Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Anyone hate the safety on Controlled Round Feed rifles?

And some here hunt cold and still manage to kill game consistently while having to feed a round into the chamber. Think about it.

All Valid points add car doors slamming to the list

The safety on my extreme weather is as slick as any safety I have used . Still makes the usual noise though.

All would be better off by shooting quick and accurately when the opportunity presents rather than worrying about the noise a three position safety makes.

Easy fix if they think it is gritty, but unless it sticks bad it is another non issue.

If a deer looks at me because of the safety...it's too late for him anyway.

This pretty well nails it!


I have, on occasion 'eased' the safety off my Win M70...not sure if I had to or not, but it was easy to do and ended up in Bambi steaks...

I've laughed at my buddy before about this very thing. He's usually on top of things but one morning, we get out of the vehicle, gather gear very quietly and make ready to get to our stands........and he slams his door.

He knows he has messed up, winces and says "sorry" very quietly.


Locks his door.


"HONK".

I realize the safety style is mostly a simple issue of personal preference, but still I'm a fan of the Mod.70 style. Always have been and likely always will be.

Plus, it sounds much better in print.

It's easier to feel how snug a re-sized case is in your chamber with a 3-position safety in the middle position.

One thing I dislike about my Nula's is the safety. They are a short quick push and slick to the fire position and have been knocked off. Good thing is the lugs are tight with a firm grip on the bolt rise and drop and will hold it. When walking I've come to the point of having the bolt held half way up with the safety on.

See game, drop the bolt and take the safety off. It's "almost" second nature, but not quite there yet.

The safety on the M77 Hawkeye I bought in 2010 was so stiff that I would sit in front of the TV and flip it on and off to try to get it to loosen up. It never did and I bet I flipped it at least 1000 times.

Also, that safety lever was a casting, and either the top or outside of it (I forget which) had come out of the mold rough and no one bothered to grind it smooth to make it look like it had come from a modern, professional, rifle company. No more Rugers for me.

Anyway, I prefer a tang safety.

Had a couple gals I didn't work well with. Didn't give up on all of them. Just checked the next one out a little more closely.

Yeah... I hear about these "problems" but honestly have never bumped into them with M70 and other safeties,despite having killed deer and black bear at distances better measured in feet than yards.

A lot of M70 safeties will make virtually no sound at all if you guide them forward with your thumb.Some make a tiny "click". In any event it has never cost me a shot.

Why don't you come DOWN SOUTH and hunt in the Piney thickets?
Thickets are thickets..Safety's go off in FORWARD direction.


BTW - I didn't call you any name !

I didn't have to, your post says it all.

My first actual big game rifle was a Win 670 in '06. I replaced it for hunting with a tang safety rifle specifically for this reason.

On my first hunt with that rifle, on hands and knees, or belly crawling through the brush, I repeatedly found the safety disengaged. A couple of times the bolt even managed to get lifted.

I was pretty young, with a lot more energy than smarts in those days. But I was bright enough to pull the round from the chamber when I found the safety off. And I have never carried a hot rifle in the field since. Not even the #1.

Having to pull a round out of my pocket and chamber it has not cost me any meat. I don't see the problem with a "noisy safety".

I S. -

Wow, never came even close to that situation.

What can I say ? I've hunted thickets I had to crawl thru for a ways, wiggled and waggled thru briar thickets you could not just walk thru, stalked thru young pine plantations where you could not see nor shoot 20 yds, etc. still never had any safety pushed/pulled to off position because of brush or thickets.

ONCE I accidentally and unknowingly pushed a R 77 tang safety off by the web of my own hand, in OPEN hardwoods. That was MY fault.

3-position safeties have never bothered me, nor the deer.

Life just isn't that difficult.

Can honestly say, "I couldn't care less" as to how a safety works. Don't think I have ever hunted with one.

I've used Model 70 3-position safeties for years (on both CRF and push feed Winchesters) and I have never had a single problem with them coming off safe (even while hunting in very rough country) or being noisy to get them to fire position when I wanted them there.

One thing I did pick up on quickly with my first Model 70 when I was about 15 years old was that carrying a rifle loaded with the safety in the middle position was probably not a bright thing to do so I never carried one that way. As a result, the rifles have always been field carried on safety with the lever fully to the left to lock the firing pin and the bolt. Carrying the rifle that way has the safety lever laying parallel to the bolt shroud as opposed to it sticking out in the middle position which is designed primarily to allow for the cycling of cartridges with the safety still engaged. For doing that I've never crawled through thick brush to make the task more difficult, so maybe I'm missing something here. Presto! No surprises in the field ever.

I once did have a chunk of blue sky unexpectedly fall on my head (it left a mark for days ) just as I was about to cycle the safety, but I don't think that was because I did anything dumb with a rifle safety that can be moved quickly and quietly from full safety through the middle safety position to the fire position in the time it takes to blink an eye. Even on a push feed Model 70.

I agree. I am surprised noone is making an easier to use lever for them or doing a mod. I am getting better with the one I have. It is on a Hawkeye UL .223 and gets more use than some other rifles.

Gentry's safety was a great improvement to my .35 Whelen as well.