How often to reload on a muzzleloader trip?

[TheWanderer]

Question/Poll for this group. I'm looking at multiple hunts in the years to come that could mean carrying a muzzleloader instead of a rifle or bow.

So the question is... "How often do you reload when on a trip?" Some of these trips may be backpack trips so it'd be a little less convenient to reload and light clean. Every day, every other?

Does it differ in inline and 209 ignition vs the NW open ignition systems?

I frequently hunt in PA and DE with a flintlock and a hang fire cost me a nice buck last fall despite changing pan powder. Granted its often more humid here than out west, but I'm sure the culprit was laziness for not emptying and reloading the rifle from one evening to the next.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Are you using traditional black powder? Or something good like Triple7? Flintlock? Cap lock? Inline? Are you permanently outside on a camping trip? Or coming home at the end of the day?

All factors worth considering, but my gut tells me that inside the rifle is at least as dry as anywhere else. Now, if the rifle got drenched by rain or falling in a creek, that’s another matter. If there is a significant chance the charge got wet inside the rifle, then I would pull it (or fire it and load a new one if using Triple7).

Growing up in Virginia, we used traditional black powder in cap locks and left it loaded until the rifle was fired or the end of muzzleloader season (about two weeks). We took the cap off at the end of every hunt and put it back into the film canister. The rifle got put in a dry corner or hung back on the wall. None of us ever had a misfire that I can recall, but there were occasional dud caps.

With the TC inline I was given, I use Triple7. I loaded it for late black powder season last year, carried it for ten days, meant to go out again, but got called away. Put it in the safe loaded with the primer sitting in the shelf. Realized it two months later. Took the charge out and put it back into the tube. I used that same charge eight months later to take a buck. I really don’t see how sitting in the plastic tube is significantly better than in the chamber.

For a flintlock, I would keep a close eye on the priming pan and powder, but I would otherwise treat it the same as a cap lock.

 

[CMF]

I can only think of one time on a hunt that I reloaded and it was because it was a rainy day. We're usually hunting early season, mostly dry hunts, so I'm not reloading the entire hunt.

 

[mikkel318]

I hunted Nevada Deer which was about the driest conditions possible and loaded day 1 and it fired perfectly on the morning of day 3. I wasn't planning on reloading unless it got wet. We were camping and I made sure that it stayed outside the tent the whole time to avoid quick changes in temps.

I looked this up quite a bit before that hunt and it's moisture dependent.

 

[BAKPAKR]

I would first check to see what the transport regulations are. I have hunted where you can leave them loaded and capped and also where you just need to remove the cap. I don’t know if any states actually require the powder to be out, too.

I used to hunt about 10 days a year with a muzzleloader around Thanksgiving time with a NW legal set-up. We had them pretty well waterproofed but, if it rained, I would shoot my rifle at the end of the day, clean it, and reload for the next day. If we didn’t have a wet hunt, I might leave it loaded for several days. I have never had a hangfire that I attributed to leaving it loaded overnight.

BTW - my dad wanted his muzzleloader to go to one of his friends. After he passed away, my brother and I were getting it ready for the friend. Although Dad had not hunted with it for years, I ran the ramrod down the barrel and found that it was still loaded (not really unexpected because he didn’t like cleaning muzzleloaders any more than I do). I took it outside, put a cap on, and it fired without delay.

 

[Chris in TN]

I do most of my deer killing (bucks, anyway) with muzzleloaders. I've used smokeless guns for the last 20+ years now and even with smokeless, with open ignition sources, this is what I have learned:

A rifle stored in dry overall conditions will reliably fire a year or more after being loaded. Indefinitely, really.

*HOWEVER*.......

A rifle that goes from hot to cold and back, will form condensation on metal surfaces, and with open ignition, that can include the interior - the powder chamber or flash channel - and those are fire-killers. I've had smokeless guns fail to fire or hang-fire with relatively clean flash channels, after going hot-cold-hot-cold, even in relatively lower humidity conditions, which are the norm for us during our muzzleloader season here. I've had two complete failures to fire on deer, and one of those was an evening hunt where the gun had all day to dry out. One was a doe, the other was a buck I was glad it didn't fire on because in hindsight he was small. But it happened either way.

In short, the achille's heel isn't time, but rapid temp swings. Do with that what you will, but I personally will unload, even if it's a pain, every other day or so, and if possible I'll often leave muzzleloaders somewhere that won't cause the rapid temp swing and condensation if the weather makes that a factor to consider. Hunting in dryer conditions where the gun isn't hot/cold/hot/cold, it wouldn't bother me much, but muzzleloader season in CO can be pretty wet.

 

[ElDiablito]

I load with B$209 or 777 and leave it loaded for weeks or months in the fall. B$209 is especially great for this. No reason to unload/reload from day to day unless you think the powder got wet from rain or snow. Your inline system should be very water resistant if you’re doing it right. Tape over the muzzle is important.

And as Chris says keep it outside so it doesn’t rapidly go from hot to cold.

I’ve never had a fail to fire or hangfire that cost me an animal, in 35+ years.

As for legally “loaded” every state I can think of out west here that I’ve hunted, considers the rifle unloaded if you remove the cap/primer.

 

[insanelupus]

Are you using traditional black powder? Or something good like Triple7? Flintlock? Cap lock? Inline? Are you permanently outside on a camping trip? Or coming home at the end of the day?

All factors worth considering, but my gut tells me that inside the rifle is at least as dry as anywhere else. Now, if the rifle got drenched by rain or falling in a creek, that’s another matter. If there is a significant chance the charge got wet inside the rifle, then I would pull it (or fire it and load a new one if using Triple7).

Growing up in Virginia, we used traditional black powder in cap locks and left it loaded until the rifle was fired or the end of muzzleloader season (about two weeks). We took the cap off at the end of every hunt and put it back into the film canister. The rifle got put in a dry corner or hung back on the wall. None of us ever had a misfire that I can recall, but there were occasional dud caps.

With the TC inline I was given, I use Triple7. I loaded it for late black powder season last year, carried it for ten days, meant to go out again, but got called away. Put it in the safe loaded with the primer sitting in the shelf. Realized it two months later. Took the charge out and put it back into the tube. I used that same charge eight months later to take a buck. I really don’t see how sitting in the plastic tube is significantly better than in the chamber.

For a flintlock, I would keep a close eye on the priming pan and powder, but I would otherwise treat it the same as a cap lock.

"Are you using traditional black powder? Or something good like Triple7?"

Careful Sir, some may think you are saying black powder is not good stuff!

Swiss black powder is the only black powder I'll use! And it is definately "good stuff".

Requires more care in cleaning? Certainly. But I still find it "good stuff "!

 

[MuleyFever]

I reload after I shoot it, should I get the chance. If not then at the end of the hunt I unload it.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

"Are you using traditional black powder? Or something good like Triple7?"

Careful Sir, some may think you are saying black powder is not good stuff!

Swiss black powder is the only black powder I'll use! And it is definately "good stuff".

Requires more care in cleaning? Certainly. But I still find it "good stuff "!

My choice of words was deliberate. I also agree that if you aren’t going to use Triple7, then good old Geox or similar is the way to go.

 

[EdP]

For a flintlock, I would keep a close eye on the priming pan and powder, but I would otherwise treat it the same as a cap lock.

My ML hunting is exclusively via flintlock. I never fire a charge just to clean and reload. Like Q said, inside the gun is as dry as anywhere unless moisture gets introduced. At the end of the day I toss my prime and plug the vent with a round toothpick so no moist air can enter via that path. A piece of thin leather on the pan with the frizzen closed will have the same effect but then the lock has to be on half cock. No moisture from the air is going to get past the patched ball. The difference between a flintlock and caplock is that the flintlock can lose a bit of powder out the vent to the pan in time. Every time I prime I make sure I can feel powder crunch with a vent pick. If necessary I work some powder into the vent with the pick.