Good, advise from KY Jon on checking for a load.
Some years back a gentleman I was good friends with told me he had his grandad's ML double shotgun which had hung on his wall for approximately 50 years. He was wanting to pass it on to his grandson but had known all those years it was loaded. He asked me if I ould unload it for him, I said yes so he brought it to me. I proceeded to wet down the bores real good & pulled the top wads. The shot poured out more as a grey powder than actual shot. I then pulled the over powder wads & poured out the powder which was a wet sloppy mess. I poured it out on a flat steel plate & lit a propane torch. I ran this close above the powder & let the heat dry it a bit & then dipped the flame down to the powder & it went up in a Woof of white smoke. I have little doubt had I made sure the nipples were clear & capped it, it would have fired after all those years
A distant cousin of mine has our great Grandfather's rifle. He & his siblings had played with it for years. One day his Sister carried it to school on the bus for a "Show & Tell". She was sitting in the seat holding it & for some reason, she cocked the hammer & pulled the trigger Even though it was uncapped, she shot a hole through the roof of the bus. All that time they had played with it, no one ever checked to see if it was loaded.
