Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Idiot post of the year

I added the bold. There you have it, no safety can fail and all rifles are perfectly fine with the safety on.

Well, I feel safer now, knowin' that.......

Never argue wuth a fool. They'll take you down to their level and beat you with years of experience.

The best safety is the one between your ears, and I hope I am a long way from whoever thinks that the best safety is the one on any modern fireamr!

Actually, I think it just took over from the quote "gunsmith" beotching about a PacNor barrel as the number one idiot post in the 4 years I've been on here...

I'm with Steely on this one!

All I know is that I have seen safeties fail due to operator error, I have seen safeties fail due to mechanical error, and years of working in an ER as an RN has led me to believe that I could never, ever set my expectations for gross stupidity in humans low enough. Every time I'd thought I'd personally met the dumbest person on earth, someone who did something dumber walked, crawled, or was carried on a stretcher through the door. (Don't ask me about the guy who got shot in the testicles.....TWO DIFFERENT TIMES.....10 YEARS APART......the first time he did it to himself trying to draw a pistol while being arrested by the police in a bathroom, the second time, whoever shot him finished the job and took care of the one that was left)

Anyhow, I digress. My point is just that, as dumb as people are, even stupid people cannot fire a bolt-action rifle that has an empty tube. NOBODY can do it. Not even the guy who came into the ER with a remote control car up his ass so far it was in his transverse colon is that dumb. An empty chamber is, quite frankly, idiot proof.

And, to be quite honest, I would rather risk missing the trophy of a lifetime because I was unable to stoke my tube with a round and get off a clean shot at an animal than risk accidentally killing or maiming a hunting buddy as we walk through the woods. Accidents happen, but negligent discharges DON'T happen when the rifle has an empty chamber.....



**Disclaimer: I do hunt with a loaded chamber when I hunt from a stand. The rifle is raised up to my stand (it stays on the ground when I climb up)with a rope, and loaded, with safety engaged, when I am situated and ready to hunt. I do not hunt within sight of other hunters from my stand, and I do not identify objects with my rifle scope from my stand. That's why god gave me binoculars.**

A number of years back I was elk hunting with three other guys for a week.

On the last day of the hunt one of the guuys informed us his safety didn't work. He then informed us he had been hunting all week with a loaded chamber but it was OK because he kept his finger off the trigger.

Its a good thing he told us at the end of the day when I was too tired to beat the crap out of him.

Never hunted with him again (or the other guys, either).

It's mechanical........nothing mechanical is foolproof or failproof.

What more can I say?

MM

Steely: I will differ with you on one point. "A safety can indeed fail." We have a couple of loaners that we use in our hunter safety programs to illustrate that fact. Proper muzzle control may allow a firearm discharge, but no one will ever be injured. That being, load up and go hunting.

I agree, it's Jeff that said they couldn't fail. I was being sarcasitc with my statement.

Steelhead: Sorry, but back again. Brings to mind one of Corbet's tiger hunting stories in India. He stalked to within about 5 yards of a sleeping man-eater. He was afraid to let the safety down, so aimed, applied trigger pressure, and dropped it down. Tiger died.

I do agree that there are close order hunts where one would likely not have opportunity to chamber a round. Also, in some big sky, spot and stalk country, I have actually moved about with one of my finest rifles cased and unloaded. Not much chance of jump shooting there, as one is hunting 1/2 to 1 and 1/2 miles ahead. In the end, I guess it all depends. Take care, 1Minute

That's scary!

Steelie,

All I can say is that whoever said that is a mechanical genius of an order that I could safely allow him take care of his problem simply by taking him into the backcountry - we typically use machines powered by *simple* mechanical two-stroke engines in winter. A few trips ought to assure that said individual will discover the reality of mechanical devices and machinery. I seriously doubt that such a novice will successfully retain their place in the gene pool for long under those conditions.

Seriously though, that kind of an attitude toward guns is to the Second Amendment what some of the Rap "artists" are to the First Amendment.

I rarely have a round chambered while hunting. I think a lot of it has to do with the king of hunting they do out east and down south and the type of hunting we do here in alaska. Really most of our day is spent looking thru binoculars or a spotting scope and there is generally plenty of time to load a round for the shot. It just takes too long to tell if an animal is legal or not when moose or sheep hunting to take hasty "jump shots". The only thing I always carry loaded is my 44 in my chest holster.

Safeties fail, it happens adn I don't want to have to worry about it when climbing in front of or behind somebody else.

Josh wrote: "I think a lot of it has to do with the kind of hunting they do out east and down south and the type of hunting we do here in Alaska."

Yupper. There's a middle ground in this discussion. Hunting in the "Northwoods" is almost always a close range proposition-especially if measured by mountain or plains area standards. I almost always hunt with a round chambered-either still hunting or sitting in a blind. But I do NOT place undue trust in either a mechanical safety or half-cock or whatever. Real safety has not only to do with "keeping your finger off the trigger" but also, and more importantly, in my view, about muzzle control.

Maybe an analogy from bird hunting would be helpful: Much Northwoods hunting is more like hunting pheasants over a flushing dog than hunting woodcock over a pointing dog.

Unfortunatly, our society has made it possible for people like this to not only survive, but prosper. It used to be survival of the fittest, and that didnt mean just physically, but mental as well, now our society protects the dumbest among us. Someone has to keep lawyers in business!

Does everyone hunt with an empty chamber? How do you hunt the thick stuff, up close and personal, with an empty chamber? I scared off a nice one last year. I was up in a treestand and while chambering a round in my 99, it heard me and ran off. I didn't even ever see it, just heard it coming in, never again. Good muzzle control, safety on and trigger finger off for me.

Amen!

corelokt, the empty vs loaded chamber topic is one of the most heated ones I've seen here at the campfire. To answer your question, no not everyone hunts with a loaded chamber. Not everyone hunts with a bolt action or single shot either. You have to decide for yourself what is prudent.