Cleaning after a hunt… or not.

[DKasprzak]

I just wrapped up opening weekend here in Texas. Was fortunate to take a doe Saturday morning with my TC Hawken .50 shooting 80 grain 2F Goex and TC Maxiball. After the hunt and related work was done I cleaned the barrel by running six wet and or damp patches followed by five or six dry.

Reloaded and continued hunting the rest of the weekend but never shot. I’m curious what others do in this situation. Do you leave the charge in the gun or do you shoot and clean as preparing to store the gun. I will be back hunting again Friday and will more than likely have an opportunity for another doe Friday evening or Saturday morning. Point being after that I will not reload but will clean appropriately.

Thanks in advance… DK

 

[deermanok]

I've done similar a time or two without any harm to my rifles.

 

[Confederate rifleman]

In a carbon steel barrel especially, I'd shoot/ pull the charge. If I've fired, swabbed out and reloaded but not shot again, even my stainless Firehawk gets a full cleaning.
Why risk any potential for rust to get a toe hold?
Another reason is your ignition communication ( sorry flash channels from nipple to breach) is fouled and might give a miss/ hang fire after sitting a few days and absorbing humidity. Maybe some of your swabbig solution got in there too.
Why risk a POP, when a BOOM was required?
Congratulations on the doe!

 

[Walkingeagle]

To me, thats like asking if one should wipe after a poop ‘cause you’re just gonna poop again tomorrow.
Walk

 

[CatamountRob]

If I shoot, I clean it properly. If I don’t shoot or hunt in really bad weather it stays loaded.

 

[Renegadehunter]

I'm with the others. If I shoot, it is going to get cleaned that same day.
If I shoot, then swab and reload, it still has burnt powder fouling in it and that will draw moisture. I may unload it by shooting it out, or I may just use a puller and pull the load, but it will be unloaded and fully cleaned that same day.
I could see maybe leaving it loaded for a hunt the very next day, but no way I would let it sit for a week. It's 15 minutes to ensure the bore doesn't pit.

 

[short_start]

I shoot with Bore Butter and believed that advertising gimmick about not needing to clean immediately (you could put it off for a few days if you wanted).

Had a very accurate GM roundball barrel on my TC Hawken and let it go without cleaning for a few days after shooting. Thought I'd 'test' the claim. Didn't really ruin the barrel and it still shoots very well; but there are tiny pits near the muzzle. It just took that one time to do the damage. Feel terrible about it as I' m normally quite anal about cleaning muzzleloaders...and that gun with that barrel had taken the biggest whitetail I'd likely ever see.

So if you decide to slack off on the cleaning, pick a barrel or a gun you don't care very much about and see how it goes.

 

[Squint]

Last year went hunting with a 45 I acquired, I shot a cap, and then loaded the rifle. Never got a chance to shoot that again, so I brought it home, took the nipple out, and using 100 pounds of air pressure, blowed the ball out hard enough to make a slight dent in my garage door. Being that the gun had not been pristine when I purchased it, I was curious how it would look in a few days left uncleaned. It never got any worse, much like leaving a 22 uncleaned after shooting, which I have done many times. I held off cleaning for some time, and when I did, I could tell no difference. I'm sure my CO2 would have removed the ball also but the air compressor works cheaper. In this particular gun I use 777. I admit I have some 22's that probably have been cleaned for 10 years or more and I don't expect them to be in bad shape.
Squint