Firing the rifle at the end of an unsuccessful day?

[Kurt]

When your day ends without a chance for a shot, do you shoot your rifle to unload it or pull the cap or dump the pan keeping the bore charge for the next outing?

[MuskratMike]

Depends on the weather. If it has been raining or snowing with a high chance of moisture encroaching in the barrel I would shoot it out. Last summer on my bear hunt in Idaho I left the load in the barrel as it was dry and warm with very low humidity. I simply wiped the pan and inserted a toothpick in the vent hole, and put a rubber stopper in the top of the muzzle. When the time came to shoot my bear it fired perfectly.

[Prairie dog shooter]

I fire it or use the CO2 discharger.  I just want to hunt with a fresh load and a sharp flint.

[Daryl]

Here in B.C., a loaded (powder and ball in the barrel) does not constitute a loaded firearm, unless the pan is primed or cap on the nipple.
This partially loaded gun can be carried in a motor vehicle by law. Better make sure it doesn't self prime. With cock forward and frizzen thrown, it cannot be discharged.
I have had my .69 loaded for over 2months and stored on hooks in front of my fireplace mantle (no fires) with a slip of leather on the nipple, beneath the hammer.
After that loaded time, when discharging the rifle, it was smack on at 100 meters. I had a thin card stock wad between the patched ball and charge.
With this rifle, such a wad had no effect on the accuracy. This did not "happen" with either my .40 nor my .45.  Both of those barrels lost accuracy and point of impact with a wad between powder and patched ball.
If a gun has not been fired, then there is no problem with moisture damage to the priming in the pan - IF and it's a big IF, the pan is sealed with some sort of grease around all the edges.
Once a flinter is fired, if it is raining or the humidity is high enough, then water will be drawn out of the air and wet the priming in the pan.

[recurve]

if you are going to hunt in a day or 2 plug the flash hole with a toothpick and flag the barrel to remind you it's loaded, so you don't double load   
but if you hunted on a rainy-day fire or pull the load and start fresh

[stubshaft]

If I am going to be hunting within a couple of days, I'll just clean the pan or pull the cap.  If it is going to be longer than that, I'll fire the charge, clean and start fresh.

[StevenV]

Here in Pennsylvania I pull the ball everytime regardless of weather. Probably driven more by not wanting to "waste" a good flint. I don't reuse the powder but I do melt the ball again. I want the best situation everytime I get a shot at a deer. Most guns have a large enough touch hole that thru the day your losing powder from the barrel charge. Steve 

[alacran]

I have gone 21 days without firing a load. It went off just fine without any hesitation.
I use 2f for my load in all my hunting rifles and guns. I have never lost any of my charge through the touch hole.
Most of my hunting when out West involves lots of walking and glassing. on average about 6 miles a day.
I once had the bright idea of using my discharger to clear the barrel. It was a bad idea; unburnt powder is way harder to clean than burnt powder.
Plus, the discharger does not clear all the powder out of the barrel.
I never bring a loaded ML into a warm house. I either leave it in the locked vehicle or in my shop. If I'm hunting the shop is not heated.

[Eric Krewson]

I leave my flintlock loaded for up to 4 months if I don't get a shot at a deer. I load with a dry wool wad between the powder and the patched ball so none of the patch lube gets into the powder, a toothpick in the touch hole seals the powder well. My rifle always goes off like I just loaded it when a deer gets in my sights.

I remember my early M/L days (70s) when we thought our guns had to be fired after a hunt to have a fresh load the next day. On management area M/L hunts you could hear everyone off in the distance fire their rifles at their trucks and Jeeps just after dark before we went home.

Judging from the condition of a lot of the M/L barrels today, a good number of the folk firing their guns didn't clean them to load them the next day.

[HSmithTX]

I stayed loaded with my flintlock last year for about 10 days, toothpick in the touchhole when not hunting and electrical tape sealing the muzzle the whole time. My patch was jammed full of mink oil, nothing between it and the powder. Temps were topping out around 70 so it didn't melt into the powder, when I shot my buck it was spot on at 94 yards. I did dump the pan and refill every couple hours while hunting, humidity was 60-90% while I was hunting and 4F started to get clumpy after about 3 hours.

[Robby]

All my hunting days are successful, however there are times when I never take a shot. On a clear day I brush out the power and leave it loaded in the corner of my shop, if its rainy, or snowy, on my walk home I will find a good spot to discharge it, more than anything else, to see how good my anti fouling of the pan powder measures have been. If it fires then it was another successful day hunting.
Robby

[Hungry Horse]

 I used to shoot out the charge at the end of the day like all the old mossbacks recommended. Then one day an old neighbor was digging through his late brothers attic and came upon an old percussion rifle without a ramrod. He came over to my place and asked if I had a ramrod that was long enough to check the gun to see if it was loaded. I did, and it was. He looked at the nipple, and since it wasn’t all beat up from kids dry snapping it, he asked for a percussion cap. I gave him one, but told him it would never fire after all those years. He laughed at me, pointed it at a dirt bank and pulled the trigger. It never hesitated, I was astounded, and told him I had been shooting my hunting loads out of the gun after every days hunt. He laughed so hard I thought he would hurt himself. Now I just plug the touch hole, or nipple, with a toothpick, and put a cork, or wooden plug in the barrel, and hunt the same charge until I either kill something, or run out of season.

Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

On the special weapons hunt in December, I'd leave the .69 (cap on nipple) leaning against a spruce tree and having a strip of electrician's tape over the muzzle to keep out snow.
The temp would be anywhere from just above freezing, as in 32 to 34F to ac cold as -56F.  Never had trouble with misfires.
The "tent" was way to warm to bring a cold rifle into it.

[Bob Gerard]

Not generally, unless the weather has been lousy giving a chance of dampened powder.

[Justin Urbantas]

What's this special hunt you're talking about, Daryl? I really need to get out hunting.  It has been too long.

[Daryl]

The Special Weapons Hunt was a hunt for muzzleloaders and archery, combined for bull moose in the Stewart Lake region, just to the East of Chetwynd. Turn North (left) on the road just
before Groundbirch. The hunt was for a couple weeks, ending about the 4th of Dec. On our last hunt, iirc, the temp was in the -45F range. Somewhat chilly for bare hands.
This special season was cancelled due to: Environment officers(game wardens) finding 3 guys in a truck with one inline on the window rack for everyone's use and everyone also packing 30/06's  or .303's "for wolves".
As well, they overflew the area with choppers after the "hunt" and found a lot of dead moose that were not recovered. At that time, TC Maxiballs were popular in .45, .50 and .54. Upon cutting these dead moose open, found these maxiballs & some expanded pistol bullets. They were of the opinion that a ML could not kill a moose. We invited 2 game wardens into our tent for a coffee and chat. Right off the bat, one asked if the scoped bolt action inline was actually a muzzleloader.
We showed them our guns, Taylor's Pensylvania 20 bore, Brad's Pedersoli SxS .58 and my .69, all shooting round balls.
One of the game wardens said if everyone had been using guns like ours, the "hunt" would not be cancelled & that "this" was the last year for the hunt. I think that might have been late 1990's, Justin.

[Justin Urbantas]

Oh man. That sounds fun. Jerks have to ruin it for everyone.

[EC121]

Because I still hunt in a ground blind, I don't prime until I shoot.  I leave a toothpick in the hole and prime when I'm ready to shoot.  If I don't shoot, I leave the rifle in the shop on my way into the house.  Before I started feeding Triple Threat, it might have been a week or two or even longer before I shot.  With Triple Threat feed they come in every day in the afternoon.  You can buy a baiting permit($17) in Alabama.

[Pukka Bundook]

I leave mine loaded for as long a sit takes to get a shot. has been loaded for months and still went off like new.
Fresh prime of course.

[okawbow]

Illinois has split deer season of 3-4 days each. I’ve killed several deer the second half of hunting with my flintlock after the gun being loaded two weeks. Killed one deer after leaving it loaded two years. Always goes off fine. I don’t hunt in the rain and will pull the load if the rifle does get wet.

[WadePatton]

Nope.

Of course I used to, way back when I knew next to nothing and even used corrosive alternative powders because I didn't understand black powder and of course it was more difficult to source (in those days).

A dry load is a live load forever, keep your powder dry. 

[Kurt]

I usually leave mine loaded and put a card between the barrel and rod to remind me. We just had an early season here and I went out last evening but only had two small ones stand in a position that offered a shot, then two bucks lacking the requisite headgear. It was a nice evening. I saw my first black squirrel too. I appreciate the comments.