Hunting with inline Muzzleloader - how long to keep using same pellets?

wasa

wasa

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Going on my first muzzleloader deer hunt this year (switching from iron sight smoothbore shotgun to 50 cal inline muzzleloader with 3-9x scope). I've sighted in at 100 yards with 2 x 50g White Hot pellets and 295gr PowerBelts.

What are people's experience with how long a charge of White Hots can stay inside a ML before it absorbs too much moisture? My google search has people recommending that every morning I replace the pellets with new ones (leaning towards this) and then using the "older" pellets at the range later. But nothing I find has real world experience. In reality, I'll be in a tree from before sunrise until after sunset (with a break for lunch!). 7 day hunt, 3 hunters on the controlled hunt in SW Ontario.

Overkill? Or smart thinking? Note that I am not planning on shooting it at anything other than a deer so no "firing it off" at the end of the day's hunt.

Thanks
 
Having had a non fire or two and losing out on a nice buck because of it ( grrrrrrrr) I go two days max before I change the charge. If the humidity is high change every day. The cost is minimal and you want it to go boom when a deer shows up.

BTW after those days I switched to a savage ML with smokeless powder. ( no worries now :)
 
I no longer have an in-line muzzleloader, but always did the "fire off the load at end of the day". Mostly because I couldn't figure out how to remove the powder pellets and the saboted bullet without firing. To the OP, have you figured how that is to be done??
 
I fire off the load at the end of the day which isn't really necessary as we are usually very dry out here but as a few have already mentioned you want your shot to go off when needed.
 
4 fays with no misfires but I wrap my butt plug end with dry wool cloth after use and lock it in the little gun cabinet in the barn. It only comes indoors after the deer season.
 
I switched to Blackhorn 209 and have let loads sit for a full calendar year. I wouldn’t leave a charge sit for a long period
of time if the bore was previously fouled. I usually hunt with a clean bore.
 
Loose the pellets and use Blackhorn 209 and don't look back. I hunt mine with one shot to foul the bore. I have had no issues with ignition even after 4 solid days of rain a couple years ago. I did keep the muzzle taped mind you, but did switch out the 209 every morning. I had a couple guys in my camp end up with a barrel full of black mud on last years BP hunt after a wet day.
 
Potashminer said:
I no longer have an in-line muzzleloader, but always did the "fire off the load at end of the day". Mostly because I couldn't figure out how to remove the powder pellets and the saboted bullet without firing. To the OP, have you figured how that is to be done??
Click to expand...

It's a CVA Wolf, so I remove the 209 primer, remove the breach plug (by hand!), the two White Hots come out, then I push the PowerBelt out the muzzle from the stock end. At least, this is what I plan on doing... hunt starts Nov 4th!
 
rifleman338 said:
Loose the pellets and use Blackhorn 209 and don't look back. I hunt mine with one shot to foul the bore. I have had no issues with ignition even after 4 solid days of rain a couple years ago. I did keep the muzzle taped mind you, but did switch out the 209 every morning. I had a couple guys in my camp end up with a barrel full of black mud on last years BP hunt after a wet day.
Click to expand...

I am thinking about eventually switching to Blackhorn 209, but I have boxes of pellets (white hots, Triple Se7ven, and Pyrodex) as well as 2 lb of loose RS Pyrodex. Lots of $$ tied up with other powders to switch in the short term (but hindsight 20-20, I probably should have started with Blackhorn. Oh well).

Thanks!
 
BH 209 all day long, far superior to pellets. BH 209 does not absorb moisture, creates less fouling, easier reloading, more accurate and can you customize your charge.
 
wasa said:
It's a CVA Wolf, so I remove the 209 primer, remove the breach plug (by hand!), the two White Hots come out, then I push the PowerBelt out the muzzle from the stock end. At least, this is what I plan on doing... hunt starts Nov 4th!
Click to expand...

At day's end, remove primer, store Muzzleloader overnight in a secure area in the outside environment. If you bring inside to a warm cabin, good chance of condensation forming, remember "Keep your Powder Dry"
 
Unless I am out in a soaking rain it sometimes stays loaded for 3 days, I will push it or shoot it at that point just for piece of mind, never ever bring it in a warm room and it stays in the back of the truck not in the warm cab. I shoot loose Triple7 FFFg. I will not trust pellets more than a year(experienced and have seen several nonfire issues with pellets) and I replace my loose powder every other year. Misfires can usually be attributed to old pellets IMO
 
After several FTF i no longer use pellets. Loose powder is more consistent and accurate. Ive also seen flaming pellets flying out a barrel...
 
I use Triple Seven pellets. After having misfires with pellets right out of the box, and being told I had to buy "fresh" pellets every year, I did an experiment. I took the old pellets and put them in the oven at 225 F for half an hour. Tried them out, they worked fine. Have had them sit in the gun for several days during hunting season, no problems. However, I make the effort to leave the gun outdoors overnight to avoid any potential condensation issues from bringing it indoors. ( I do the same with all my rifles during the hunt, for varying reasons...)
 
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8 years ago I had two hangfires with White Hots. One was on a massive mainframe 6x6. I swapped them out for 777 the next day. Never again have I had an issue. And never again did I see that buck. Both loads were loaded that day.

My brother just fired a load last week that was in his Encore for 5 years. It fired without issue.

I bought a "traditional" muzzleloader in 2003. The owner said he hadn't fired it in 10+ years and wasn't sure if there was still a load in it. The ramrod test said yes. It fired on the first cap. It appeared to be of similar power to what it should have been. It hit just off a bullseye at 50 yards.

I never change my powder in a season until I kill my animal unless it gets rained on. I've been successful for the last twelve years in muzzleloader season. Seems to work.
 
Thanks for all of the comments. I'm bringing my smoothbore shotgun as my backup gun. Hopefully everything goes well for me. Discussing with you all and guys from my local gun club I think I'm taking the shotgun out if it is raining, and using the muzzleloader when it's not. As others said, I don't want to waste my chance at a deer so I'll be changing out the white hots every day. Also thinking about putting a piece of electrical tape across the exit of the barrel to help keep moisture out. Anyone have any experience with those "condoms" that go on the end of the muzzle?
 
Don't worry much about an inline in the rain. Take a 209 primer and drop it in water, leave for however long you feel reasonable and see if it fires. They are usually not the issue on a misfire/hangfire.

The only time I have had an issue was years ago take a shot, middle of the swap after a heavy wet snow. When reloading some snow fell off the trees and I think some ended in the barrel. When shooting the gun at days end a weak fireball exited and the bullet hit the ground 15ft ahead and bounced a couple times. Last time I used pellets as a mater of fact. I had one of the first Encore's in the country and have loved that gun for over 20 years. Always shoots where you point it
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If you are not priming in a downpour or carrying your gun slung barrel up in said downpour you should be good. I shot a buck last year just as it started to pour. Reload and sit in a frog strangler for another hour and deal with the buck and the gun went off fine on the reload later in the day.

One more week and the old smoke pole gets out for another year. Since a buddy started keeping a record 17 years ago our group of 4-6 has dumped 117 deer with muzzloaders and as busy as life is these days I look forward to our annual SW Ontario deer hunt. Trespassers and all
 
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