the late season BP Flintlock-only season in PA using our flintlocks with real black powdah. The season ended, 1st week of January, and none of us got a shot that week. As a test we all left them loaded, but uncharged, and stored in a cool/dry place (avoid warm storage!).
Come mid-February, we 3 met up again in VT this time, for a primitive Winter snowshoe muzzleloading biathlon race. We took those same MZLdrs, headed off to the practice range and one at a time we all charged them up with fresh prime and each hit a 6"gong offhand @ 50-yards. My shot was just 1/2" low of the exact center, right where I was aiming. I've done this myself many other times too - still shoots dead on!
So, no velocity test no, but we've never, ever had any issue with powder degredation ... and wouldn't expect to in my lifetime. Granted, this limited experience may not apply to some of dem smokeless ones youse guys use, but I'd opine that smokeless powdah would even be less likely to degrade.
Rick Richard
Well-Known Member
I mentioned that unloading the muzzle loader at the end of a hunt or for extended times is not necessary, however keep in mind those propellants are corrosive. And, that is for pure black powder or black powder substitutes fired or unfired. In the unfired state with an extended period of time there, a rust ring can develop. So be aware there is a potential detriment to the barrel.
It will fire! Know someone who bought out sporting goods store because muzzle loader the was sold used was taken home and dude put a cap on it and proceeded to shoot his wife in the hip. Store was being sued and he sold all products at cut rate prices and bolted to another state. Muzzle loader had been in the store for over 6 months.
Another item, I was a paramedic and worked 24 on 48 off. On off days in spring and summer I worked for archery shop. Owner took TC Hawken on trade for archery equipment. He remember the other dealer and asked me to check it out because I owned one of them. I dropped the ramrod in the barrel and there was a lot of stick showing. Took it outside and put cap on .pointing it at the ground and boom. Big cloud of smoke and hole in the ground. Always put witness mark on the ramrod.
birddog 68
Well-Known Member
This is exactly what I do! I avoid bringing into the heat and back out into the cold and have never had a problem.
Lefty38-55
Well-Known Member
I have 5 or 6 local 'toy' stores that call me for anything BP or muzzleloader related. Once saw a used flintlock in a shop - How much I asked? - $25, just get it out of here. It was a Traditions 50-cal. I bought it sooooooo fast that while I removed the cut agate flint from the lock, I didn't even bother to check the barrel there!
But I did at home ... 6" of ramrod sticking out
!OK, pulled the load .. .err, the loads that is! The load on top was a patched roundball over ~75-grains of 2Fg powdah. Then I pulled out a 44-Mag handgun boolit in a plastic sabot and 2 Pyrodex pellets. Then yup ... another 44-Mag saboted boolit and yet again 2 more Pyrodex pellets. Jesus .... 3 loads in her!FWIW I called the shop Manager and chastised him for not checking thebore and/or removing the flint, agate or not. Thankfully cut agate flints suck and aren't the most reliable unless in a well tuned lock, and there was no priming charge, but I have witnessed flintlocks go off just from the strike of a 'real' flint, even without a priming charge.
Let's just end this by saying I cleaned it up well and flipped it for 150 ...
Bob Wright
Well-Known Member
If left in for 24 hours or more,
I had bad results using GOEX and Pyrodex either with hangfires or had to re-cap the nipple for a second try. My first elk was a 2 capper shot. I used a Thompson Center side lock and a Winchester inline last. Since those happened, I would pull the sabot bullet and dig out the powder in camp, then discharge any remaining powder with a fresh cap. All three fail to fires were shot anywhere from rainy and snowing days to dry and clear. On this trip the hangfire caused that round ball 54 cal to
Hit the dirt like a sack of concrete.
Bottom line, I don't trust a load unless I had loaded it that morning.
Wlhofer
Well-Known Member
1st Reply) Manitoba law states: Hunting and the discharge of any firearm is permitted only during daylight hours from 1/2 hour before sunrise to 1/2 hour after sunset to keep everyone safe (see Sunrise and Sunset table on page 16). not sure where you get info that one can discharge a firearm after dark??
2nd Reply) I agree but in Manitoba law states: When not traveling between hunting sites, the firing cap or flint must be removed and the barrel must not contain a charge.
3rd) Reply) NO ITS NOT SIMPLE!!! waste of time and as i was saying getting powder out on the back end one will then have to clean the treads to get plug back in , plus powder will be lost or unusable due to lube on treads. Plus ... cant imagine reusing a damaged slug trying to get it out!
4th Reply) same as #3 reply
5th Reply) I agree, but in Manitoba law states: When not traveling between hunting sites, the firing cap or flint must be removed and the barrel must not contain a charge.
So not sure where you think i am not getting it dude!!
Been hunting muzzleloader for 15 years , was just saying Manitoba laws don't make sense in this case
cohunt
Well-Known Member
Those Canuck laws can be quite different than in the states
