Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Chambered round when hunting?

Say, while I debate this 1A thing with myself, I read Boddingtons' chapter on the single shots. While he likes them a lot, he never hunts with one with a round in the chamber. He only slips in a round if a shot situation is imminent.
I can see it on a horse and in the scabbard but I was a little surprised that he was so adamant. Safety is first of course but it was like he didn't trust the safety.
Is this the proper way to hunt with a single shot?

It's the smartest way to prevent a possible imminent catastrophy....

Pretty much the proper way to hunt with anything!!!!!!

Ross Seyfried wrote somewhat otherwise in an article; not sure whether it was on the Ruger #1 or SS rifles in general. I do not recall all the details, but I remember agreeing more with Seyfried than Boddington on much of it, thinking Boddington just a little too cautious. But then, I am biased because I carry firearms a lot more while hunting bad guys than while hunting four-legged critters, so I have gotten comfortable with moving with a round chambered, thumb on safety, finger AWAY from trigger. (And, no, I do not use a #1 for "social" purposes.)

Biz:

Haven't read Boddington's article, but I wonder if he hunts birds with an empty chamber in his shotgun.

- TJM

While a slightly different critter, most of my hunting is with an Encore. I always have a round in the chamber, hammer down of course. Usually, I am holding the rifle in such a way as to cover the hammer so that, though difficult to do it doesn't get accidentally cocked. This also allows me to cock for a shot quickly.

I don't know how you could hunt the thick forests I hunt with an unloaded rifle and expect to ever get anything.

Is it not fair to say that Boddington is stalking game with a PH? Not quit the same situation as most of us are in while hunting.

Personally, I've always felt the most unsafe design to hunt with a round cambered is a bolt action, it's always cocked when the action is closed. Give me a good exposed hammer single shot that's made for ''safe'' with hammer down... what could be simpler?

Certainly everyone has their threshold of what safety is. It is the most important aspect of a hunt. I guess it depends on what mode your in. If you anticipate seeing game, you should be loaded and in the ready position. But if your hiking around and its on your shoulder or in a scabbard on your backpack then it should be unloaded. I guess ammo availability is the key with this type of rifle. With my bolt actions, there are rounds in the magazine but the chamber is empty.

If your hunting from a treestand, I'd think you would be ok to have a round ready. Down here in Georgia if you want to get a shoot off most of the time you would only have time to either take the safty off or cock the hammer before the deer was gone.

More accidents have occured with "emptied" bolt and semi-autos than will ever happen with a single shot! All you need is safety and trigger control with a single shot. Simple and safe.

I put one in the chamber and set the safety when I leave the truck and actively start hunting and only remove it when the hunting light is no longer lit, or when crossing a fence or other really difficult terrain.

Besides, you'll have a hard enough time slipping the safety off quietly with a #1, much less dropping one in the chamber and locking up the action before game bolts!

Boddington's advice is akin to the TV hunting guides' booming stage whispers in the sport's ear when he is deciding whether or not to take a trophy. Works for staged shots, not practical hunting.

1B

I have to go along with 1B. Work the action on either a Ruger #1 or Browning B-78 (I'll have to assume the same holds true on the Browning B-85.) and listen to the clackety-clack. That's spook even the dumbest deer, elk, or whatever you're hunting right quick like.
I would agree that not having a loaded chamber while the rifle is in a scabbard while on horseback is a good idea, but I've never figured out a way to keep that noise level down when finally loading the rifle. Slipping off the safety on some #1s is also a noisy proposition, but that is more easily remedied.
I've been hunting with Ruger #1s since 1975, and I make it a point that when the chamber is loaded that I am aware of where that muzzle is pointed at all times ansd my finger is along side the gun and not on the trigger until I plan to take the shot. Before some one makes a comment, I treat all firearms in that manner. I use the safety, but I do not trust it and handle the rifle accordingly. Again, that goes for any safety on any firearm. The Ruger #1 is just as safe as any other firearm when used resposibly and in a safety conscious manner.
Paul B.

I learned a trick to quietly unset the safety on Ruger #1s.

Press down on the safety and slide it slowly forward into the fire position. It makes a lot of difference on most of mine. Not exactly dead quiet, but not the loud 'snick' that turns the deer's after-burner on.

Good luck,
1B

I do hunt with a round in my contender.....although I must confess that once while posting on a deer drive I saw a few deer filing in.... one had horns....pulled back the hammer.....the buck never presented a good shot.....the deer moved on.

Forgot to release the hammer....the drivers showed up.....we all walked back to the trucks.....when I got there and went to unload I realized I had carried the gun the whole way back with hammer cocked.

Nobody else knew.....but it scared me quite a bit.....I'm much more conscious of it now when using a single.

Although no different than having any type of safety in a unsafe position there is something visibly more disturbing about a Hammer poised over a firing pin.....it comes from watching movies I think.

You're an honest guy Coldshot. I think most of us once (or twice) in our lives have had simular experiences like yours. We just keep them to ourselves <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.

Back to the question of loaded chamber or unloaded chamber. If you're hunting in the brush or the North West forrest, there is no way you can pull that off with an empty chambered single shot. Not if you seriously expect to score.

Oh brother, does Boddington keep the round in his pocket or hold it between his teeth? I chamber a round as soon as I leave the truck, in both my Ruger #1s and my T/C Encore rifles, in fact the same goes for my Marlin 444, only difference is the Marlin gets 5 more up the tube... .

--Ken

hey Hammerspur

I am with you I love the exposed hammer. I can see with a quickglance if the rifle is ready to fire also of the simplicity of it all. I do not load until I am ready to shoot. I like the NEF handi's for this reason. When I set the hammer for a shot it is silent and the rifle is very light to carry. I tend to get alot of marks on my guns just like I slob and get dirty when I dress in good clothes. Mt rem 870 looks like it is 100 years old dropped in the grand and raison rivers fished out and ready for action. I have a 1B and I shoot it but its my pet or Barbie doll I use my beaters in the field.
Bearbeater

There was a long and heated thread on hunting with a round in the chamber a while back. The general consensus seemed to be that the Alaska and NW guys hunt with an empty chamber, the Eastern and Southerners among us generally have a round chambered. Personally, my father taught me that every gun was loaded, and I must always be very careful where I pointed it. I hunt with a round in the chamber except when climbing in or out of a stand, whatever the weapon is.

Also I understand that guides and ph's usually require there clients to carry with an empty chamber and only load when told, that is a policy I can certainly understand and respect.

I wonder what, if any, conceivable use there is for an unloaded rifle is?

Kinda purty to look at, but useless. Reminds me of when I was a LEO. They hired a non-police type to be like an executive officer. She was about 4'10" tall, and they made her a police officer. I doubt she ever carried a gun, but she was asked one time if the officers on her force carried a loaded round in the chamber, and she said, "You mean the police officers carry loaded guns? I'll have to check into that." <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />