One thing I did forget to mention, I used to use a Ruger 10/22 for coon hunting, and my advice is NEVER leave it without a magazine in. First of all, I hunt in country where we' ve been jumped on by bobcats (they bound out of trees onto lights if you even accidentally shine them) and we' ve had several close encounters of the mountain lion kind. In these instances, it' s just more reassuring to have a loaded arm handy.

Secondly, that' s one big hole for a WHOLE lot of crap to crawl into, so unless you gun-sock it during portage, don' t plan on it cycling very well after a couple creek crossings or one good fight. And that' s if you don' t fall down or have to crawl through brush, or have to jump down embankments etc.

Thirdly, even if you do insert an empty magazine, you might lose it. It only happened to me once, but buddies of mine with 10/22' s or other detach mag models have had a LOT of experience with finding their magazine gone upon arriving at the tree, somehow they bump their mag release, it got to the point with some of them that they all started strapping their mags in so they couldn' t eject. (It typically happened with slicked up models, work done on them that is, or when we were wearing the necessary large amounts of clothing, but that' s more the rule than the exception, so we ruled out detach mags.)

I suppose it would be ok to put in an empty magazine, but that' s just one more thing to have to concentrate on or forget about, is this the empty one or not??

Plus, having to unload a single bullet and try to put it back in a magazine isn' t really handy when you' re leading a pair of hounds, carrying four or five coons, and wearing gloves three inches thick because it' s 15 below outside and you' re in a foot or two of snow.