Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Opinions Of Butler Creek Scope Caps???

A lot less than cycling a bolt action.

Ahhhhhhh, but it is noise, and that ain't NATURAL noise for elks I assume?

Or maybe they are use to the safety, scope cover, twist 90 degrees left to shoot noise, movement etc....

Had a client show up with some Trevala rods last year. Very impressive. He caught kings, lingcod, and halibut all on the 5ft model using butterfly jigs. Strongest rod I've ever seen. He was cranking up halibut from 400ft of water with it. I was shielding my eyes expecting the rod to break from how hard he was leaning on it. I want one slightly longer for the downriggers, although length isn't that important with a high speed reel.

Well I am just going to admit that unlike you,I am not perfect,so I can't walk, cycle a round or take off the safety in complete silence.As such,I will simply try to make as little movement and noise as I possibly can as I hunt as safely as possible with a round in the chamber.As for perfect people like you that can chamber a round with no noise or movement,feel free to hunt with an empty chamber.

Steelhead and Calvin see an animal, chamber a round while raising the rifle (with the safety OFF in Calvin's case if I remember right) point the gun at the deer, and shoot it. If they don't shoot they must manipulate the rifle to get back to their obsessive-compulsive virginal state of unloadedness. :-)

Me and most other people see an animal, raise the rifle, pop off the safety if it's a shooter, and shoot the animal. If not, we lower the rifle and check the safety.

Since so many accidents happen while people are manipulating their firearms, I think the former approach is MORE dangerous- you have some unsafe bozo fiddling with his rifle loading and unloading it all the time? Bad... bad... bad.

I'm only getting insulting because, hey, that appears to be the game we are playing with our bored Alaskan friends here- insult the other guy's ability to handle a rifle safely.

In the end, I would MUCH rather hunt with a safe gun handler, such as myself, with a round in the chamber, than with an unsafe gun handler without a round in the chamber. Because, in the course of the day, that unsafe gun handler WILL end up chambering a round or two and then he has this loaded rifle, safety off, and now has to get that SUPER DANGEROUS BOMB of a round out of the chamber. Oh no! It could go off at any time! Why, he could slip on the gnarly Alaskan terrain, on which he is hiking oh so manfully, and somehow the mechanical safety ENGINEERED INTO HIS RIFLE by lawsuit-concious riflemakers could fail AND somehow the rifle could go off. It's just too terrifying to imagine. I'd just stay home or sit on my arse in Texas.

You guys choosing to hunt empty is fine; I don't care. It wouldn't work for me and if you don't see that, that's just your lack of experience with hunting in other areas. However, you guys openly stating that we are unsafe and poor gun handlers for hunting with a round in the chamber are full of it!

Since this is like debating the existance of God, in other words POINTLESS and everybody already has their mind made up.. that's all I've got to say on the subject.

Nice recipe, by the way, Steelhead!

-jeff

Ok, tell me about the elk at 20 yards that you attempted to chamber a round on?

I'm not sure why it is so difficult for folks to understand that in ROUGH country you don't always have control of your weapon.

I'm not suggesting that you aren't an unsafe gun handler, but I am saying you are an IDIOT if you believe that one can NEVER fall whilst navigating real estate.

That's all!

Are you 10 years old?

I agree,I see no point to continuing this thread.The two holier than thou individuals will just have to find some other way to amuse themselves,although it probably won't take much. .

What isn't amusing about a guy who shoots in low light, tight quarters, at things that jump up, can't get flip-ups to work in drizzle, scares off deer by clicking the safety, doesn't have time to chamber a round, and is baffled by the complexity of unchambering a round?

If I was PERFECT I would hunt with a hot chamber, but I willingly admit to not being perfect.

Trust me, fools ain't amusing......

If I had a good camera I'd post a pic of that beautiful 25-284 I bought from CAS. Paint is chipped from the stock and I've rubbed the cerekote from the bbl in 4 or 5 different places. Clear cuts ain't easy and I'm surprised I haven't broke a leg yet.

That is irrevelant.






Just because you're unable to hunt in the rough stuff doesn't mean I don't know how. Besides, your language on a public forum tells me you're probably not the sharpest guy out in the woods to begin with--you're a candidate to carry unloaded.....completely unloaded.

As a deer and elk guide I am keenly aware of the other guy.......

Casey

I almost get teary eyed when I think of the Campfire I joined back in 03. It was sooo good and I learned so much.

What is the worse thing that can happen if navigating rough country with one in the chamber?

What is the worse thing that can happen if navigating rough country without one in the chamber?

I was taught to carry a round in the chamber, my dad does, and as far as I know his hunting cronys still do.

Jumpshooting elk in the elk jungles is something I grew up doing. Interestingly, when I started guiding in the 80's, I assumed most of the eastern hunters would be familiar with hunting the thick stuff.

But I soon realized that most people tend to avoid heavy timber, including the clients I guided. They really weren't prepared to go into the spruce/fir jungles and dig the elk out (even most folks in the west aren't). For most guys I guide, this is their first, or second, or maybe third trip "out west". When elk bust, they can sound like a herd of T-Rex's charging through the timber--and I've had clients literally take a step back

Going into the elk jungles can/is one of the most successful ways to bag an elk. And growing up on a ranch, babysitting cattle in the hills, I was able to spend a lot of time in elk country. As soon as the shooting starts, elk tend to go to refuges and/or go to ground--which means private land or the hellholes or the elk jungles or all of it combined......

Being able to ID the critter you're after, flip off the STORM QUEEN scope covers, bring the rifle to my shoulder and flip off the safety all in one motion, find the critter in the scope with one eye while finding a shooting lane with the other eye, and making a GOOD shot on a elk......allows me to be successful while everybody else is sitting on the hillside with their bizillion dollar glass waiting for the elk to never appear (elk ain't stupid).

--This is one reason I am a fan of Leupys long eye relief.

--This is why I still advocate scopes that have a low power setting.

--A Safari Sling has made it even quicker to bring the rifle to bear.

--This is why I prefer tang safetys.

--That's why I prefer 22 inch barrels to longer ones.

--And why I prefer a middlin' to mild recoiling rifle.

--At 6'-1" I cut my stocks LOP closer to a youth LOP than an adult size--it makes for a lot quicker handling rifle, and if the butt doesn't land squarely on my shoulder, a milder recoiling rig with a Decellerator doesn't leave a bruise on your bicep

--Oh, and that's why I carry hot

In true Steelhead fashion, is there anybody I missed offending?

Casey

Let me call my mom and check with her, be right back...

To suggest that carrying a loaded rifle is safer than carrying an unloaded rifle ought to render the author of that pearl of wisdom completely irrelevant in any argument about any subject.

Facts are facts, and rifles with a round in the chamber can discharge. Rifles with an empty chamber cannot discharge. If safety is one's primary concern, then he hunts with an empty chamber. Making the decision to hunt with a round in the chamber indicates that something besides safety is the primary concern.

There is a big difference between eliminating the possibility of an accidental discharge and reducing the likelihood of said discharge. Eliminating unnecessary risks is sound policy in my book. There isn't a deer walking the planet today that is worth blowing a friend's head off, nor spilling my brains on the mountain over.

That said, Jeff, you have a profound misconception of proper rifle handling safety. You point out that Calvin hunts with his safety off, yet fail to grasp that he hunts with an empty chamber, rendering the safety meaningless.

Further, a cardinal rule of safety is that you NEVER level your rifle at ANYTHING unless you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN of your target:



Pointing a hot rifle (hell, even an unloaded rifle) at a target you are unsure of breaks the most fundamental rule of firearm safety. Perhaps you have never heard the saying, so I will repeat it here: Never point your rifle at anything you are not 100% prepared to destroy.

Lastly, relying on any mechanical safety, even those safeties "ENGINEERED INTO (YOUR) RIFLE" is akin to trusting the hooker when she tells you that she has been tested clean. Both are poor plans for long-tern survival.

Yep, someone does get it!

What is the worst thing that can happen if you never get out of your armchair?

What is the worst thing that can happen if you never get into a boat?

What is the worst thing that can happen if you never go out into the field?

What is the worst thing that can happen if you never climb into a automobile?

What is the worst thing that can happen if you never have sex?

What is the worst thing that can happen if you wrap yourself in foam rubber and stay in the corner all day?



C'mon Scott, this argument has already been made a while back--even though I stayed out of that one, it didn't change my mind.

These days I am more than ever keenly aware when I'm carrying a hunting rifle because I often have a gorgeous 8 year boy tagging along.

I am safe, and arguing over carrying a round in the chamber pales in comparison to many other endeavors in this world.

Casey