Has anyone experienced unexpected firing of a Win M70 while unloading? I have seen this three times now on two rifles and am both concerned and perplexed.
Here’s the details: two years ago a buddy and I were deer hunting at different spots on his ranch. I heard a shot and figured he had his buck so went to help out, but when I got there he was looked sheepish and told me that he was unloading and that the gun “just went off” when he cycled the bolt on his 15 or so year old M70. I was skeptical to say the least, and we both concluded that somehow his finger must have been wrapped around the stock and touching the trigger when he cycled the bolt. Luckily he was following “Rule #1” with the gun pointed in a safe direction, so no harm done.
Fast forward a year and the same buddy and I are hunting together on my ranch. He drops a buck up a hill and we head up to get him, me in front by 10 steps or so. BANG! I turn and he’s been unloading his gun when it again fired. Scared the $%@# out of me, but again he’s following Rule #1 so no harm. He swears that his finger wasn’t on the trigger this time as he cycled the bolt, but as you can imagine I’m again skeptical.
Skip to yesterday, I shoot a boar with my new (2 yrs old) M70 and am walking back to get my quad and unloading the gun. BANG! It goes off on me. No harm, but scared the crap out of me and my ears are still ringing. I don’t recall the exact action I was taking, as best as I can recall I was flicking the safety full forward to be able to cycle the bolt and unload. No way my finger was on or near the trigger – it was warm so I didn’t have gloves on and I immediately though of that when the gun went off.
I know that the M70’s been around forever and is tried and true, but I also know that what I’ve now both seen and experienced happened. I’m not totally eliminating the chance of operator error in these cases, (fingers not where they’re supposed to be, etc) but seriously doubt it. Both my buddy and I are experienced shooters and hunters, are both safety obsessed, are NRA certified instructors and RSO’s, both teach gun safety and shooting to Boy Scout and other groups, and he’s a Hunter Safety Instructor. None of that means we can’t make mistakes I know, but to have exactly the same thing happen with the same model gun while doing the same thing seems extraordinarily odd.
In my case, I think it fired when I flipped the safety full forward. This makes sense as there was a round in the chamber (I’d cycled it to be ready for a finishing shot on the boar that turned out not to be needed) and I usually carry the gun with the safety in the position that doesn’t allow the bolt to cycle. I thus was probably flicking the safety forward to be able to open the action and unload the round.
As I recall, my buddy wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing but that it was similar. I guess there’s really only a couple of things that it could be related to, cycling the bolt closed and/or moving the safety.
Has anybody experienced this? Thanks.
Here’s the details: two years ago a buddy and I were deer hunting at different spots on his ranch. I heard a shot and figured he had his buck so went to help out, but when I got there he was looked sheepish and told me that he was unloading and that the gun “just went off” when he cycled the bolt on his 15 or so year old M70. I was skeptical to say the least, and we both concluded that somehow his finger must have been wrapped around the stock and touching the trigger when he cycled the bolt. Luckily he was following “Rule #1” with the gun pointed in a safe direction, so no harm done.
Fast forward a year and the same buddy and I are hunting together on my ranch. He drops a buck up a hill and we head up to get him, me in front by 10 steps or so. BANG! I turn and he’s been unloading his gun when it again fired. Scared the $%@# out of me, but again he’s following Rule #1 so no harm. He swears that his finger wasn’t on the trigger this time as he cycled the bolt, but as you can imagine I’m again skeptical.
Skip to yesterday, I shoot a boar with my new (2 yrs old) M70 and am walking back to get my quad and unloading the gun. BANG! It goes off on me. No harm, but scared the crap out of me and my ears are still ringing. I don’t recall the exact action I was taking, as best as I can recall I was flicking the safety full forward to be able to cycle the bolt and unload. No way my finger was on or near the trigger – it was warm so I didn’t have gloves on and I immediately though of that when the gun went off.
I know that the M70’s been around forever and is tried and true, but I also know that what I’ve now both seen and experienced happened. I’m not totally eliminating the chance of operator error in these cases, (fingers not where they’re supposed to be, etc) but seriously doubt it. Both my buddy and I are experienced shooters and hunters, are both safety obsessed, are NRA certified instructors and RSO’s, both teach gun safety and shooting to Boy Scout and other groups, and he’s a Hunter Safety Instructor. None of that means we can’t make mistakes I know, but to have exactly the same thing happen with the same model gun while doing the same thing seems extraordinarily odd.
In my case, I think it fired when I flipped the safety full forward. This makes sense as there was a round in the chamber (I’d cycled it to be ready for a finishing shot on the boar that turned out not to be needed) and I usually carry the gun with the safety in the position that doesn’t allow the bolt to cycle. I thus was probably flicking the safety forward to be able to open the action and unload the round.
As I recall, my buddy wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing but that it was similar. I guess there’s really only a couple of things that it could be related to, cycling the bolt closed and/or moving the safety.
Has anybody experienced this? Thanks.
