Gun Safety

[jimi]

Originally Posted by gloozit

Do that pheasant hunting. Let me know your total.

1000's

Maybe your reaction time is better than mine. :P

doubt it, i'm 51, but learned gun safety from my dad & that elementary school class we had to take, kinda rural where i grew up. sorry i'd never hunt pheasants with ya. you keep the safety on until ready to pull that trigger, heck most the time i walk with my side by side cracked open and i still have time to snap it shut, thumb the safety to off, and get off a shot

[Fred_G]

Originally Posted by Triaxx2

I prefer a bolt-action shotgun when hunting. Not only is the safety a more effective trigger block, preventing it from tripping the hammer, but by popping open the bolt, it's easy to render it very quickly unfireable, because the bolt rotates around and prevents even an unsafed trigger from firing.

Plus the position of the thumb safety means I can get it with a glove and not have to disrupt my aim to find the safety.

Bolt action shotgun. Interesting. I have heard of them. Ever used the 'safety' on a Mosin Nagant?

[Triaxx2]

No, but I looked it up and it seems a touch silly.

The one I've got is a Mossberg 173C in .410 which is technically a youth model, but I'm in a brushy area and I use it for rabbits and occasionally blasting possums bothering the chickens. Easier to bring it to bear in a barn or heavy brush than a full-size gun.

Plus the safety is easier to find with a gloved thumb and quieter if I'm sneaking up on something. It's only single shot though. I'd like one with a magazine, just for possums.

[Fred_G]

Originally Posted by Triaxx2

No, but I looked it up and it seems a touch silly.

The one I've got is a Mossberg 173C in .410 which is technically a youth model, but I'm in a brushy area and I use it for rabbits and occasionally blasting possums bothering the chickens. Easier to bring it to bear in a barn or heavy brush than a full-size gun.

Plus the safety is easier to find with a gloved thumb and quieter if I'm sneaking up on something. It's only single shot though. I'd like one with a magazine, just for possums.

In Soviet Russia, safety sets you. I like the safety on the Mauser. I am not sure how good it is internally, and of course we never rely on the safety, but it seems to be a very effective battle safety.

[Fred_G]

Gloozit, what do you think about the 4 day defensive class at Front Sight?

http://www.frontsight.com/courses/de...ing-course.asp

Interested in your thoughts.

[gloozit]

Originally Posted by jimi

1000's
most the time i walk with my side by side cracked open and i still have time to snap it shut, thumb the safety to off, and get off a shot

Must be slower, fatter birds.
The pheasants around here, take off next to you and are in the trees, quickly.
And that's good advice. But I won't get excited about being chastised.
As Fred said, layers of safety.
When I am hunting pheasant, I AM ready to shoot, as I am walking a corn row. No talking, no sight seeing, just hunting. Safety off, when ready to shoot. Yepper, I follow the rule
Yeah I could trip and have an accidental firing, but we all could at any time, when we have a gun, in our hands. I stay very aware during that time.
Safety is, as much a mindset, as it is actual physical steps.
And to go back to my original statements, guns are dangerous. Keeping that always in mind has kept me safe.
@ Fred, I didn't have time read all that Fred, sorry. I'll look later. I think Bill would probably know more on that than me. I'm just an old hunter, that spent a couple years, playing army.
But my thoughts on self protection are like this: You need to be very familiar with your gun, for it to really be protection. You need to be able to pull it out, find your target, aim, and shoot, all while ignoring the fact that you are crapping your pants.
I'd look for a course that teaches that, as well as good safety practices, like knowing your surroundings and the people in it. It's like a guitar. The people that are good with them, always have one in their hand.
I felt naked last night. Just got back from up North, doing a little trout fishing, and got home to no big dog. My girlfriend lent her out to her daughter, who just moved and is working third shift a couple nights a week, in a nursing home.
The dog is my protection. The gun is only to back her up.

[hrlow2]

Here in West Virginia, dogs are an alarm system.
When they go off, protection gets brought out.

[Fred_G]

Gloozit, a couple of my shooting buds from Texas just got back from the FS course, they were very impressed. Defiantly going to try to make one of those classes. People in their class ranged from people who had never fired a gun before, to current LEO and current and ex military, to just shooters.

Apparently there was a ND at that course. Person violated 2 of the main rules. Pointed the gun at something they did not want to shoot, had their finger on the trigger before the gun was on target, and they shot therself in the the leg.

[Triaxx2]

The only time a safety is any good is if the gun is unloaded. Even so I treat all guns as instantly ready to fire at the pull of a trigger. Even a dissassembled one.

[Fred_G]

I disagree Triaxx. While I would never rely on just the safety, it is an additional measure that helps prevent a ND.

[Triaxx2]

Even so I've heard stories of safeties failing so I presume any gun, safetied or not is going to discharge at any moment. Does it prevent it, of course, not, but it means I never forget to be safe with the gun. Which is ultimately the point of gun safety anyway.

Though like gun control, both hands is the best safety you can use.

[Fred_G]

Originally Posted by Triaxx2

Even so I've heard stories of safeties failing so I presume any gun, safetied or not is going to discharge at any moment. Does it prevent it, of course, not, but it means I never forget to be safe with the gun. Which is ultimately the point of gun safety anyway.

Though like gun control, both hands is the best safety you can use.

Thus the layered approach to gun safety. The safety, if the gun has one, can add one more layer. None of the layers by themselves are foolproof.

[Serious Sam]

my idea of gun safety :D

[Fred_G]

Originally Posted by Serious Sam

my idea of gun safety :D

I like that picture. Too many AR type guns for me. Two or 3 AR-15's is enough. I am liking the old WWII battle rifles these days. Reach out and touch a target, with open sights.

[mmoreoften]

Originally Posted by hrlow2

Here in West Virginia, dogs are an alarm system.
When they go off, protection gets brought out.

lol That is pretty common in some other places of this planet, not just WV.
However, dog is the most reliable alarm system, even better than camera system.

[hrlow2]

Here is a good reason for knowing your target.

550332_302126686527139_127583850648091_741926_177155122_n.jpg

[gloozit]

Thought you might enjoy this story Fred.
I sure as hell did.
http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/i...ton_towns.html

Shotgun-wielding Laketon Township cancer patient, 63, holds off alleged home invaders
Published: Friday, September 21, 2012, 7:06 AM

LAKETON TOWNSHIP, MI – Two young men allegedly picked the wrong Muskegon County home to invade Thursday.
As they climbed the stairs to the second floor of Dixon Smith’s rural home in the 200 block of North Buys Road, they found themselves confronted by the homeowner – a 63-year-old with stage 4 lymphoma, steady nerves and a double-barreled shotgun.
Smith ordered the two to lie down and held them at bay with the loaded gun while he called 911 and waited for police. The incident, called in at 11:54 a.m., ended peacefully with the surrender of the alleged home invaders to police. No one was injured.
“I’m still trying to calm down,” Smith said four hours after the encounter.
The incident was frightening, Smith said.

“Tell you what, you’ve got a shotgun, you’re waiting, you hear them on the stairway coming for your bedroom…” he said, his voice trailing off.

He said police responded quickly. “Kind of a long five to 10 minutes, though,” Smith said. He spent the time holding his shotgun on the two suspects, who assured him they wouldn’t try anything and didn’t.
“I really tried to be as forceful as possible,” Smith said. “I didn’t want them to get me into a conversation. You can’t let them get too close to where they can grab the gun.”
Two suspects were lodged at the Muskegon County Jail awaiting charges late Wednesday, said Sgt. Pat Herremans of the Muskegon County Sheriff’s Office.
Herremans, three sheriff’s deputies and a Michigan State Police trooper responded to Smith’s 911 call.
Smith said he and his wife know and, over the years, have tried to help one of the young men arrested Thursday. He said the man grew up across the street and the Smiths even took him to Florida about a decade ago when he was in his teens.
But the man allegedly became a drug addict, Smith said, and Smith and his wife suspected him of stealing things from the house on several occasions in the past. That included cash and Smith’s cancer medicine.

Smith said his lymphoma is currently in remission.

Thursday’s incident began just after Smith’s wife had driven away to go shopping.
Smith was at the computer on the home’s second-story loft.

“Within three minutes I see a guy with a hoodie walking past my front window,” he said.
Smith and police believe one of the two picked the front door lock -- with a credit card, Herremans said – then entered the house, apparently believing no one was home.
Smith heard them talking downstairs and grabbed his shotgun.

“They made it almost to the top stair. I came out and told them to lay down,” he said. Both were wearing backpacks, Smith said.
Smith said police found a chair in the woods outside the home that they believe the two were using to stake out the house.

[gloozit]

Originally Posted by Fred_G

I like that picture. Too many AR type guns for me. Two or 3 AR-15's is enough. I am liking the old WWII battle rifles these days. Reach out and touch a target, with open sights.

Get an M1 Garand. Can put a hole through 2 inches of oak, @ 1000 yards, I believe. (reciting from an abused possibly wrong memory)

[Fred_G]

Originally Posted by gloozit

Get an M1 Garand. Can put a hole through 2 inches of oak, @ 1000 yards, I believe. (reciting from an abused possibly wrong memory)

You have to have pretty deep pockets for a Garand these days. But it is on my list of guns to own. I have shot one. Don't think I could see the target at 1000 yards. I am doing good to shoot 100 yards open sights. One day I will have a Garand, M1 carbine, Lee Enfield rifle, and a Mosin Nagant M44 to round out my WWII collection. One day...

I like the article you posted. Like they say, 'when seconds count, the police are only minutes away'.

[shooter]

Originally Posted by Fred_G

I put the 'gun in the wild' part in, just in case someone on the forum came across a gun, and had no experience with them.

You mean like this?

Fifth-grader finds loaded gun on playground, follows safety procedure