To chamber, or not to chamber? That is the question.

[Rancho Loco]

I certainly do use breech loaders and muzzleloaders. And, no I don't carry them fully cocked. I may carry them with the chamber empty (which may have bought me mule deer tag soup this year) or with the hammer on half-@#)(#, but the latter is really nothing different than hunting with a hot-chambered bolt rifle on safety.

My muzzleloaders may or may not be primed (usually it's a flintlock). Nothing is cocked until the shot is eminent. The last statement is the only absolute. The rest just depend on the situation.

I think that is the one take home I have from the frequent threads on this topic. Different people have different expectations and different circumstances. And it goes without saying that we would all rather miss an opportunity than hurt anyone else in an accident.

I spent the weekend in swamps chasing pheasants with a pair of hot chambers. Standard practice. I don't think anyone here would think twice about it. But I spent my entire mule deer hunt in Wyoming hunting with a cold chamber. In a week, I will be hunting whitetails with flintlock. For what I have planned at the moment, it will be primed when I enter the timber. I do have a place in mind where I may delay priming it, depending on the hike in, but that will be an abnormal situation for me. It will be deprimed and the flashhole plugged when I leave the timber for the day. But it will not be unloaded until it is fired or the season ends. This may or may not satisfy some. But I hunt alone for the most part.

Quick, let's all make this another topic all about Brent D.

 

[cahunter805]

You are, of course, presuming everyone uses a bolt rifle like you.

Lots of presumptions in this thread.

I hunt with a muzzleloader also! I do load powder and a bullet but only primer when I’m ready to shoot. I don’t carry it loaded as again it only takes a second or 2 to load a primer and @#)(# the hammer.
I do hunt mostly open country spot and stalk though!
If hunting with a semi auto then still no round in the chamber.

 

[mtmuley]

Quick, let's all make this another topic all about Brent D.

Made me laugh. mtmuley

 

[Deleted member 28227]

I wonder if some of those parking lot accidents are folks becoming complacent while unloading their rifles.

This is definitely what I worry about the most, especially as I'm often unloading my rifle in the dark, when I'm exhausted.

Also, as much as we like to argue about to chamber or not, long gun accidental discharges make up a tiny fraction of accidental gun injuries and/or deaths. Statically speaking the real safety issue is accidental handgun discharge in the home, I'm not arguing any course of action in particular... it's just the reality

https://www.gao.gov/assets/160/150353.pdf

 

[shaffe48]

This is definitely what I worry about the most, especially as I'm often unloading my rifle in the dark, when I'm exhausted.

Also, as much as we like to argue about to chamber or not, long gun accidental discharges make up a tiny fraction of accidental gun injuries and/or deaths. Statically speaking the real safety issue is accidental handgun discharge in the home, I'm not arguing any course of action in particular... it's just the reality

https://www.gao.gov/assets/160/150353.pdf

I don't know what it is about handguns but they seem to bring the worst even out of usually responsible gun owners.

If I was to think of the dumbest things I've ever done it was probably with handguns.

Don't know if it's the 'toy' effect or the 'i seen this on the movies' effect or what.

I broke my rule this weekend cause I slung a capped inline on the way to the blind. Oh well, I usually keep it completely safe unless it's in hand especially if I'm tromping all over which I wasn't in this case.

 

[MTGomer]

Madison County hunter killed while the group was walking with chambers loaded - http://montanauntamed.com/hunting/a...k.com/100004543871821/posts/1111992622295523/

 

[Dougfirtree]

I think this is one where it's really ok for us to not all do things the same way. Different hunting situations are...different. The idea of tracking, or still hunting whitetails in the big woods of the northeast without a round chambered is laughable. Having a round chambered while glassing for antelope on a wide open Wyoming plain seems like a really unnecessary risk. There are all sorts of individual situations in between.

 

[BrentD]

I think this is one where it's really ok for us to not all do things the same way. Different hunting situations are...different. The idea of tracking, or still hunting whitetails in the big woods of the northeast without a round chambered is laughable. Having a round chambered while glassing for antelope on a wide open Wyoming plain seems like a really unnecessary risk. There are all sorts of individual situations in between.

Yup.

 

[cahunter805]

I think this is one where it's really ok for us to not all do things the same way. Different hunting situations are...different. The idea of tracking, or still hunting whitetails in the big woods of the northeast without a round chambered is laughable. Having a round chambered while glassing for antelope on a wide open Wyoming plain seems like a really unnecessary risk. There are all sorts of individual situations in between.

How is hunting in the big woods with a loaded chamber not an unnecessary risk? But in the wide open it is?

 

[Southern Elk]

Everybody should watch the first 5 minutes of the video at the Fb link and think about how they do things.
Mike Drexler was the father of a friend. A terrible tragedy that happened to fine men on both ends of the gun.

https://www.facebook.com/100004543871821/posts/1111992622295523/

That’s a powerful video. It happened only a few miles from my house.

 

[beginnerhunter]

How is hunting in the big woods with a loaded chamber not an unnecessary risk? But in the wide open it is?

You could still hunt unloaded I guess. But still hunting is ambush hunting with gun in hand. It's not much different than sitting in a stand or on the ground. You shouldn't be talking or making sudden movements unless you are hiking to a spot. Should be very focused. It's not a rodeo. It's more like duck or upland hunting. Nobody would wait until a bird is near to load a round in the chamber.

In the wide open west you're usually not required to make a quick shot but you are often required to run with a gun in hand or take off you're pack or whatever (at least that's what I've observed, my only Western hunting trip was unsuccessful so we were unloaded the whole time lol). I guess you can still hunt in the west, just doesn't seem like anyone talks about it.

I unload when I'm about 50 yards from the truck since AR has no hunting rule within 100 feet of a road. It's a good system to keep me from forgetting while at the truck.

 

[The Hedgehog]

This thread’s really an eye opener. Scary stuff. Surprised there are not more accidents than there are.

 

[noharleyyet]

....the simplest peace of mind rote recall habit one could adopt.....8 pages.

 

[antlerradar]

Right....you never know when you're going to get into a firefight with other hunters.

My brother was very close to this once.

 

[ChrisS]

1) Yes when still hunting or tracking by myself. Of the bucks I've killed, I probably could have loaded before pulling the trigger ... but I'm hesitant to do so since shot opportunities are incredibly rare and I don't want to blow one with a touch of extra movement or a metallic click when it's dead quiet and I'm less than 100yards from a skittish buck.
2) Adirondacks

When doing our group hunts out of camp (setting out drives or watch lines) the guy in the lead keeps a round loaded. Everyone else carries unloaded. Kids always carry empty unless they're sitting on watch and they load and unload with supervision.

 

[gutshootem]

Another thing to think about are firearm designs that require you to cycle rounds through the action to empty. I wonder if some of those parking lot accidents are folks becoming complacent while unloading their rifles.

This is something people don't think about. I've seen a decent number of negligent discharges over the years. More often than not, it occurred when the shooter was manipulating the action in some way, or the old "I thought it was unloaded excuse". I bet if I searched back through the threads here, I'd find stories of more than one person trying to take a shot on game and realizing that they forgot to chamber a round. That lapse or forgetfulness works both ways, it just doesn't make it up here when someone miraculously finds a loaded round in a chamber that they thought was empty. I guess my point is that loading and unloading during and after moments of super high stress is something I'd rather avoid.

 

[Grundy53]

Yes
PNW

 

[Grundy53]

This thread’s really an eye opener. Scary stuff. Surprised there are not more accidents than there are.

You are probably way more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a vehicular accident on your way to your hunting spot. Yet you still drive there don't you?

 

[The Hedgehog]

You’re right. There may be even more dumb mf drivers than there are total hunters. But still, this thread proves a revelation of hunter safety stupidity.

 

[thecrittergitter]

Super sad story for Jay and families. Been a while since I've been able to jump on here but going to throw my 2 cents in. I USED to hunt with one in the chamber when I was younger, maybe a little naïve about potential accidents, maybe because I didn't have any near misses. However, more the last 10 years, and mostly the last 5 or 6 when my kids and others kids are hunting with me, there is no bending the rule when hunting with me. There are NO loaded chambers until we are ready to shoot, and since for the most part, I spend almost no time on the gun anymore as I'm typically watching my kids shoot or friends kids shoot, we are only taking shots that are good setups and not hurried. We had a great learning lesson this year with my boy as we were hunting Thanksgiving morning and my son slipped and slammed into the mountainside and as I turned around to see if he was ok, I noticed his rifle was pointing straight at me......all out of his control as he was lucky to even keep the rifle near him on the fall. It was a perfect learning lesson as to why we do things the way we do. I explained to him right at that very moment that this is the exact reason we just don't take the risk. Had there been one in the chamber, and the impact would have caused a discharge, that bullet may have gone right through my back. As a few have said that they can't recall ever not being able to chamber a round fast enough to lose an animal, I'm still not convinced that even if it cost me an animal that it would change my mind...……….it most certainly wont when I have kids along. Kids learn from your example, if you tell them something 100 times but you do something different than what you preach, then they are still going to think its ok because you did it. No animal is worth going through the tragedies that some have faced.