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

I just wish I had chance to hunt them in the open and not on the side of a moutain.

Coyote Hunter..

Great pics and great 'testimony' for hunting un chambered.
You wear your seatbelt when driving and looking?..:0

That isn't hunting..it's driving and maybe glassing-walking..and getting set up...by my experiences and country and game I hunt safely & successfully it has absolutely no relevance...for me.

Shucks, in that country, I could eat my lunch while watching whatever game was there bigger than a marmot out to a mile....:) Jim

Yeah... I can't even imagine hunting elk in that territory.

To put it in perspective, maybe, I sold a nice Springfield M1a that I wasn't shooting, this fall. I ended up with $1075 in "monopoly money" at the gun shop (Or about $850 on a cashout). Anyway, I used $600 of it to buy a fairly nice Leupold spotting scope... which I never even USED, not once, on the elk hunt that came up a few weeks later. There was just never any reason to get the damn thing out, and I wanted to!

Anyway, I do think that the terrain a person mostly hunts in has a large bearing on this discussion, as Dober mentioned and as others have mentioned... as a trend, at least, not a 100% indicator.

-jeff

jim in Oregon -

That country isn�t necessarily as easy as you make it sound. You can see game a long ways off, but they can see you, too. We put the sneak on a herd of 80 or so elk one day a few years back. Spotted them about 11:30 in the morning. Dropped a nice 6x5 with my first shot � about 15 minutes after sundown at 350 yards. Took us that long to get close enough for a shot. I went the last 100 yards on my back, pushing myself headfirst through sage and cactus with my legs.

Other areas have lots of folds, tall sage, and deep cuts that provide plenty of cover.

I reckon its as much hunting as sitting in a stand and more so than sitting over bait. Digging game out of the creek areas where the sage is over head high with tunnels and game trails through it is every bit as tough as hunting dense pines higher up. Maybe tougher.

Coyotehunter,
Didn't intend to say your country was 'easy' at all.
And you are right..IF you are not concealed covert in such wide open country..the game does 'see' you too..
How they react..when they see people afar off is another topic..

But it is different from the country I hunt.
Do what you do well and safely..That's what this thread needs to come down to..Jim

Amen to THAT!

-jeff

It is different, I'll admit. Love to go up high and hunt the pines and aspens, a very differnt world. Have had more luck down low, though.

I agree about safety. I tell my wife, friends, etc. that a successful hunt is one where everyone gets back home safely and in one piece. Hasn't always worked out that way, although no gunshot injuries, thank God.

I'll throw some gas on this fire. I hunt with an empty chamber, always have, always will. I have never seen any critter spook from a bolt cycle. Further (this is the gas part) I REFUSE to hunt with anybody that has one in the spout. I have read this entire thread, and (more gas) it seems to me that the guys that get it, get it, and the guys that don't, won't. I haven't met a guide yet that will pair up with someone that hunts hot. To me that's just the way it is.
R.

Whoosh! The sound of gas on the fire...

-jeff

I wouldn't hunt with someone who doesn't carry one in the tube. Shows they are too paranoid and insecure that they don't even trust themselves.If someone is that bad, I wouldn't trust them around me once they did chamber a round.

Being in the cheap camp. I have only gone on one guided hunt in my life, which BTW was in Alberta in the Red Deer River country. That guide insisted I chamber a round once I had my horse secured.Seems even the Canucks are a divided camp


WHOOOOOOSH , the sound of a bigger flame

I guide. In the elk jungles it's hard enough to get clients who are unacustomed to big critters zooming through the timber like 600 lb cheetahs to gather their wits enough to make a shot. I always tell them to have a round chambered and be ready.

I think I'm starting to see a pattern here. "Whoosh" must be some kind of secret code or protective mantra to be used when one gets a bird's eye view of a rifle's muzzle. I've always started with "Hey" (or something else) which can be applied vocally with enough force to address the point. (Perhaps I'm just paranoid and don't trust myself , but "whoosh" looks an awful lot like "shoot" spelled backwards so maybe I'll just stick with "hey" or something along those lines.)

It may show that or it may not show anything of the sort.

Some folks recognize that �stuff� happens � an unintended slip and fall, or brush or clothing snagging the trigger. Couple that with the fact that mechanical safeties are not perfect and there is a chance for disaster with a hot chamber � a disaster that an empty chamber would avoid. It is not at all unreasonable for someone to decide that 100% safe is better than something less so.

Reasonable people also recognize that people are not perfect � no matter how sure they are of themselves. People make mistakes and the chances of a mistake increase dramatically with fatigue or distraction. Again, an empty chamber is ALWAYS SAFE, a hot chamber not so much.

I still say that the act of an action manipulation upon seeing game has it's own perils that are under-discussed on this thread. We all know that a significant number of ND's happen when loading or UNLOADING a firearm. I really don't want to be 250 yards away, across the cut, from some empty-chamber guy when he doesn't get the shot and now has to unload his lever gun and then load it again! For instance.

The assumption of the empty-chamber guys is that they are all a bunch of cool assasins, and maybe in fact they are, but think if they had their way and every Tom Dick and Harry had to carry empty-chamber in the woods! I mean, seriously, think about that. There would be MORE ND's, I think!! I do not like the thought of thousands of buck-fever-stricken guys who don't hardly shoot or practice with their weapon suddenly needing to work the action in the heat of the moment.

Of course, the nugget of truth that we can all agree on is that in the end, the most important safety BY FAR is the head and hands and judgement of the gun carrier...

-jeff

You make a darn good point there Jeff. I have seen a lot of lever gun guys work the action without taking thier finger off the trigger.

IMO people who buy into the line that only safe hunters carry a rifle without one in the chamber reminds me of the anti gun crowd always making the argument that you are ten times more likely to have a suicide or shooting in your home if there is a firearm present, but they never say that if a bad guy comes in and you are not armed and he is, you are about 100% more likely to get shot.( ie ,you are too stupid to own a firearm)

If someone doesn't trust themselves enough to know when they should open the action when crossing hazzards or such and can't depend on themselves to practice safe muzzle control, they shouldn't be handling a firearm at all, empty chamber or not.

BTW. If one ever threw gas on a fire they would know what WHOOSH sounded like.

I don't think statistically there is any evidence or history that shows an increase in AD's among experienced firearms handlers who carry with a round chambered in rifle shotgun or handgun.

The key word would be experienced.

Experienced in the manual of arms of their firearm.
Experienced so even their reloads are proper spec and done well.
Experienced so they maintain their firearms in proper working condition.
Experienced in knowing when the firearm needs to be loaded or unloaded due to the situation and HOW to properly do that and 'verify' empty 'safe'.
Experienced in muzzle control..identification of target.

I think statistically there are far more 'accidents'... AD's and shootings ....by INEXPERIENCED firearms handlers who thought or assumed the firearm was unloaded and acted recklessly..carelessly .. at odds with safe general firearms handling.

Far more accidental field condition shootings because the shooter failed to control his muzzle, be aware of non targets forward of his shooting position, failed to properly ID the target..
While I agree that a TRULY unloaded firearm is the safest..hunting ( not walking in the woods or traveling on a quad or pickup or busting brush) REQUIRES the firearm to be loaded..else one is akin to what one poster said when he remarked that 'fishing' requires the line-bait-hook to be in the water..:)and just toting a fishing rig isn't 'fishing'..

IF the shooter-hunter conducts himself well while hunting knowing that... despite the mech safety on or off, his weapon is ready to kill, he should be mentally and physically prepared to exercise best diligence and safety.

I am NOT promoting chambered carry for the hunter in general..
In fact, there are folks who have no business in the woods handling a firearm whether hot or not..

Nor am I advocating empty carry while hunting.
Prove your own methods with cognizance of your abilities and the situation and be safe..Jim

My buddy used a turkey shotgun to vaporize a paper cup of white gas (Coleman fuel) into a campfire once... now THAT was an impressive combination of pyromania, guns, and gas. More like a fuel-air bomb than a whooosh, though!

-jeff

Jeff �

Your �For instance� about the levergun is one reason I�m especially slow to load one in the chamber of my Marlins and Browning leverguns. While it is possible to unload the magazines without fully chambering a round, and even to unload the chamber without picking up a new cartridge from the tube, it is considerably more awkward than simply cranking the lever. And the Browning holds 10 rounds. The crossbolt safety on two of the Marlins get used almost exclusively for unloading. I just find it easier to wait to load a round until its needed than go through the hassle of unloading the chamber and/or magazine.

As to �The assumption of the empty-chamber guys is that they are all a bunch of cool assasins, and maybe in fact they are, but think if they had their way and every Tom Dick and Harry had to carry empty-chamber in the woods!�. Guess I�d have to go back and reread the whole thread (not likely!) but I don�t think anyone made such an assertion, nor do I recall any of the cold chamber types suggesting that everyone else should carry that way, too. Would there be more NDs if everyone carried cold? I seriously doubt it. The first thing that would happen is a fair number of ND�s would be eliminated and you�d have to make up that deficit before moving into the area of �MORE ND's �. Remember � in order to have a hot chamber someone already had to load it, meaning the chance for an ND while cycling the action has already existed.

I agree the #1 safety is between the ears. Unfortunately that safety is probably not as reliable as mechanical safeties. People do make mistakes.

What about the guy that slips and falls. Muzzle control is not always possible under such circumstances, and it isn't hard for a safety to get wiped into the "Fire" position or for something to catch the trigger. Slips and falls can happen in terrain where a wise hunter has already emptied the chamber, but they can happen anywhere. I've seen more than one person twist an ankle and take a dive on flat, open ground.

As soon as the chamber goes hot the chances of an AD/ND go up infinitely, no matter who is carrying the firearm. The only truly safe carry is with cold chamber.

I am not saying hot carry is an unreasonable risk - just pointing out the facts.

Coyote Hunter,

You are being reasonable and I'm glad that the "heat" has been turned way down on this!

There were several guys who came right out and said, in one way or another, that people hunting hot shouldn't even be in the woods. That, in fact, is where a LOT of the original heat was generated! Anyway...

Hey, your Browning must be a 44 mag to hold that many rounds?? I have a Marlin 44 mag carbine that's my only survivor of my Marlin levergun purge that just happened. Very cool!

-jeff