Hunting camp loaded rifle at night

I was working in Arizona. A bunch (like 20) of drunken weekend cowboys came up to the remote, deserted mining property one weekend to party, camp and shoot.

Full auto SMG's, 2-3 handguns in holsters each plus long guns. And staggering drunk no less.

I went down, had a chat with them about me working in the area, shot some of their targets with my SKS and left. Just in case I reloaded my rifle, left the bolt locked open and drove off into the desert to work.

When I got back to the highway, I pulled my rifle from behind the bench seat to unload it and found that the action had closed by ITSELF and chambered a round while I was driving on those rough desert roads :shock:

I learned a valuable lesson that day and got away with a mistake without serious consequences. :oops:

EMPTY CHAMBER, ACTION CLOSED.
 
geologist said:
(a) deserted mining property one weekend to party, camp and shoot.

Full auto SMG's, 2-3 handguns in holsters each plus long guns...
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I'm gettin' a semi... :lol:

But, you're absolutely right, geo, empty chamber and action closed when driving. In fact, if you know Canadian regs, you need to do better than that... :wink:
 
Terrence

If you'd seen those drunks firing full auto SMG's way back in the bush in the Arizona desert when you're by yourself. :shock:

I decided to "bend" the rules for that day.
 
geologist said:
I was working in Arizona. A bunch (like 20) of drunken weekend cowboys came up to the remote, deserted mining property one weekend to party, camp and shoot.

Full auto SMG's, 2-3 handguns in holsters each plus long guns. And staggering drunk no less.

I went down, had a chat with them about me working in the area, shot some of their targets with my SKS and left. Just in case I reloaded my rifle, left the bolt locked open and drove off into the desert to work.

When I got back to the highway, I pulled my rifle from behind the bench seat to unload it and found that the action had closed by ITSELF and chambered a round while I was driving on those rough desert roads :shock:

I learned a valuable lesson that day and got away with a mistake without serious consequences. :oops:

EMPTY CHAMBER, ACTION CLOSED.
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I'm not surprised. Many semi's that have a bolt stop (like a Mini 14 for instance) will release the bolt if you drop it down on the ground on it's butt.
 
I have only shoot one bear in camp and he was inside my tent at the time. Since then my camp gun is stored safely ,loaded one in the chamber and safty on and everyone knows it is loaded.
There is a couple of lines in the fire arms act that says something to the effect that if you are in a "wilderness setting" no locks are required and fire arm can be stored loaded and unattended. I,m sure some one here can find the section.
 
Freddy

Glad you survived the unwanted visitor in your tent.

Were you inside the tent when the bear came in?

I always have a knife on me when I'm in a tent. Never know when you might need to make a new exit pronto.

A prospector I knew was in a burning canvas wall tent and only got out because he had a knife with him.

You are correct that the federal regs allow for loaded guns in camp in wilderness settings.
 
Well I have no friends and if I am out hunting there will be a round in the chamber,and the rifle on half ####!!!

After all I am out hunting!!! If you jump on my tent then you might get shot!!!

Even on half #### my rifle still needs a finger (and a thumb)to set it off!!

Maybe bears and other critters know about hunters problems with charged weapons!!!

With out a round in the chamber the rifle is just a club with great potential!

I guess if I had to hunt with a group I could stack my rifle,but my blackhawk would be beside me(six loaded)!

I have this strange feeling that a gun without bullets is a car without gas!

Hell I am sure one must have rules(in a hunting camp)just I think there must be exceptions!!

I am a very very dangerous man(I keep mine ready)!

Bob :roll:
 
I think if a hunting camp where where a bunch of guys get together with firearms, orange blaze togs, and whiskey, for the purposes of tall stories, mucho macho posturing and general B.S.'ing, then probably best take your chances with the bear. I've seen a fair lot of plain tom foolishness when whiskey and guns get together. But, if hunting camp is where a couple of hunters cook eat and sleep, while looking to shoot a game anumial or two, then sensible bear precautions just make an incredible safe sport a wee bit safer. Of course, once you get beyond sight and sound of the freeway, and beyond 911 cell-phone contact, booze generally increases the odds of you failing to return anyway. Drunks in hunting boats, drunks with axes, drunks faling over cliffs, impaling themselves on tent pegs, wandering off and getting lost, becoming disoriented through dehydration, are just a few of the ways 'hunters' get into trouble every year.

Now, I got nothing against a guy tieing one on in the bush. Not really got anything against a guy tripping off a round into a fellow drinking hunter's vitals, as long as they both understand the dangers when they tipple in the woods with guns. (Trying to protect us all from our own and each other's stupidity is not a proper role for either the government or society at large.) But if you do, don't crap on those of us who soberly trust ourselves to not shoot each other or ourselves while preparing for a much less lilely danger from a large predator.
 
I keep a mag full in camp especialy in higher risk bear areas and when guiding , not "loaded" but work the action and she sure as hell is , I look at it as if you didnt have time to work the bolt/lever/pump you probably didnt have time to shoot it either :wink:



and why is it all hunting must be complimented by drunks ykkid ? :roll:
 
Loaded, one up the spout, safety on, and placed in a proper and secure spot.

Which, come to think of it, is how our firearms were kept when detailed out of the main base in Yugo.

None of us shot ourselves or each other over there doing that, and I don't expect it to ever happen in a hunting camp.

Perhaps that's because I will never share a hunting camp with drunks, idiots, or anyone else I don't consider safe. If they can't safely maintain a loaded firearm in camp, they sure as hell aren't going to be trusted to safely handle one with the adrenelin jacked up because a big bull elk is crashing through the brush towards us.

Firearms loaded, unloaded, bows only, or whatever... I don't go out in the bush with people I don't trust. The ones I do go out with tend to have the same views on companions and safety.
 
Perhaps that's because I will never share a hunting camp with drunks, idiots, or anyone else I don't consider safe. If they can't safely maintain a loaded firearm in camp, they sure as hell aren't going to be trusted to safely handle one with the adrenelin jacked up because a big bull elk is crashing through the brush towards us.
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Now thats some good advice 8)
 
A lot of mining camps in the old days kept a LE no.5 JC as the camp rifle.

SOP was to store the rifle in the office tent with the action open, magazine loaded and detached on a shelf beside the JC.

In those days the heavier CIL or Dominion ammo was available 200 or 220gr. Haven't seen heavy .303 ammo like that for a while.
 
bone-collector said:
I keep a mag full in camp especialy in higher risk bear areas and when guiding , not "loaded" but work the action and she sure as hell is , I look at it as if you didnt have time to work the bolt/lever/pump you probably didnt have time to shoot it either :wink:



and why is it all hunting must be complimented by drunks ykkid ? :roll:
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I agree there is hunting time and drinking time,and just like driveing they should not be done at the same time!!!!!!

I also agree with if you don't have time to lever it or pump it you probably don't have time to #### the hammer!!!

I guess even as hard as you try you might end up as Bear scat or shot by a fellow hunter!!!!

Bob :eek:
 
I take my family (wife and kids) into the remote wilderness (Crown land, northern Ontario) for a week each summer. We sleep in tents. Lots of bear sign (dark poop full of berry seeds, ripped open rotten logs) and two years ago we had a whopping big Cougar 200 yards from our camp. Like I said, we sleep in tents. Tents can give you a false sense of security, especially for bears. If a bear decides to check out the contents of your tent at 2:00 am when you are sleeping in it, and your kids are in a tent 10 feet away, that is not the time to start hunting around in the dark for your ammo, the key to unlock your gun, feeding ammo into it, all the while trying to get the dadgummed 250 pound bear off your chest. Before I go to sleep, I feed cartridges into the tubular magazine of my gun. Depending upon how many bears are in the area, I'll either leave the chamber empty or lever in a round but uncock the gun. The gun lays beside me when I sleep, in a position that meets my hand when I move it out of the sleeping bag.

In the remote wilderness, there is no 911, no conservation officer to sit in your camp and keep the bears away, and if you are the husband or dad, chances are you are 'it' (the one who is responsible for the protection of your family). After more than a decade of wilderness camping, I got a little complacent and started sleeping with an unloaded rifle still with the cable lock on. Then one overcast, pitch dark night bedlam broke out in our camp. Not only did we have the kids with us, we had brought two other families with us and none of them were armed. I will never forget feverishly fumbling around in my knapsack for the key to unlock my cable lock wrapped around my gun, then more fumbling to find my ammo and stuff it into the gun, find my headlamp, stick it on my head, etc. Fortunately, it turned out to be just a family of 4 or 5 Racoons. I was able to shoo them away, but it was a good lesson. In the pitch dark, with possibly only seconds to take care of a bad situation, you do not want to be feverishly trying to find your ammo and stuffing it into your gun, .... especially if a bear is ripping your tent open 12" from your face.

Now some people might point out that I've been taking my family into the bush for nigh onto 20 years now and never actually had a bear attack. True .... but only a fool thinks all bears are the same, thereby taking risks with the lives of the people he has the responsibility to protect. Others say that by heading into the wilderness I'm intruding into the bears' territory, so I should stay home. While I'm sorry. That wilderness is at least as much mine to enjoy as it is the bears. I won't be bothering the bears or cougars as long as they don't bother me. But I will sleep with a loaded gun beside me in the bush when all that separates my wife, my children and me from a rogue bear is .010" of nylon fabric.
 
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Well better late than never!

boonerbuck said:
In all seriousness though, there never be a loaded gun in my camp unless there is actually a bear/cat in sight and I'm holding the fire arm. Too many accidents have happened with fire arms left loaded. Its kind of an oxy moron. Leave a loaded fire arm around for safety. :roll:
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The idea that
"Too many accidents have happened with fire arms left loaded. Its kind of an oxy moron. Leave a loaded fire arm around for safety"
is just total BUNK as far as I'm concerned. More accidents are caused by "unloaded" firearms! Used to be all rifles were kept loaded, the old saying was an unloaded rifle is just a stick. A famous man once said keep all firearms loaded & treated as such, it's always the unloaded one that causes an accident. Old days a loaded rifle was kept hanging over the door in case of need for either protection, varmint control or meat for the cold house. Kids were used to guns & never had the urge kids do now to play with them.

As suggested by another poster, if you can't trust a guy your hunting with with a loaded gun you shouldn't be hunting with him.
 
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