Do you keep a round in the chamber?

[MtGomer]

http://montanauntamed.com/hunting/article_807d8510-0ed6-5c66-bc10-9e09cfa6c0da.html

Not sure if anybody posted this. This was a friend of mine’s father. A good guy and an experienced hunter. His best friend that killed him has a painful video on Facebook where he details how he accidentally shot his friend. It’s public and you can view it by looking up his name. It’s worth a watch.

Obviously whether you decide to carry hot or not is situationally dependent but I’ve found myself erring more and more on the side of not lately.

I’ll still do it when I am carrying my rifle in my hands and have full muzzle control.
Tough to still hunt wise, alert bull elk in heavy lodgepole empty.
Unnecessary to carry hot glassing for muleys in eastern MT.

 

[Cliffy12]

http://montanauntamed.com/hunting/article_807d8510-0ed6-5c66-bc10-9e09cfa6c0da.html

Not sure if anybody posted this. This was a friend of mine’s father. A good guy and an experienced hunter. His best friend that killed him has a painful video on Facebook where he details how he accidentally shot his friend. It’s public and you can view it by looking up his name. It’s worth a watch.

Obviously whether you decide to carry hot or not is situationally dependent but I’ve found myself erring more and more on the side of not lately.

I’ll still do it when I am carrying my rifle in my hands and have full muzzle control.
Tough to still hunt wise, alert bull elk in heavy lodgepole empty.
Unnecessary to carry hot glassing for muleys in eastern MT.

I used to always chamber a round once I got out of the truck and went hiking. I saw this and will never hike again with one in the chamber. Such a sad story. No animal is worth losing someone over.

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[Travis Bertrand]

This topic was started on LRH. I guess I see a lot of people I will never be hunting with. Show me a rifle that will fire on an empty chamber and I will stand corrected. I sincerely hope those who disagree never have to come tell me I was right.

That’s how 1/2 (or more) of the accidental discharges happen.

“I thought it was unloaded”


It comes down to not following firearm safety rules.
If your weapon is in a spot where your safety can be manipulated (any where not in your hands) and your trigger is uncovered (form fitted cover) , it should be unloaded or at the very least, firing pin dropped on bolt guns.

I’m around firearms a lot, not just in a hunting setting and I gotta say the hunting community is the worst with firearm safety. Let’s change that.






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[huntsman22]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1111986868962765

 

[Trr15]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1111986868962765

20 minute video and no explanation? Thanks


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[huntsman22]

Pretty much self-explanatory..... Just another example of how a hot chamber can go wrong. And kill your best friend...... slow and long-winded, but he gets the point across, if ya take the time to listen.

 

[huntsman22]

Trouble is, his example just ain't gonna change some guys way of thinking. Until it happens to them.....

 

[duchntr]

Didn't read the whole thread but what I did was surprising. Round in the chamber is situationally dependent for me. For example if I'm backpacking and the rifle is strapped to my pack, the chamber is ALWAYS empty until a target is acquired to shoot. If I'm still hunting, the rifle is loaded ready for a quick shot. Ive seen too many mistakes/lapses in judgment that could have cost others their lives. No scary story I tell you is going to change your mind on your poor firearm handling habits.

 

[MtGomer]

20 minute video and no explanation? Thanks


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This video is what I talked about and put a link to in post #128


The first half of the video covers what happened.

The guy in the video accidentally killed his best friend, Michael Drexler.
Michael is from my hometown and I graduated with his son.

 

[204guy]

Didn't read the whole thread but what I did was surprising. Round in the chamber is situationally dependent for me. For example if I'm backpacking and the rifle is strapped to my pack, the chamber is ALWAYS empty until a target is acquired to shoot. If I'm still hunting, the rifle is loaded ready for a quick shot. Ive seen too many mistakes/lapses in judgment that could have cost others their lives. No scary story I tell you is going to change your mind on your poor firearm handling habits.

Well stated and succinct.

Kinda funny, but not really. A couple guys assume that because a guy chooses to carry a cold chamber that all the basic tenants of firearm safety go to the wayside. That's laughable. It should be looked at as simply adding another layer of basic firearm safety... because it is.

 

[rodney482]

If im carrying ... then my guns are RTF!

 

[twall13]

My thoughts have changed over the years as I've seen a couple of accidental discharges, though luckily nobody was harmed. As an NRA shotgun instructor I've come to adopt their policy and three rules of guns safety.

1. ALWAYS keep the gun unloaded until you are ready to USE it.
2. ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to FIRE.
3. ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.

I feel it's important to abide by all three rather than picking one and you'll note that all three include the word always. I'll also point out that with that first rule, being ready to use a firearm is dependent on the situation. If I'm hunting upland birds with my shotgun in my hands I'm ready to use it at any moment a bird flushes. That said, if I have to cross a fence, I certainly won't be ready to use it while crossing the fence so I unload and reload after I'm past the fence, or whatever the obstacle may be. If I'm hunting elk I find it less likely that I'm ready to use it or needing to use it at a moments notice. I never have a round in the chamber if my rifle is on my pack, but in my hands it varies. I will say that I've killed two elk within 40 yards in thick timber while still hunting where I had to work the action to load a round prior to taking the shot. If you do it carefully it doesn't make any more noise than taking the safety off and hardly more time if you practice. Sure I've missed a few opportunities at quick shots on animals but I'm okay with that if I'm in rugged terrain. Those aren't typically good shots for me anyway. Yes I should ALWAYS have my muzzle pointed in a safe direction but there are times, in certain terrain/conditions when it's better to be unloaded as well. Tough to always keep things pointed in a safe direction if I'm slipping, stumbling, etc. so if the conditions warrant it, I'll be unloaded.

When teaching the shotgun shooting merit badge to youth I always drill those three rules in and then tell them when we get to the shooting portion I can guarantee someone will point a muzzle at me and it always happens. Wearing hearing protection, I say something they can't hear clearly and they turn their whole body to look at me and point the muzzle at me. That's another reason I always load the shotgun for them one round at a time in those situations so I know whether it's loaded or not. That said, I don't care if it's unloaded or not, you better not point a gun at me or we'll have a problem.

Everyone needs to be aware of how to safely handle firearms and I hope we are all teaching safe practices to the youth we take out. There is some division in this thread, but I think if we were all sitting down face to face we may be closer to agreement on the issue than many believe. If you want to walk around with a round in the chamber I think that's perfectly fine as you can consider yourself ready to use it and as long as you feel you can abide by the other two rules above as well you are safe, in my opinion. You know your capabilities better than anyone else, so do your think but be cognoscente of safety while you do it.