Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Another Good Reason Never To Carry With Empty Chamber

I cannot and will not, I simply don't believe the time will be afforded to fu-k around trying to chamber a round, would be glad to at least have notice to get mine pulled.

I guess i am one of the odd ones, and should be prepared to take flack for it. But it depends on the gun and how it is handled as to round in chamber. Mostly i carry a glock, and if it's got a round in chamber, it's got a holster around it.
now sometimes no holster, sitting on my seat in the car etc.
and i for sure am not going to risk shooting off what little God gave me by carrying it behind my belt with a round in chamber but no holster.
But i tend to rely on threat percieved. The higher it goes the more likely it is to have one in the pipeline.
But i am still grumbling about ruger needing to put in a transfer bar safety on their wheel guns, or marlin that stupid cross bolt safety. Both if you pull the hammer back a little, will lock off the firing pin.

Don't see any other way to carry a 1911 other than cocked and locked.

I am curious, do those that carry a round in the chamber of their handgun also carry one in their deer rifle while walking to their hunting area? It has been a long time since I lived out West, but they used to cuss us Easterners for having the rifle loaded while walking. Our reasoning was the same as what you are using to justify keeping the handgun loaded: you can't predict when you will need the firearm so it is best to be ready. Logic did not diminish the emotion the subject caused, however.

Empty chamber in a hunting rifle.

Those that think they can hunt steep, brushy and wet terrain and have 100% control of their muzzle and never have brush sweep a safety or get into a trigger guard have never hunted that terrain.

I've missed a shot at a deer due to not having enough time to chamber a round and get the scope covers off. I've also had ground give way which caused me to go ass over tea kettle and while I'm not positive that my muzzle swept my son, I really can't say where the muzzle was pointing while I was going for a ride.

So with the two options of not killing a game animal, or killing a family member or friend, I'll take the un punched tag every time.

Paraphrasing 2lt2qt statement years back, "The funny thing is the guys that I'd trust to carry with a hot chamber carry with a cold chamber, and the guys that can't seem to control their muzzle are the ones that insist on a hot chamber"

I just don't see the comparison or how this is even relevant. In one instance your life depends on your ability to rapidly employ your weapon. In the other instance you're hunting for the joy of hunting, and the consequences of not having a chambered round is just that you miss out on a trophy. The two just don't compare.

i have lived in the west all my life and carried many rifles, none with a round in the chamber unless i am right at the point of firing.
Never found that to be a hindrance.

you make me think of the day i slipped coming down a hill with a brand new rifle on shale rock, and sat down right in the middle of a patch of prickley pear cactus. Didn't scratch the rifle tho.

I have slipped and fell with my rifle or my shotgun numerous times. I always have a hot chamber on my deer rifle. I walk many different types of fields hunting Upland Birds. Never had a problem in 50 years. That being said I never walk without a safety on. Now That's asking for trouble. This has nothing to do with the subject the thread started out with, but we have digressed, so I'm just sayin...

Your holstered handgun would have swept him as well. Holsters won't stop bullets. I have been covered many times by people with loaded handguns who sit, bend, or turn around near me. It is the same thing.

If you want to be safe, never carry a round in the chamber of any weapon, especially handguns. There is an obvious double standard at work here, think about it.

Nope, a pretty simple standard really.

Life or death situation, carry hot. Non life or death situation, carry cold.

This hot vs cold chamber debate for hunting seems like an East vs West thing. I've shot probably 50 deer in my life hunting in the thick woods of the Adirondacks and the hardwood lots of the Catskills and surrounds. If I had hunted with a cold chamber I would have shot maybe 5 deer total. We don't spot deer hundreds of yards away and stalk here. We stand hunt, or, still hunt, carefully and quietly moving thru the woods and will be shooting most of our deer at ranges of 50 yards or under. Ever try to chamber a round with a deer at less than 50 yards? All you will be seeing is tails. The only ND I ever witnessed, in my 46 years of hunting, was when my Uncle's thumb slipped off the hammer while lowering it on his Marlin 336 on a very cold morning. Since he had good muzzle control, pointed at the ground, no one was injured. This is why I actually like the lever guns with a cross bolt or other additional safety. Aesthetics be damned. Also, how the hell would one hunt ducks or upland birds with a cold chamber. Try that on a grouse flush. You might as well stay home and watch the Outdoor channel all day. When I hunted Moose in Newfoundland with a guide, which was mostly spot and stalk, I carried with a cold chamber, for the guide's safety. I will also unload the chamber when crossing streams, fences, or traversing steep terrain. Other than that, my chamber is hot and my muzzle in control and pointed in a safe direction.

Now the idea of maybe having someone with a pocket pistol in their pants sitting across from me with a hot chamber and a flimsy pocket holster would give me some concern. You have a lot more people around, the muzzle is not under control and you can be swept by it and not ever know it. I just bought a pocket pistol and have a kydex pocket holster that isolates the trigger completely. I am comfortable with that.

It could be because you are right.

Steelhead did a great job of changing my mind about hunting with a live chamber several years ago. The big difference is missing a shot at a deer will not get you or your family killed. I carry live, I deer hunt empty chamber. Apples and oranges.

Spot on.

Obtuse

so you fellas that don't carry a round on your rifles, don't carry your shotguns loaded when bird hunting either right?

The part of the world where I hunt is heavy timber on mountain sides with basalt outcroppings and shale slides all covered by berry bushes and devil’s club. Nasty country, easy to end up on your ass or worse. It is also interesting to note I have never shot at a running deer. So, there are a lot more reasons to hunt with an empty chamber.

However, when I am on a coyote or a cougar stand and calling I will be sitting somewhere safe and I would have no problem loading a round while I sit and call. Get up to move and it is back to an empty chamber.

Were I in a blind duck hunting I would be using a loaded shotgun. I cannot say what I might do in a deer bling as I have never in my 67 years hunted anything but ducke out of a stand or a blind.

Situations change as the hunting changes. There does not have to be one set rule that covers every kind of hunting.

An example, I was hunting bear behing hounds. They treed a bear across a little gully. We walked five hours down that little gully and back up the other side and damned near everything we touched would make you hurt. Five hours through hell on earth to go about 3/4 of a mile. It took nine hours to get the dressed bear back out. It was dark morning when we started and black as pitch when we got back to the truck. It took a full month for my hands to heal from the berry vines and devil's club infected thorns. I carried cold chamber both ways.

so what would you do hunting pheasants in a crop or crp field

Depends what I was using. pump could go either way, Double, by fat my first choice would most likely be hot. However, I there is a slim to no chance I will ever pheasant hunt or bird hunt of any kind.

I no longer even own a suitable shotgun and have no plans to get one.