Author Topic: hunting loads (Read 657 times)

daddywpb · « **on:** October 02, 2005, 05:45:50 AM »

I'm sure this has been covered before, but I was wondering how everyone treats their hunting loads. Do you...

1-leave your rifle loaded, but unprimed, for the weekend, or week or
longer
2-shoot the load out at the end of the day (not legal here) and go home
and clean
3-take the breech plug out at the end of the day and unload with the
ramrod
4-if you chose 3, do you reuse the pellets or powder?

I usually choose 3 and do not reuse the pellets.

hiker270 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 02, 2005, 07:05:23 AM »

1 for me- I leave mine loaded but unprimed unless conditions dictate otherwise. ( such as hunting in rain or snow and I am concerned about my powder drawing moisture). I use loose powder both BM3 and 777, My guess would be loose powder would be more susceptible to moisture than pellets. I have left both my Omege and my Flintlock loaded from one hunting season to the next and they shot just fine. For safety sake I put a red balloon over the end of the barrel so I know the gun is loaded in my gunsafe.

rickyp · « **Reply #2 on:** October 02, 2005, 09:55:04 AM »

This is what I do
1) I sight in a few weeks before deer season starts.
2) I clean the gun well and oil it
3) The night before hunting season starts I put a patch or an old bullet down the bore and put a 209M primer in and go out side and fire the bullet or patch I will do a few shots like this. This is to insure all the oil is burned out, I use the 209M primers as they are hot enough to push whatever I put down the barrel is pushed out. I have pushed a 375 (?) gr maxi ball out of my 209x50 15 inch barrel encore over 50 yards with just the primer!
4) I take the gun back in and run a dry patch down the barrel
5) I load the gun with what ever powder I sighted in with, Then I make about 4 speed loaders for back up using the same powder and bullets.
6) I leave the gun loaded but WITH OUT a primer in a soft gun case until I get to the hunting spot parking lot. If I do not shoot the gun I will un cap it and put the cap back in the capper and store the gun in the case and leave it in the truck over night.

If I shoot the gun in the AM I will come out at noon and clean it well and redo the above, if I shoot it in the PM I will clean it when I get home and redo the above.
If it is raining snowing or real humid I normally will just whipe the out side down with a good gun oil like EEZOX and run a lightly oiled patch down the bore just to the top of the bullet. NEVER PUT A FIREARM AWAY WET at the end of the season I pull the breach plug and push everything out. I will not reuse the powder but I will save the sabot and bullet for target work or in the speed loaders.

Quote

2-shoot the load out at the end of the day (not legal here) and go home
and clean

If you want to do this take a shot at a deer at dusk and make sure you miss it :grin:

Redhawk1 · « **Reply #3 on:** October 02, 2005, 01:31:53 PM »

I leave mine loaded but unprimed

slayer · « **Reply #4 on:** October 03, 2005, 03:35:50 AM »

#1 and have never had a problem.

Now, that would change if it rained or snowed, at that point I either shoot it out and clean, or pull the load.

Jack.

RCL · « **Reply #5 on:** October 03, 2005, 03:51:20 AM »

#1, weather pending.......... :rain:

mikemayberry · « **Reply #6 on:** October 03, 2005, 04:03:25 AM »

I have removed the breech plug and allowed the 777 pellets to come out the breech, then pushed the bullet on out the breech (if I remember correctly). It worked but worried me that I had ground off a bit of the pellet powder. The amount was insignificant but I worried it would get into the breech plug threads and cause problems later. Of course, this would be a bigger problem with loose powder.

I also have thought about pulling round balls before with a puller, but this is impractical with polymer tipped bullets like so many use today.

It it were wet conditions, I like the others would shoot at the days end or break it down and throughly clean it. Otherwise, I would just do as they do and let it stay until the next hunt day (uncapped) and be ready to go.

As always, the first point to consider is safety. The second it gun damage potential.

I have gone weeks or a month this way but would not go season to season because if the powder in the barrel drew any moisture, it would no doubt rust the whole mess together and could ruin your gun.

I do like the red balloon idea mentioned above as a "loaded indicator" and it would help keep any ambient moisture out of the barrel.

Mike

poncaguy · « **Reply #7 on:** October 03, 2005, 04:32:37 AM »

Well, I just shoot a deer everytime so I don't have to worry about it :-D Really, I leave mine loaded, just remove the 25 ACP primer or Remington 209 ML primer. I 've gone 2 weeks sometimes and the rifle always fired and shot well........