DBM

[WIN71]

After reading the "600 yard Elk rifle" thread and reviewing some of the off topic posts about DBM hunting rifles' I started this one.
I've shot and hunted with blind, as in Rem ADL, release floor plate, as in most everything else, and detachable box magazine rifles.
I didn't have any trouble with any of them. For safety and my limited experience I am shy of the blind magazine. All three of my main hunting rifles are old Winchesters. Mostly because they are there.
I have a lot of enjoyment with CZ DBM rifles in .22 Hornet, and .223. Carry one or the other of them in the pick-up all the time. Bounce around the logging roads, occasionally jump out in the rain or snow and start shooting.
The DBM rifle that has never failed me is a Colt Sauer in .375 H&H.
Don't get me wrong. If any human, no mater how experienced, hits the wrong button on any mechanical man made product something unplanned is going to happen.
I've never lost, miss placed or couldn't find a loaded detachable magazine period.
I've misplaced unloaded magazines somewhere in my house or pick-up before hunting season or at least before I needed them.

 

[jmr40]

I have rifles with blind magazines, floor plates and with DBM and my preference is in that order. My 1st rifle, bought in 1975 is an ADL 700 and I've never found the blind magazine to be a handicap. It is simpler, less expensive to manufacture, makes for a lighter rifle and a stiffer more rugged stock and there is no chance of it opening under recoil and dumping ammo on the ground. It takes about 3 seconds longer to unload.

But today my main go-to rifles have floor plates. I'd be just as happy if they had blind magazines, but they don't. I don't see the floor plate as a positive, it is just another way to unload the rifle and they are pretty reliable. Failures are extremely rare, but they do happen. Many DG hunters and guides weld the floor plates closed turning their rifles into blind magazines in order to eliminate the possibility of a failure. I've had it happen a couple of times at the range, never while hunting.

Simpler is always better and while I own and use rifles with DBM they are the least simple. While they do work most of the time, they also present the most opportunities for problems. Everything is a trade off. For the military or LE speed of reloading far outweighs the slight possibility of a failure. And since lots of spare mags are carried a replacement is readily available in case of a failure.

For a hunter I don't see a DBM as an advantage. It's not a disadvantage unless something does go wrong and admittedly that is rare. I've only had one issue in years of hunting and that was when the magazine in my Ruger 10-22 disappeared while hunting. I have no idea when or where, I just looked at the gun and it was no longer there. I continued hunting for the day with a single shot.

In a nutshell the differences are small and all 3 systems can work if well designed. B