Leaving a Muzzleloader Loaded??

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UTGrad

UTGrad

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Cookeville, TN
I have always discharged my weapon before leaving the woods but I only have 10 sabots left of my favorite load. I shoot loose powder and would like to know my options. Should I leave it loaded? Should I pull the breech plug and get the powder and sabot out the breech?

I am concerned the powder will absorb moisture if left loaded and possibly be a squib shot when it comes time to shoot a deer.
 
I have always left mine loaded with loose powder for a week long hunt. Never a problem. That was also me transferring my ml to and from inside the house. It is a Knight MK-85 with #11 caps and loose 777.
 
vonb said:
I have always left mine loaded with loose powder for a week long hunt. Never a problem. That was also me transferring my ml to and from inside the house. It is a Knight MK-85 with #11 caps and loose 777.
Click to expand...

No point of impact change when shooting a deer?
 
Mine has stayed loaded since testing in Feb.

It is loaded now, with a zip tie around the bolt, and a note attached with my load. Should I get hit by a bus, the next guy in line will know its loaded.

Should I get to put a primer in it and pull the trigger it will hit exactly where it is supposed to.

Like always.
 
Mine is still loaded from last year. I do have the Ram Rod in the barrel to indicate that it is loaded. I will probably take the Breech Plug out and put fresh pyrodex in it before season. Mine is a LK-93. Been doing it like this the past 15 years. Taken my biggest bucks with it, so something is working.
 
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I swap out loads every time I go hunting. I know it might be somewhat of a waste, but I have 2 reasons for doing so:

1. I'd hate for there to be condensation in my powder when the largest deer of my life came walking through, and there would even be a chance of my rifle malfunctioning at that moment...which I've waited for all my life. (Condensation forms inside your barrel when your muzzleloader experiences drastic changes in temperature.)
2. If something happened to me (as in my death), I wouldn't want my muzzleloader to be loaded when someone gets hold of it and double loads it. It has happened in the past to heirs and people that inherited muzzleloader firearms.
Even if I am going to lunch on a hunting day, i have a tag that I attach to the trigger guard that says the gun is loaded. If I get killed on the highway, whoever gets the gun will know it's loaded.
I know it might seem like too much precaution, but even in death I'd feel bad to know that I caused injury or death so someone because I failed to act in a responsible manner with a firearm.
 
UTGrad said:
vonb said:
I have always left mine loaded with loose powder for a week long hunt. Never a problem. That was also me transferring my ml to and from inside the house. It is a Knight MK-85 with #11 caps and loose 777.
Click to expand...

No point of impact change when shooting a deer?
Click to expand...

The deer didn't notice if there was. I would add that all of my shots have been under 100 yards. The one thing I would do before loading at the beginning of the season was to snap a few caps before loading as it would blow any residue out. With me keeping a loaded round for a week of hunting, I never had a misfire or delayed ignition. Call me lucky.
 
Alot of times leaving one loaded causes corrosion in the barrel which will lead to misfires, and sometimes causes the bullet to seize up in the barrel. ML's are very sensitive especially the older models. The newer models have gotten alot easier to clean and take care of. The cleaner you keep a ML the less likely you'll have malfunctions. I would never leave any ML loaded especially for a year. When in any type of Doubt CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN. Take care of your guns and they'll take care of you. Leaving one loaded throughout ML season there shouldn't be a problem, even in the older models. AS LONG AS you aint hunted in the rain. In the event you get a little wet out there, it is always safe to go ahead and get fresh powder in. One thing about ML's if your lazy with cleaning, and taking care of them, they will be a headache.
 
For a week, no problem , any longer tan a couple i have had problems with powder getting damp from what i figured was condensation.
 
If you leave it loaded the key is to keep the gun the same temp.
As long as you do that you should be fine.............IF your gun was clean and dry when you loaded it.
 
Only during hunting season which is only a couple weeks at most and it's left in my truck and not brought into the warm house. I was always told you didn't want to leave one loaded for an extended amout of time, but if the barrel was clean and dry and stored in a dry place don't know what it would hurt. Don't know if there is an advantage to leaving one loaded year around.
 
I have pulled mine out after 2yrs and the old Knight goes off. I usually leave mine loaded every year. The week before season ill shoot it, break it down, and clean it. I have done it like this along time.
 
I've done it myself for short periods of time without any troubles. For safety reasons, though, it might be best to go ahead pull your load and start with fresh powder.
 
I've left mine loaded from the previous year many times, and have yet to have a problem with it. I do however, fire it at the range before taking it hunting, just to make sure it's still hit'n right.
 
Here is what I have found. I leave mine loaded during the season for one week at a time. I never leave it loaded when the season is over. I did this once with a MK 85 and the barrell pitted badly on the inside. I always clean it up and store it with the breach plug out.
 
Loading it the day of the opener and leaving loaded for the two week season shouldn't cause any problems unless you hunt in the rain with it.

This year, like most other years many have posted that their ML is still loaded from last year. RUGER, help me out here and refresh my memory of who it was that shot their toilet because they did the same thing. IMO bad idea.
 
If you keep it at a constant temperature, it should shoot just fine.....I wouldnt leave it over season to season though.....BH209 doesnt have a shelf life, but 777 does.
 
Alot of people do different things and doing what you feel is what is right for you. I have never had a bad experience leaving mine loaded for the whole season. Just remember to unload it after the season.
 
Few years back had a neighboring property owner walk into our deer camp with one that had been double loaded and said he had tried to fire it a few times and it would not fire, asked if we could help him figure out what the deal was. Well.... long story short, we told him to go to church the next morning, manualy unloaded the thing for him, looked at each other in disbelief and each of the five of us made a pact to keep ours unloaded out of season cause we were not gonna have another gun like that in camp.
 
Shelf Life is usually not noticeable until the second year......I have attached a website where they did a 5 mo test and will do another next year to see actual results.......777 had some moisture clumping and another leading powder had lost velocity in 5 mos......BH209 had no affect.......You can see in this 5 part series that BH209 won nearly all the tests, some by a huge margin.....Heres the website http://namlhunt.homestead.com/MLpowders5.html
 

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