I dropped it out of the deer stand this morning and broke the stock at the wrist.
No, I wasn't being careless. I was being careful. Here's what happened.
A long time ago, I resolved to never climb into a deer stand with a loaded rifle. More so, to never climb with a rifle on my back if possible. My stands have a piece of rope attached to the rail, whereby I can tie the rifle off, climb the stand, then raise the rifle into the stand. At that point, it's loaded and placed on safe. I reverse the process when it's time to climb down.
This morning was no different. I climbed the stand, hauled the rifle up, then loaded it. After several hours, I decided to climb down. I unloaded the rifle and tied it off. I used a slip knot around the forearm and a half-hitch around the barrel. I've lowered rifles using this combination of knots for years with nary a problem. This morning, the knot slipped. I watched the rifle fall to the ground butt first. I watched the muzzle as it fell, thinking how fortunate I was that the rifle was unloaded. Safety first. That's me.
This is what I saw after the rifle came to rest.
I said a silent prayer of thanks for my safety, then climbed down and collected the pieces.
Now, though, I have a project. New stock, fitting it, bedding it, making sure everything works. The old Savage rifle will be back, better and stronger than ever before. I'm thinking a laminate stock. What say you?
6 comments:
Took my first shot for the season today. Had a dud primer. I lifted my bolt to recock and fired again. Still no juice. I had to wait to make sure I didn't have a hang fire, then I quietly removed the offending cartridge and loaded a new round by slowly working the bolt. The deer was almost out of range by then so I rushed it, gut shot the deer, lost the trail after 3/4 of a mile. Damn!!!
6 or 7 years ago I made up 50 rounds for my 30-06 that were particularly accurate and I've killed 12 deer with them since. In that 6 or 7 years they have spent time in HOT trucks and my garage, so I blame myself for the bad primer.
Sorry to hear about the damage... I'd recommend HS Precision replacement.
http://www.hsprecision.com/new_stocks.htm
Check the weight and the shine of the laminate.
You want plug and play and accurate?
http://www.accurateinnovations.com/savage/savage-arms-rifle-stock.html
Certainly not the lowest cost option but the value proposition and purty pictures does give one pause. More money in the stock than the rifle I s'pose...
Saying a prayer of thanks for your safety too! My condolences on the rifle.
Ouch. That's painful to look at, but a lot less painful than falling out of the stand on top of it...
I tie a clove hitch around the pistol grip/trigger guard, and a couple of half hitches around the barrel just above the stock.
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