I've read that the only safe way to hunt with a lever is with the hammer down on an empty chamber, "only a fool would do otherwise" .

It seems to me that when ready to take a shot, working the lever to chamber a round would cause most game to flee, or at the very least warn them of danger.

I have always moved through the woods with a round chambered and the hammer at half cock. Have I been a fool?

Rob

It depends on how you hunt and is not limited to just lever action rifles. If I were to sling a rifle over my back to travel, I would empty the chamber. If you travel through brush or steep slopes, the rifle will be bouncing around and your clothes and or brush may disengage the safety and maybe touch the trigger.
To address lever actions only, it depends on the type of lever action that you have. The newer Marlin and Winchester guns have either a cross bolt or tang mounted safety and should be safer to carry loaded.
My rifles are Browning 71's and have no safety.
I do not use a sling on my lever actions and carry the rifle in my hand, so I keep the chamber loaded most of the time.

I hunt with a new production Winchester 1886 in .45-70 frequently. It does have the tang safety, as well as some kind of new fangled trigger disconnect sorta gizmo thingy (I think) that the hammer doesn't fall completely to allow contact with the firing pin if the trigger isn't back...

I always carry with a round in the chamber. I live and hunt in grizzly country...A round in the chamber is always there, no matter what rifle I am hunting with that day.

Before the STUPID SAFETY and suit-happy lawyers, it was the only way to hunt with a lever-gun. This is, of course, something that only applies to having the rifle in your hands and being ready to shoot when going into the bushes on any trail.

I always carry my 444 loaded, on half cock. Never had a problem.

Most lever actions (exposed hammer types) have a half-cock notch. If you put the gun on half-cock, the hammer is not in contact with the firing pin. Of course, if you snag the hammer on something, it could get pulled back and go off. When I am hunting, I carry my lever actions with the chamber loaded, and the hammer in the half cock position. In reality, you'd have to be pretty careless, crashing through brush and the like, to cause your gun to go off. Working the lever to chamber a round would likely spook a lot of game. Any safety device is not 100% reliable, should not be treated as foolproof, and is not a subsitute for responsible handling.

I have a BLR and carry it loaded, with hammer at 1/2 cock and folded forward.

Loaded chamber, hammer at half cock.

I usually have a round in the chamber, safety on when hunting.

Half cock is the ticket with a round in the chamber! As long as we are all conscious of the first two rules of firearms safety, this should be no problem. Don't point the thing at something you don't want to destroy and keepyour damn finger off the trigger until prepared to do some shooting!

JMHO,

JohnTheGreek

Its bad enough having to get that click when going from half to full cock, let alone having to cycle the action before a shot. Half-cock has worked over a chambered round for a century or more. The best safety is between our ears. If one is that worried, new lever guns have cross-bolt safeties, but I've never thought such a "lawyer's" device was needed.

I'm probably the "reckless" one here. I carry mine chamber loaded full cock with the Cross bolt safty on. Unlike many of you I didn't grow up using half cock and it's more natural for me to flick off the saftey than it is to pull back the hammer. I agree with the others that safety starts between the ears and by following the rules. I keep my hands out of the trigger area until it's business time. I think Jackfish is correct about half cock being fine for so long before the lawyers mucked up everything.

[ 10-24-2003, 00:20: Message edited by: Dave In LB ]

Crap, thats what I need a empty rifle when something jumps up in front of me...NOT

I have no use for an empty gun while hunting..With a 86 or 94, about any hammer gun, carefully let the hammer down all the way then cock it back to half cock, this fully engages the safty notch in the hammer....

With my Mauser or M-70 I load it and put the safty on...I carried my 45 ACP cocked and locked for 40 plus years....

An empty guns spells empty deep freeze....

Hammer at half cock with one up the tube, I have dropped the ahhmmer numerous times and had a click due to the marlin cross bolt I only use that now ehen I sling it or am riding with my rifle slung when on the trail bike.

It's amazing, but somehow I'm still alive.

I use M-92 winchesters and M-70 Winchesters most of the time.....I have the chamber loaded and the hammer on half cock or the safety on (M-70)except on two occasions:

1. when on a guided hunt where a guide (or PH) is walking ahead of me

2. When the gun is in a scabbard on a horse.

On these conditions I only have ammo in the magazine and the chamber is empty!!

I must be real dangerous I carry a ruger super blackhawk with no safety and all 6 chambers loaded.

Lever guns and other rifles loaded with cartridge in chamber and either half cocked or safety.

An unloaded gun is as useful as a pocket knife with no blades.

David

[ 10-26-2003, 06:28: Message edited by: David Thomas ]

The only gun I will carry horseback with a round in the chamber is a pre 64 M-70...The rest of my guns are loaded only in the magazine...

I do carry one in the chamber with a M-70 but only when jump shooting Coues or mule deer from the horse, where you must step off and shoot fast, and let someone catch your horse sometimes. The circumstances determine that.

I had just read Dave Scovill talking about this chamber empty crap. In a scabbard, yes. In the cab of the truck, yes. In my hands sneaking thru the brambles, are you nuts. I hunt sporatically with a hammer gun (lever, double, single) and if they have a half cock, it is used. The win 94 and the marlin 95 that I use the most work out fine this way. I had a client years ago who had a very nice Austrian mountain rifle ( a petite hammer single stocked to muzzle in .22 savage) We where hunting Aoudad in some rocky west texas area. He slipped into me on the final last little bit of the stalk and we went done thru the rocks, rolling into a bloody wad in the bottom of the cut. After a few moments we found his scope. Then we noticed that the hammer was done tight on the firing pin (this is all exposed for the world to see) The rifle didn't ( DID NOT )fire. The half cock notch was broken and we finished the hunt with the chamber empty and the full cock notch. And Iron sights.

I have a Josef Just BPE .577/500 that doesn't, so it is left empty until the very end of the stalk. But this is a rarity, and I have only hunted it once.

ED

Jackfish,

On most exposed hammer guns, be they lever action, single-shot, or single action revolvers, (and some double-action revolvers) you may noiselessly cock them.

Though it has been common knowledge for over a century, I will not tell you specifically how but if you will experiment with your UNLOADED rifle you will find out.

A hint and a warning- if your thumb slips off a hammer being cocked while the trigger is depressed it may well FIRE the weapon. The hammer will fall COMPLETELY, half-cock will NOT engage and the transfer bar will NOT block the hammer from the firing pin. Proceed at your own risk.

The purpose of the cross-bolt safety on exposed hammer lever actions was undoubtedly to give users the option of hunting with the hammer fully cocked- same as bolt actions or internal hammer guns would be carried, without having to use the above, MORE DANGEROUS, method.

[ 10-27-2003, 23:51: Message edited by: steve y ]

Rob

quote:

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I have always moved through the woods with a round chambered and the hammer at half cock. Have I been a fool?

---

I used to hunt half cocked with my BLR but one day while letting the hammer down with my greasy sweaty thumb, it slipped. My truck sports a nice bullet graze on the door that happened to be open and in the way.

I just hunt with the chamber empty now and I am weary about loaning that rifle to friends who are not familular with levers.

FWIW, I'll jump on the bandwagon and say I too have hunted with Winchesters and Marlins (old style, no safety rifles) with chambers loaded and hammers at half cock.

Wouldn't do it any other way. Also wouldn't own one of the safety equipped models.