Ok, I get the controlled round feed argument. Problem is, I hate the safety on them. They are almost always loud and gritty feeling. Im sure they smooth out over time, but they sure start off gritty and noisy. Just kinda a turn off to me I guess. Anyone else like the idea of controlled round feed, but dislike the safety on them? Thanks

No not understanding what your complaint is.

No. I much prefer a three position safety...

About the dumbest thing I've read here...

What gun are you explicitly talking about? I have multiple takes on controlled round fed bolt guns and the safeties range from wing safeties (Buehler type), Winchester type 3 position safety, and trigger based safeties.

Lots of the Mauser action rifles have the two position thumb safetys, or you can go with an older Ruger tang safety model.

I like the three position option as well. However, most seem to be gritty and not smooth like a Remington or Sako safety. Just clunky feeling

I never liked the three position safeies either. Like a Ruger or Browning tang safety best. Safety on a Rem model 7 or 700 are also ok. Just never warmed up to Winchester safety, and other than liability never understood why Ruger went to them.

The Ruger tang safety model is not CRF.

CV540
I feel the same way. I like the claw controlling the round into the chamber better than a push feed. However I the safety is always smoother on the push feed rifles. Kinda hard to have the best of both worlds....lol

bsa
sorry you find this thread so stupid, maybe now you can just politely move along to another thread that makes more sense to you. I looked but didn't see a thread about coloring books and crayons, so you may be out of luck!

Ummm... many commercial based Mausers came with trigger anchored safeties that are essentially no different in "feel" than say Timneys, etc. You must associate controlled round feed with safeties that pull/cam the firing pin/cocking piece away from the sear (shroud based).

I don't like the Ruger wing safeties but I really like the Winchester wing safeties.

Due to having short stubby fingers and thumbs, I prefer tang safeties over any others, but will not own a gun with a model 70 type wing safety

I prefer firing pin safeties over trigger safeties, regardless of the style.

Sako 85 is controlled feed.

I've taken a model 70 to the fire position on more Deer than I could ever remember. Some really close and some out at distance. Some I eased off with two fingers and others just pushed them quick to fire. Have yet to have a Deer spooked by the noise and here in the Pa wood it is not all that rare to have them close.

Make more noise walking thru dry leaves and crunchy snow than the safety going off. Somehow I manage to cross paths with Deer that can be shot, along with getting a model 70 ready to shoot.

The safeties on Kimber rifles are excellent and smooth. The M70's I have are ok and at least control the firing pin like they should.

The Ruger 77 does not control the firing pin while live rounds are worked out of the action.

TerryK
You are right and although I own a sako 85 that does not, many of the 85's have a problem ejecting a spent cartridge.

I use all kinds of safeties mentioned here and then some, and have yet to have an issue with any of them.

Yup.

Should be much safer as the others merely block trigger movement, not the firing pin. Obviously, camming the striker off the sear requires more effort. All I've seen also lock the bolt which is desireable IMHO.

I also prefer the Mauser safeties on the left side, especially on iron-sighted rifles as the motion of flipping them off is similar to cocking an external hammer and puts your thumb very close to the proper position around the grip.

Two position Mauser wing safeties do sacrifice the middle position that allows for unloading through the action with the trigger blocked and also make bolt disassembly a pain.

You must not read much of your own stuff.

Nope. No issues with a M70-type safety.

Not all safeties on CRF rifles are necessarily the same anyway.

LMBO......

I've never had an issue with the feel. I do think that wing safeties are easier to get flipped to "off" by the brush though.

Try finding an Interarms Mark X CRF and a two position safety.

Are you walking backwards ?

Easier to take apart, but that's about it.

No I much prefer the three position safety on a Winchester M70 or the like to the almost non safety of a Rem 700. After all which brand has had all the troubles and modifications through the years? Not that I mind Remington's per say but they just don't seem to get it after all their troubles.

I'm with ya, caint stand crf rifles, nor 3 stage safeties..

Prefer the BRNO ZG-47 safety.. "Pull back to cock".. just like a pistol.

Or, the orginal M98 safety.. there should be one made, where its horizontal, instead of vertical. Meaning you would have to move it completly from the right to the left.

The Mauser M03 as a "sort of style like that"..

Yeah dipschit that's exactly what I'm doing.

In the future, come out west for a few hunts before you make stupid comments.

It takes a lot of use before a M70 safety starts to smooth out. By that time you will be so used to it that it won't annoy you.

If game is close you can ease it off with your fingers without being detected. The gritty feeling gears don't make as much noise as the one loud snap of an old Ruger tang safety.If you have jumped something up, the M70 is a very fast safety, just jamming the thumb forward without feeling around for anything, I've grown to love them.

The winchester style three position safety doesn't really have anything to do with it being CRF, it just happens to be on a CRF rifle. You can retrofit aftermarket ones to remington M700's if you want. The benefit of the winchester style safety is it locks the firing pin, most others just lock the trigger and aren't as foolproof. I think it's kind of a moot point because they work too. The Ruger safety looks like a winchester safety but operates totally different. I have mostly M70's and like the safety okay, but I would like it better if it did away with the middle position and just had two positions, safe with the bolt locked and fire. In today's lawyer driven world you couldn't do that though because someone would pee down their leg at the thought of having to take a rifle off of safe to remove a round from the chamber. I don't want to do away with the bolt locking feature, I like it.

Truth be told I'd rather all safeties were located on the tang like and old style Ruger or an English side by side shotgun, it's the best most natural place.

On the so called noise problem. Most of my hunting clothing zippers and snap pocket buttons make as much or more noise than a model 70 style safety. Taking the wrapper off off a snack?

Human voice will put more game on alert than the normal sounds of moving around in the wood or taking a safety off. Yet I often hear a couple hunters talking as if they are at a football game.

Deer make noise while moving around and the wood isn't an empty library.

Addition: Rem 760's are fairly popular in this area and the forend pump on some rattle while being used. Yet they seem to kill their fair share of game. Amazing.

By the time a deer hears me push the safety off(the 2 pos I use on my Mausers IS a bit rougher than my Savages or my CZ, but it has never been an issue)it's a little too late for a deer to react...

A safety in any other place than the bolt shroud just seems out of place to me. It's never caused me to lose a shot. I guess it's just a matter of what you are use to.

For the most part they never hear it or just accept it as normal wood noise.

This +1000. A mechanical lock on the firing pin is safer then a lock on the trigger/sear assembly, given the extra interfaces in them.

And some here hunt cold and still manage to kill game consistently while having to feed a round into the chamber. Think about it.

All Valid points add car doors slamming to the list

The safety on my extreme weather is as slick as any safety I have used . Still makes the usual noise though.

All would be better off by shooting quick and accurately when the opportunity presents rather than worrying about the noise a three position safety makes.

Easy fix if they think it is gritty, but unless it sticks bad it is another non issue.

If a deer looks at me because of the safety...it's too late for him anyway.

This pretty well nails it!


I have, on occasion 'eased' the safety off my Win M70...not sure if I had to or not, but it was easy to do and ended up in Bambi steaks...

I've laughed at my buddy before about this very thing. He's usually on top of things but one morning, we get out of the vehicle, gather gear very quietly and make ready to get to our stands........and he slams his door.

He knows he has messed up, winces and says "sorry" very quietly.


Locks his door.


"HONK".

I realize the safety style is mostly a simple issue of personal preference, but still I'm a fan of the Mod.70 style. Always have been and likely always will be.

Plus, it sounds much better in print.

It's easier to feel how snug a re-sized case is in your chamber with a 3-position safety in the middle position.

One thing I dislike about my Nula's is the safety. They are a short quick push and slick to the fire position and have been knocked off. Good thing is the lugs are tight with a firm grip on the bolt rise and drop and will hold it. When walking I've come to the point of having the bolt held half way up with the safety on.

See game, drop the bolt and take the safety off. It's "almost" second nature, but not quite there yet.

The safety on the M77 Hawkeye I bought in 2010 was so stiff that I would sit in front of the TV and flip it on and off to try to get it to loosen up. It never did and I bet I flipped it at least 1000 times.

Also, that safety lever was a casting, and either the top or outside of it (I forget which) had come out of the mold rough and no one bothered to grind it smooth to make it look like it had come from a modern, professional, rifle company. No more Rugers for me.

Anyway, I prefer a tang safety.

Had a couple gals I didn't work well with. Didn't give up on all of them. Just checked the next one out a little more closely.

Yeah... I hear about these "problems" but honestly have never bumped into them with M70 and other safeties,despite having killed deer and black bear at distances better measured in feet than yards.

A lot of M70 safeties will make virtually no sound at all if you guide them forward with your thumb.Some make a tiny "click". In any event it has never cost me a shot.

Why don't you come DOWN SOUTH and hunt in the Piney thickets?
Thickets are thickets..Safety's go off in FORWARD direction.


BTW - I didn't call you any name !

I didn't have to, your post says it all.

My first actual big game rifle was a Win 670 in '06. I replaced it for hunting with a tang safety rifle specifically for this reason.

On my first hunt with that rifle, on hands and knees, or belly crawling through the brush, I repeatedly found the safety disengaged. A couple of times the bolt even managed to get lifted.

I was pretty young, with a lot more energy than smarts in those days. But I was bright enough to pull the round from the chamber when I found the safety off. And I have never carried a hot rifle in the field since. Not even the #1.

Having to pull a round out of my pocket and chamber it has not cost me any meat. I don't see the problem with a "noisy safety".

I S. -

Wow, never came even close to that situation.

What can I say ? I've hunted thickets I had to crawl thru for a ways, wiggled and waggled thru briar thickets you could not just walk thru, stalked thru young pine plantations where you could not see nor shoot 20 yds, etc. still never had any safety pushed/pulled to off position because of brush or thickets.

ONCE I accidentally and unknowingly pushed a R 77 tang safety off by the web of my own hand, in OPEN hardwoods. That was MY fault.

3-position safeties have never bothered me, nor the deer.

Life just isn't that difficult.

Can honestly say, "I couldn't care less" as to how a safety works. Don't think I have ever hunted with one.

I've used Model 70 3-position safeties for years (on both CRF and push feed Winchesters) and I have never had a single problem with them coming off safe (even while hunting in very rough country) or being noisy to get them to fire position when I wanted them there.

One thing I did pick up on quickly with my first Model 70 when I was about 15 years old was that carrying a rifle loaded with the safety in the middle position was probably not a bright thing to do so I never carried one that way. As a result, the rifles have always been field carried on safety with the lever fully to the left to lock the firing pin and the bolt. Carrying the rifle that way has the safety lever laying parallel to the bolt shroud as opposed to it sticking out in the middle position which is designed primarily to allow for the cycling of cartridges with the safety still engaged. For doing that I've never crawled through thick brush to make the task more difficult, so maybe I'm missing something here. Presto! No surprises in the field ever.

I once did have a chunk of blue sky unexpectedly fall on my head (it left a mark for days ) just as I was about to cycle the safety, but I don't think that was because I did anything dumb with a rifle safety that can be moved quickly and quietly from full safety through the middle safety position to the fire position in the time it takes to blink an eye. Even on a push feed Model 70.

I agree. I am surprised noone is making an easier to use lever for them or doing a mod. I am getting better with the one I have. It is on a Hawkeye UL .223 and gets more use than some other rifles.

Gentry's safety was a great improvement to my .35 Whelen as well.

It is forty years later now. I no longer run twenty miles in a day, nor do I hike to the top of the mountain with my rifle and wait an hour or more for the guys on horses to catch up. And I certainly no longer crawl through the buck brush on my hands and knees. (like I could have gotten a shot if I had flushed a deer or elk!)

My rifle now lives in the saddle scabbard until game is spotted. So.....today I could carry the Ruger 77 or the Win 70 and never have to worry about the safety getting snagged.

But I have been there and do fully understand how it can happen.

You carry a rifle in a saddle scabbord with a round in the chamber?

No, absolutely not. I have never met anyone stupid enough to do that.

It has been ten years since I have had anything in the hills other than my Ruger #1. But there is a model 70 and a 77 waiting in the safe for a turn.

An interesting story in regards to this subject. On my sons first elk hunt at age twelve, he was carrying my brand new Win 70 classic in 264 slung vertically beside the saddle horn on his 4-H/cow pony. He rode the horse under a windfall sapling across the trail and got the butt stock snagged on the tree.

The stock snapped off at the tang. Somehow the safety got brushed to the off position. And when I checked especially to see, the firing pin had fallen on the empty chamber.

The silver lining is, my Son quickly understood the reasons for Dad's fanatical attention to gun handling safety.

Whew, I was gonna say....

Guys who are [bleep] about safety are good to be around.

I am proud to be known as that kind of as...shole!

Guess you can't learn everything you need to know sitting in a treestand in Awkinsaw

You're a fu cking idiot...

Bak again huh? Did you get run out of the coloring book section? Its OK......we all understand!!!

I dont see where he said anything about sitting in a tree stand in Awkinsaw in the above quote.

I've had both and seen other examples and that wasn't the case.

However, let us know why you think it can be. What mechanical design would be the reason?

I'm glad Jack O'Conner didn't like see-thru mounts and stripper clips as his fans would be cheering those too.

That's funny. Some talk about how hardy they are but run for the house with them as soon as a cloud builds.

Seems like many here also have problems working a pump shotgun. Requires too much manual dexterity. Wing safeties probably confuse them also.

Well stated. I wonder if 280AI guy is as proficient with his 870 as he is with his keyboard?

I laughed like hell after reading these quotes from Formidilosus

I think a dedicated thumb wrestling workout may do wonders for his wing safety abilities.

We all use what we like, but gritty and loud is a stretch.

In my small part of the world it is usually push, paste, hit the trigger. I've also used it in other parts along with other safety styles. All seem to work. Then again I don't have any problems with pump shotguns.

For conversation JOC preferred SxS. 😀

In typical 24 hour fashion. No where do I read: they won't work, they'll ruin a hunt etc. just that somebody doesn't like them.

I don't have much use for single shots for BG. If I'm going to carry extra bullets around they may as well be in the rifle. But let me express same and someone will jump on my ass. I know it, I know they like them and know they use them successfully, so I dont go there.

That's how I'm reading it.

I've never let a safety keep me from using a rifle that I otherwise like.

One poster said he doesn't use them. Just go cold chamber and safeties are not an issue.

Yup. That would be my hunting companions and me, among others. At least mostly. We will be doing it again this year on three separate hunts.

There are exceptions. If we have game spotted and are stalking it, we'll go hot chamber. Lkewise if we are in close quarters (heavy timber/brush/etc.) and think we might jump something.

Mostly though, it is cold chamber, often or even usually all day.

I just wish they would put a [m-70] safety on the left side of the bolt. It would be in the perfect place for a right handed shooter. Kind of like early commercial Mauser safeties only horizontal instead of vertical.

Fred

Whether Ruger, Remington, or Winchester, I very rarely use a safety; there's no reason to load one until you're ready, or just about, so the safety very rarely gets used. It's a non-factor though I do prefer the mid-point the wing allows on the Rugers and Winchesters. But then I do like to hunt with single shots sometimes if I have a good idea what I'm into on a hunt. (But certainly didn't wish for anything other than the stainless Classic M70 I carried on the last wet, beat-the-brush hunt. (For those who don't appreciate Tupperware stocks yet, the factory plastic on the older Classics sure works well when thrashing brush to annoy/entice big bulls.)

Not a blanket statement......

Some are & some are not.

Seen both.

I liked the safety on my 77/17 in 17hmr. Never had an issue. If I am out hunting I always have a round in the chamber, shots can happen fast. If I had an empty chamber today I would not have harvested the wolf that I did. When I am out walking around I check the safety every so often, especially after going through any thick stuff. No problems so far.

The only safety that has ever bothered me are wing safeties on 98 and 96 mausers. The clearance between the safety wing and scope when on 'safe' can be a little tight when scopes are mounted low. I guess they can be modified to work, but it might not be as easy for some.

If a rifle feels good in my shoulder and it shoots well it does not really matter what safety the thing has. Most safeties on modern rifles works reasonably well and is not that difficult to manipulate.

Pieter

The only safeties that bother me are the ones where the safe is on and the bolt can open. I understand why they are designed that way, but don't like the possibility of the bolt lifting when walking through brush. Two or 3 position don't bother me as long as the bolt is locked down when on safe.

I like a true three position safety ala Mauser and Winchester Model 70, it locks the bolt and the middle position allows for quick field stripping, but the M70 safety is in the wrong place. It should extend behind the striker and swing right to left so the thumb can naturally push it off as you grasp the rifle.

The original Mauser safety was designed that way – right is locked, middle is safe but the bolt can open and full left is the fire position - so your thumb can push it off quickly as it wraps around the pistol grip. Placing it behind the striker keeps it under any scope and also helps keep it out of the way of being brushed off accidentally.

You and me both. Never seen it though. I seem to recall the Gentry advertised in left-hand, but don't know if that's for left-handed actions or people. John B. might know.