[thomas]

I have a knight in line muzzleoader . Its about 7 or 8 years old. I have not shot the gun in 2 or 3 years now and it has been stored in my gun safe fully loaded. Do you all think it would be safe to shoot this weapon after such a time stored, or would you try to pull the ball and powder out first.:target:

[troy2000]

I'd probably point 'er downrange and see what happens. But I'm no expert on black powder, and I wouldn't recommend listening to me...

Come to think of it, is it genuine black powder or a substitute? That might make a big difference in stability.

[.22guy]

I'm far from an expert on this, so I would suggest calling the manufacturer and ask them. It would probably be fine, but if not, and it gets stuck in the barrel and causes it to burst, or something like that, you would be sorry. Good luck, let us know what you decide to do.

[jerry]

I don't think it would be unsafe per se. BP & substitutes are hygroscopic. I imagine some moistre has been collected over time. However it may have been sealed ok. You can run a range rod with screw to pull the projectile if it's soft lead. If it's a jacketed sabo type or if you don't know, you can get a Co2 ejector to blow the charge and projectile out.

That said. I wouldn't recommend doing that again.