Round In The Chamber

[CRJR45]

Just my two cents , this whole thread needs to be deleted. Stuff like this is just canon fodder for the anti gun crowd .
We all know of a tragic situation, but why air them ALL here on a public forum ?

 

[BrentD]

You guys will get a laugh from this, but Wednesday, I was at a trail head before 5 am and shoved 2 in the mag of my 1897 Winchester. If you don't know it, is a pump that uses a 1/2 mile stroke to cycle the action and makes more noise than a freight train starting to reverse directions.
Usually, I will fill the chamber in the parking lot, but that morning, another guy was there coincidentally, and I'd be walking in with him.l so I figured I'd cycle it when I dropped off the trail to get where I wanted to be before flydown.

An hour later I had sweet talked a big ol' gobbler into dropping by. I thumbed hack the hammer, waited a few moments for the optimal positions and posture and then dropped the hammer on him..

Every one of you knows exactly what happened and what didn't happen next. And I'm blaming y'all.

 

[champ198]

Like most I have hunted all of my life since I was about 7 years old. I'm 47 now so i got some miles on me.
I have always carried with a live round in the chamber. I have yet to have a AD or ND of any kind.

I am also an active pistol shooter who carries a striker fired pistol every day and it is always with a loaded round in the chamber.
If I carry a 1911 its cocked and locked ready to go.

I turkey hunt, I deer hunt I hunt about anything I can find when I can and I always have a round chambered ready to go.
I stand hunt in the Midwest where I live. When I rope the rifle up to my stand the breach is open and it is out of battery so it cant fire. Once I am settled in the stand Bolt is closed and its ready to go.

I'm not saying accidents cant happen, but from things I have seen, improper gun handling is more of a cause for an AD or ND than anything.
I'm a fan of Randy and the Fresh Tracks crew, but I guess I will continue to be one of the "Dumb Ones" and will continue to carry with one in the chamber when hunting.

 

[Ericbender]

I don’t with my rifle, but I always do with my glocks. Hunting and EDC

 

[Petec]

Interesting thread. I will say to each their own.

I have one in the chamber than firearm in battery when hunting unless I am crossing a stream, fence, or climbing a tree. If there is a chance of slipping or falling I open the action.

Never had one go off without meaning for it too in almost 50 years of hunting. I also don't take my comp guns out hunting either so no light triggers are in the field.

 

[Bicyclerips]

Situational for sure. Generally I only have a round chambered when I'm hunting tight wood lots or I am hunting with the expectation of jumping game or stalking in on game. Otherwise, unchambered. I do carry a sidearm when hunting, which is chambered.

 

[RevJim]

When my feet are on the ground, and I'm away from the road (legalese) there is always one in the chamber. Never had an NG. Im 72, started at 8 yrs old. Utah Law says when in the vehicle, empty chambers. Of course! Duh. When a pistol is on my body or in the Night Stand, one in the chamber.

 

[elkduds]

Reading this thread reinforces my predilection for hunting alone.

 

[BAKPAKR]

You all will be proud of me as I turned over a new leaf. I covered about 6 miles Sunday while squirrel hunting and never once chambered a round!

Now, had the sow and cub I spooked run towards me rather than away, I would have been pretty quick to jack a CCI HP into my Remington 572.

 

[RevJim]

That's what pistols are for, don't you know?

 

[WyoDoug]

If I am ON FOOT and on an active stalk, I chamber a round and set the safety. If I am not expecting wild game I am hunting to present me a good target, I don't chamber yet but I have the magazine loaded to capacity. It all depends on the situation AND safety concerns I may have. I do adhere to general hunter safety rules and common sense.

 

[brendog84cj8]

Louisiana father with ‘heart of gold’ dies after rifle accidentally discharges during hunting trip

Louisiana father Garret Verdun, 45, tragically killed in hunting accident when rifle accidentally discharged in Lafourche Parish. Safety reminder issued.

www.foxnews.com

 

[INMT]

Louisiana father with ‘heart of gold’ dies after rifle accidentally discharges during hunting trip

Louisiana father Garret Verdun, 45, tragically killed in hunting accident when rifle accidentally discharged in Lafourche Parish. Safety reminder issued.

www.foxnews.com

Just read that too. Was going to post here. Sad deal.

 

[geetar]

If still hunting alone I do carry one in the chamber. If I'm walking with someone else no. If I'm going to a spot to sit I don't chamber one till I sit down and I remove it before I walk out.

 

[pilsner]

Chamber one at legal shooting light and empty chamber at end of legal shooting light. Unless I am walking into a baited site for bears or hogs.
Why folks think it's fatally stupid to have an empty chamber in their EDC gun and some seem to think it's fatally stupid to walk around with a rifle round chambered is beyond me.
I'd wager that I have shot as many critters on the walk to and from my stands as I have from the stands themselves. 2x this for private land deer and hogs regardless of location.

 

[Frequently Banned Troll]

It is really stupid in my opinion- change my mind. 45 years of hunting behind me and I’ve never had the need to walk around all day with one in the pipe. This thread is mind boggling to me. Hunters really are a dumb crowd on a large percentage scale..

 

[MS 9x56]

It is really stupid in my opinion- change my mind. 45 years of hunting behind me and I’ve never had the need to walk around all day with one in the pipe. This thread is mind boggling to me. Hunters really are a dumb crowd on a large percentage scale..

You obviously are not a still hunter! I don’t count either stance as stupid. Each hunter must make his own decision based on his methods of hunting and shooting.

 

[Goatshoes]

Since Michael called those of us that carry one in the chamber "dumb" on IG I thought the subject might deserve a more civil discussion here over the comment section there. I have always carried one in the chamber and never felt un-safe about it. I would actually go as far as to say with the level of muzzle control I force myself to have I would feel confident that I could carry with no safety on without incident.

PS: I NEVER do the latter. Just emphasizing that I feel I have enough safety protocol built into how I carry a gun that I deem not having a round chambered as unnecessary.

I usually have two rounds chambered when chasing upland birds or jumping waterfowl. I don't know a single upland bird hunter that doesn't carry at least one round in the chamber. Anyone who is in danger of being injured by a chambered round is likely to be within close proximity and I don't think at those ranges, a shotgun makes you any less dead. So, I would apply the same logic to big game as I do to upland. Keep it on safety and pointed in a safe direction. Most accidents happen due to stupid.

 

[406dn]

I usually have two rounds chambered when chasing upland birds or jumping waterfowl. I don't know a single upland bird hunter that doesn't carry at least one round in the chamber. Anyone who is in danger of being injured by a chambered round is likely to be within close proximity and I don't think at those ranges, a shotgun makes you any less dead. So, I would apply the same logic to big game as I do to upland. Keep it on safety and pointed in a safe direction. Most accidents happen due to stupid.

I both big game hunt and hunt upland birds. My upland hunting is over pointing dogs. Most of the time, I carry the shotgun open, and shells in the chamber, or closed and no shells in the gun. When the dog goes on point, and I get, say, within a hundred yards or so, the gun is loaded, with the safety on.

Fifty plus years ago now, while I was in college, a football player at NDSU was killed by a shotgun blast to his stomach. He was waterfowl hunting with a friend. I'm sure he did not think he would die that day. Duck sloughs do not offer the best footing. Likely his friend slipped and his muzzle control was lost.

So much of big game hunting in the west involves making your way along on steep, sometimes slippery terrain. Long ago, I concluded that it was just safer to leave the rounds in the magazine. If still hunting, with good footing, with game sign present, I will consider putting a round in the chamber. That is quite rare.

 

[Rogerdoger]

For me the gun stays empty until game is spotted, especially if I am with other people. This for me is more important now than in the past with the new style of rifle carrying systems like the kifaru gun bearer. Also more people are buying after market springs and setting the trigger way to low.

Keeping a round in the chamber is like drunk driving, you can do it 100’s of times before you get busted or kill someone. If I don’t get an animal because I could not chamber a load faster it is on me to work on my speed to chamber, move slower through the woods, or just come to terms the animal won that round.