Carrying safety

[operation 0]

For the last 45 years I have been I have been using a .22 RF semi-auto for vermin control but I have now decided that a multi-shot pcp air rifle should surfice. Often I would load a round into the chamber only to take it out again because my target had moved. All I did was unclip the magazine and when I pulled the bolt back the round would fall through the breech into my other hand. This way I was carrying the gun safely with an empty chamber.

Which multi-shot air rifle should I look for that would achieve comparable safety in similar conditions?

Regards

op.

Edited December 21, 2017 by operation
spelling

[mattwhite 1,993]

Hi pal.

You won't get the same option with a pcp unless any of the lads here knows of one but once the pellet is loaded into the breech, it's only going in one direction.

Obviously you can apply the safety and being a pcp, you can keep it cocked with the safety on for many times longer than a Springer due to its design.

The other option is to load at the last second before squeezing the trigger as most pcp air rifles are pretty silent when loading. 

Your other option if you don't want to carry it around with a pellet in the breech while looking for another shot is to empty the barrel into the ground, carefully as it wont make an enormous bang or twang and with the price of an air rifle pellet being about 2 pence, you've not wasted much at all?

I hope this helps pal?

[operation 0]

mattwhite,

Thanks for your reply. I kinda thought I wouldn't find an air rifle that would eject a loadad pellet but I wondered if any was available that included some mechanism that would prevent a second pellet from being loaded if I simply pulled and locked the bolt back again. I don't really trust safety switches.

op.

[si brown 8,486]

1 hour ago, operation said:

mattwhite,

Thanks for your reply. I kinda thought I wouldn't find an air rifle that would eject a loadad pellet but I wondered if any was available that included some mechanism that would prevent a second pellet from being loaded if I simply pulled and locked the bolt back again. I don't really trust safety switches.

op.

you cant double load a hw100 and there probably the best rifle you can get for sub 12 vermin control 

[Jonjon79 13,358]

Some rifles can have the mag put in with an empty chamber - I do this with a couple of mine, then dry fire before I set off.

Then, I'll cock it when I spot an opportunity.

 

Either that or, like Si says, an HW100 is a fantastic hunting rifle and, it can't be double loaded.

 

A single shot PCP is a bit more fiddly when out but, it might serve your purpose well.

[ArchieHood 3,692]

With my r10, once loaded you can take the magazine out pull the bolt back while pulling the trigger making it safe.Only downside is you still have a pellet loaded.You can then cock the rifle and shoot before replacing the magazine.

[operation 0]

Thanks everyone but carrying a pcp safely is my problem and double loading is only a consequence of indexing the bolt more than once. Any safety catch is only preventing a little valve from opening and I'd far rather have the bolt locked back when I'm only carrying the rifle. I presume that an accidental discharge with the bolt open would put little or no pressure behind the pellet or anything else significant.

Is there anyone reading that has experience of a Logun Rifle, Logun Professional MK2 or similar with the linear rather than rotary magazine? If so, by holding spring pressure off the stack of pellets with my finger whilst pulling the bolt back, could I prevent a second pellet from entering behind the first?

Will the gate releasing the pellet be closed again when the bolt is fully open?

Will the bolt, in fact, lock back or only lock when closed?

Is the trigger locked when the bolt is pulled back?

This would  be a bit like ArchieHood's R10 suggestion but much simpler. The extra effort it might take to hold the stack back would be immeterial and I'd only have to index the bolt forwards again to be ready if I did find something I wanted to shoot. It would only be necessary if I'd cycled the action and then not fired the gun.

I think this all stems from my being instructed many decades ago that the only safe gun is one with empty chambers. The ease with which a shotgun safety catch can be released when in undergrowth may also have something to do with my dislike of the reliance on trigger or sear safety catches.

op.

 

[just-A-snap 1,269]

Single loader for any Air Rifle you deicide on.  BSA is not catered for in .25 if going down that road.

Good luck and all the very best

Edited December 21, 2017 by just-A-snap

[bigmac 97kt 13,787]

Hw 100

14,,,shots

safety can not be moved once a shot has been fire,d

so it easy put the mag in and fire a shot off

result,, empty chamber

the gun is then safe to carry

and if you forget that you have fired a round off just try pulling the safety back

if it moves its got a pellet in the breach .

if it dose not its empty .

and hears the good part ,,,,,,,,THE COCKING LEAVER IS SILENT VERY SILENT INDEED

ITS NOT THE BEST PCP FOR NOTHING ,

And thats from some one that hatted them at the start .

O,,,and by the way you do not want to be standing in front of any rifle with the bolt pulled back and it go,s off with a pellet in the breach as it will hurt and hurt a lot

once that bolt comes forward and connects with that pellet it will leave the barrel with just as much force as if you had pushed the bolt forward and pulled the trigger your self and not by accident.

Yes you may lose a little power but not a lot .

hope this helps

atvbmac

[Rabid 1,936]

I had the exact same concerns as the op years back when I returned to air rifles.

i leave one space in the mag empty, I put the mag in and close the bolt on the empty chamber, I walk around until I want to take a shot like this, when I have a shot to take then I re cock and chamber a pellet, once fired I do not re cock until I want to take a shot, that way I am never wandering around aimlessly with a loaded gun, I always know I need to chamber a pellet before taking the shot

[operation 0]

You're nearly there Rabid but very often, with the rimfire, I would chamber a round and my target would move or not come into clear view before I got a clear shot. The r.f. was easily emptied again but not an air rifle and I was hoping that I could carry it safely by locking the bolt back. The gun I have been considering is a Webley Raider 10 with a side bolt which would appear to lock open as well as closed. I also think it is only the Turkish 10XS that has a safety catch and not the Birmingam 10 that I have been considering. Best suggestion so far is to fit a moderator and empty it into the air or the ground which I now realise will be far less offensive than it would have been with my noisy r.f.

op.

[philpot 4,985]

I must confess to simply firing the round into the ground to remove any issue and with pellets being so cheap in comparison to other forms of ammunition, does it really matter.

 

Phil

[walshie 2,804]

Not sure why your rimfire was noisy. Mine is quieter than most airguns. 

While I applaud your desire to keep things as safe as possible,  whatever options are available on various guns, we have to take responsibility for our own actions with regards to muzzle awareness and not rely on inanimate objects to do it for us. 

[Guest Navek]

I can understand you thinking in been safe but surely the sound of a pcp is next to nothing . If your quarry moves and you then have to walk around to find more quarry if carrying the air rifle loaded is that much of a problem discharge it in to the ground ...it’s not like anything 20 yards away from you will hear it and it’s not like pellets are expensive..

[bigmac 97kt 13,787]

9 hours ago, operation said:

You're nearly there Rabid but very often, with the rimfire, I would chamber a round and my target would move or not come into clear view before I got a clear shot. The r.f. was easily emptied again but not an air rifle and I was hoping that I could carry it safely by locking the bolt back. The gun I have been considering is a Webley Raider 10 with a side bolt which would appear to lock open as well as closed. I also think it is only the Turkish 10XS that has a safety catch and not the Birmingam 10 that I have been considering. Best suggestion so far is to fit a moderator and empty it into the air or the ground which I now realise will be far less offensive than it would have been with my noisy r.f.

op.

The raider,s bolt dose not lock open

yes it seems to ........But ,,,,can be easily knocked back up when carrying it  with out you knowing

thrus making the rifle un,safe to carry.

but dont take my word for it iv only had three of them

and i know them like the back of my hand

just empty the chamber into the ground

and that leaves you 499 pellets to go .

mac

PS,,im off to polish this hw35 to see if it will turn into a hw97