dog1

First off, I'm dumb as a box of rocks when it comes to muzzleloaders. I've been thinking about buying one, so need some help and advice. I was in a gun/archery shop having my bow tuned up this past Saturday. When my bow was being worked on I looked at some muzzleloaders. One in particular caught my attention, it was made by Traditions, it was called Pursuit (break open).

Do any of you know anything about the rifle and are the break open types good for muzzle loading.

My other question is and I guess I'll get laughed off the forum, but that's ok, I can take it. When you load a muzzle loader how long can you leave it loaded (without the primer) and still be able to shoot it and know that it will fire. Will the barrel corrode if left loaded for a few days. Next, how in the world do you unload the sucker other than firing it and if you can get the bullet out can it be used again.

I might add, the reason I'm having to ask is, the man behind the counter was new and part time and admited he didn't know anything about MLs', I got to the store when they opened and their regular employee was coming in a little later. I left before he came in.

Can y'all enlighten a dummy between the laughs.

Thanks,
dog1

cayugad

The Tradition's Persuit is their new rifle out this year. It is a break open type. They are easy to clean and maintain the rifle from what some have told me. I have never seen one other then a photograph. From all I have heard it is a good quality rifle. The rifle would have a 1:28 twist which would shoot sabots and conicals accurate. The rifle has a 150 grain powder level but your accuracy would probably come into play more in the 100 grain range.

If you have a CLEAN UN FOWLED muzzleloader. You do not fowl the barrel mind you, but load it. There have been cases where that load left in the rifle has fired years later. Unfired powder will not rust the barrel from the test results I have seen. Many people load their rifles and leave them loaded the entire deer season or until they use it. There are of course little rules of storage to make sure the charge is not contaminated. I personally reload the rifle every night when hunting. The rule is, you fire it, you clean it.

Many people for reasons of accuracy will fowl the barrel. This is done by dropping 20 or so grains of powder in the barrel, putting a wad on top of the charge and then firing that off. This makes the barrel dirty, so that all shots are the same. Some people do not fowl the barrel. You need to play with the rifle to see if they shoot good fowled or not.

There are some other excellent rifles out there on the market. Get out and shoulder them. See how the drop in the stock feels. See how it fits you. Look at some CVA, T/C, Lyman, Knight, A&H, Whites, Traditions, NEF Huntsman, there are a lot of them. There are muzzleloading rifles made to fit almost any style of hunting you do. Calibers will vary from .45 to .75 caliber. The choice is yours. Feel free to ask any questions you like. The people here are more then glad to help you out. Better to be an informed buyer then an unhappy gun owner because you were not aware of something about a certain rifle....

mlaubner

A word of caution about storing a loaded bbl:
If you get's cold, keep it cold! If you bring it in the house after the bbl has been very cold the bbl will sweat and the condensation will saturate the powderand then the gun will not go BANG at the moment of truth[:@][:'(]

Triple Se7en

You can bring a cold, loaded ML indoors but acclimate it very slowly. If I'm hunting in 25 degree weather, when I finish, I put the rifle in my foam-lined hard shell gun case... then in the trunk or bed of the vehicle.

When I get to the 70 degree cabin, I keep the cased gun inside the case & use two blankets to cover the gun case inside the cabin.. but far away from a furnace or stove. By morning, the gun is not room temperature... nor is it 25 degress. It's somewhere in-between, but the barrel temperature rose so slowly that it never broke out in a sweat & contaminated the powder.

Striper Phil

I have a traditions inline and loaded it last deer season and finally shot it after the season and bang. Now that’s with a 209 primer. I hear muskets with percussion are more finicky.

eldeguello

You can use a "worm" on a ramrod to pull the bullet then dump the charge. The worm is like a woodscrew, and screws into the bullet allowing you to pull it out. This works with lead projectiles. I have also pulled Power Belts out this way, but have never tried a to pull a sabotted bullet 'cause I don't use 'em. After pulling the bullet, you can dump the powder charge out. I find that I have to use a scraper attachment on the rod to loosen compressed charges. Pyrodex is worse in this regard than BP. This screwing a screw into the bullet kinda messes up the nose portion, which would have an effect on its' perfomance, no doubt, if you fired it later on.

There are also "ball poppers", which are devices designed to blow compressed Co2 into the nipple seat to blow the ball and the powder charge out the muzzle. If you have something to catch the bullet with, like a soft cloth, towel, etc., without damaging it, the ball could be used later.

However, if you have a rifle with an easily removed breechplug, all you have to do is remove the cap/primer, unscrew the breechplug, dump out the powder charge, then use your ramrod to carefully push the bullet out of the barrel breech. The current crop of "inline" muzzleloaders are much easier to unload (and to clean well) than the old-time sidelocks that have fixed breechplugs.

skeeter 7MM

If wet or extreme temp changes I don't mess around with my ML and unload it upon returning home(if hunting the next am, I will leave it empty overnight and load it before heading out the next am). With my ML I simply remove the breech plug, drop out the powder and carefully push the sabot out with my ramrod. If not wet and hunting I will leave it loaded. The most my ML has stayed loaded was 2 weeks and their was no effects. Last fall it went bang and found its mark after close to a couple of weeks and 5 hunting trips. I also tape my barrel with electricians tape if moisture might be in the forecast or when hunting heavy grass areas with large amounts of dew in the early am or late evening.

To unload you can either fire before leaving the field, pull the bullet or if you buy a inline with a removable or break open breech, push it out as I mentioned. Either way you will still have to do a bit of cleaning to remove powder, debris, moisture before storing much like a CF.

While an ML has a bit more labour it isn't as excessive as some portray and IMHO is well worth the time spent. Blowing smoke really is a BLAST!