GlockZ
Well-known member
Once I’m hunting, round in the chamber, safety off, rifle in hand.
Chamber Empty or Loaded
- Thread starter Blue Rope
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noharleyyet
Well-known member
It's not bragging if....and Buzz has.
morley.tyler
Well-known member
You know that there's only one place. RIP to The Burp and The Plant
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Dougfirtree
Well-known member
You're all lightweights...
www.outdoorlife.com
Why I Don't Use the Safety on My Rifles
If you've watched many hunting shows, you've no doubt repeatedly seen this sequence: the hunter spots the animal, then the view shifts to a close-up of the hunter pushing his or her rifle from "safe" to "fire," and then taking the shot. I find this irritating, almost as irritating as those...
www.outdoorlife.com
MThunter398
Active member
I will chamber a round when I am in stand/blind situations. I also chamber a round when I am actively staking an animal. At all other times during a hunt, my rifle will be unloaded. If anyone I am hunting with is uncomfortable with that, I will abstain from chambering a round until the final moments before the shot. For me, there is no reason to create a conflict with a friend over something like that.
However, the argument at hand seems to me to be this. There is either no way possible to safely carry a loaded rifle on your person or that it is possible to safely carry a loaded rifle. Doing so or not seems like it should be a personal decision made by a person as a responsible adult and the group they may be hunting with, putting your own or the group's safety in their own hands. While I seem to be largely in agreement with the majority here, I would love to see a strong case that there is no way to safely carry around a loaded rifle. If you ask me, saying that it is safe 99.99% but on the off chance that something does go wrong is enough to absolutely never do it is not strong enough. Our lives are plum full of activities with potently deadly consequences just like that we gladly do daily, mostly with much less thought than we should and do give gun safety.
However, the argument at hand seems to me to be this. There is either no way possible to safely carry a loaded rifle on your person or that it is possible to safely carry a loaded rifle. Doing so or not seems like it should be a personal decision made by a person as a responsible adult and the group they may be hunting with, putting your own or the group's safety in their own hands. While I seem to be largely in agreement with the majority here, I would love to see a strong case that there is no way to safely carry around a loaded rifle. If you ask me, saying that it is safe 99.99% but on the off chance that something does go wrong is enough to absolutely never do it is not strong enough. Our lives are plum full of activities with potently deadly consequences just like that we gladly do daily, mostly with much less thought than we should and do give gun safety.
Hammsolo
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“Victim moved into the line of fire?” 458 incidences? How the hell does that work? I’d love to here the explanations.
PrairieHunter
Well-known member
It would be really interesting to do a research project on what goes on in a hunters mind, body, etc when they think they see an animal, scrambling to get a shot, etc..
As far as chambered or not, I am normally in big open country so I just have my gun in my pack, chamber empty. If I get in the thick stuff the gun goes on my shoulder and chamber is loaded.
As far as chambered or not, I am normally in big open country so I just have my gun in my pack, chamber empty. If I get in the thick stuff the gun goes on my shoulder and chamber is loaded.
Shangobango
Well-known member
I had 100 whitetails under my belt before I hit 30. That was when I stopped counting and that was a while back. I did it without much blasting going on to get it done.
This thread is making me nervous though since almost no one you will see in the woods here who is hunting is doing it without a round in the chamber. I spend more time in the woods without a round in the chamber than the vast majority of the folks in the woods around me. Is this a regional thing or a cultural thing I wonder? Maybe it is because a very large percentage of deer encounters here last just a few seconds due to lack of visibility caused by vegetation?
#thankfulforhuntersorange
thusby
Well-known member
Topography. If you are in the red desert, with a shell jacked, you are probably a moron. If you are in a tamarack bog in northern Minnesota, without a shell jacked, you are a probably a moron.
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Hammsolo
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Digging through that data makes me nervous. It reminds me of other aspects of my life, and how I’m more worried about others around me doing stupid crap.
I really should analyze it more. Are people injuring and killing themselves or others? Some of the explanations are eye brow raising. “Firearm slipped off the rest?” WTFudge
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Deleted member 28227
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"Horsing around"
"Using gun as a club"
I mean clearly there is some really low hanging fruit for reducing incidents.
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Deleted member 28227
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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.
Out West here I refuse to hunt with anybody that has a round chambered while hiking/walking. Steep terrain, deadfalls, sagebrush, shale... too many opportunities to trip, slip or fall. A human life or limb is not worth any animal. That being said, I have yet to miss an opportunity on an animal while hunting safely.
44hunter45
Well-known member
You have a mug hanging from the ceiling?
thusby
Well-known member
Best caliber for elk? Eastern Montana mule deer hunting?
That's a pretty strong statement. I'd been hunting for over two decades before I'd ever even heard of someone hunting with an empty chamber.
Negative outcome from not having a round chambered in a bolt action rifle while moving: missed shot opportunity
Negative outcome from having a round chambered in a bolt action rifle while moving: negligent discharge +/- injury/death, with injury/death risk increasing if it’s multiple people in the field and muzzle flagging is an issue
That’s the risk assessment for me.
Negative outcome from having a round chambered in a bolt action rifle while moving: negligent discharge +/- injury/death, with injury/death risk increasing if it’s multiple people in the field and muzzle flagging is an issue
That’s the risk assessment for me.
