to shooting activities with airguns. Crosman Corporation also sponsors programs that are directed toward training and safe shooting.
Semiautomatic rifles like this Ruger 10/22 Carbine have a push-button safety located at one end of the trigger guard.
With the emphasis on safety in shooting, most states require the completion of a hunter safety course for anyone under a certain age who wishes to get a hunting license. Certified instructors who make sure that the prospective hunter is familiar with proper handling and use of a firearm conduct these courses. Safety is a constant thing, not a sometime thing. Changes in equipment and training have led to a drastic reduction in firearm-related accidents, but further reductions are possible. Those of us involved in the shooting sports must constantly be concerned with the safety issues of our activities.
Rimfire rifles and pistols are at the same time some of the safest and most dangerous of firearms. Because of their having low noise and almost no recoil, they are convenient and pleasant to use. However, the same characteristics may also cause them to be taken lightly. This should never be the case! The author has served on a coroner’s jury and seen first hand the incredible effect that can be produced by a bullet from a 22 rimfire. He has also used a rimfire to prepare large hogs and cattle for the butcher’s block. A rimfire round can produce an enormous amount of damage!
A bullet from the lowly 22 LR rimfire can travel up to a mile and a bullet from the 17 HMR or 22 WMR can travel even farther. Because the velocity is relatively low, bullets from rimfire firearms (especially the 22 Short, Long and Long Rifle) are prone to ricochet badly. Shooting at almost any object on the ground will result in that familiar but horrible whine of a bullet on its way to somewhere else. Not only that, it may be going at some merry angle compared to the direction in which it was fired. The rimfire shooter must exercise good judgment and restraint. If you are engaged in the noble and time-honored pastime of hunting squirrels with a 22, remember that you may be able to fire at game in some directions but not others. If you miss that squirrel on a limb 40 yards away, the bullet is going to come down a long way from where you are. It may also strike a branch and ricochet in some uncontrollable and unknown direction.
The Thompson Center Classic has a hole through the rear of the trigger guard through which a special lock is placed.
A 22 LR looks tiny beside a 458 Winchester magnum cartridge. As a result of its small size, there is sometimes a tendency to take a 22 caliber firearm lightly.
A bullet from a rimfire can easily penetrate a 2x4 or several inches of flesh. I have performed almost every test imaginable, and the power produced by a cartridge that measures only one inch in length and costs as little as 2 cents is almost unbelievable. Not far from where this is being written, a man getting into a vehicle dropped a loaded 22 handgun, which struck the floor, discharged, and sent a bullet into his body. It penetrated several organs on its upward path and the man was killed. A rimfire has the power to be lethal from many directions, not only when a bullet hits “just right.” All of the safety requirements for any firearm must be exercised in the use of a rimfire. A rimfire firearm is every bit as much a firearm as is a powerful rifle that is intended for hunting elephants. In fact, the story has been told of a shooter actually killing an elephant with a 22 LR!
Safety Rules
Many accidents are avoidable. Common sense and logic would prevent many situations from arising in which someone might be injured or killed. Millions of shooters have enjoyed their sport for many years without ever being involved in an accident. In terms of the number of man-hours involved and the very low incidence of accidents, shooting sports are safer than are many other types of activities. However, when an accident involving a firearm does occur, it is deemed a newsworthy item. Even a minor injury inflected by a firearm will get more press coverage than a broken spine that results from a skiing accident except when the injured party is someone famous. Those of us who are involved in any form of shooting sport must remember that there is a large, vocal segment of the population who does not believe that we even have the right to own and use a firearm. They believe that the Second Amendment is some sort of collective right that was intended for militias but not individuals. That is remarkable in view of the fact that the other rights specified in the Bill of Rights are individual rights. Historians of my acquaintance who specialized in constitutional history at the doctoral level and studied the papers of the writers of that time say that the documents made it clear that the citizens of this country would not be reduced to serfs. It was clearly their intention that law-abiding individuals would enjoy the freedom to own and use firearms lawfully.
While this may seem so elementary that there is no need to state it, read and follow all instructions in the owner’s manual that came with your firearm! The manual may contain information regarding the operation of your firearm that you may not know even if you are an experienced shooter. Some firearms have particular features or characteristics that may have changed so that even experience with a similar model some years ago does not necessarily mean that the latest version operates in exactly the same way. I found recently when I was having trouble with a certain rifle that consulting the owner’s manual showed me why. It was not a safety issue but rather involved convenience in operation of the rifle. In addition to information on safety, the owner’s manual will give tips on maintenance of the firearm that can lead to long, trouble-free service. Correct procedures for loading, unloading, and handling firearms are important, and the owner’s manual will give you the information you need to perform these functions correctly.
It is incumbent upon all shooters to use all means available to make the shooting sports as safe as possible. There are several rules that serve as a basis for conduct in the shooting sports, a sort of shooting etiquette. The list takes on several forms depending on who is drawing up the list, but the rules can be distilled to embody the following areas.
1. Treat every gun as if it were loaded.
Some gun handlers become sloppy when they “know” a gun isn’t loaded. However, it is the “unloaded” gun that is sometimes involved in an accident. Never assume that a firearm is unloaded when you pick it up or someone hands it to you. With many firearms, there is no way to tell at a glance that there is not a round in the chamber. It may also be that there is a round in the magazine, and working the action may place that round in the chamber unknown to the person handling the gun. If this rule were always followed, it would prevent a firearm from being handled in a careless manner. The author knows of a case where a hole was drilled through a leg of a lamp table in a living room. The shooter thought his 22 rifle was unloaded and was attempting to release the spring tension on the firing pin by snapping it while aiming at a section of the table leg. It turned out that there was a round in the chamber, and a bullet was placed squarely through the table leg. Although his aim was good, his logic was defective. This type of mistake can lead to disaster. If the tension on the cocking mechanism is to be released, first insert a snap cap before pulling the trigger. If the piece is a bolt action rifle, raise the bolt handle, pull back on the trigger, and slowly move the bolt handle to the “down” position which allows the firing pin to move forward in a controlled manner. Treating every gun as if it were loaded has been translated by some to read “all guns are loaded.” Always assume that this is so.
As a young lad, the author remembers being in the home of a relative and looking around in a bedroom. On the floor was a small revolver that did not look much different than the toy cap pistols that were so familiar at that age. However, when the revolver was picked up, the bullets in the cartridges were clearly visible from the front of the cylinder and the cartridge heads were visible at the rear. Having been around
