I never quite understood why people had a problem with it. Part of that lack of understanding was a lack of knowledge on exactly what it did. I should have looked into it further a long time ago (I've had this rifle for almost 10 years), but I had never experienced on the range what I experienced during this hunt. Otherwise, I would have known.
On November 12th, I was sitting in my ground blind. I had previously been doing a lot of shooting with my TC Encores (which don't have a safety, beside not pulling the hammer back until you are ready to shoot), and had this one set up similar - chamber loaded, in a Caldwell DeadShot FieldPod pointed out the blind window in front. But I had the hammer back and cross bolt safety engaged.
At approximately 7:30 am, I noticed a 9 pointer, sneaking carefully through the woods, keeping to the very edge of the tree line, headed to my right. I realized it wasn't going to pass clearly in front of me (where the feeder was), and was instead going to skirt the low feeder fence and continue on to my right. I grabbed the rifle from the FieldPod, swung to the right side window, and waited until he stepped out. As he cleared the tree line into the short clearing, I leveled the crosshairs on him and pulled the trigger. CLICK! (Dang, that's the loudest sound inside a wooden ground blind, isn't it?)
I hadn't disengaged the safety, and didn't realize that the safety doesn't keep the hammer from falling. It only keeps the hammer from hitting the firing pin. That ran through my mind in a millisecond. Just to ensure it wasn't a bad round, I quickly worked the lever, disengaged the safety, and reestablished my sight picture with him now stopped and looking right at me, quartering slight towards me. 33 yards away. Pulled the trigger again and dropped him in his tracks.
This story could have ended differently. Luckily, it didn't. But now I understand why people don't like that cross bolt safety. After reading up on the subject, I'm now going to keep the safety off, and keep the rifle in the half-cocked position as my safety.
All the best,
Glenn
On November 12th, I was sitting in my ground blind. I had previously been doing a lot of shooting with my TC Encores (which don't have a safety, beside not pulling the hammer back until you are ready to shoot), and had this one set up similar - chamber loaded, in a Caldwell DeadShot FieldPod pointed out the blind window in front. But I had the hammer back and cross bolt safety engaged.
At approximately 7:30 am, I noticed a 9 pointer, sneaking carefully through the woods, keeping to the very edge of the tree line, headed to my right. I realized it wasn't going to pass clearly in front of me (where the feeder was), and was instead going to skirt the low feeder fence and continue on to my right. I grabbed the rifle from the FieldPod, swung to the right side window, and waited until he stepped out. As he cleared the tree line into the short clearing, I leveled the crosshairs on him and pulled the trigger. CLICK! (Dang, that's the loudest sound inside a wooden ground blind, isn't it?)
I hadn't disengaged the safety, and didn't realize that the safety doesn't keep the hammer from falling. It only keeps the hammer from hitting the firing pin. That ran through my mind in a millisecond. Just to ensure it wasn't a bad round, I quickly worked the lever, disengaged the safety, and reestablished my sight picture with him now stopped and looking right at me, quartering slight towards me. 33 yards away. Pulled the trigger again and dropped him in his tracks.
This story could have ended differently. Luckily, it didn't. But now I understand why people don't like that cross bolt safety. After reading up on the subject, I'm now going to keep the safety off, and keep the rifle in the half-cocked position as my safety.
All the best,
Glenn
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