Being retire now and having bit more time I have been watching some hunting videos.

I notice a large percent of the hunters who are using bolt guns take the gun off the shoulder to reloaded another round. Then do it rather slowly even with the game still alive. Even with dangerous game.

Where as I would be shooting. I have paractice using the bolt from the shoulder thousands of time. Don't these guys paractice.

I am a frim beliver if it is still moving shoot it again ammo is cheap.

As one of the other posters on the forum tag line says( the famous last words of a trophy fee gone bad don't shoot again you hit him hard the frist time)

Comments

I have practiced w/ my 1959 Mauser 30'06 cycling the bolt without removing it from my shoulder. It needs practice. That's the beauty of hunting w/ my Garand, don't have to cycle bolt. LOL. Killed a few deer w/ that. She's sweet.

Cycling the bolt with the gun shouldered is not difficult at all. It should be second nature to cycle it and stay on the animal, even if he drops in his tracks.

Have had quite a few "dead" animals get up and run off.

I always practice cycling the bolt on my shoulder. However I have run into some problems. With lever actions and short action bolts it has never been a problem but with some long action and all magnum action rifles the bolt extends too long for me (I have a short LOP) to cycle without hitting or interfering with my face. So most of the time I have to raise my head some and cycle the bolt quickly. Also I am a left handed shooter and most of my early rifles were of course right handed. This resulted in me learning how to cycle bolt actions quickly off of my shoulder. Sometimes I still catch myself bringing the rifle slightly off the shoulder. None of this has ever been a detriment to my hunting. The most important things I can explain to shooters when it comes to face, scope, butt, shoulder juxtiposition is this. Make sure you leave face in place when the gun fires and hopefully watch the bullet impact in your optics. Cycle the bolt as fast as possible without shortstroking the bolt. If you have to lift your face from the stock, or remove shoulder from the butt while cycling, do not take your eyes off of your target, even if you saw him fall.

You can cycle the bolt quickly on the shoulder or off (like I have to). I am right handed but my right eye only corrects to about 20-40 so I shoot left handed. I have to cycle the bolt with my right hand which means that I take it off of the forend, cycle the bolt, then grasp the forend again while moving my face to clear the bolt. Sounds complicated but my left hand never leaves the pistol grip and I am able to shoot the rapid fire highpower sets (10 shots in 60 seconds) with no problem. It just takes practice which it seems a lot of the TV folks don't do.

I dismount to cycle the bolt. I do, however, hold the rifle high all the while, just under my shoulder. I can watch the animal better and get ready for a second shot better with both eyes on the target and nothing blocking my line of sight. Years of shotgunning helps in remounting the rifle, aiming, and shooting quickly.

I was fortunate enough to have started duck hunting with an old bolt 20ga. By the 3rd season I was able to fire three rounds at decoying birds with the third still well in range. Now many...many years later I still do not even think about or remember running the bolt, but there is always a second in the chamber.

For me I have to unshoulder my bolt rifles as they are all right handed and I am left handed. It is to difficult to try and manipulate the bolt while reaching over the scope with the rifle shouldered. Now the few Left hand rifles I have shot I was able to cycle the bolt while still shouldered. This has made me to want to sell off my right handed rifles and buy lefties.

I don't think I ever tried cycling the bolt from my shoulder, and I certainly have NEVER, EVER practiced any shooting at all. I sight the gun in, make sure its sighted in, usually once before I leave on a hunt (2-3 shots), and that's it! I hate shooting, but I love hunting. I believe, either you're a killer or you're not, JMO.

p dog shooter,
The reason the hunters on the tv shows seem to be cycling their bolts slowly is that slow makes for clearer video. They can do this because the shots of them working the bolt are taped after the game has been shot. The only time you see realtime action is the impact shot, everything else is as scripted as any drama or comedy on tv. And as this is made for tv, the scenes are often shot out of sequence. You have noticed that many of the scenes showing the hunter with the game animal show a carefully posed animal with little sign of blood, that shot is after time has been taken to clean up the blood and move the animal to a spot where it can be photographed to best advantage. As entertaining as these shows sometimes are, they are makebelieve. It is all staged for the maximum impact and for dramatic impact. The impact shot on the game is like the pop shot in a porno, only there to prove the reality of the action.

My pet peeve is how few hunters on TV have or know how to use a shooting sling. About the only guy who looks like he knows what he is doing is Wayne Van Zwoll.