Lasiocarpa
Active member
Striker down on an empty chamber for me, at least until I think I’m going to have a shot at a critter. Rarely even use the safety.
Chamber Empty or Loaded
- Thread starter Blue Rope
- Start date
Does that same risk assessment apply to shotguns and handguns, in your opinion? Several posters have stated that they treat shotguns different than rifles.
BuzzH
Well-known member
Come on now what?
126 deer (coues, whitetail, mule deer, sitka blacktail), 80 elk, 79 pronghorn, 5 bears, 4 wild sheep, 3 moose, 1 oryx, 1 muskox, 1 mountain lion, and 1 mountain goat.
Whatever that adds up to...a few hundred I reckon.
Shangobango
Well-known member
Number of big game animals I would have killed but didn’t because I had to take the time to chamber a round: several. Would be dozens except for the fact that I usually remember to chamber one before I start hunting.
Point being all hunting situations aren’t the same.
BuzzH
Well-known member
Safety is more important than an animal, on a rare occasion, slipping away from hearing a round being chambered.
I can't recall that ever happening though.
I can't recall that ever happening though.
Shangobango
Well-known member
Safety is the most important thing, no doubt.
People should be competent when handling a deadly weapon, loaded or unloaded.
Here it is not about them hearing a round being chambered. It is more about the fact that if you are waiting until you have a deer in your signts to chamber a round, more times than not you just missed your shot opportunity and there probably won’t be another.
Here is a nice open spot:
VikingsGuy
Well-known member
Empty chamber while walking.
I don’t hunt with a shotgun so I can’t speak to that. Pistol is loaded and holstered. Negligent discharge risk in a quality holster in a modern semiauto is very low in my assessment, vs the need to get bullets in a charging grizz.
Runnin_Chupacabra
Well-known member
If you kept your chamber empty while duck hunting you have no chance
Redmt
Well-known member
You must be using one of those double drum magazines!
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
I carried hot my whole life until a couple of years ago I watched @Big Fin video where he explains why everyone on his crew carries empty, the safety reasons, and how easy and quick it is to chamber a round when you are ready to shoot. I carry hot in far fewer situations now. Mostly for slowly approaching a wounded animal for a follow up shot if it jumps up, or if I am stationary in ambush.
Close-quarter ambush situations, which are very common where I hunt in the Midwest, it is pretty impractical to rack a round when the animal pops out 25 or so yards away and expect it won’t spook. Out west it’s a completely different circumstance.
Carrying empty has yet to cost me a shot I wish I could have taken more quickly. It also helps me exercise more restraint on choosing when to shoot.
Years ago I closed the chamber on a Mossberg 500 and it discharged, safety was on. Another time when pass-shooting waterfowl I had a teen hold my gun while I went to pick up a bird. He was an experienced hunter; I did not imagine there was any problem, except a short moment later more birds flew in tight over us, the kid got excited watching them, fumbled the unfamiliar gun, managed to slip the safety off and pull the trigger, gun went off in the air, but over my head. If he’d shot me I’d likely never know any different, being dead, but it would have ruined the kid’s life.
This thread has me seriously thinking about switching to an o/u for upland hunting. My hunting mentor always carried one broke open until his dogs went on point, for safety. Even surprise flushes he could close the action and shoot extremely fast…faster than I could with the action already closed.
Close-quarter ambush situations, which are very common where I hunt in the Midwest, it is pretty impractical to rack a round when the animal pops out 25 or so yards away and expect it won’t spook. Out west it’s a completely different circumstance.
Carrying empty has yet to cost me a shot I wish I could have taken more quickly. It also helps me exercise more restraint on choosing when to shoot.
Years ago I closed the chamber on a Mossberg 500 and it discharged, safety was on. Another time when pass-shooting waterfowl I had a teen hold my gun while I went to pick up a bird. He was an experienced hunter; I did not imagine there was any problem, except a short moment later more birds flew in tight over us, the kid got excited watching them, fumbled the unfamiliar gun, managed to slip the safety off and pull the trigger, gun went off in the air, but over my head. If he’d shot me I’d likely never know any different, being dead, but it would have ruined the kid’s life.
This thread has me seriously thinking about switching to an o/u for upland hunting. My hunting mentor always carried one broke open until his dogs went on point, for safety. Even surprise flushes he could close the action and shoot extremely fast…faster than I could with the action already closed.
I carry empty. Treat it like it's loaded. I've never missed a shot opportunity because I had to cycle a gun. I've been around a couple accidental discharges in my life. Forget that! Why risk it.
One was literally he picked it up to check it and move it and it went off. I WATCHED it happen. Finger nowhere near the trigger. One hand on the forgrip the other all the way on the buttstock. About 10 inches off the table BOOM! His grandpa kept it loaded 24/7 CaUsE If ThErE AiNt OnE In ThE ChAmBeR It'S UsLeSs! But be careful kids... it's touchy apparently.
The second was when I loaded to shoot and decided not to. I grabbed the bolt to unload it. BOOM! Scared the shit out of me. Nobody believes you that you didn't touch the trigger. Butt stock on my hip. Left hand on the forgrip. Short sleeves. I replaced the trigger and bolt assembly after. They looked fine but yet again, why risk it.
One was literally he picked it up to check it and move it and it went off. I WATCHED it happen. Finger nowhere near the trigger. One hand on the forgrip the other all the way on the buttstock. About 10 inches off the table BOOM! His grandpa kept it loaded 24/7 CaUsE If ThErE AiNt OnE In ThE ChAmBeR It'S UsLeSs! But be careful kids... it's touchy apparently.
The second was when I loaded to shoot and decided not to. I grabbed the bolt to unload it. BOOM! Scared the shit out of me. Nobody believes you that you didn't touch the trigger. Butt stock on my hip. Left hand on the forgrip. Short sleeves. I replaced the trigger and bolt assembly after. They looked fine but yet again, why risk it.
Fullquiver
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2018
- Messages
- 450
Statistics please. Here in MI it's, not identifying the target, and what's beyond it, thats what the local DNR officers who were at the hunters safety classes mentioned. I don't recall a single accident that wouldn't have happened carrying without a round in the chamber, that I know of locally.
Not sure I have a fully developed opinion on this yet. Grew up in the east and was taught to always, when in the field, not a vehicle, have one in the chamber, excluding fence crossings, creek crossings, etc. I see this differently in hunting the more open terrain of the West. That said, can't understand the reasoning that some have expressed of not having one in the chamber on a rifle, but being OK with this situation with a handgun or shotgun. Not sure logic allows you to have it both ways.
AlaskaHunter
Well-known member
With shotguns, if it is down in camp the double is broken open, the pump is slide open
so at a glance anyone can see the shotgun is not loaded.
I hunt upland birds with a flushing dog and double, every time I cross a fence, I break open the shotgun first, then cross the fence, every time cross a creek, I break open the shotgun first, then cross the creek, every time I stop to talk to someone,
I talk with the shotgun broken open. Duck hunting, anytime the boat is moving the shotgun is unloaded and cased.
406dn
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2019
- Messages
- 2,266
I mentioned earlier that while bird hunting with an O/U shotgun that I generally leave the gun unloaded until approaching one of my setters on point. That generally is maybe 95%+ of the time.
Most of my bird hunting is done solo, so it's unlikely that I'd accidentally shoot anyone else. That is the reason that on rare occasion, I'll have shells in the chambers, with the safety on while hunting.
Most of my bird hunting is done solo, so it's unlikely that I'd accidentally shoot anyone else. That is the reason that on rare occasion, I'll have shells in the chambers, with the safety on while hunting.
Djfan
Well-known member
Unchambered until ready to shoot. Maybe I'm just paranoid, cut I don't trust safeties, so no round is safest. This is rifle.
For shotgun, for some reason, I guess I trust my safety, and I am chambered. Never really thought about how that is different to me before. Odd.
For shotgun, for some reason, I guess I trust my safety, and I am chambered. Never really thought about how that is different to me before. Odd.
What weapons were those? This whole discussion aside, those are defective firearms that no one should be using at all, regardless of what condition they're carried in.
