Chamber Empty or Loaded

[OntarioHunter]

Yes, and you should have known it is a somewhat silly question in that it is commonly known to be a personal preference ... as certainly illustrated by the responses and the somewhat silly back and forth discussion.

Next you may ask, "Just curious, how many prefer synthetic rifle stocks over wooden rifle stocks?" If so, that thread will thread its way through opinion maze similarly

I don't think it's a silly topic. Not at all. Some responses were asinine and immature but that is not unusual for those contributors on this forum. How many on here have actually performed the drop test to check their gun's safety? I suspect very few. Have you taken a good look at the sling swivels? Those are things that can make carrying "hot" genuinely dangerous. Is it not inherently more dangerous to attempt chambering an unloaded gun in a hurry versus carrying one loaded on safe, especially if the gun doesn't have three-position safety? I suspect there is little difference.

I don't think there is any hard and fast rule for carrying a round in the chamber when hunting. Everyone does it hunting uplands. Gun is useless otherwise. Is my shotgun loaded while carrying my decoys across the field? No, of course not. Is it fully loaded once I'm set up? Yes. It's too dangerous fumbling around trying to load the gun with frozen hands, especially when laying in a box on the ground. And especially when any movement will flare the birds before they're in range. I never had my hunting rifle loaded in the scabbard when riding a horse (but the pistol in saddlebag was loaded!). I don't expect to need to shoot fast from a horse. Similarly, there's no round in the chamber in the vehicle. If I see something to shoot at it's usually not going to be a quick shot. Spot and stalk not jump shooting.

 

[Straight Arrow]

That's an entirely different type of a question.

It's more like asking if a person prefers to wear a face mask whenever they leave their house, because of covid.

The type of stock someone prefers is not nearly as controversial.

So you say. As Rob would agree, opinions are like doe tags ... everyone has one!

 

[Straight Arrow]

I don't think it's a silly topic. Not at all. Some responses were asinine and immature but that is not unusual for those contributors on this forum. How many on here have actually performed the drop test to check their gun's safety? I suspect very few. Have you taken a good look at the sling swivels? Those are things that can make carrying "hot" genuinely dangerous. Is it not inherently more dangerous to attempt chambering an unloaded gun in a hurry versus carrying one loaded on safe, especially if the gun doesn't have three-position safety? I suspect there is little difference.

I don't think there is any hard and fast rule for carrying a round in the chamber when hunting. Everyone does it hunting uplands. Gun is useless otherwise. Is my shotgun loaded while carrying my decoys across the field? No, of course not. Is it fully loaded once I'm set up. Of course. It's too dangerous fumbling around trying to load the gun with frozen hands, especially when laying in a box on the ground. And especially when any movement will flare the birds before they're in range. I never had my hunting rifle loaded in the scabbard when riding a horse (but the pistol in saddlebag was loaded!). I don't expect to need to shoot fast from a horse. Similarly, there's no round in the chamber in the vehicle. If I see something to shoot at it's usually not going to be a quick shot. Spot and stalk not jump shooting.

Thank-you; it's always good to hear from you, hear from you, hear from you, hear from you .........

 

[OntarioHunter]

Thank-you; it's always good to hear from you, hear from you, hear from you, hear from you .........

Your welcome, welcome, welcome.

 

[Chama Grande]

I started this thread to get a question answered. I think I've got an answer. Clearly some folks are extraordinarily passionate about this particular subject. I'm out.

 

[ImBillT]

Empty in the vehicle, loaded on my shoulder, could go either way when under my arm in my gun bearer while I’m packing somewhere. I usually hunt alone, or occasionally with my dad, and both of use a fairly careful with muzzle control. I have encountered some people who don’t seem to care where their muzzle or mine is pointed.

 

[Runnin_Chupacabra]

We always carry with the rifle chamber empty. A few years ago around here a father and pair of kids were riding in their jeep hunting. Rifle was sitting in the seat next to the driver with the barrel resting on the floor board. Jeep hit a rut pretty dang hard, safely failed, rifle went off, ricocheted off the steel floor board and killed the young boy in the back seat. I never count on a safety. Safety is a mechanical mechanism and a mechanical mechanism can fail at any moment.

 

[Firedude]

Not trying to change your mind. I'm trying to figure out what you're saying. Do you, or do you not think that a gun that will discharge without the trigger being pulled should be taken out of service?

How do you know it's defective until it is?

The only reason you would know it was defective is when the firearm discharges when the trigger isn't pulled.

The first time it becomes defective can have disastrous results.

But, since in your world nothing mechanical breaks or fails, your question seems an odd one.

So. I get what you're saying. I also see what buzz is saying. If you properly maintain a firearm the chance of failure is minimal. I think what Buzz is saying is that the issue I see is the cost of that failure. In my case that was the first time that firearm malfunctioned. I don't know about the other. But the first sign anything was wrong was a rifle bullet being fired. We also could not repeat it after. We TRIED. everybody blamed me but I know I never touched the trigger.

What's missing in this conversation is not that things fail, or when they fail, but HOW things work leading to failure. Just bear with me for a minute. There are really basically 2 safety designs. 1 blocks the trigger from being pulled the other blocks the firing pin from being released. Whatever multitude of designs there are they do one of those basic tasks. There's other designs but we're going Reader's Digest version here.

In the failure I experienced it was a trigger block. I think what happened was a piece of debris caught on the bolt block. So even though the trigger was blocked from being pulled the only thing holding the pin back is the bolt block that now had something movable between the two. As I touched the bolt that debris now acted like a ball bearing or a lubed bushing allowing the pin to fall. We're talking about hundredths of inches of grip holding that back. Now a slick round seed or something is in there. Lifting the bolt lifted it enough to roll off of the trigger holding it back. Before you judge me how often do you clean out the groove the bolt goes through as you cycle the bolt while hunting? Probably never. 1 in a million chance probably. But there's a chance. I just err on the side of caution now and carry rifles empty.

I should add right up until it happened to me I never would have believed it. We're taught if a gun goes off it's your fault. You touched the trigger, didn't use the safety, didn't maintain it, or whatever. That's how we are taught. Now that my mind is open a little more I definitely listen to guys who say the same thing. Shit happens even if you do everything correctly.

 

[brymoore]

Empty.

 

[88man]

1. Not sure if HT is a representative sample, there are a bunch of folks on here that teach Hunter's Ed... it's probably skewed
2. I imagine you're hunts look like MA hunts... I hunt with one in the chamber here for shotgun and muzzy. But my gun is always in a ready carry position, much the same as if I was pheasant hunting... or I'm sitting in a tree. Very different than western hunting. In Vermont I don't put one in the chamber, but it's closer to western hunting.

How about when your tracking in vermont like a Benoit

 

[Shangobango]

Everything mechanical will fail...fact.

That is why I was taught and have always taught others that you treat a firearm like it has no safety. Doesn’t matter if it is loaded, unloaded, in the case, whatever. That thing is hot and ready to fire at all times. Period.

 

[88man]

We always carry with the rifle chamber empty. A few years ago around here a father and pair of kids were riding in their jeep hunting. Rifle was sitting in the seat next to the driver with the barrel resting on the floor board. Jeep hit a rut pretty dang hard, safely failed, rifle went off, ricocheted off the steel floor board and killed the young boy in the back seat. I never count on a safety. Safety is a mechanical mechanism and a mechanical mechanism can fail at any moment.

my god sorry to hear but why is the gun loaded in a vehicle

 

[88man]

On topic but a bit of a different situation

what direction do you put the muzzle when you are a passenger in a vehicle and the gun is not in a gun case. I will assume the rifle or shotgun is UNLOADED. Muzzle to floor or muzzle up so the barrel doesn't get dirty ???? This has been a pet peeve of mine forever!

Always carry muzzle down!!!

 

[Deleted member 28227]

How about when your tracking in vermont like a Benoit

Can't compare myself to a Benoit with a straight face... but the spot I hunted last year had 50-100 yard shots. I was still hunting and didn't have one in the chamber. I did pop one in a couple of times when I was sitting on a spot a couple of times.

 

[morley.tyler]

Always carry muzzle down!!!

This is correct.

 

[Rzrbck918]

I'm sure I could find some great old videos of my Dad, sister, brother-in law, and friend driving 40-50mph in a suburban taking turns shooting running coyotes out the window with a shot gun. I even got footage of the driver (lefthanded) rolling a coyote with a benelli shotgun, el pistole style. The legendary Pat Ryder. Hunter safety in its finest form.

I mean, the hunters were safe.

 

[Dakotakid]

Empty in the vehicle, loaded on my shoulder, could go either way when under my arm in my gun bearer while I’m packing somewhere. I usually hunt alone, or occasionally with my dad, and both of use a fairly careful with muzzle control. I have encountered some people who don’t seem to care where their muzzle or mine is pointed.

A little afield from equine beating but firearm safety is a worthy discussion in my book.

A bit of light reading for people interested-

Hunting-related injuries and deaths in Montana: the scope of the problem and a framework for prevention

The objective of this study was to examine hunting-related morbidity and mortality, define high risk hunting groups and activities, and outline preven…

pdf.sciencedirectassets.com

 

[Dakotakid]

We had an old timer that was found with a .28 entry hole from a 7 mag through his hip. Bled out next to his truck. Seems like a brutal way to go.
Lots wrong with his truck gun safety.

You hear periodically of a dog stepping on a shotgun in the truck and blasting Elmer or as listed in the link- removing loaded weapons from the truck seem to get a few people each year.

 

[Scott85]

At this point I think we would be better off turning this tread into a Vasectomy tread.

 

[morley.tyler]

At this point I think we would be better off turning this tread into a Vasectomy tread.

Yet another occasion where it can be unsafe to walk around with one in the chamber.