Firing the rifle at the end of an unsuccessful day?

[Steeltrap]

I bring the rifle home, unscrew the vent liner, knock out as much powder as I can, put the air compressor nosle to the vent hole and "pop" the lead and any remaining powder out. I place the muzzle end in my garage garbage can.

Then there is no need for a cleaning out of burnt BP. The next outing I just load up again.

[Flint62Smoothie]

Just keep them loaded …

FWIW, VT just had its 4-day early anterless-deer only MZL season (31Oct - 03Nov), where their late MZL season is the 2nd week in DEC. At least 4 of us usually go, but only those who are successful drawing doe tags for the early season, of course.
 
Those who hunt the early season load up, using Track of the Wolf’s mink oil lube. Those who don't will also load up for the DEC season and a few even carry their MZL'drs when then hunt thick tracts of woods in the NOV regular Rifle season. All of us will then hunt through the DEC season in VT and then at least 3 out of 4, sometimes all, will also hunt the January to follow flintlock-only season that begins after Xmas down in PA.

Those who don’t take a shot or bag a deer will KEEP THEM LOADED and then all of us will show up at the annual VT Primitive MZL Biathlon always held on the 2nd weekend of the month in February (going on my 18th or 19th year). As a test, we’ll take our loaded MZL’drs to the biathlon practice range & shoot at one of the gongs, with fresh prime.

So far, after 10 or more years of doing this, EVERY loaded MZL'dr rifle has gone off and every gong has been hit. Now I will add that we take care to keep our loaded MZL rifles out of ‘warm environments’ and none have suffered any ill effects from the long-term loading.

[smylee grouch]

I deer hunted with a 32 inch  58 cal flintlock for about 15 + or - years and on those rare occasions that I wanted to unload at days end I would use a CO2 discharger that I had plumbed to my air compressor set at about 120#. Sometimes a small CO2 cartridge didn't have enuf volume to do the job.

[Seth Isaacson]

I know a man that back in the early '90s shared a hospital room with a guy that nearly blew his own head off driving home with a loaded muzzleloading rifle. He apparently forgot to de-prime before driving home. As I recall the story, he hit a bump and somehow the gun went off and shot him through the spine. He was lucky to be alive. So I personally don't recommend leaving them loaded ever.
I've certainly cleared plenty of them that people left loaded for many years after probably forgetting to unload at the end of a hunting season.

[hanshi]

Unless I got wet I just dumped the pan powder and left the gun loaded and ready for the next trip.  If I happened to fire the the gun I always cleaned it back at home, always.  Unfired & dry it never rusts.

[snapper]

I always point my loaded ML towards the rear of the vehicle.....just in case.

I leave it loaded unless there is a reason for me to think that it could be an issue.

If a gun has been loaded for a while I will often remove the nipple before going out and put a few grains of fresh powder in.

Long time ago I did not use a fresh load and got a mile from the cabin in 6" of fresh snow.   Went to shoot a nice big buck, rifle did not go off.  I bet I used 6 caps or more to try to make it work.  I did not and typically do not carry any tools when hunting in Iowa.    One the way back to the cabin I literally had deer running across open fields right to me.  Never had that happen before.  God must have been trying to teach me a lesson.  Hence the fresh powder under the nipple.

Fleener

[Flint62Smoothie]

Leather stalls on the frizzens prevent any accidental discharge, as do bamboo skewers (stronger than any toothpick ever thought to be) into the touchhole (but not so deep so as to push powder away from the TH.

[Steeltrap]

Be careful with those rock lock firearms. Many years ago an avid hunter who belonged to a club I was a member of, had a habit of loading his rifle on his front porch.

One morning he was putting the loaded (no pan powder) in the rear of his (as reported) cluttered car. Apparently he was pushing and pulling the rifle to settle in the back seat as he was holding it by the muzzle. The rifle went off. He made it to his front porch and died there.

Rock locks will go off without pan powder. I know this as I had it occur to me at the end of a rainy day of hunting. Fortunately I followed the simple rule of pointing the rifle in a safe direction.

[Flint62Smoothie]

Here’s what we do. After normal cleaning and a dry bore, we put a well lubed patch of TOW’s mink oil down the full bore, coated well, then load per usual with same mink oil lubed patch. About a dozen of us Northerners do that, who all hunt in temps below freezing, and none of has ever observed  a corrosion issue or concern.

If I were ever worried about moisture in the bore, a patch lightly lubed w/ same would suffice, IMHO.

[Jeff Murray]

I prefer to start with a fresh load. I live in a very rural area so dumping a load is no big deal.  Snow is not uncommon in fall hunts.  My major reason is I want the rifle to be as reliable as humanly possible since there are critters about that will hunt you back, even during deer season.

[P.W.Berkuta]

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?

If the hunt last for a week and the weather will not be constant rain or snow, I would leave the load in the barrel and either plug the nipple or touchhole (remove the prime of course) and use a hammer stall on the frizzen.

[Daryl]

If unfired, I leave the rifle loaded, with a piece of leather under the hammer, on the nipple. Thus, it remains sealed at each end.  I've never hunted the season with a flinter, but if I did, I'd simply plug the vent with a round pick. Here in Canada, these are made of maple and work very well at sealing a vent due to the tapered, pointed ends.
When Taylor hunted with his Jaeger, he's simply put a piece of carpenter's green masking tape on the frizzen & plug the vent.