Chamber Empty or Loaded

[Deleted member 28227]

The "vast majority" of accidents are hunters mistakenly shooting other hunters. I can't see how carrying an empty chamber would make a difference.

My understanding is that the vast majority are at the truck loading and I loading in an unsafe manner, and/or sliding off the truck.

Most accidental shootings are turkey hunters.

The difference in the two categories being someone actively choosing to pull the trigger.

I’ve taken hunters safety now 4 times in 10 years, this is part of the curriculum in every class.

 

[CowboyLeroy]

You know this for a fact, or are you guessing?

70% of statistics are made up on the spot -bigfin

 

[noharleyyet]

Empty if my feet are moving

Same, also if transporting via atv, up or down a ladder. Chamber when shouldered ready to aim. Never charged when leaned in a box blind. Safety on always. I expect my lease mates and fellow hunters to do the same and will remind them. Never been a problem. Am sure my boys find the reminders and "show me's" tedious.

 

[Redmt]

70% of statistics are made up on the spot -bigfin

Anything posted on the internet has been fact checked and therefore true and accurate.

 

[morley.tyler]

I'm a huge fan of redundancy when it comes to firearms safety...
Safety on and maniacal trigger discipline.

 

[CowboyLeroy]

Loaded unless it's in the house

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

One in the chamber with the safety on. Unless I’m hiking a long distance in the dark I usually just load up at the truck and head out.
Does anyone else think that quickly loading a firearm, in the heat of the moment, while an animal is disappearing over a ridge might be a little hazardous? Or is that just me

Just you

Cycling the bolt shouldn't be hazardous in any circumstance??

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

I only load the chamber in the last few moments of a stock, when I know things are going to happen quick. Empty otherwise.

 

[Redmt]

Loaded unless it's in the house

Everything is loaded in the house at the ready unless in the safe. The last three pigs I shot were off my front porch while I was still in my slippers.

 

[mtmiller]

The "vast majority" of accidents are hunters mistakenly shooting other hunters. I can't see how carrying an empty chamber would make a difference.

That is why scope should always be jacked up to 14x.

 

[mevertsen]

I mostly hunt very open country.

I keep an empty chamber until I am in the final moves of a stalk.

I did it last year on my sheep. I kept an empty chamber until the last 200 yards or so of the (blind) stalk.

If I am sitting on a water hole, I will keep a round in the chamber, and on the rare occasion of still hunting in thick timber.

 

[RyGuy]

Just you

Cycling the bolt shouldn't be hazardous in any circumstance??

Maybe what I meant to say was: if I had to chose a SAFER time to load my rifle: at the truck, in a familiar environment, with warm hands, on flat ground, with no rush to get a round in and get after an animal, with obvious directions that are safe/unsafe would be it.

 

[TheTone]

That is why scope should always be jacked up to 14x.

What if we remove scopes entirely, are we then magnitudes safer?

Mine is largely terrain and species dependent; open country where I can see and it’s more spot and stalk I’m usually carrying on an empty chamber. Hunting thick timber I usually carry hot with the safety on

 

[nhenry]

Mostly loaded with the safety on or hammer forward, depending on the rifle.

 

[runningmt]

Depends on the situation

When hunting alone, I don’t worry about it as much, as shooting yourself with a rifle unlikely.

When hunting with others, I keep it unloaded unless sitting in a likely shooting situation. No game is worth the possibility of shooting my son, dad, or friends on accident.

Speaking of friends, if they have a Model 700, I won’t hunt with them if they insist on carrying a loaded weapon.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

I recently had a discussion with a co-worker that got me curious about this subject. How many of you carry your rifle without a round in the chamber when you're hunting? I've noticed a couple of "professional" hunters (the Meateater crew) doing it, and my co-worker said today that he does the same and taught his kids to do it. He has no formal weapons training, while I've had extensive training in fighting with firearms and obviously in that application, an empty chamber is a recipe for disaster. I assume the difference in background has something to do with it, but I was just curious what the general opinion was on the topic?

Everyone in our camp hunts solo with a bolt action rifle with an empty chamber...
it takes only a few seconds to rack a round in the chamber.

 

[Hammsolo]

as a guy who was had his truck shot a couple of times by nimrods riding in it, I like unloaded or loaded with bolt up or open , or hammer up
nothing is harder on the ears then having a deer rifle discharge inside a truck with window up , or trying to get home with a bell housing with a hole in it

My son-in-law and others rode in a truck for over an hour after his friend shot himself in the head killing him instantly… then had to go through a lengthy investigation. Negligence and defiance of safety rules led to this… Sad, but natural consequences.

 

[npaden]

I've thought of this before, but generally one of the ways I measure the success of a hunt it how many times I chambered a round. That means that I have located an animal and am likely thinking about actually pulling the trigger. My last elk hunt in Wyoming I did chamber a round one time but didn't end up getting to pull the trigger. Bull was less than 100 yards away but never could get a clean look at him before he bolted.

Sadly I've gone on a few hunts where I did not chamber a round the entire hunt.

 

[Blue Rope]

My son-in-law and others rode in a truck for over an hour after his friend shot himself in the head killing him instantly… then had to go through a lengthy investigation. Negligence and defiance of safety rules led to this… Sad, but natural consequences.

Are you saying that hunting with a loaded chamber is "negligence and defiance of safety rules"?

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

Are you saying that hunting with a loaded chamber is "negligence and defiance of safety rules"?

I can't speak for Hamm, but I read that as the accident in question was a result of Negligence and defiance of safety rules. No comment on a loaded chamber, but I would hazard a guess to say a loaded gun was part of the problem but not the negligent component...

I see the point being, even if the friend had been negligent, but had an empty chamber, he would still be here today.