Do you hunt with loaded or empty chamber?

Bustercluck said:
This thread leaves me with far more questions than answers.

For you guys that hunt with one in the chamber. Do you stop and unload before you stop for a piss? Or do you just lean your rifle up against a tree and get your business done? Do you guys actually unload before walking over any uneven terrain?

I would see myself getting bored of that really quick because it would probably be several times per hour. I think I’d do that once or twice and then just stop unloading because it would get annoying. I don’t walk roads and I don’t road hunt either.
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I leave it loaded the whole time. It's on safe, finger outside of the trigger guard, pointed in a safe direction. I use the bipod if I need to piss, I avoid leaning my gun on stuff. As for uneven terrain, ya still loaded on safe, muzzle in a safe direction. Even if I'm hunting with a buddy we keep our guns loaded, on safe. At the end of the day I'll unload it before I go to sleep, or once I'm back to camp. I have a buddy I hunt with though will unload for packing out game. I get it, it's hard and maybe your focus won't always be on muzzle direction because you're fatigued, so he unloads his gun. No wrong answer in my opinion as long as you're being safe.
 
With a bolt gun, I was taught to have chambered a round and opened/uncocked the bolt slightly. No safety is on. The round is held by the extractor. The old boys did not trust the safety. Muscle memory has you closing the bolt as you mount the rifle.
 
Mtman said:
many years ago buddy's safety flicked off going thru thick bush ... having an odd six go off right behind you is very un-nerving !
thankfully not pointed at me at the time :oops:
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Walking through the bush with finger on trigger and safety on?

Or did something else activate the trigger?
 
Inside a vehicle "unloaded"...8 inches outside vehicle "loaded". And only reason it is unloaded inside a vehicle is because of the legality, otherwise I would do as thousands of cops do "go loaded".
 
HOSSONE said:
I’m actually shocked how many people hunt with their guns not loaded. Always hunted with one in the chamber and as many as I can squeeze into it. The thought actually never even crossed my mind.
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Lots of excuses and attempts at explanations towards not doing something every gun made in the last 150+ years is designed to do. Idiot hunting partners are one thing but if you think your gun will go off because it slid off a tree it was rested against or whatever other silliness you should not use that gun and go get whatever you need to repaired. Unless it's simply an inability to understand how guns work? I am with the guys that don't get it I guess. I would never, ever use a gun I don't trust. That doesn't stop other rules from being observed but when it comes down to it a loaded gun is not inherently unsafe. Some of the social engineering put out in this country wants you to think so but it isn't the case.
 
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Sadly, the PAL course starts with the four rules of firearms safety, only to totally dismantle them with an emphasis on unloading it to make safe.

The one insurance company statistic that was easily available to the public, if I recall from the seventies, some 85% of firearms accidents occurred with firearms that the user had been certain were unloaded.
 
A scenario I had this year while elk hunting. No way I would have been able to rack in a round when the time came. If I didn't have one chambered I would not have been able to take my elk.

Heard a bull bugle about 1 km or more back. Loaded up, this is a single shot #1, safety on, and headed in the general direction. I had about 1/2 hour before sunset, and then the 1 legal hr after sun set to work within. When finally near enough to where I heard the bull to be last, I crouched and let out one more call, and then opened my scope caps, dropped my shooting stick and call tube. Looked up to have an elk running in to my location. Was able to get a physical count of tines, as we are in a 6 point zone as he cleared the brush he was coming from. At about 30 ft he comes full stop as we lock eyes, and after a split second he turns to head out of dodge. I "bark" at him with my already in the mouth reed call and he stops at about 40 m and presents a shot. This happens sooooo fast in a real scenario that there is hardly time to verify your target, much less have to worry about loading up your firearm, or thinking about a hand held call.

A racking falling block, or be it a bolt action at that last moment to load a live round into the chamber would have been a different outcome for sure. According to some on here that hunt with an empty chamber, and if I understand correctly, I should have waited to that last crouched position to rack a live round into the chamber??

I guess I'll leave it at: you do you, and I'll continue to do me.

Stay safe hunting out there!
 
Depends. If I'm bushwhacking through the nasty stuff, I'll do that without one in the chamber. Same for climbing or crossing an obstacle when I might trip/slip/snag something, etc. If I'm on relatively easy terrain, or obviously if I'm sitting/standing in one spot, I'll chamber a round and just use the safety.

I've actually lost a couple of opportunities because I wasn't ready to fire, but I'd still rather be safe than sorry.
 
Empty chamber pretty much in any scenario until I want to put holes in something.

For me the math is simple. There's 0% chance of a accidental discharge on an empty chamber. One in pipe is close to zero, but not zero.
 
wallz said:
A scenario I had this year while elk hunting. No way I would have been able to rack in a round when the time came. If I didn't have one chambered I would not have been able to take my elk.

Heard a bull bugle about 1 km or more back. Loaded up, this is a single shot #1, safety on, and headed in the general direction. I had about 1/2 hour before sunset, and then the 1 legal hr after sun set to work within. When finally near enough to where I heard the bull to be last, I crouched and let out one more call, and then opened my scope caps, dropped my shooting stick and call tube. Looked up to have an elk running in to my location. Was able to get a physical count of tines, as we are in a 6 point zone as he cleared the brush he was coming from. At about 30 ft he comes full stop as we lock eyes, and after a split second he turns to head out of dodge. I "bark" at him with my already in the mouth reed call and he stops at about 40 m and presents a shot. This happens sooooo fast in a real scenario that there is hardly time to verify your target, much less have to worry about loading up your firearm, or thinking about a hand held call.

A racking falling block, or be it a bolt action at that last moment to load a live round into the chamber would have been a different outcome for sure. According to some on here that hunt with an empty chamber, and if I understand correctly, I should have waited to that last crouched position to rack a live round into the chamber??

I guess I'll leave it at: you do you, and I'll continue to do me.

Stay safe hunting out there!
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Sounds like you handled that perfectly.
 
I hunt alone or with my son's. You'd miss a lot of blacktails without one in the chamber. Soon as they hear metal sliding they're gone. We never have one in the chamber unless solo and always let each other know that the chamber is empty when we meet up.
 
fingers284 said:
Inside a vehicle "unloaded"...8 inches outside vehicle "loaded". And only reason it is unloaded inside a vehicle is because of the legality, otherwise I would do as thousands of cops do "go loaded".
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For clarity, the only thing with a round chambered in a police vehicle is the pistol. Shotguns and carbines have the magazine loaded and the action closed on an empty chamber, safety on.

Back to the OP, Anytime that I'm out of the vehicle, my firearm of choice is loaded with the safety on, until I climb a fence etc. It's been 31 years and that method has yet to let me down.
 
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