My favorite safety is on the Remington 700. It is a sear blocking safety, but actually retracts the firing pin and striker rearwards by camming the sear upwards. It is very secure,
Recent legal adventures against Remington suggest the opposite.
My concern is that those who prefer hunting unloaded because they might trip or fall and discharge the weapon are missing a salient fact. That is, their conduct is what is unsafe, not the firearm. "I might fall down and make it go BOOM!" only seems to result in a further redundant and unnecessary reaction, to carry it unloaded.
I thought we were supposed to conduct ourselves as if the gun were loaded at all times? Hmm?
If it's unloaded, that can and will prompt some to treat it as if it is, and that attitude is what leads to negligent discharges. "I didn't know the gun was loaded!" gets a lot of grief here, why make that attitude worse by actually supporting the use of the firearm that way?
If you are uncomfortable with hunting with a round in the chamber, it goes to a lack of confidence in your ability to handle the firearm safely. That has to be practiced and learned. That is one of the skills that they teach in Basic Training.
But - these days only one in one hundred serve, and the lack of training is more than noticeable in the public today. In the 60's, one in ten had served, they were family members, you would discuss subjects with them, especially hunting, and you learned from them.
Now, not so much. All too many shun the baby killer, mind warped war vets, they might have a flashback or something. Ask them for gun advice? Not. Those guys ran thru the woods loaded, off safe, with their fingers on the trigger!
Ever do that? Hunt, safety off, finger poised for action? Slowly walking thru the woods looking for game? Some do, I have, and sometimes still do when alone.
You don't blindly stumble around at a brisk pace - you plan each step, putting your foot toe down first, find what branches are under it, adjust for firmer footing, all by feel. You aren't stalking game stomping thru the leaf fall with your LL Beans smashing every twig underfoot.
Do that and you should unload it. It's not hunting, it's a brisk hike thru difficult footing with an elapsed time in mind.
It's about mindset. Some hunt one way, others another. If it takes two hours to move 500m thru the woods to your specific hunting spot looking over a field, bedding area, or connecting trail, I suspect you hunt loaded.
If it's a chore to get as quickly as you can there, you hunt unloaded. Me, I'm locked and loaded before I even lose sight of my parked car. In the Ozarks, deer bed down where they are secure, and that can be a thicket within eyesight of the road. I've jumped deer within yards of my parked car.
If you need to glass the surrounding mountainside to locate game, that can be a different situation. You can lock and load as you approach them from the other side of the hill. In those circumstances some speed is needed to keep up with game.
In any and all cases we should still consider the gun loaded. And for the way I hunt, it is, no fooling. That means each and every time I work the controls I know for a fact the gun can and will go off.
If you hunt unloaded, barrel up, do you? I'm going to suggest that the entire point of the Remington 700 trigger issue shows that some don't. Too many negligent discharges. Too many people blaming the gun.
If the gun can go off any time you change a control on it, then it should be pointed in a safe direction. Me, I prefer it being pointed at the game with it in my sights. Otherwise, it's in the parking lot getting unloaded, and the magazine fed rifle does it more safely. Drop the magazine, retract the bolt. Done.
Rem 700, jack every round thru the chamber.
Win 94, jack every round thru the chamber.
Recipe for negligent discharge. Entirely because it doesn't forestall human error. I can unload the AR with the safety on.
Can you unload your manual action firearm with the safety on? The early Win 94 unlocks the safety every time you return it against the stock. The 700 no longer locks the bolt down when it's on safe.
I don't see AR users suing Colt for a poor design, I do see Remington owners doing it.
I also note a lot of bolt action owners are recommending hunting unloaded.
Do you see the connection?