hunterbob
Well-Known Member
I never in my life heard anything like that??????
(yawn) I won't hunt with you. Respectively I say this.
(yawn) I won't hunt with you. Respectively I say this.
Never use a SAFETY
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ShootnMathews
Well-Known Member
On Bolt actions or hammer equipped.
But really, I work as a gun room manager/salesman for one of the big box stores. I can't believe how many "seasoned" gun men pass me back a rifle COCKED!
I NEVER use a safety while hunting. I'll carry a live round in the chamber but close the bolt after pulling the trigger. Then if a shooting opportunity arrives I'll open and close the bolt to cock it just before aiming.
If I hear something in the bush around me I'll carry it with the bolt up.
All the meat or trophy's in the world aren't worthy of me or my hunting partner relying on my memory to have the safety on, or did I bump it off.
I know it clicks when I move the bolt action, and maybe when in a jump and shoot situation (like lots of tracks around) I might carry it in both hands with the safety on. But never, never slung over my back relying on a safety and my memory. (I'm over 65)
What also amazes me is how MANY rifleman don't even know that their bolt action can latch un-cocked. GRR
Agree or dis-agree?
I'm not one to bash on people or their beliefs, but I totally disagree with your carrying habits. I'm not one who really trusts safety's either, but not because I think the safety will fail. It because a lot of safeties sit pronounced from the gun and can easily be caught on brush or Lord knows what and switched to fire. Safeties that sit low like on my Savage Long Range Hunter are my favorite. It's a 3 position to keep the bolt locked down and the switch is flush with the stock and behind the bolt. Nearly impossible to "accidentally" be moved.
I would never carry a gun with the pin sitting on the primer NOR would I hunt with someone who does. And I'll tell you how to see why. FL size yourself a piece of brass, prime (preferably with a dead primer to be the safest) it and put some small lead shot from a shotgun shell in it until the case matches the weight of one of your live hunting rounds. Stuff some cotton balls in it until the case is full. Now outside of course, load the case in the fired position as you normally do. Now in a safe manner simulate a drop from shoulder height with the gun landing on the butt. I'll wager $10 that it sets the primer off. Which is a whole lot cheaper wager than someone's life.
And for those who were arguing that dropping a gun with an exposed firing pin isn't enough pressure to set off a shell. I challenge you to test it. In a safe manner of course. Never use a live round. And never indoors. I would be extremely cautious even using a live primer. Kill the primer before attempting this and do not use powder. But the weight of the round needs to match a loaded round.
hunterbob
Well-Known Member
Every one knows about the bolt chheeesssh! (yawn) He'll never hunt with my boys and I. enough ,,,,
one crazy kid
Well-Known Member
If my gun is not in my hands(both of them) there is not a round chambered and the safety is on until I want to pull the trigger. I know curiosity killed the cat but, when I turkey hunt and I am walking I have taken to opening the action half way so that all I need to do is push the pump forward and switch the safety off. I started going it to ad another layer of protection when I am moving around but, this thread got me thinking am I exposing myself and friends to a dangerous situation?
hunterbob
Well-Known Member
one crazy kid,, ,, when you go in the woods check the safety when the gun is empty , load the gun and put the safety on .... its ok ... its safe.. some guys I hunt with even retest the safety by aiming at a tree and with finger pressure on trigger ,,, that's ok too... Don't be afarid something is going to happen, just be aware of it.... I took a guy hunting one time and we disarmed him because of his carelessness.......
Back in the mid 70's I took a guy from NYC on a hunting trip in the Adirondacks. I would have never done that, but he was my X wife's cousin, and I had been bugged for 2 years to take him….I knew there may be a gun safety issue, and figured I could teach him a little on safe firearm handling. (Impossible for the NYC know it all)
Well, I gave in and, he came up on a Friday afternoon and showed me his trunk full of guns. Three or four pistols and two or three rifles. After we discussed this, and he claimed, he had to take them all… I convinced him to just bring one rifle, a Model 742 3006….. I think he was a far left liberal who wanted to hunt. Yeah I know lol.
I called my hunting buddy, Wayne ; told him what I was going to do the next morning , and wanted him to go with me… He said," Hell NO!" It took me awhile talking to him and finally, he said he would go.
That morning we rolled at 4:30 am, to go to Bakers mills area, with my 1960 Chevy , with snow tires... lol…. NYC had his model 742, 3006… I think NYC, read every deer hunting story, and bear hunting story ever written, and actually believed the fictional stories over the true ones... A typical liberal Dem of today you might say… He talked non-stop with the sharp NYC accent…. Wayne turned the radio up. And we tried to ignore him somewhat…. Anyways. "Are we going to the place where the two hunters got mauled by the bears?" he said in a loud voice over the music …. Wayne said, "Yes we are." I busted out laughing… I agreed … NYC looked worried now.
We got onto route 28 and stopped half way between Bakers Mills and Wells…. A large parking lot is where we pulled in…. We got ready and loaded our rifles, while telling NYC to shisss (means Shut Ta #*^k up, please), because his voice was echoing off the mountains…. I figured this spot would be an easy climb for a new guy and there was a good possibility we could get a deer…. It was a gradual climb and after 100 yards we stopped and took a breather. NYC was huffing and puffin, and set his rifle down on its butt, with the barrel against his stomach. Wayne was on the other side of him about 30 yds and I was 50 yds or more on his left… I told him to get the barrel out of his stomach... Then he put his hand on top of the barrel; as he was arguing about it; was moving the rifle away and back against his stomach…. This was scaring the crap out of me… and Wayne is concerned too. I told him, "NYC , I don't want to see you blow your guts out, so be safe."
He said, "There is no way this rifle will go off like this." I asked him, "is your safety on?" He said," No, I never have the safety on when I'm in the woods." That's when Wayne walked over to him and said," Boy that's a nice rifle, can I see it?" NYC handed him the rifle, and Wayne looked at it; said yup, "the safety is off..." He ejected all the rounds from it while NYC was saying, what are you are doing …. He hollered to me, "Bob throw me your keys." I threw him the keys and Wayne walked back down to the car with NYC running behind him, and he locked his rifle in the trunk and came back…lol I heard the trunk close.... NYC was sitting on the trunk of the car, now. A good place for the dumb arss. Wayne asked me, "What do you want to do now?" I said," Let's go hunting." So we headed back in, to the mountain…
On our way back out another thing happened, as we got closer to the car. We heard a lot of voices, and the closer we got, we could see through the trees; there were about eight hunters near my car, with NYC. His mouth was running, like a whippoorwills arss, with that accent…. We stopped and listened, apparently it was the Sheriff and his deputies hunting in our area …. So, we can hear the conversation and decide we'll stay back until they leave… We didn't want to show them, that this guy was with us… So we hear NYC say, "is this the place where a hunter shot a bear and ran out of bullets, then the bear attacked and killed him, then his partner killed that bear, and a second bear attacks and kills him?" We could see those guys' faces getting ready to burst out laughing, that were standing behind the sheriff…. The Sheriff with a straight face told him … "Yup, this is where it was, so be **** careful."
Wayne and I were in stitches and tears were running down my face, from laughing and I was biting my hand to keep from laughing out loud…. We were close and if I ever started laughing out loud, I would have died laughing right there…. Wayne too.
True story
Back in the mid 70's I took a guy from NYC on a hunting trip in the Adirondacks. I would have never done that, but he was my X wife's cousin, and I had been bugged for 2 years to take him….I knew there may be a gun safety issue, and figured I could teach him a little on safe firearm handling. (Impossible for the NYC know it all)
Well, I gave in and, he came up on a Friday afternoon and showed me his trunk full of guns. Three or four pistols and two or three rifles. After we discussed this, and he claimed, he had to take them all… I convinced him to just bring one rifle, a Model 742 3006….. I think he was a far left liberal who wanted to hunt. Yeah I know lol.
I called my hunting buddy, Wayne ; told him what I was going to do the next morning , and wanted him to go with me… He said," Hell NO!" It took me awhile talking to him and finally, he said he would go.
That morning we rolled at 4:30 am, to go to Bakers mills area, with my 1960 Chevy , with snow tires... lol…. NYC had his model 742, 3006… I think NYC, read every deer hunting story, and bear hunting story ever written, and actually believed the fictional stories over the true ones... A typical liberal Dem of today you might say… He talked non-stop with the sharp NYC accent…. Wayne turned the radio up. And we tried to ignore him somewhat…. Anyways. "Are we going to the place where the two hunters got mauled by the bears?" he said in a loud voice over the music …. Wayne said, "Yes we are." I busted out laughing… I agreed … NYC looked worried now.
We got onto route 28 and stopped half way between Bakers Mills and Wells…. A large parking lot is where we pulled in…. We got ready and loaded our rifles, while telling NYC to shisss (means Shut Ta #*^k up, please), because his voice was echoing off the mountains…. I figured this spot would be an easy climb for a new guy and there was a good possibility we could get a deer…. It was a gradual climb and after 100 yards we stopped and took a breather. NYC was huffing and puffin, and set his rifle down on its butt, with the barrel against his stomach. Wayne was on the other side of him about 30 yds and I was 50 yds or more on his left… I told him to get the barrel out of his stomach... Then he put his hand on top of the barrel; as he was arguing about it; was moving the rifle away and back against his stomach…. This was scaring the crap out of me… and Wayne is concerned too. I told him, "NYC , I don't want to see you blow your guts out, so be safe."
He said, "There is no way this rifle will go off like this." I asked him, "is your safety on?" He said," No, I never have the safety on when I'm in the woods." That's when Wayne walked over to him and said," Boy that's a nice rifle, can I see it?" NYC handed him the rifle, and Wayne looked at it; said yup, "the safety is off..." He ejected all the rounds from it while NYC was saying, what are you are doing …. He hollered to me, "Bob throw me your keys." I threw him the keys and Wayne walked back down to the car with NYC running behind him, and he locked his rifle in the trunk and came back…lol I heard the trunk close.... NYC was sitting on the trunk of the car, now. A good place for the dumb arss. Wayne asked me, "What do you want to do now?" I said," Let's go hunting." So we headed back in, to the mountain…
On our way back out another thing happened, as we got closer to the car. We heard a lot of voices, and the closer we got, we could see through the trees; there were about eight hunters near my car, with NYC. His mouth was running, like a whippoorwills arss, with that accent…. We stopped and listened, apparently it was the Sheriff and his deputies hunting in our area …. So, we can hear the conversation and decide we'll stay back until they leave… We didn't want to show them, that this guy was with us… So we hear NYC say, "is this the place where a hunter shot a bear and ran out of bullets, then the bear attacked and killed him, then his partner killed that bear, and a second bear attacks and kills him?" We could see those guys' faces getting ready to burst out laughing, that were standing behind the sheriff…. The Sheriff with a straight face told him … "Yup, this is where it was, so be **** careful."
Wayne and I were in stitches and tears were running down my face, from laughing and I was biting my hand to keep from laughing out loud…. We were close and if I ever started laughing out loud, I would have died laughing right there…. Wayne too.
True story
one crazy kid
Well-Known Member
Bob, thanks for the info. I killed a tree with a 30-30 (it was a pre 64 winchester 94)wil I was unloading at the truck earlier this year so when I read this thread I started re evaluating my safety standards. I am so thankful that my dad and grandpa taught me safe gun handling from an early age.
Marble
Well-Known Member
My gun is always unloaded (no round chambered) when:
I'm in the truck
On my horse.
Walking in sketchy terrain or crossing a fence or creek
On my four wheeler
In my safe
Any other situation where safety may be an issue
It is loaded when:
I'm in the field hunting.
At the bench, rifle down range, ready to shoot.
I'm at work (law enforcement). This does not include the guns stored in my vehicle while working. Nothing is chambered until it's needed and I am more likely to be in a gun accident than getting shot by someone.
Safeties are always on. Unless the firing pin is relaxed and the gun cannot go on safety.
The way the OP carries his gun and hunts...no thanks.
I'm in the truck
On my horse.
Walking in sketchy terrain or crossing a fence or creek
On my four wheeler
In my safe
Any other situation where safety may be an issue
It is loaded when:
I'm in the field hunting.
At the bench, rifle down range, ready to shoot.
I'm at work (law enforcement). This does not include the guns stored in my vehicle while working. Nothing is chambered until it's needed and I am more likely to be in a gun accident than getting shot by someone.
Safeties are always on. Unless the firing pin is relaxed and the gun cannot go on safety.
The way the OP carries his gun and hunts...no thanks.
D
Deleted member 48126
Guest
Dumb question...you guys have me all worried now. When I am stalking I have a round chambered with the bolt lifted and some brass exposed on my Remington 700 with the safety on. I thought this was safe, but now Im questioning this tactic. Another question when I am in a box blind I have a round chambered with the safety on, bolt lifted again, with the rifle pointed out of the blind so that way im not fumbling around with a loaded rifle and its pointed in a safe direction. Is this safe? Should I change my tactics to just chambering a round when I am ready to fire? This sounds like a newb question, but I am always ready to eat humble pie. Thanks gents.
HARPERC
Well-Known Member
You made a mistake and learned, I've never cared for an exposed hammer rifle, especially with newer shooters. You did keep it pointed in a safe direction, that matters.
HARPERC
Well-Known Member
I think humility is one of the best safety devices out there.
Wile E Coyote
Well-Known Member
Took some vacation time a couple years ago in Lake Pleasant NY, just a short way up the road from Wells. Sometime during the week, the conversation turned to hunting in the area and this story came up. I honestly thought it was the locals weaving a tale to entertain. Thinking about it now, "NooYawkCety" doesn't know how famous he is. Justice can be sweet.
Back to the original topic...
A few years ago, CNBC aired a show where they tried to vilify the Remington 700 rifle and trigger. In every case where the guns were said to fire, at least one, if not several of the basic safety rules were brushed aside. As for walkin' around with a round in the chamber, how much effort does it really take to chamber a round when your quarry is found and you're ready to shoot? Everyone spends days, weeks even months preparing for hunting season, what is 2 seconds more going to represent?
Pete
rooster740
Well-Known Member
Not to beat a dead horse but I swear that I have hunted with this guy!
I hunted with a client with this same belief! The first day he fell on his ask 20 times. It turns out he did not disclose that he had previously had some surgery on all his extensor toe tendons!
I saw that he was doing this bullet in the chamber and lowering the firing pin on the primer the second day and told him that I would not walk in front of him. I was instantly involved in a heated conversation with a client that was frothing at the mouth and vomiting the most ignorant beliefs I had ever heard!
The one I remember the second most was that this fella measured his powder while reloading with a silver spoon and "could hit a pop can at 100 yards every shot"! Wth?
We were in the area that Rooster721 shot elk last year, steep nasty with lots of long range opportunity.
This turkey would not keep a bullet out of the chamber but would walk around with the bolt open. This was entertaining because he would sling his rifle and after the first toeless dump in the snow his bolt would fall back, dump the bullet, action was full of snow and no bullet in the chamber!
I switched hunters and he truck hunted the rest of his hunt with a bullet in the chamber.
My belief is it takes seconds to chamber a round, unless sitting while calling predators or similar situation. If I am moving it is empty chamber time! I have had too many close calls with what were believed to be "empty chambers" Period!
I hunted with a client with this same belief! The first day he fell on his ask 20 times. It turns out he did not disclose that he had previously had some surgery on all his extensor toe tendons!
I saw that he was doing this bullet in the chamber and lowering the firing pin on the primer the second day and told him that I would not walk in front of him. I was instantly involved in a heated conversation with a client that was frothing at the mouth and vomiting the most ignorant beliefs I had ever heard!
The one I remember the second most was that this fella measured his powder while reloading with a silver spoon and "could hit a pop can at 100 yards every shot"! Wth?
We were in the area that Rooster721 shot elk last year, steep nasty with lots of long range opportunity.
This turkey would not keep a bullet out of the chamber but would walk around with the bolt open. This was entertaining because he would sling his rifle and after the first toeless dump in the snow his bolt would fall back, dump the bullet, action was full of snow and no bullet in the chamber!
I switched hunters and he truck hunted the rest of his hunt with a bullet in the chamber.
My belief is it takes seconds to chamber a round, unless sitting while calling predators or similar situation. If I am moving it is empty chamber time! I have had too many close calls with what were believed to be "empty chambers" Period!
Jluck
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2014
- Messages
- 434
If OP or anyone has to interact with there bolt before shooting why not leave the chamber empty and put in "extra" round when needed or just pick one up from the mag with a normal full bolt cycle? Are these elaborate, over Complicated ways to have one extra round in the rifle? Sounds like some range time and personal discipline are in order too me.
I do know of one feller who used to hunt with his bolt unlocked, After for whatever reason coming back to the truck once with his bolt completely missing he has changed that way of packing.
I do know of one feller who used to hunt with his bolt unlocked, After for whatever reason coming back to the truck once with his bolt completely missing he has changed that way of packing.
Marble
Well-Known Member
I have had debris get into my bolt, making the bolt impossible to open, or impossible to close. No matter how I hunt, the bolt is closed.
I used to keep my bolt open on my gun while riding in my truck, wedged between the middle and side seats so it cannot move. Not for speed in loading, but so my partner would know it's unloaded and in what I thought was a safe position. But ONE TIME a shell vibrated out of the magazine well and slid into the chamber. Going down a bumpy dirt road made the shell vibrate loose. Didn't hear it, or see it, and only knew it after I went to put my gun away when I got back to camp. I always visually inspect the chamber for debris and then check with my finger to make sure there is nothing in the chamber. I was very surprised when I felt a cartridge in the chamber. So I stopped doing that.
I put as much faith in the safety as possibly, but the person carrying the gun is the most important safety there is.
I used to keep my bolt open on my gun while riding in my truck, wedged between the middle and side seats so it cannot move. Not for speed in loading, but so my partner would know it's unloaded and in what I thought was a safe position. But ONE TIME a shell vibrated out of the magazine well and slid into the chamber. Going down a bumpy dirt road made the shell vibrate loose. Didn't hear it, or see it, and only knew it after I went to put my gun away when I got back to camp. I always visually inspect the chamber for debris and then check with my finger to make sure there is nothing in the chamber. I was very surprised when I felt a cartridge in the chamber. So I stopped doing that.
I put as much faith in the safety as possibly, but the person carrying the gun is the most important safety there is.
