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

Well then,the Winchester safety is not that LOUD after all.

At "spitting distance" the odds will always be in my favor when they don't have time to react to the sound. Even if they can hear it. With all the Deer you have shot, you should have figured it out by now.

Is there going to be a group buy for safety silencing work?

When I was young I had deer snap to attention when I thumbed back the hammer on a .30-30. A smart buck wouldve bolted.

And then you either were taught or figured out that by putting slight pressure on the trigger (while pointing the muzzle in a safe direction) that hammer could be pulled back with nary a sound I'd bet.

You would be correct.

With all the deer I've shot I may just have seen a few things you haven't. If you think deer can't react quick enough to take things out of your favor, you sure haven't seen everything. Sometimes they're only one jump from cover that will obliterate any chance for a shot opportunity. I've seen them have time to react to the sound of bowstring "twang" quick enough to duck a 300 fps arrow from 50 ft.. That's fast.

Yes it can happen and you obviously haven't seen it all.

For the hand can be quicker than the eye or ear. Problem I see, is many think the safety take off is a separate event. It can be, but it also can be the same as shooting a shot gun. The Bird get up and the safety goes off with the mount.

It more like a quick draw contest with one obvious exception. The mind says yes, the mount is quick and the safety goes off on the way up. If the rifle fits and you have practiced not having to find the Deer in the scope; concern yourself with hitting the good stuff-which is the basketball Alaska Lanche referred to, and not a specific hair-it happens before the sound of the safety going off reaches the Deer. It's over in a second, maybe less.

In a stare done situation, you either move first or let the Deer have the advantage. In which case your odds go down. If they don't know you are there, they're pretty much screwed if you know how to play the game.

You obviously haven't seen or done it all. Don't fret most haven't.

Forgot: Thank me later.

Addition: You are partially correct in that sometimes they will win. However, that often will be because they recognized you as a threat and made their move before you recognized what you are seeing. In which case again the sound of a Model 70 safety is irrelevant.

A few hundred rounds without ear protection seems to quite a new Winchester safety immensely. Like pre-64s, I think they must break in over time.

I've shot hundreds of grouse and pheasants with a shotgun. Thousands of running rabbits, both from in front of my hounds and jumped without the dogs. I've shot running deer with rifle, shotgun and muzzleloader. I promise you don't know anything or have any skills with rifle or shotgun that I don't know or posess myself. That includes how to cock a hammer or disengage a safety on the mount. I promise you can't mount and fire on a deer that has you pegged before they can react. If they bolt on a path that allows you time for a shot no doubt you can kill them on the dead run but if they're only one jump from a dense pine thicket you are screwed. What you are essentially saying is that if I am at full draw with my compound bow 50 feet from you and I trip the trigger on my release, you can mount and fire and hit me before my arrow reaches you. Quit fantasizing and get real.

I agree with all that. I have killed a number of deer like that, and it's why getting rifle fit and scope mounting (don't start! grin) is so important.

But I can think of a few instances where things just weren't like that. That happens too. When movement and sound were at an absolute premium.

And I guess I'm still a little puzzled why, in a forum where so much other rifle loonery gets a pass, this is so damn volatile a topic? Dude wants his rifle right! His reason for wanting that is perfectly reasonable.

I'll say it again: I suspect the OP has a rifle with A REALLY LOUD SAFETY!! I think that much of this sturm und drang would be moot if we were in a room together and passing that rifle around. I suspect we'd be saying, dayum! That's loud. And I have just a hunch that most of the posters here would want to rectify same.

I tried a quick search and didn't find it but I swear to GOD about 5 years ago we had this exact freaking conversation going. I remember handling an EW in a gunshop and being really surprised how loud the safety was, mentioning it here, and getting my [bleep] jumped. It's all coming back to me now.

Now where do you get I said anything about your bow and me reacting to your trigger release. Read it again. Quit making stuff up. You do that a lot?

Now I will say, I can have a balloon in one hand and a needle in the other. The balloon will go bang before you can make any type of defensive move. Isn't much different than a quick move, mount, shoot.

I'm old, but I ain't slow on the reaction. You need to work on it.

Jeff,

The first Deer pic i posted I had blown a bleet call and he showed up. That Deer wasn't all that big and I decided to let him go. But I did take the safety off without much concern. He was looking at me and actually walked around me. I mounted the scope on him a couple times. He had other things on his mind. Finally I shot him.

The second was feeding. I caught him up ahead-didn't know what he was-but looped ahead and here he came. Decision was made and he never had the chance to even pick his head up.

With the third, he was walking up hill when I saw him. Kimber safety went off and again it was over.

The OP has every right to be concerned with how loud his safety is. However, when they are out a little way I seriously doubt it will cost him an animal. When they are close you best be quick and as mentioned not screw around. Move, release the safety with the mount and hit the trigger. You can't be screwing around finding him in the scope or worrying about hitting a specific hair. Practice on Deer you don't intend to shoot and he should discover it isn't all complicated to pull off. He also will find out that when done right, it will be rare for them to jump the safety. Along with the fact a bullet gets there much quicker than a what? 300FPS arrow. Anyone here ever hear of a Deer jumping the bullet?

Addition: Also you have to try to have a chance of success. Given a chance, letting them make the first move will more often than not be a lost opportunity. I suspect a lot of Deer have won because of hunter hesitation.

I have and could have done so this year if it was a Deer I wanted. I moved on a couple, the only thing left out was hitting the trigger. Sometimes you don't even have to be quick about it when they have the Deer in the headlights look and are trying to figure you out.

I agree. I've used some chitty safeties, the worst being a CZ452. That thing was a piece of chit. I've a 700 that dropped the pin when taking the safety off, twice, but never again. All were more than serviceable and besides the 700, could not imagine them costing me game..

The one that cracks me up is when folk need the same "platform" so they get used to a certain safety. As if pushing a lever or button is a exhausting mental exercise.

Really?

According to the Remington Zombies on this site that's not possible... even though the designer of the trigger (Mike Walker) said it's true... Se la vie...

We're zombies? Cool! I love zombies!

You know what's a good trigger on a Rem700? The new Timney Calvin Elite. It's at least as good as a Kimber trigger. I have the 1.5 lb version on my Lite. Not cheap but if you are a trigger geek it's really nice.

Edit: the Lite is the 7 WSM I built this spring.... not because it's light but because it's like a Sendero Lite. Short Zombie action, fluted Sendero-profile barrel but at 24".... and the same HS stock as a Sendero minus the gawd-awful palm swell.

Yeah, I've posted about it once or twice before. Ive heard the nay sayers. Whatever. No skin of my back.

Its yet to do it again, but that rifle doesnt get shot much.

Anyway, somebody mentiond the Enfield 17 safety. I guess if I had to pick, its one of my favorites.

Mooner, I love your .sig!

The buck I killed in Kansas last week was staring at me at 50 or so yards(might have been less I did not measure it),slightly quartering on,both of us down in the trees of a draw,me on foot. I raised the rifle and shot him with no conscious memory of slapping the (M70) safety off.

He reacted alright....he died after a short sprint.