Author Topic: How long can a load be left in a rifle?  (Read 21237 times)

Offline WadePatton

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #25 on: July 26, 2014, 03:53:10 PM »
...My buddy said that he thought that cap sounded kind of loud.

Bottom line......people with bad memories should not leave a charge in the gun.

A good reply to buddy, if you could have managed a deadpan tone at that point,

"Yeah, they're magnum caps".

So, do you ever check for a load now?  People with good memories should check for a load you know.  My memory is fine, but focus is challenging.  
« Last Edit: July 26, 2014, 04:04:24 PM by WadePatton »
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Offline Daryl

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #26 on: July 31, 2014, 07:18:35 PM »
How long is it safe to leave a charge in your rifle when hunting.The patch would be oil or fat lubed.  Does it change in conditions of high humidity or rain? 

To answer the question as presented.

It is only 'safe' if the person handling it is safe.

Humidity should not change the safty aspect of either the gun nor the handler.

A ML can remain loaded for 200years and still go off if fired. At some point during that 200years, it most likely was not safe or being handled in a safe manner.
 ;)
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Offline Topknot

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #27 on: November 15, 2014, 06:22:48 AM »
Last weekend I took my old rifle which has been loaded since last hunting season to the range. If you will rember as I have earlier in this post that it was loaded with 75gr. of triple seven with a .23 denim patch under a .530 roundball. I set up at 75 yards put a cap on the nipple ,set the trigger,and aimed at the 3.5 inch bullseye and squeezed the trigger .After the smoke cleared I could see where I had hit the target at just inside of the circle at the top. loaded her again and hit inside the circle at the 1 oclock position. I shot a few more times and went home. Now since this was a test that I was conducting about keeping it loaded for almost a year with triple 7 , I was keeping an eye out for the appearance of rust while cleaning. I found none! I wouldnt dare doing the same with any other powder. I have been doing this kind of test with 777 for the last few years with the longest being 6 months until now. triple seven will not cause corrosion or rust in a well kept barrel. I am always gonna stay with 777.

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Offline WadePatton

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #28 on: November 15, 2014, 08:22:22 PM »
The caplocker of our Sunday last hunting, the fellow that took the second buck with my rifle (see story), had left his rifle loaded since last season.

He popped about 3 caps (and boy are caps in short supply he tells us), then pulls the nipple-crams a little powder in.  Caps and fires just dandy.

But i think he wants a flinter now.
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Offline Nate McKenzie

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #29 on: November 15, 2014, 08:38:11 PM »
SAFETY FACTOR!  If something happens to you, it could kill or mame one of your descendants or relatives.  Most people would not know how to check to see if it was loaded.   

Offline WadePatton

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #30 on: November 15, 2014, 09:34:50 PM »
SAFETY FACTOR!  If something happens to you, it could kill or mame one of your descendants or relatives.  Most people would not know how to check to see if it was loaded.   
excellent point. 

Folks of our nature should always have a line in his/her Will (or similar document) stating that all firearms, especially the non-cartridge type, are to be presumed loaded and functional until a knowledgeable expert declares them  otherwise.  And there's nothing wrong with discussing these things with your likely survivors whilst we're yet above the ground.  Of course we can never know who shall survive whom, so talk to more than one person.



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Offline D. Taylor Sapergia

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #31 on: November 15, 2014, 11:40:42 PM »
When I was a young lad, I had an uncle who was a Mountie.  He had a few guns:  a .22 target pistol, a Mossberg .22 magnum, and his service revolver (model 10 S&W Military and Police)  If I would ask him, he would show them to me and he told me right off: "When you pick up a firearm, ALWAYS check to see if it is loaded"  and he showed me how.  I have remembered that to this day, and every time I pick up one of my guns, I immediately check it for a loaded chamber, even if I have already checked it, and handed it to someone.  I also encourage someone to do the same, even though they have seen me check it.  How can it be too much trouble?  Handling firearms is a great joy.

I leave my hunting rifle loaded, providing I have not fired a shot out of it.  I open the frizzen, and put a layer of duct tape on the frizzen face.  That reminds me that the rifle still has a load, and prevents anyone else who might drop the hammer, from an accidental discharge.  If the weather has been misty, damp, or in any way wet, I discharge the rifle at camp, clean it and re-load it for overnight storage.  As BITW says, not much use without a load in it.

I did a test a couple years back using Lehigh Valley Lube on the patch in a clean section of barrel.  I left the black powder loaded barrel stub outside on my fence, but under cover for several days and then checked it.  It was typical fall weather and without rain.  The perfect bore had been oxidized by WATER in the LUBE.   Whether it came from the atmosphere or from the lubricant, I don't know.  But I know one cannot use LVL for a hunting lube and leave it for any length of time without rust in your bore.
D. Taylor Sapergia
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Offline gunmaker

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #32 on: November 16, 2014, 02:16:07 AM »
A cannon was found in Central park, New York still loaded after 200 years, and the powder burned after all that time AND weather---be careful around smokepoles....Tom

Offline Larry Pletcher

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #33 on: November 16, 2014, 04:39:49 AM »
Taylor,
I like the idea of the tape on the frizzen. 

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that I don't like to take a gun from a very cold environment into warm because of condensation. If the gun is cold, it stays cold unless it can be warmed gradually. During deer season I had a place in the garage where the gun would stay until I got my deer or the season ended. I guess I did the same thing with modern guns too.

Regards,
Pletch
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Offline little joe

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #34 on: November 16, 2014, 04:46:06 AM »
Several years ago in the town where I live a loaded muzzle loader from deer hunting was hung on the wall as the gun would not fire, and 6 weeks later the kids were playing with it and got it to  fire and the result was a dead 10 old boy. Such a waste.I would not leave a ML loaded except in hunting and under very strict conditions.

Offline Topknot

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #35 on: November 16, 2014, 05:24:21 AM »
After last years deer season I taped a note to the barrel that said loaded on both sides of the paper and then put the rifle in the gun safe muzzle down, and that's where its been all year until last weekend .

                                                                                     topknot
TIM COMPTON, SR.

    layover to catch meddlers!

Offline Bob Roller

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #36 on: November 16, 2014, 04:12:37 PM »
A real life horror story is what you described.I have unloaded more than one muzzle loader that had been left loaded for whatever reason.The last one was an original Remington Zouave military rifle in fine condition.NEVER assume these oldies are NOT loaded and to do so is to invite tragedy.

Bob Roller

Offline iloco

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #37 on: November 16, 2014, 04:24:52 PM »
A year ago I bought a 50 caliber miniature cannon off the CLA site.  When it arrived by postal service I checked the distance from the end of the barrel to the breech.  Guess what it had a live load still in the cannon. Never take anything for granted when handling firearms..
iloco

Offline Daryl

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #38 on: November 16, 2014, 09:44:53 PM »
I've left my .69 loaded with a moose charge, hanging in the straps on the fireplace mantle at home. It looked good, hanging there.  Since we didn't use the fire place that year, the rifle was OK there.  The disk 'capper' was on the mantle above the rifle- in case it was needed for the bear that rambling around our houses.  The kids knew NEVER to touch the gun nor the 'capper' and warned their friends that same way - upon serious pain - from them, then me.  When I  finally got around to shooting the rifle, it went off instantly, on target and the mink oiled patch neither dried out nor spoiled the charge.
In "moose" camp up North, I've left my rifle loaded 'freshly' leaning against a tree overnight(piece of tape over the muzzle, never bringing it into the warm tent for 3 or 4 days and when it was time to shoot the moose - it worked perfectly. The temperature was around -35 to -40 so when someone brought a rifle into the (16' x 16' "tent" it was instantly covered in water, just like that - instant, inside and out.  The tent was double plastic walled building with roughly 4" space between inner and outer walls, with a 36" air tight stove, 'rocking' all day long. Keith's dad liked it hot - about 80/85 inside. Water dripped from the ceiling. Hard sleeping at night.
Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a spaniel without ears" King George V

Online bob in the woods

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #39 on: November 17, 2014, 12:54:27 AM »
My children were taught the same as I was. Never point a gun at anything you don't intend to kill. And…all guns are loaded until proven not to be.  Before handing any gun to someone else. I always demonstrate that it is not loaded, either using a ram rod, or opening an action .  My .62 rifle has been loaded the last 2 weeks, it being deer season here. I've never had a problem with it firing when required.

Online Jim Chambers

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #40 on: November 17, 2014, 03:42:52 AM »
Several years ago I was hunting with four other guys west of Amarillo, TX.  One of the guys has a flintlock he'd made using one of our Lancaster kits.  After harvesting a nice buck he mentioned that he didn't get a shot at a deer the year before and never bothered to unload and reload his rifle.  It had been loaded for over a year and still functioned perfectly.  I don't know how he stored it in the off-season, and it is not something I would recommend or ever do, but it worked ok for him.  We all took nice bucks on that trip and all with flintlocks.

Offline heelerau

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #41 on: December 01, 2014, 04:27:06 AM »
 I leave my Niel Fields Leman rifle .36 loaded for months at a time, in case of mungery crows, rifle is locked away, till needed. I use Mink Oil and
 Swiss FFFg black. Goes off with out a hitch as the crows would tell you iffen they were not dead.
Keep yor  hoss well shod an' yor powdah dry !

Online smokinbuck

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #42 on: December 02, 2014, 08:15:15 PM »
Knew a fellow years ago that left his deer rifle loaded after the season and put it away. The following year he got the rifle out and thought it would be fun to scare the dog with just a cap, forgetting that it was loaded. The ball went through a wall and the refrigerator hitting his wife in the leg. She almost bled to death before they got her to a hospital. A loaded rifle in deer camp for a few days is one thing, around home is another. Safety can't take second place to wasting a load on the way home.
Mark
Mark

Online bob in the woods

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #43 on: December 02, 2014, 08:58:07 PM »
Sorry, but "scaring" anything by firing a gun at it -even with just a cap…is an idiotic thing to do. Never point a gun at anything you are not wanting to kill. Not was instilled in me and most other gun owners I know. My rifle is loaded.
It is not a club, it's a rifle and when I need it, it is ready.  I have no patience for stupid people. None. ???

Online smokinbuck

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Re: How long can a load be left in a rifle?
« Reply #44 on: December 02, 2014, 09:51:56 PM »
Bob,
You are absolutley correct. I tell the story to emphasise the importance of safety first at all times. The "gentleman" was never again invited to join us.
Mark
Mark