Leaving My Handgun Loaded

[Chaffa Hosa]

I am getting these cute little complete rings of lead when I load, the balls are cast by me from a Lyman .454 mold
I did have the Cabela's wad under the ball did not use any grease on top
Caps are #10 and fit and pop good.
I have loaded the revolver with 25 gr fffg, and .454 ball and a beeswax/olive oil lube on top
If I don't get  a shot by Wednesday I will fire, clean and reload. I will know how it shoots at least by then

[FrankG]

I know it will clump up in a horn a lot faster than black will . And it is harder to ignite than black is . Last opened can I had went on the lawn and full one went as blanket prize years ago . I wont use it . I wont use a product called rain coat either. Its supposed to keep your powder from drawing moisture but it also keeps it from igniting reliably in a flinter also.
Years ago the reason for Hot Shot nipples was because of pyrodex and that was their big selling point .

[Chaffa Hosa]

Well the test results are in
The revolver has been loaded for almost 3 weeks and carried hunting in temperatures ranging from the 70's down to the mid 20's. The load was 25 gr fffg Goex, a lubed felt wad and a .454 roundball. It has been in the house, out in the cold, left in the truck, back in the house and out in rain under my jacket. Decided to shoot it just now while the rain is pouring. All six chambers fired with authority I could not detect any weakness anywhere. 

[Dryball]

That's the way she's supposed to be when loaded right Jerry...way ta go!

Ned

[n5lyc]

Several years back, we (my shooting partner) and i decided to try a load longevity test, we had 3 1858 remington repros, that were very reliable.

we cleaned and loaded each and fired over a chronograph for a fps reading, then cleaned again, and loaded with 20gr pryodex p with a .451 ball,(tight enough to shave a ring of lead when loaded) and grease over the balls, capped them, dripped a little wax over the caps.

1 went into the deepfreeze (no kids lived in the house), and a warning to my wife what was in the cotton bag in the freezer.

1 went into a holster and in my sock drawer.

1 went into the gunsafe with a dehumidifier.

6 months passed.

All went bang,
the one in the freezer was allowed to warm to room temp before firing.
it lost about 75 - 90 fps, from the previous readings,

The other 2 was negligable, no real fps loss to mention.

It can be done, i only used under ball wads when i was going to shoot it soon, or in a day or 2.

But for long loads (maybe a week or more) i always went with powder, ball, then grease and a wax seal on the cap.

I shot Black Powder competition for over 10 years, and had at least 1 match a month, shot every weekend for practice, literaly thousands of balls, the only misfire i ever had was from not cleaning the oil from the chambers (both pistol & rifle) before loading, but have seen many others having many problems. 

Also, have never had a chainfire, but have seen 3 happen 2 from using inproper size ball and no grease or wad, and 1 from not realizing that a cap had fallen off a nipple and shooting heavy loads from a colt walker

Good luck, hope it helps.
Ian Mckee

[Mike 56]

Good test Great report  You hear about guys having problems with Pyrodex i have not. Black powder does  ignite better for me. The only problems i with Pyrodex or black powder were self inflicted by having left oil in the chambers or caps that were to small and took a double tap to get them to go off. You confirmed what i always thought that once a gun is loaded it would hard for it it to get enuff moisture to cause the gun not to shoot. People have primed or caped guns that have been loaded for a hundred years or better and they still fired. Go figure

Mike

[squirrelheart]

I have had problems with pyrodex giving me "squibb" loads if I left a revolver loaded for several weeks, never had any problems with real black powder.  IMHO, real black cleans up easier than the various subs also.

[quigleysharps4570]

Updates JB?

[Chaffa Hosa]

Updates JB?

Yep
I quit using fake powder and all is well now

[William]

I quit using fake powder and all is well now

LOL!!!! :D

[Chaffa Hosa]

I quit using fake powder and all is well now

LOL!!!! :D

Yep 
I am now 100% Goex

There are other brands but Goex is available to me so that is what I use

And by the way
Cleaning after shooting Goex Is just as fast as cleaning after shooting a substitute

[William]

You know, I was just fine using subs and had good luck with them until recently, then just found that Goex worked much better for one gun and clean up was just the same too.

[quigleysharps4570]

Glad you boys seen the light. 

[Chaffa Hosa]

Glad you boys seen the light. 

Quigs
I have learned a lot since you have been offline
Real B/P is the only way to go, You have to clean the gun no matter what and "WATCH WHAT YOU ARE DOING"

[quigleysharps4570]

Real B/P is the only way to go, You have to clean the gun no matter what and "WATCH WHAT YOU ARE DOING"

Yep...both counts.  ;)