All I know is that I have seen safeties fail due to operator error, I have seen safeties fail due to mechanical error, and years of working in an ER as an RN has led me to believe that I could never, ever set my expectations for gross stupidity in humans low enough. Every time I'd thought I'd personally met the dumbest person on earth, someone who did something dumber walked, crawled, or was carried on a stretcher through the door. (Don't ask me about the guy who got shot in the testicles.....TWO DIFFERENT TIMES.....10 YEARS APART......the first time he did it to himself trying to draw a pistol while being arrested by the police in a bathroom, the second time, whoever shot him finished the job and took care of the one that was left)
Anyhow, I digress. My point is just that, as dumb as people are, even stupid people cannot fire a bolt-action rifle that has an empty tube. NOBODY can do it. Not even the guy who came into the ER with a remote control car up his ass so far it was in his transverse colon is that dumb. An empty chamber is, quite frankly, idiot proof.
And, to be quite honest, I would rather risk missing the trophy of a lifetime because I was unable to stoke my tube with a round and get off a clean shot at an animal than risk accidentally killing or maiming a hunting buddy as we walk through the woods. Accidents happen, but negligent discharges DON'T happen when the rifle has an empty chamber.....
**Disclaimer: I do hunt with a loaded chamber when I hunt from a stand. The rifle is raised up to my stand (it stays on the ground when I climb up)with a rope, and loaded, with safety engaged, when I am situated and ready to hunt. I do not hunt within sight of other hunters from my stand, and I do not identify objects with my rifle scope from my stand. That's why god gave me binoculars.**
