Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Poll: Do you hunt with a round in the chamber?

Sorry, no one has ever been shot with an unloaded gun � it is a physical impossibility. Many people have been shot with a rifle that was believed to be unloaded, but believing a gun is unloaded does not make it so.

I agree that gun handlers need to be cautious and attentive but even the most cautious and attentive handlers have lapses, just as mechanical safeties can fail. Over the years I have seen many, many cases of human failure in this area but only one - ONE - case of a safety failure. The safest situation is an empty chamber � period.

I also agree that a capped and loaded muzzlestuffer is as dangerous as a loaded rifle. The Department of Wildlife in my home state of Colorado considers an uncapped muzzleloader to be �unloaded�, whether or not powder and bullet are loaded in the barrel. I consider such a condition to be �partially loaded� but agree with the DOW that an uncapped muzzlestuffer is far safer than one that is both loaded and capped. In fact, I often remove the cap but leave the barrel loaded with powder and bullet in situations where I would unload a cartridge rifle.

But as I said, apples and oranges. Empty chambers are often practical when rifle hunting, rarely so when hunting with a muzzlestuffer. Unless in deep woods I rarely have a rifle shot opportunity where I couldn�t load first, then shoot. The same situations are often far too fleeting to do so with my muzzlestuffers, however. This year alone I took a buck mulie and two cow elk. All three could have been taken starting with an empty rifle chamber with time to spare and while all three could easily have been taken starting with a loaded and capped muzzlestuffer, a muzzlestuffer with no powder or bullet in the chamber would have meant no game in all three situations.