I was just looking the post about the BLR/30/30? and it reminded me of a mishap I had with mine.
One day I drove down to the meadows behind my property to hunt mulies. I got out of my truck and put the magazine in my BLR and cycled a round. It's not uncommon to jump a deer right away so I want to be ready. We all know that there is no safety switch and you have to half cock the hammer to be "safe". I was letting the hammer ease down and it slipped from my sweaty thumb and drove the bullet through the edge of my open door on my Blazer. The hole looks like a blown open bannana.
Now I'm sure people are going to poke fun at me and I've probably heard it all from my buddies up here allready but has anyone else had a mishap with thiers? I was alone in the woods and was sure no one was in the barrel direction. I hope no one has been hurt or worse.
Despite this I love my BLR for going on a short walk around my house or sping bear time. I do worry when I lend it out to some of my friend who are new hunters.

Yup, a fellow has to be careful when letting that hammer down! Sorry 'bout your Blazer though. Glad it wasn't a good friend.

I have a .308 BLR that I like, but I am very careful about lowering the hammer.

Also have a newer Marlin .45-70 with the safety. Nice addition for lowering the hammer safely, or cycling rounds through the action to unload. Don't really like it for much else, but nice for those chores. Thanks for sharing the safety info with us. Guy

Have had my BLR in .243 for, geeze I'm getting older, 21 years now. No accidents to this point.

Sorry to hear about your mishap. Not much worry around here of sweaty hands while deer hunting.

this is sorta' a mishap.
good friend who is older [65] and owns a ton of land up here [my best friend cause' i get to hunt it all] was tooling down a road through the woods on one of his farms. he spied a nice 6 about 75 yards away through the trees.
deer is off side of the truck. he sneaks out his side and uses the bed for a rest. puts the cross hairs on the shoulder.
"bang". deer runs off. he couldn't believe it. no way he missed. he looked for a few hours and found absolutely nothing for sign. dissapointed he went to the corner store for coffee.
a friend rolled up along side him [off side of the truck] and george starts to tell the story.
his friend replies "dont feel bad, you missed the deer but you shot a helluva' nice chevy!"
he promptly pointed out the large hole in the side of the bed.............
george had looked over the rail with his scope but the muzzle was pointed at the bed side. it took months to live that down..............
woofer

Yup, with a Marlin (not me), and a pre 64 '94 Winchester (me but not loaded), same thing, lowering the hammer, bang. Muzzle control is a big thing, no problem in either case, muzzle pointed at the ground. The marlin I was standing right beside, scared the crap outa me.

I tell my friends the reason muzzle control is the first of the Ten Commandments of Safety is it's the one that keeps people from getting hurt if any or all of the others are broken (or in this case simple human error).

When I was a kid I used to short stroke the lever on Dads BLR when I got buck fever. Let some big bucks get away. Wish I'd just had a good bolt.......--JM.

The owner of a place in Ocate, New Mexico, where I used to hunt. tried to shoot a deer on the side of a farm road by resting his 99 Savage .243 on the hood of his truck. His bullet hit the center ridge down the middle of the hood, and blew up. Fragments deflected down into the engine compartment and blew the top off his radiator.... He blamed this "mishap" on the fact he had a scope on the gun. He took the scope off, and has used only iron sights ever after....

I got real close to your mishap lowering a hammer.
I thought I was being careful but somehow the damn thing slipped from my finger about 1/2 way down. The gun didn't go off but it put a pretty good ding in the primer--couldn't have been to far from going off.

A GOOD REASON NEVER TO START A YOUNGSTER WITH A 30-30 LEVER!!

First of all you need one of those hammer extenders for the BLR. Uncle Mike makes them. If you hold the hammer and then pull the trigger and then let the hammper go forward just a bit and then release the trigger. You can let the hammer down and it will fall into half cock automatically.

Thanks for the tip Mike. I'll look into picking one up. Good idea for when I lend it out. I can't see myself doing it a second time but anything can happen.

I have a BLR too. Thank goodness nothing like that has ever happened to me. Someone gave me advice & I'll be extra careful to remember to do it. Put your index finger between the hammer and the rear of the bolt then uncock. If you do slip you'll get a squashed finger but at least it won't go bang.

helidriver72
If you managed to short stroke a short throw lever like a BLR, then you'd certainly have short stroked your bolt gun as well. Not the guns fault, opperator error.

AD's suck.. i did a very simular thing at 12 with a double 12.... shooting birds out of my grandfathers garden... shot the right barrel, took the bird, let the hammer down on the left, looked up, and blew a hole right between my big toes...

I have NEVER lost focus on a hamemr since.

jeffe

Well it sounds like you learned an expensive safety lesson without injury. I suppose pointing in safe direction doesn't include Blazers, as you were just putting it out of it's missery.

I short stroked a BLR and it jammed, so I did not get a follow up shot on a whitetail doe. Fortunately for me, the doe was lung shot and expired before she could charge me.

She's been performing better than ever lately!

500grains
I didn't say you can't do it, just that it's not the guns fault if you do. You can jam a lot of bolt guns by short stroking them too.
Nice long slow strokes feel better anyway

I had a BLR. My recollection is that it was meant to be carried with the hammer ALL THE WAY DOWN - not on half-cock. It had a rebounding firing pin, like a Colt M1911!! And yes, one has to be careful when lowering ANY hammer on a loaded chamber. This goes without saying!!

When the hammer is all the way down I hope your BLR is not loaded. At half cocked the hammer is locked from hitting the pin, when down it can be bumped and fire.
Maybe I'm missing something about the rebounding firing pin? I'm not sure what that means.

Boilerroom, my BLR was one of the early ones, pre '81 modle. It had a spring-loaded firing pin, with the spring holding the pin to the rear. The firing pin was shorter than the breechbolt, so when the pin was held flush with the rear face of the bolt by the hammer, it did not project through the firing pin hole in the bolt face. It only "jumped forward" and hit the primer if it was struck a full blow from the hammer falling from the full-cock position. Just same way as the Colt M1911A! .45 cal. pistol works!! Did anyone ever tell you it is unsafe to carry a loaded-chamber .45 Auto with the hammer down on a loaded chamber? In your case, perhaps the Browning 9mm HP, which I believe works the same way. That's what a "rebounding" firing pin is. It "jumps out" to hit the primer, then it rebounds back into the bolt face. Now, BLRs may not work that way anymore, I don't know. But the one I had was INTENDED to be carried with the hammer all the way down on a loaded chamber! Just ask anyone you know who has one of the early type BLR's with the protruding magazine box!!

[ 01-27-2003, 21:38: Message edited by: eldeguello ]