Do you actually use the safety in a bolt rifle? I don't.

[KHNC]

No such thing as a accidental discharge, imo.

Nope, all ND's!!

 

[Walkstoomuch]

Safety on 100% of the time. If I’m solo and still hunting/sneaking into close position I’ll have one in the chamber. The rest of the time empty chamber and safety on. When bird hunting with others I carry with my over under broken open. It only takes one

 

[Jason Snyder]

Concealed carry or while hiking with your bolt gun?

Bolt gun.

Concealed carry is loaded and in a holster, on my person.

 

[Ucsdryder]

There was a discussion on here a while back about a dropped hammer on an empty chamber or a cocked hammer and a safety on. Good arguments were made for both. No safety wasn’t discussed for obvious reasons. I like to drop them hammer so I can verify the gun is safe, but dropping the hammer can lead to a ND if someone gets complacent.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Does your safety lock the bolt closed? I could see the utility in doing this if you have the option to have the safety on, but still operate the bolt.

One rifle yes, one rifle no.

There is no need nor benefit to dropping a hammer after you unload.

 

[KHNC]

Who walks around with the safety on and pulls the trigger every so often to make sure the safety is working?

 

[KHNC]

I am very disappointed in the meme gods on this thread. BHD reference should be a given at this point.

 

[IdahoBeav]

Who walks around with the safety on and pulls the trigger every so often to make sure the safety is working?

 

[MallardSX2]

Wow. What a thread. lol

 

[intunegp]

To the hammer drop guys, ever seen a slam fire because somebody thought they got that last round out and shut the bolt with their finger on the trigger? I have. Ever set up a shot in the heat of the moment only to squeeze and hear the "click" of an empty chamber? Done that too.

To the safety guys, ever picked up your rifle that you ALWAYS unload when you get to the truck and found a full magazine? You guessed it, I have. I'd also bet we've all squeezed and squeezed and squeezed just waiting for the boom that never comes when the safety is accidentally left on.

No matter your philosophy on keeping the gun safe, you are solely responsible for safe gun handling at all times. Mistakes can happen no matter what methods you use, both the kind that save a life you're trying to take, and take a life you never intended to.

 

[cornfedkiller]

Guess you never learned the simple hold the trigger back as you are lowering the bolt? Doing that you're not dry firing, the cocking piece simply follows the cocking ramp down as you close the bolt.

Nope, never learned that! Thank you for the info.

What is the purpose? Safety or it's better for the gun?

 

[Tjdeerslayer37]

Nope, never learned that! Thank you for the info.

What is the purpose? Safety or it's better for the gun?

I was today years old when i learned this too

 

[BBob]

What is the purpose? Safety or it's better for the gun?

No real idea??? I suppose you could say it's less stress on the gun but if dry firing doesn't do it any harm??? Quieter???

 

[Jethro]

Nope, never learned that! Thank you for the info.

What is the purpose? Safety or it's better for the gun?

There was a thread not long ago about this also. Lots saying it does nothing to preserve firing pin spring and many considered it to be a major safety issue (pulling trigger when not intending to shoot).

That said, I do it. Hold trigger and close bolt. Every one of my bolt guns in my cabinet is that way right now.

 

[BadDogPSD]

Yes, I use the safety.

 

[TaperPin]

You're creating a bad habit that will eventually lead to a problem when you chamber one and forget in the heat of the moment situation. svivian

Always. It creates good habits, whether the gun is loaded or not. Jmoore

These 2 guys are 100% spot on.

Honestly as a moderator I had thought of deleting this thread because safety is not negotiable or debatable.

The best safety you have is your brain and you must train your brain-part of that training is to use every possible safety mechanism at your disposable. This must be adhered even at the cost of not getting a shot off on an animal.

There are too many accidents caused by lapses in judgment or by folks that thought they were smarter than the rifle manufactures.

Is letting the hammer down on an empty revolver cylinder unsafe? That is the safety on old revolvers. I fail to see how it’s different with a hunting rifle. For an old lever gun we had a half cock or empty chamber and nobody trusts a half cock notch. Empty chambers were the standard, and are the standard with those guns.

Clean chamber, uncocked is much safer than a loaded round, some home mechanic trigger pull adjustment, and a bolt/safety that’s never been cleaned and has a chance of discharging as the safety is released. It’s hugely more difficult for a rifle to somehow rack it’s own bolt and discharge, over a rifle that’s always loaded and the shooter out of some bad habit has the potential to flip off the safety unintentionally.

I have been thinking far back to where I first started doing this and my first memory of it was prairie dog hunting with some young teenage friends and a few older adults. The adults were adamant that we have an empty chamber - and at a glance they could tell if the cocking piece was down on all our rifles. That makes sense to me.

 

[jjjjeremy]

There was a thread not long ago about this also. Lots saying it does nothing to preserve firing pin spring and many considered it to be a major safety issue (pulling trigger when not intending to shoot).

That said, I do it. Hold trigger and close bolt. Every one of my bolt guns in my cabinet is that way right now.

This is what I do, to. If I'm walking around with the rifle cocked all the time on an empty chamber, the cocking indicator doesn't mean anything to me. Only cocking the rifle when there's a round in the chamber functions nearly like a loaded chamber indicator on a pistol. Uncocked doesn't 100% mean it's an unloaded chamber, but a cocked bolt means you're hot.

 

[deertrout]

Unless I'm on a target and getting read to pull the trigger, my safety is always on, even if the chamber was empty. I was taught to always assume every gun is loaded, so that's what I do, even when I know it's not.

 

[Jimmy]

I know a guy who did the same thing in bed. He has 12 kids now.

 

[saskhunter]

The safety is there, I use it.