muzzleloader discharge at night?

I'm going out for Colorado muzzleloader this September.

I'm curious what experienced hunters do with their charged muzzleloader at night. You hunted all day, didn't get a shot; now you return to camp and.....what do you do with the charged firearm. You don't want condensation to get to the powder. Safety would seem to say, discharge it; but a big bang late in the evening when you're camped within a mile of where you're hunting isn't a good thing.

I guess, since I have a TC Omega inline, I could pull the breech plug and push the charge out the breech end. That would be a waste of good lead, but would prevent condensation from soaking the powder (I use Hodgdon 777)

I'd like to know what you folks think.

Thanks,

Brent, Removing the breechplug of a charged in-line rifle strikes me as a potentially dangerous proposition; too much steel rubbing against steel for my taste. I understand that gunsmiths who do such a thing with a seriously malf'd traditional blackpowder gun do their best to soak the charge with water or oil first. As a practical matter there is not much humidity in zero degree Fahrenheit air. When sleeping indoors during a cold weather hunt I leave my gun outside the house so condensation is not an issue. My flintlocks are kept loaded day to day each weekend during the season and the pan simply emptied on Saturday night. If I don't want to shoot the gun dry at the end on Sunday I'll use a ball screw to remove the patched ball and then I pour the charge upon the ground. My cousin borrowed my Encore 209x50 last year and simply removed the 209 primer and closed the action before casing it. No problems encountered with either technique. Good hunting!

Pull the primer and let it sit. In the morning, put the primer in and go. Discharge your weapon on the last day, clean it and break camp. Hopefully you've discharged it once already at a 6X6. What unit are you hunting? I'll be in unit 39.

Jim Lawrence

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States I hunt consider muzzleloader 'unloaded' if decapped or deprimed. This allows for transport in motor vehicle. At end of hunt, I pull minnies, which I use, and pour out powder, then clean.

***I wish I was..... (heavy sigh) I envy you.

***First of all, unless the temperature changes are rapid and extreme, if you leave the rig outside, you should be all right. I do this during the deer season here in Wisconsin and everything has been all right. Where you get into trouble is hunting all day in cold temps, then bringing the weapon into a warm building. That causes condensation to form. So I just remove the cap from the nipple and leave the gun outside. However, I only do this for a couple of days, not for an entire season. I can understand not wanting to discharge the gun in camp, plus, if you do, you will have to clean the run right away to prevent rusting.

Go down to your friendly neighborhood gun shop and get yourself a muzzleloader discharge device. This is a simple co2 cartridge triggering device with an adapter that pushes the charge and projectile out of the barrel with a blast of compressed co2. Point the gun at the ground, put on the adapter and bingo! The bullet and powder are on the ground, and you can re-use the bullet. End of problem......

I know one guy that uses a bicycle pump and a piece of plastic tubing, he shoves the tubing over the nipple and pumps the bicycle pump. The built up air pressure shoves the charge out of the barrel.

***You could, but I think my idea is easier.

***That's what I think.

Leave the gun outside (if possible). put tape over the muzzle and plug the flash hole/nipple. You can use a feather in the touch hole in a flintlock. Figure something out for your gun. However if you fired a cap before loading you should clean it.

I use a CVA inline with sabots and Pyrodex Pellets. I also Teflon tape the breach plug for easy removal. Keep face, body and friends out of the way and push it out (the breach is the closest and easiest). Shooting it out wastes the lead anyway. Layne