Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Carry cartridges on your rifles stock?

If they work for you, great. I just dont see the benefit for me. If i have four or five shells in my pocket, it is plenty quick to reload. I dont think i will ever be in a situation that reaching for shells in my pocket is gonna slow me down enough to lose an animal. After i shoot, i always reload anyway, im just not in a hurry i guess. Carring extra rounds is a good idea, but i dont need them to be as handy as the guy you hear shooting 5+ times real fast, then a pause while he reloads, then another volley of gunfire. We have all heard em on opening day, and i just laugh. ever hear the "one shot, one elk, two shots, maybe one elk, three shots, no elk"? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> If it is handy for you to carry extra shells on the butt of your rifle, great. I wasnt trying to offend you, everyone has different ways they like to do things.

FWIW: I've never used one or needed one (honest!...no kiddin') shot more than three shots only one time. But!! I'm about to venture back into single shot territory with a new Encore with a couple of barrels.

So...........I'm thinking seriously about some form of carrier. I generally can't use one on my belt, because I usually have a pack on. (Maybe a belt slide on the pack belt??) I guess I don't see a big disadvantage to a carrier on the stock, but................??

I think that I've seen a velcro carrier that goes around your wrist or forearm but that might bug ya after a while. I'm struggling with this one too, I s'pose I'll figure it out when I get out there and start tramping around with the thing.

JimF

Since I moly-coat my bullets (and I hate carrying things that rattle) I have collected some empty factory rifle ammo boxes from the range and removed their plastic cartridge holders. These can be cut up into small flat 5 (or 6) round holders that are lightweight, flexible and completely silent. I then place one 5-pack in a quart size zip-lock bag of a style that has a raised bump to seal/unseal. The bump assures that the bag can be easily opened even with wet or cold fingers.

One bag can then be placed in my right hand jacket or vest pocket, to be handy, yet completely quiet, with the bag preventing the rounds from gathering debris or shedding the moly. A second 5-round pack is also bagged/carried (left) deep in my butt pack for any emergency.

For me, coyotes only have a free pass on opening morning of big game seasons. After that, they are fair game. However, with the coyotes out here, you only get one shot. It's either dead song-dog .... or he's traveling warp speed headed into cover and you may as well not make any more noise. I tend to frown on those who (during big game hunts) continue to launch shot after shot at ole Wily-E-Coyote who's doing Mach-1 out beyond 500 yards, merely because they can still see him. They are classed right up (down) there with those who sight-in their rifles (with 15 rounds) in the dark at camp by headlights into a live tree, the night before the season opens.

S.B.

Flich
I can honestly say I've never had to reload on a big game hunt. I'm not a expert marksman or legendary hunter by any means. I do usually manage to get at least a deer or elk every year sometimes both. I think I've never had to reload because I'm very picky about my shot selection and don't take shots at running game. My 8mm will hold three and one in the chamber, the most shots I've fired at a elk is three, I've done this about three times. The third shot was the mercy shot on all three. On another I missed the first shot and on another two hits and one mercy shot. I hunt deer mostly with my .270 and I can't remember all the shots, I know I've never emptied my magazine. Again I'm not a professional hunter and make no claim. I don't shoot coyotes or any other critters while I'm hunting game animals so I don't need extra ammo for that. Maybe I've just been lucky, but like I said I'm very patient with my shot selection and almost always shooting off a rest of a log,pack or something along those lines. I practice offhand shooting but rarely shoot at game animals unless it's at a wounded animal or close in range. dempsey

ElkSlayer, I agree about not taking pot shots in my hunting grounds. I don't do that either, but driving to or from those spots is often a couple of hour drive. Coyotes and foxes are almost ALWAYS encountered along the way and beg to be shot at. A half box of shells is always nice to have handy on the stock of the rifle in hand. All my rifles are sighted in for the bullets they have on their butt stocks. When I decide to take a drive up the canyon after work or on a weekend, I simply grab a rifle and the shells are attached. I don't even have to think about it. Non of my rifles collect dust. They get shot weekly and a lot. Shells never sit in the butt sling long enough to get gunk on them. I like to shoot a round or two at the end of a wet or nasty day just to clean any moisture out of the barrel and to keep it "fouled" (within reason). Flinch

You will all have to excuse Flinch he just likes any excuse to fiddle with his butt <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I do and I have a good reason. A few years ago, i had a shot, or should I say 3 shots at a good eating doe. She was 55yds away, easy shot right, and with this 300winmag those stalks of hay won't be a problem. Yeah right! Three shots nada, zip, zero, zilch. The hay deflected the bullets. I had some extra rounds on the stock. I knew the deer wouldn't stop, but with my bolt back and the gun empty, I pulled a round and tossed it into the chamber and pushed the bolt home( glad I was using a push feed) and in the only open shot in the field...she stopped, and blammo I had me a good eating doe. I also learned that their is no such thing a a brush busting gun. doug

Sorry Flnch, I didn't understand the context of your statement.

You bet, they are fair game as I travel to the hunting area. I thought you were speaking of poping one off at a yote coming down the ridge as you were looking for elk while on foot.

My mistake.

I got 4 in the mag. If I shoot anything 4 times and it's not dead, i'll appologize quietly and leave. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I do keep 6 in a belt shell holder, mostly in case I loose the clip or drop the clip in water or something. Also - i've forgotten my ammo at camp before (aw come on, like you guys never forgot anything) and it's handy to know that when I put my pants on in the morning, i've got my ammo with me. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

HOWEVER - I have a single shot 410 that i'm putting one on because it's handy to leave on the seat when i'm driving to or from camp to blast the odd grouse, and I dont want lots of ammo floating around in my pockets or in the car.

I'm also considering buying a little 30-30 lever for camping in the summer, and one will go on that, just because I don't want to have loose ammo in my pocket all the time and if i need the gun i won't want to hunt up ammo. I won't carry it loaded obviously. But for hunting? Single shots make sense but that's about it.

Flinch,

I thought you always wore 2 bandoliers crisscrossed across your chest so you would have 100 rds at the ready??? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Alas for us in the PR Kalifornia; A gun is loaded if there is a cartridge attached in any way, including sling carriers and butt traps.
The local manzanita farms are fertilized with nearly a half a box of .375 H&H from the elastic carrier on my Ruger #1. I've given up the practice.
Cheers from Grayest California,
Ross

Oh yeah, that manzita, Seems like I spent half my Calif. hunting time fighting my way thru that stuff. Sometimes it was shouldr high and so thick I have had to more or less crawl over the tops,
Game trails seem to lead into it but never come out and when you try to back track the one that led you in is gone

Cheaha, that is another can of worms that best be left with the lid on it at this point in the conversation <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> I still haven't figured out why you wear a loin cloth with a Speedo on underneath while hunting. Where do you keep the extra shells? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Big Sky, there ain't nothing like fondling a butt after a long hunt <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> You of all people should know that by now <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Flinch

I saved the old plastic 10 round shell carriers by Win.? factory loads. Load the clip, drop a 10 pack in a pocket and maybe one in the pack(someone or something is having a bad day-but I won't run out of shells).

I very often have a backpack on, so a belt pack interferes with that. I walk, and rounds in the pocket rub (there are ways as stated to get around the clinking) I have on occaision needed more than the three to five in the magazine I don't generally carry one chambered, except when slip hunting alone in dense cover. I have had occaision where my extra rounds were a quarter mile away in my pack, and my jacket or coat is likely to be on and off many times a day, so yes, I carry 3 to 5 rounds on the stock - where they should be for handy access. Sometimes, I even use them. This, I consider to be a screw up, but I'm with Flinch - it happens to everyone sooner or later if you hunt enough, and are honest about it. How much worse is it if you can't do something about it in a timely fashion?

I do not use the stretchy things for the reasons SB first noted, and I don't like the points of my bullets exposed and unprotected (I know, it's not supposed to make a difference), and I don't like the orientation of the cartridges to the rifle stock when using the stretchy things. So I use a portion of the plastic shell holders that Remington and Federal use for however many rounds I can handily put on the stock (three to five), bullet noses pointed back, but it probably doesn't make a difference. I tape the holder down with electrical tape to stock contour, then tape over a portion of the bullet cases after insertion to hold them in place. It keeps the extra rounds handy and sometimes I carry two different types - lighter hunting loads, and heavy point-blank bear loads (I have never needed them)- which fortunately have virtually the same point of aim out to 100 yards as my hunting loads. There are several minor disadvantages to this system, but changing the feel or accuracy of the gun isn't one of them. To me. The tape, and/or cartridge rims can mess up your finish, or even the wood underneath, so, fortunately, I don't own a fine wood stocked rifl e- but if I did, I wouldn't use this method. If not taped solidly enough, the rounds can back out under recoil (I carry extra tape anyway, for the muzzle and other things). Come to think of it, bullet nose forward might be better to prevent this happening, and possible loss of a round or two, which has happened. The tape adhesive sometimes sticks to the case as the rounds are pulled free, tho I haven't noticed any interference with function or accuracy. The handling/balance of the rifle is not affected for me enough to offset the disadvantage of not having quiet, no-fumble spare rounds immediately available to hand if needed.

In a perfect world, I come home with one less round than I left with - and yes, I usually have an extra half or full box in the truck, or back at camp if not backpacking. As far as those guys who care what it looks like to other hunters, perhaps you should take up another sport- say, something involving Spandex? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

In a synthetic stock, I would like a recessed, flush with surface, patch box- type cartridge holder, preferably molded in with a flip cover. Better yet, as the cover is opened, it should lever the cartridge holder - at least the base end- out for very handy extraction of the spare rounds. I keep thinking I ought to invent such a gizmo, but probably never will. The under butt pad idea is second best, as it is a little less handy.

As to scope covers, its either inner tube or Uncle Mike's "Bikini" style. I've had to pry open just one too many of those so-called flip covers! I tie the Bikini cover to the scope tube itself with a piece of 100# Dacron fishing line to prevent loss when I flip it off - the inner tube I don't really care about usually, tho I try not to leave it in the field somewhere. This is from a guy who arrived on stand last year with his rifle bolt still on the cleaning bench at home! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />