Have had a charge and projectile in my muzzleloader since last oct, not sure if I should go shoot it/try and shoot it or just say fuckit and leave it as it sits till hunting time arrives.

T

Storage conditions?

Humidity?

Cap it and shoot it.

in the corner of the closet :-)

found a spider web in the barrel so pulled the breech plug and giving it a good cleaning.

T

You watched that show about the pawn shop, correct?

My dad bought a blackpowder revolver from an estate that had been loaded (stought powder charge, ball, wonderlube to prevent chainfire) for over a decade several years ago. Eventually, we took it to the range to cap and try it. All 6 (IIRC) chambers evetnually went off, though one of them needed to be capped/ fired twice. All were more anemic than they should have been- one ball lodged into the cardboard target backer, another bounced off, the rest penetrated well, but recoil was less than it should have been.

I would recommend taking it to the range and shooting it out, cleaning it, and loading fresh for next season (put a balloon over muzzle to keep water out). It would rally suck to lose a nice animal because you went hunting with a charge that the conditions have gotten to.

I have unloaded guns that were loaded for over 100 years. One had a full charge of powder and two lead balls. It was a flintlock. I did not fire the gun just pulled the breechplug and unloaded it. A loaded muzzleloader can go off after 100 years if you simply apply fire to the powder. I have shot my own guns after 3 to 4 years with no ill effects.

keep your powder dry - its not just a saying.

If its dry its good to go.

This.

IF it is real black powder,  chances are you could prime the pan in 20 years and it would still work fine..       The synthetic crap, maybe good for 3 years at best ( even in an unopened can)

ETA real black powder is good indefinitely.   Iv'e heard of people pulling a load from an antique they found and light the powder off to see if it would still work.   It did.

I've got Pyrodex that is 15 years old and still works like new.