Loaded Revolver ?

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Skipper

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Question guys. My grandson wants to know if it's ok to leave a percussion revolver loaded with black powder for a couple of days at a time with no ill effects, assuming the revolver is clean otherwise.
I told him I guessed it was alright cause I know Josie Wales didn't have to load up every time he ran into a yankee.
Is it ok or not?
Thanks,
Skip
 
Yup, Even though I have a nice .45 I tend to keep one of my Pietta 58' loaded for going out to the hunt club for scouting or what ever & if I see a mean looking stump or Yote out there I'd have it ready to shoot "sometimes I may not get to shoot it for maybe a month or so but she's never failed me yet." :D
 
Loaded black powder percussion guns that were stowed away in an attic for decades have been pulled out, capped and fired. BP is very stable as long as it's kept dry. If I loaded and capped one of my revolvers and let it sit in the locker for a year, I'd expect it to go BOOM when I took it out and dropped the hammer.
 
It wil shoot and doesnt erode the metal. I leave them loaded for six months at a time. I havent fired my "House Gun" in a couple of years but Im sure it will go boom.
 
The residue/fouling from BURNED powder is what's corrosive....salts are formed during combustion....and even those need moisture to cause corrosion....
 
I shot the 1860 army snub that has been loaded and stored in my closet for 3 years.. all 5 went as expected, cleaned and reloaded:)
 
Thanks a lot fellows. I've been a shooter for 50 years (yike!), but since my grandson got into re-enacting I'm getting my first exposure to this nasty black stuff. He eats and sleeps BP, just like I do smokeless rifle and handgun.
The old apple don't fall far from the tree.

Skip
 
Careful Skipper ..he`ll out shoot ya with them old Black Powder pistols ..LOL.. you`ll be supprised at how well they shoot.
 
The biggest thing to take into consideration is the relative humidity. Genuine BP and most substitutes are very "hygoscopic", which means that they will readily absorb moisture from the air.

Given the degree of climate control in modern housing, if the chamber is adequately sealed at both ends by the projectile/wad and cap the chances are relatively small of having the charge rendered inert by moisture, but some degree of chance is there.

Back in the day, it's said the many "serious" C&B pistoleros, eg: J.B Hickok, fired all chambers, cleaned and reloaded their revolvers with fresh charges every morning - just in case.
 
Only the fouling is of concern....don't believe fresh powder is more hygroscopic than smokeless....the fouling salts readily absorb moisture and begin corrosion....dry, fouling won't do a thing, but you'd have to live in a very dry climate to have that of any help, then the fouling is very hard/caked-on.
 
Short periods of time outta be ok...........but if you live in an area of high relative humidity it's probably not wise to keep it stoked for an extended period.
I once left my '58 Army in that condition for over a year...when I decided to reload it in prep for a hunting trip I shot both cylinders and found that each had traces of light corrosion!
Now I'm pretty particular about my guns and always keep 'em in top notch shape, but prior to loading I also always clean the cylinder chambers with alcohol and apparently that's the problem in a humid climate, temperature changes will 'sweat' metal. Think about it, a week long hunting trip with high and low temp's & south eastern coastal humidity, then storing that piece in an ac'd home.........Anyway, I solved my problem by doing a really good clean out and not leaving the gun in that condition again.
 
Saftey First

Someone should do the usual disclaimers here. This is why we treat every firearm as if it were loaded, in this case, it is. Keep these loaded firearms out of reach of the young'uns. Remember, they're very curious. Don't leave the hammer down on a loaded chamber. And just generally use some common sense here. Ya' hear?
 
heck i have two of my revolvers loaded now. no caps on them. find it makes it a lot quicker when im at the range for the first go around. i have had them for as long as a month. never longer than that as im always going to the range. never had any problems
 
"Now I'm pretty particular about my guns and always keep 'em in top notch shape, but prior to loading I also always clean the cylinder chambers with alcohol and apparently that's the problem in a humid climate, temperature changes will 'sweat' metal. Think about it, a week long hunting trip with high and low temp's & south eastern coastal humidity, then storing that piece in an ac'd home"

Alcohol is EXTREMELY hygroscopic, absorbing atmospheric moisture like nobody's business...by using alcohol, you're putting the sweat into the gun.
 
well, i had mine loaded for about 6 months. took it out, all 6 went bang. seemed to hesitate before they went though. not long, just noticable. thing along the lines of :click: blink :BANG:
 
I bought some Civil war guns in Joplin Missouri a few years ago that had been discovered hidden in the barn of an old family farm when it was being dismantled, one was an 1851 Colt, they had been hidden hastily as Union troops advanced into the area, wrapped in greased rags and stuck under a floor, 140 years and all cyl. fired no corrosion in cylinders, bores were a lil rough but not too bad, used to be pictures on the old Gunboards.com from back when I first got the guns before they moved.... I lost those pics on my old puter hard drive when it crashed but somebody may still have em around....
 
On a bet, a friend of mine dropped a loaded '51 Navy into a bucket of water and let it soak all night. All six fired the next morning. He won the bet.

I don't recommend the above, but it's nice to know you could.
 
scrat said:
ya i dont think i would be putting any of my guns in a bucket of water all night long
Click to expand...

Agreed but on a serious note on the subject of being loaded & then happen to get wet.
Think it was 12 years ago, had my 60' Army with me on my dad's property working on the fence line when God decided that I needed a shower, my rig was on the ATV & since it wasn't too bad of a rain we kept going to finish the day, well evening fell & ofcorse realizing that I had forgotten about my trusty 60', before we left I shot off the 5 rounds in it to give it a good cleaning & it gave me BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM.

So yes I've had mine wet once & it still fired but again I wouldn't want to put it in a bucket of water to see if it'll get water logged.
 
So how about keeping them loaded AND capped? I mean, Hickock didn't cap his guns every morning before firing them off.
 
When I said mine were loaded a year I guess I should have included the fact that they were also capped for the entire period.

Mtngnr: I know that, my purpose was to REMOVE all trace of oil so as to ensure proper ignition. Each chamber and nipple was wiped totally dry after the alcohol degrease.......my point was and is that temperature change alone can cause major rust problems. I remember when I was in Alaska that we used to leave our rifles outside because when you brought them in from multi sub zero temps they immediately bathed themselves in 'sweat' and those guns were oiled!

By the way, both cylinders I mentioned fired without a hitch.
 
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