Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles winchester extreme weather - safety is LOUD.

Any way to fix this short of using two fingers to turn safety off?

Oil?

It must have a spring and ball detent setup. If I simply push it forward it really snaps forward and makes a loud click. It will probably get quieter over time but as it is I definitely need to use my thumb and index finger to slowly slide it forward. Not a deal breaker but on my Remington 700 I can slide my safety off silently with just my thumb.

I've played around with a Kimber Montana which uses the same/similar safety as my Win and it is way quieter.

I use two fingers on M70s when trying to be quiet. Many love these safeties. I have gotten used to them, but consider them a little "clunky."

It probably will get a little smoother over time if it's a new rifle.

Some are stiffer and make more noise to operate than others. I always just use two fingers to take them off safe. If the game is close enough you already have the rifle shouldered and can only use your thumb the noise isn't really going to matter IMO

I suggest ear plugs.

All Winchesters, and to a lesser extent Rugers with the wing type safety are harder to ease off quietly. Neither good nor bad, just a quirk with the design. I can make it work with either. If that is a design feature you just can't live with then a Winchester probably just isn't for you.

Yeah, "loud" is relative... there's not a wing safety out there that is as quiet as a 2-pos Remington-type safety.

OTOH, there's no game situation where it would make a difference. The fussyism's of this site don't generally translate into any kind of real-world difference.

I'll stick with 3-pos wing safeties...

Thank you! Voice of reason.

My beef with the Winny safety is when there's little "feel" between each position.

I actually find the noise kind of handy. Several times I've had deer inside 20 yards and the click of the safety has stopped them for the shot.

Funny how things work out in reality

Bob, you could have written that as easily as me!

Brad you did wonderfully! I'm tired of getting yelled at for hunting with a noisy safety.


What I LOVE about the SC rifles is you just punch that safety and it FLIES off! Like it's spring loaded. I love it!

It could be worse, you could get yelled at for hunting with a cold chamber too.

I've had the noise of the safety get noticed by deer numerous times, hunting blacktail in western Oregon. I'd rather they didn't, so I practiced, and on my Remington's I can kinda ride it forward more or less silently. I can't really do that on the 3-pos wing on my Kimber, but I don't hunt blacktails in the jungle with it anyway.

It pains me to do so but I gotta disagree with Brad and Bob. There are hunting situations where a noisy safety can be a liability. Who wants to make a loud metallic CLICK when trying to get a shot on a very close deer? A few BT's I've killed, I killed them because I sat completely still and silent for an eternity... you know you are doing it right when a chipmunk runs across your boot, or a bird lands on you, both of which have happened to me.... the deer are CLOSE, everything is quiet.... Artificial noises are a tangible liability in that situation. Any kind of nylon clothing rustle, creak, or of course click will get noticed. I once missed out on a shot when the Velcro on the cuff of my jacket grabbed onto the fleecy stuff my pants were made of, and made that Velcro sound when I started to raise my arm... I killed the buck anyway but it was much harder as he was now on the alert and moving away.

Now it's very true that in my elk hunting, mule deer hunting, and even blacktail hunting where you aren't right there "in it" with them, a loud safety wouldn't matter. And that probably encompasses most hunting. But not all hunting.

(The reason you have to get in so tight with them is that in some areas, that's all there IS, and/or the deer are so nocturnal that you have to ambush them between bed and food, because you'll never catch them out in the open when it's light. You might get one as he drifts slowly from his bedding area to wherever it is he's going to feed that night. So you find active trails and sit 'em, but it is so THICK, you might only be 15, 20 yards off the trail or even less. I've had multiple deer (does, non-shooters) well under 10 feet away.)

Oh jeez.....

Sorry for wasting your time with such a question.

I'll let everyone get back to whether a spiral or straight fluted bolt is better for a hunting rifle. We should probably close the custom rifle threads too because custom rifles have no material benefit over a quality factory rifle on hunting success.

Where I hunt in NY has very thick cover so shots are usually close and a deer has a real world chance of bolting at the sound of that safety.

LOL, lighten up there Francis. We're just talking here. No reason to run off mad.

I'm also not a fan of fluted bolts

BTW, if the EW's safety was such a problem for you, why'd you buy it?

I have one, there are plenty ways around a noisy safety in the presence of game... just saying.

Yep. And in the thick stuff, you might only have "a" shooting lane... if the deer takes a step forward at the noise or starts to drift off you might never get another chance.