How much do you clean your Muzzle loader during Hunting Season?

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usmarine0352_2005

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I know some might shoot 1 deer, clean their muzzle loader and put their gun away until next year.



However, we shoot multiple deer muzzle loading. Some suggested cleaning the muzzle loader every time you shoot and the same day you shot it.





I was wondering how many of you who hunt clean your muzzle loader everytime (same day) you shoot at a deer?




And if you don't, how long do you wait until you clean it?


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If I shoot it, I clean it, also if it gets water logged i'll clean it. Always done the night after the hunt.
 
I shot a hog last saturday since there was lots of daylite left to hunt I reloaded my rifle. Didnt see any thing else that day or the following sunday but didnt unload or clean the gun. On monday I shot another hog in the morning but was due to leave that evening so I did not reload. Before packing up to leave camp I did a pretty thorough cleaning.
So the answer depends on your situation if id stopped to clean on saturday it would have cut into my hunting time which is more precious to me than a possible blemish on my hunting rifle.
If it was a show piece it would not be in the woods to start with.
If it was wet and rainey id have to shoot out the load and clean it just to ensure reliability the next day.
Good hunting
T
 
With black powder or the subs, it's imperative that it be cleaned same day. I shoot, I clean. Good news is the inline is pretty easy to clean, though. Actually, my hawken rifles ain't that tough to clean compared to stripping and cleaning a revolver. Fact is, I kinda enjoy cleaning my guns.
 
If it is raining or snowing, I put a piece of black electrical tape over the bore at the muzzle and shoot right through it.

When I bring it in from the extreme cold, I just make sure it is in a location where it doesn't sweat, since my house is extremely dry, most anywhere in my home is fine.

I don't think I do anything by way of even just wiping the rifle down with an oily rag, now if it were to sweat from the change in temperature in relation to dewpoint, that is different, I would wipe it all down. I remove the cap and treat it as any other loaded weapon, including where to set it in case it happens to go off inside my house.
 
Me, I clean my weapon if I shoot it in the field. A single shot at game makes little fouling and is not that difficult to get it clean quickly. Better safe than sorry.

A note on something similar...My great uncle told me of how his father (my great grandfather) carried a brace of Colt '51's and how he'd clean them. But what I found interesting was this: GGF was in the 3rd US Cav. in the CW. He spoke of how at the end of an engagement, that the troop would halt, if possible, and post pickets while the NCO's cleaned their carbine and pistols. Then the remaining enlisted men would rotate cleaning weapons, then relieved the pickets so they could clean their weapons. The officers were not mentioned, but I'm can only surmise that they cleaned at their leasure. Uncle Leo told me that his father advised that while on a halt, weapons would get cleaned but never was the entire troop ever in a situation where no one was loaded to defend if ambushed.

To a kid in 1954 I thought that was a good war story. To an old man in 2011, it plain makes sense! I'm just glad that deer don't travel armed, otherwise in the hunting camp we'd have to take turns cleaning while we posted a picket too! :)

Wade
 
I'm not a traditionalist but have ML hunted for at least 25 yrs. The rifle I have now is probably the last one I will ever own, it is a TC Black Diamond ER in SS. When I read this thread it made me remember that I had not cleaned it since mid Sept when I shot my buck. I shot a dozen rounds prior to season and the 1 shot at 130 yds to take the buck and hadn't touched the gun for almost a month and a half. I tore it down yesterday and sprayed it with some CVA Barrel Blaster and flushed with soap and water, rinsed and hang dried.
The bore is as shinny as ever and all looks like new. Gotta love the Stainless Steel.
Here in CO. we can use only iron sights and sabots and pellets aren't allowed, that rifle will hold well under 3" at a hundred yds off the bench with the irons, I would love to see what it could do with a decent scope and saboted bullets. Anybody got any results with a scoped Black Diamond?
 
I was wondering how many of you who hunt clean your muzzle loader everytime (same day) you shoot at a deer?
Click to expand...


When i used Pyrodex the gun was cleaned the same day.




And if you don't, how long do you wait until you clean it?
Click to expand...

i now use Goex Pinnacle powder. Pinnacle is not a highly corrosive powder. My Encore was first fired on 16 October. It has been fired three additional times since without cleaning. Tomorrow is the last day of OK muzzleloader season: The gun will be cleaned after the hunt tomorrow evening.
 
I usually wipe down with Wonder Lube if I plan on hunting within a week or so if still loaded. I "mark" hte barrel with a red ribbon before locking away. Been doing it this way for years with no ill effects.
 
I have never had good luck leaving my rifle loaded for a long period of time, as some folks will load up for the season, and leave it loaded for two weeks straight, plugging the touch hole, or leaving something to guard the nipple.

Plus, in the PRoMD I don't like driving home with a loaded but unprimed or uncapped rifle if I was to get stopped. The law here is odd, and although my BP guns all are legally considered "antiques" though they are reproductions, modern inlines are not. So some of the local LE officials are taught that a loaded ML of any sort is a "loaded gun" when in fact it only applies to inlines in this state.

So if I shoot, I will reload before going to get the deer, in case the deer needed a second shot. I have yet to need that shot, so at the end of the day, I unload by firing into my favorite stump. If I don't shoot, I still unload by firing into my favorite stump. Then go home and clean. Sometime in the future, I will break up the stump and recover my bullets, and it helps me check my sights.

Some folks wonder why I don't get a ball discharger, but for a flintlock, at least the last time I checked, you have to remove the lock to get the thing to work, and I prefer not to remove my lock very often.

So I empty and clean every day when I am finished.

LD
 
When I use lubed felt wads behind a patched roundball, my bore is as clean after ten shots as it is the first one. One week, I shot my rifle in three sessions over 4 days with no ill effects. I just wiped the soot off the hammer and around the nipple. When I was done working up a load, I did a proper cleaning, though.
 
If I have a one day trip to the range, I'll clean before the end of the day. I don't hunt but since 1975 I go on several 2-4 day shooting trips a year. We'll shoot from Thursday to Sunday. My guns will be shot everyday and sometimes all day. During that time I'll do periodic bore wipes just to improve accuracy but I don't give them a cleaning before storing them at the end of that day's shooting. I do however wipe down and lightly oil the outer surface especially the area around the nipple/touchhole . These areas seem to pick up rust overnight. I'll give them a good cleaning Sunday night when I get home.
 
If you fire the rifle, clean it throughly or wipe out with TC cleaner and dry throughly the next day before you load it again. I usually use wd40 for storage (a thin coat barrel and breach plug after hot soap and water and hot water rinse. When going hunting I run sopping patches of Acetone through the barrel and breech plug, let it dry then Im good for the first shot and hopefully only shot needed. I leave it loaded if unfired, store it where it won't sweat. If going home unfired and going to be used in a week or less, I remove the nipple and put an allen plug screw to replace the nipple with orange cap under the hammer. be safe
 
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