Traveling with a Huntsman....

[JEH]

Last fall after not drawing any tags here in AZ, I picked up a Huntsman - thought I’d pass the time learning something new!  Anyway, I read through all of the posts on this forum, and picked quite a lot of useful information.  Thanks for that.  I’m currently in the process of reading through the posts again, but I do have a couple questions I could use some help with if you guys could be so kind!

First of all, I’d like to say that this gun shoots WAY better that I do!  Sometimes it amazes me how accurate it is.  Anyway, this brings me to my first question:

How do you guys feel about traveling to/from your hunting spot with your huntsman/sidekick loaded (no primer of course)?  I’m using powerbelts and 777 pellets (I know, I know – will be switching to loose powder soon), weather (humidity/moisture) shouldn’t be an issue.  I believe I read some members of this forum post that they leave it loaded.  If I remember correctly, the owner’s manual says not to, but I don’t believe they mention 777.  Safe, unsafe, good idea or bad.  I’ll be driving about 1 ½ hr one way (3 hr round trip – don’t plan to camp), probably 3 - 4 times over a period of a week.  I use a hard sided gun case – foam padded.  What about static electricity?  Anything else I need to consider?  Any opinions appreciated.

Thanks

John

[jbtazgrabber]

i aways fire a fouling round the night before season starts with all my black powder guns im going to hunt with...about 5 shots the night before<i  know the nighbors love me for that>i load them after the fouling shot and dont do anything till i shoot a deer or season end then shoot them the last day of season....the family and i drive about a hour to hunt by land and 30 min. by boat....i dont use hard cases just put in car with muzzles pointing down.....pistols in holsters.....never any capped........in the boat we have gun racks mounted to the sides of the boat.........never had any problems   jb

[Keith Lewis]

I also hunt Arizona and due to the state rules it is even legal to carry a loaded gun in the vehicle. Outside of the legal aspect the concern for safety makes me carry without a primer. If I am going to be leaving the gun for a period of time without a primer I put a dummy one in to seal the powder from any humidity (although we usually have little of that except for the late fall).  There is little concern about static electricity even with real black powder. As with any other firearm I try to keep the muzzle pointed in a direction that will do the least damage should some weird thing happen that could set it off.  When traveling in the hunting area to stay legal from the Game and Fish standpoint I also leave the primer out until I reach my destination and exit the vehicle so I can't get charged with hunting from the vehicle.

[woodwright]

I recently left my Sidekick loaded for three weeks before I shot a doe with it. The gun was stored indoors in a padded canvas gun case without a primer. I was not sure if it would fire after that length of time, but it fired normally and took the deer. That was my second doe of the season with the Sidekick.