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

Jim -

You are correct about such places being foreign to some folks. I understand people hunt different terrain but even if they didn't I don't have a problem with people in my party carrying hot provided two things are true:

1. The mechanical safety or safeties on their weapon are functional. Had a guy one year that carried hot for a week. We found out on the last day, after getting back to camp in the afternoon, what he had known all week - that his safety was busted. The rest of us showed considerably more restraint than he deserved and I never hunted with him again.

2. That the person or people carrying hot observe good handling techniques. Had another person I hunted with that couldn't control his muzzle and when it was brought to his attention denied there was a problem. That was my last trip with him, too.

My post was not meant to suggest that people should do it my way (which is actually a mix of hot and cold depending on circumstances) but rather to provide those to whom it is foreign a graphical demonstration of circumstances where hot ot cold makes no difference in the final outcome.

For what it is worth I sometimes carry concealed and usually do so with the hammer down on an empty chamber, safety off. My older brother carries concealed daily, locked and cocked. Both ways work. If I ever need it, I'll probably wish mine was cocked and locked, too. Flip side, he will never forget the day his thumb slipped while lowering the hammer, causing a hole to suddenly appear in the floorboards of his car...