How long to leave BH209 in muzzleloader before firing?

[live2huntelk]

Looking for experience with BH209 powder. Once you load your muzzleloader with BH209 for a hunt, how long before you fire it? At the end of each day? Every x days? For reference, Colorado elk hunt - September.

 

[Lee_R]

When we're out there (same hunt), we leave it in there up to a week and it has never been an issue getting them to fire (assuming not hunting in the rain). Personally I've seen one guy, that doesn't take very good care of his things, shooting it off after it was loaded for over a year.

 

[born2kill]

I load mine in December and fire it, to unload, in February. Thats if I do not use the load hunting. Always fires fine and prefer that over the mess that pushing loose powder out creates.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tdhanses]

I loaded mine in Sep, never fired it during hunting season and ended up firing it a few weeks ago, bh209 isn’t like the traditional powders.

 

[Newtosavage]

I leave mine loaded until it starts to bother me. That varies from time to time.

 

[BrandonH]

i load mine in october and leave it in until december (unless im lucky enough to pull the trigger in between). Never had an issue

 

[MallardSX2]

I re-load my gun every single day. I take the powder from my unload and put it in a separate jug. Then I leave that can in the 90 degree hot sun in the summer with the cap off to remove any of the dampness from it... I give it a shake every couple hours....then I put the lid back on it and store it and use it to check my gun before the season. If it hits good. I put it back into the "hunting circulation" stockpile.

Whats a reload cost? $0.50? I'm not willing to risk my trip/hunt on that so I always have fresh powder in my barrel.

May not be for everyone but thats my process.

 

[SneakyThunderCat]

I've never had a problem with leaving powder loaded for an extended period of time. When it gets cold enough that the gun frosts over when you bring it in the truck or inside to thaw, that's when I will dump and reload.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

 

[Eastcoasthunter94]

I think the longest I have kept mine loaded was 3 weeks or so. I would get a small buildup of rust on the outside of my gun which would start to bother me. It would also get annoying keeping it in cold temps for humidity control. It did always fire.

 

[wind gypsy]

Thanks for the reminder.. I should go to the range and fire mine one of these days now that season is over.

 

[jlink83]

If the gun isn't fouled I've left it loaded from end of season until the next fall and use that load to check zero.

 

[txhunter581]

That is the key: “ if the barrel isn’t fouled”

If you load on a clean barrel, you can leave it a long time. That said I load on a Fouled barrel and only leave BH up to 5-7 days.

I forgot onetime and left a loaded gun for several months on a fouled stainless barrel (BH). When I unloaded it, there was rust in the barrel.

 

[Outcast2.0]

In my opinion, you can leave it loaded for an extended length of time unless you see moisture (rain, fog, snow) or you leave it out in the cold then bring it into a warm area causing a lot of condensation. Then I would either shoot it or push it out in those situations. I left my loaded for a month and a half- it saw a lot of condensation when I brought it into the house after the season and I let it sit for another 2 weeks. it fired with a slight delay but it still hit where it did previously.

 

[Ghumphreys]

Always depends on weather for me. If hunting in wide temperatures swings/ humidity/ snow or rain will reload more frequently