My two favorite rifles are a Winchester model 70 and a Ruger M77 mk II. Both have a 3 position safety that is a bit loud. I hunt deer in the thick Georgia pines. Many times the click of the safety going off gets the deer's attention. I am not sure I have really lost a deer on it's account but it is worrisome. Can this be made more quiet? Thanks "D"

For the Model 70, it helps to have a good gunsmith who properly understands the M70 time the safety properly in conjuction with a trigger job. It makes the whole system work more smoothly and more quietly.

Beyond that, the next noise issue with the Model 70 is where the safety lever taps the bolt sleeve when the safety is moved to the "FIRE" position. The best and most effective solution to that problem that I've ever seen belongs to riflemaker D'Arcy Echols. He actually machines a shallow verticle scallop into the bolt sleeve itself. It's very subtly and tastefully done and actually adds to the appearance of the mechanism. A good riflesmith should be able to mill the same sort of scallop for you, but of course the part will have to be reblued afterward.......

AD

I addition to what Allen Day suggests the spring in the safety can be changed to a lighter one. This along with adding a small detent to hold the safety back in the full safe position will make the lever easier to move.

When it's easier to move with these modifications then one can let it off with the thumb and it will not slip and make noise.

Until all this is done let the safety off with two fingers if necessary.

I found that on my Ruger MKII that if one keeps a little downwards pressure on the safety when taking it off slowly There is very little noise. If one truely has to take it off fast the noise isn't going to make a differants.