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

[BBob]

my safety is always on, even if the chamber was empty.

Some triggers/rifles won't allow the safety to be set "on" when it is de-cocked.

 

[jjjjeremy]

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.

Same, I don't have any hunting scenarios that would make me want to carry a loaded chamber in a bolt gun.

 

[MattB]

I get that, but I can't put the safety on my bolt gun unless I have the rifle cocked. I don't put one in the chamber until the very last second, so I'd be cocking the rifle on an empty chamber for the sole purpose of engaging the safety on an empty chamber?

Unless you have a spent casing in the chamber, wouldn’t your rifle be cocked? All mine cock when I cycle out a spent round and then close the bolt.

 

[jjjjeremy]

Some triggers/rifles won't allow the safety to be set "on" when it is de-cocked.

I haven't ever used a bolt gun that allows for this. This restriction allows the user to check the condition of the rifle by hand without looking at it. Same with an AR. If I can manipulate the safety I know it's cocked.

 

[jjjjeremy]

Unless you have a spent casing in the chamber, wouldn’t your rifle be cocked? All mine cock when I cycle out a spent round and then close the bolt.

Nope. I let the firing pin down onto an empty chamber by holding the trigger when closing the bolt.

 

[Broomd]

Yikes, never carry without safety on!

 

[idelkslayer]

Do the empty chamber guys also hunt with an empty chamber when using a shotgun for upland birds?

 

[flathead#2]

I always hunt with one in the chamber. Would never get a shot at one here in the SE
if you didnt, as the ranges are often at bow range.
And yes, safety always on.

 

[jjjjeremy]

Do the empty chamber guys also hunt with an empty chamber when using a shotgun for upland birds?

No, that's a different scenario. Same as hunting with an AR, or hunting ducks in a blind, which is why I asked about bolt guns specifically.

 

[Ucsdryder]

One rifle yes, one rifle no.

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

Not true. I can see a rifle across the room that has the hammer dropped and know for a FACT that rifle is unloaded and safe (not a substitute for safe handling techniques) but a fact.

 

[jjjjeremy]

No, hardly ever for the same reasons you stated.

To add: FWIW I also de-cock when I closing the bolt.

It seems like much of the safety-on crowd aren't aware of the possibility of decocking a bolt gun.

 

[Jimmy]

There should be a special hunting unit/season for the hunters who don't use their safeties. Just let all you guys go hunt together.

 

[TaperPin]

A friend of mine in high school was killed when his .22 pistol dropped and discharged - empty chamber would have prevented that. Another friend shot himself in the leg with a .22 rifle he thought was unloaded, but he didn’t check - verifying and keeping an empty chamber would have prevented that. Just a year ago a friend had a pistol discharge while in the holster and he took a bullet - an empty chamber would have prevented that.

It’s nice to see safety minded people - and we should all be teaching our kids and young adults safe habits, AND giving them to knowledge to recognize different types of actions and how they should be safely handled. I guarantee every year teenagers take friends out plinking with grandpas 30-30 out of the 1970’s, and half of them don’t know how to safely handle it. Same for old revolvers. Same for dozens of weird safety setups on new guns.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

Unless you have a spent casing in the chamber, wouldn’t your rifle be cocked? All mine cock when I cycle out a spent round and then close the bolt.

Hold the trigger down on an empty chamber as you rotate the bolt closed ......

 

[TaperPin]

Do the empty chamber guys also hunt with an empty chamber when using a shotgun for upland birds?

If an over under shotgun is loaded, but broke open, is that safe? The safety isn’t on.

Of course we have a loaded gun in many situations, and use the safety.

 

[BBob]

Riddle me this: What gun, any gun is safer than a gun with no cartridge in its chamber???

 

[TaperPin]

There should be a special hunting unit/season for the hunters who don't use their safeties. Just let all you guys go hunt together.

I like it! It would be safer for us as well.

 

[Reburn]

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.

So you are trying to say you are safer then someone using the actual saftey?

There are a bunch of us that would say that putting your finger on the trigger and pressing it off target is a bad habit. Regardless of the intent.

 

[Renegade14]

Nope. I let the firing pin down onto an empty chamber by holding the trigger when closing the bolt.

I always do this with rifles, especially when storing the gun. just to take pressure off the spring. So my safety isn't "on" until one is chambered. Usually I'll chamber one when I'm getting close to where I think animals are going to be. Don't want to take the time and make noise chambering one if I have to be quick or quiet about the shot.

 

[IdahoBeav]

Just a year ago a friend had a pistol discharge while in the holster and he took a bullet - an empty chamber would have prevented that.

With a carry/protection pistol, you're at a huge disadvantage without a round in the chamber. A quality holster will not allow a pistol to be fired from inside and seated in the holster.