Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Safety locking bolt down.

And I'm another. I'm always humble when you tell me about all that snatch that wants to grab onto you. I'm even open-minded when I think about it....

** (ref. Western hunters/wannaB writers)** --NO reference to JB at all!!!

I joined the 'fire' in 2010 and I encountered the same attitude "on here".

I have a close, long time friend and have gone hunting W/him many Xs.
I've told him -- You are the guide, To which he replied, No way. 1 year we couldn't find the deer moving any where any time. I went stalking/scouting and found the deer were coming out EARLY, LATE, & at night so very CLOSE to their thickets. I marked a few places and showed him. Later we both killed reasonable bucks.

I agree w/ MD that whitetail are whitetail wherever they are. ATST I've found that deer LEARN the activities, smells, & sounds of their particular area and respond accordingly.

When my younger son was beginning to deer hunt, I took him and we found a small area that NO ONE had hunted in a long time. I showed him how to get in and where to SIT (on the ground with his back to a tree) in a fairly close situation. Before 8: AM I heard his MZL go off.
He killed his second deer & FIRST deer w/a mzld.

Later I went back and looked close and found a small oak sapling with a SKINT place on it about knee high. I looked closer and found his Buffalo Bullet AFTER it went thru the deer and hit the sapling. The mushroomed bullet was laying on the ground at the base of the tree.
That's one of his and my FAV hunting stories.

The point in that is 'sometimes' when you do what the deer are NOT expecting---- they are surprised.

Just because something NORMALLY works wherever you hunt--- that's NOT the only way to hunt. East or West.


Jerry

ps: keep your Bolt Locked Down on Safe with a muzzleloader. GRIN

Ain't many people on here that are "humble". I've been on alot of different hunting/shooting websites for the past 20 years and there is nowhere else with so much arrogance displayed on a consistent basis. You're as good or better at that than most.

Well, at least with me it's justified.

Never have so many shared so much BS with so little redeeming value. .... except maybe on Optics Talk

Well, on behalf of all the others I'd like to thank you for your contributions.

I've been lurking here awhile but this thread pulled me into the muck.

Another NY'er who also still hunts with a loaded chamber. Thing is I don't take snap shots at running deer like I'm grouse hunting. Most times the deer gets caught flat footed staring back at you trying to see what's up or else it gives itself away moving when I'm stationary. It's about covering ground thoroughly not quickly. But you can bet when I head west I'll be following directions from my guide.
I can tell you that the majority of self induced hunting incidents here from a hot chamber are caused by fools climbing in or out of treestands.

To the op;; Only once in 34 years have I had a bolt open on me, and that was walking down the old tractor path headed back to the house. 80's vintage Rem 700. Felt it happen and lost one cartridge in the snow, which I found a couple days later when it warmed up. I can understand the risks of losing a bolt but it's probably a wash compared to unloading with the safety off. I always open the bolt then dump the floorplate. With an ADL style I would just run the bolt enough to pop the round up, much like when I unload my pump shotgun. I prefer the simplicity of a two position safety, just because it's what I'm used to.

LOL, I've hauled every M-700 I've ever had to my 'Smith to have that tab? ground down so I "can" leave the rifle on safe while loading and chambering a live round for hunting and unloading.

I put no more attention to sweeping my bolt open while hunting than I do sweeping the hammer of a holstered revolver back to the fire position, I keep an eye on my chit.

Welcome to the muck Bry.


This spawned an image of Fudds trying to herd cats in my mind. Thanks for the chuckle.

So to sum it up: Yankee deer are smarter than Yankee hunters. Earth shattering.

This argument / whole thread is pretty weak.



As for bolts, I think the two position bolt handle and three position safety on the Steyr is pretty cool, I really like. How much would it influence me buying / not buying a rifle? Between hardly any and not at all.

I think we have this argument about every six months and nobody changes their mind on the subject.

Me, I try to hunt the west every year and when I'm out there it's an empty chamber until it's time to shoot. You do a lot more walking and climbing than back home and the shots are usually taken after a stalk.

At home (mississippi) a round goes in the chamber as soon as I start walking to my stand, the rifle is unloaded to climb into the stand, and it's loaded again as soon as I'm in the stand. I've killed multiple deer where the first time I saw them they were staring straight at me inside 50 yards.

I get that safety is important, but if you can't manage to not shoot yourself sitting in a shooting house overlooking a food plot then you probably shouldn't be hunting.

Generally true.




So far I haven't seen anyone recommend hunting with an empty chamber while you're sitting in a stand. Maybe I missed it?

Go back and read the last twenty or so threads where this horse has been flogged & you’ll see plenty saying just that.

I often have the bolt open in a ground blind. Sometimes Merlot is in there also and he could knock it over. Probably another dumb ass way we hunt up or over here. However, even tho he came here from Georgia he seems to enjoy it.

Duffy and Abby were the best at it. If they raised their head and started flaring their nose, it would be wise to take a line off it. Yankee thing, most wouldn’t understand.

How can a single human being be so completely FOS?

Given the sheer volume of said human being, it would take a lot, but no doubt he can git 'er done.

I have them both ways. I like the safety on when emptying the chamber or magazine if the magazine doesn’t have another way to empty it.

I prefer the bolt not to be locked down generally.

I'm pretty simple. But I can control a loaded rifle while hunting. I can even eject a live round out of the chamber with no fear or history of deployment with the safety off. Whether carrying round chambered or not chambered I'll keep the safety on. And I want it to lock the bolt. Have several times had thick brush pull a bolt open. Don't like that even with an empty chamber. So to summarize, even if you don't carry unloaded chamber do you really want the bolt opened unintentionally?? Course, many hunt thick woods that ain't really even thin so brush is no problem. Is for me. FWIW