Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Lever unloading...How often?

Say you are at deer camp all week and you have a M94, 336 or non-clip 99. Do you work all the cartridges back through the action every time you come back to camp, just the one in the chamber or just put it in the truck with the safety on? Much as I like to carry one of those, they are all kind of a pit to unload very often and probably more prone to an accidental discharge than any of the others that I can think of.

I load mine in the morning when I go in the woods and completely unload it when I get back to the truck.

For the same reason you would clear the chamber, you should empty the magazine.

Lots of states prohibit loaded rifles in vehicles (although a loaded handgun may be perfectly OK). So you may have no choice, from an enforcement perspective.

I have no choice because of legal requirements so I always unload. I don't really find it that much work, but then I don't load more than 3 or 4 rounds tops anyway.

However if it was just a matter of making the rifle safe for some thing like climbing up a tree. I would just unchamber the round as well as the next round coming out of the magazine, close the bolt on an empty chamber (while observing) and lower the hammer. Then put the two rounds back in the magazine.

Levers do take a little more time to unload but I just point the muzzle up, gently eject the round in the chamber into my hand and move the lever just far enough to pick up the next round without chambering it. Move the lever to bring the bolt back and let the round tip out into my hand. Repeat until empty. No round is ever fully in the chamber and the lever is never fully closed on one in the chamber while unloading. Not much chance of an ND that way.

I clear the chamber and leave the magazine loaded.

Most lever actions I've owned are older, no safety other than the half-cock notch, so unloading the magazine means cycling the ammo through the chamber .. "hot". Each shell cycled presents an opportunity for mishandling and discharging the rifle. Simply removing one cartridge, without ever having the hammer cocked while the action is closed in a position the rifle could fire, is a lot safer.

We are not required to unload our firearms to transport them.

The bigger challenge is muzzleloader hunting. Lot of the places I hunt are only a 15-45 minute hunt and I might hit 6-8 of those in a day. Hunt a half hour, go back to the truck, move a few miles to the next spot, repeat. I'm not unloading the gun every time I move. Decap, yes. And generally I clear the gun at the end of the day once it is too dark to legally shoot a deer.

Tom

Can a person push in the loading gate on a 94 or 336 to empty out the magazine the same way they went in? I'm a lever safety 99 guy and the only other lever that I have is a .25-20 M92 and that one doesn't go deer hunting, so I never tried unloading the magazine that way.

Interesting point Blu Cs about a loaded handgun being legal, but not a rifle in a vehicle. I'll need to check that. Back when I was a youth, we did a lot of deer driving and one of the new guys borrowed a M94 and decided that it was too much trouble to unload the thing every time we got in the vehicle. Only hunted with us one year now that I think of it.

No.

Ain't no trick with a Savage to leave the belly full and the chamber empty. A little more effort with a Marlin, easier with a Winchester.

No way do I unload them.

im at the farm the entire rifle season. i load it the first morning of hunting and then unload it when packing up to go home. most of the time it's on the front porch or in the gun rack of the atv while at the cabin.

1st rule.
All gun are to be assumed to be loaded at all times.
For me, it's not just an assumption. Mine are unloaded when I am cleaning them.

This is why I prefer to hunt with my safety Marlins. Make sure it's on & rack 'em all out! No loaded hunting rifles in truck, home or camp. Period.

Lever gun, bolt action no difference - if its going indoors or in a case it gets fully unloaded, chamber and mag. We have an outdoor covered rifle rack at our hunting camp - if I leave a rifle in that I make sure the chamber is empty but leave ammo in the magazine. Everyone knows to leave other people's rifles alone, and assume loaded if you have to move it. And never in a truck with a chambered round regardless of type of safety. Moot point if local regulations prohibit loaded rifle in a vehicle.

Also - I don't load a rifle so that the magazine is full plus one in the chamber - I leave it so that I when I remove a round from the chamber I can push it down into the magazine when I'm not planning to fully unload the rifle. (works with my Savage 99s anyway, not so much with tube magazine Win or Marlins)

And you do not have to fully chamber and close the bolt on a lever action (or bolt action with blind mag) to cycle out the ammo in the magazine - see mart's post above.

Unloaded guns are the only safe way to leave or store them. Ask Mule Deer about what can happen in a lodge of gun writers after the guns have been put away...

There is no reason to chamber a round to unload any of these rifles. Just like the guys that don't like a blind magazine on a bolt action because " You got to chamber each round to unload it" No you don't it is very easy and quick to unload just pop up each round and roll it out into you hand no reason to chamber it.

I wish that there was a way to make them like Henerys in the fact u can unload the tube without cchambering them.

I try not to hunt in company with a 99 as they need to be totally unloaded. I like clip BLRs or 88 s for " roadhunting".

I assume Mule Deer is a member of this forum.

Hey, Mr. Mule Deer, What can happen in a lodge of gun writers after the guns have been put away?

That works for 99s too. I've had em.

Jerry

When I'm deer hunting, I load 3 rounds. That makes the unloading much easier. I started doing this when the kids were growing up, but kept on doing it.

1) Easier to load/unload
2) Easier to keep track of rounds
3) If I haven't got the deer down in 3, then it's probably time to take a breather and rethink my plan

I've had two instances in almost 40 years' hunting where having only 3 came into play:

1) In 2004, I was surprised by a herd of deer that bulled their way past me just a few feet away. I started blazing with my trusty Rem 742 and hit nothing. It was deer fever, plain and simple, and I was all wound up and excited.

2) I had a large buck in 2005 that took 3 rounds of 35 Whelen in the heart at 80 yards and just stood there staring at me defiantly. After he went down, I started to lower my rifle to the ground and he got back up. I was in the process of reloading the rifle when he finally went over for the last time.