Unloaded = no round in the chamber, magazine may be inserted
That's the Fish and Game definition of "unloaded", and of course doesn't apply everywhere or in every circumstance.
Don't confuse the guy. He may think CA only has a couple sets of laws and following just one section of law is enough.
The Fish and Game definiton of loaded does allow that. That is valid when the penal code is not more restrictive. The Penal Code considers a firearm loaded when just a round is in the magazine inside the firearm.
However it does not consider it loaded to have rounds or a loaded magazine outside of the firearm when open carried. People still get arrested by police that do not understand this though, and they must then spend sums of cash to prevail in court.
This is open carry only ('unloaded'.)
If the firearm is in anyway concealed then the rules change.
Of course just having a firearm and ammunition anywhere on your person is considered loaded if you commit another crime. So in that case it goes from legaly unloaded to illegaly loaded just because another criminal statute was triggered changing the definition of loaded.
CA gun laws are funny things. Half the officers enforcing them won't even know them or can interprete them wrong.
There is also a fish and game law that makes it a crime to use a flashlight (or headlights) powered by more than 3 volts anywhere that game animals may live, including the side of the road, or near your campsite etc if you are armed with something that could be used to kill that animal, even if you do not kill or attempt to kill or pursue it.
Essentialy anytime you have a firearm it is illegal to use a flashlight more powerful than 3 volts in the wilderness (always in effect not just while hunting etc.)
If you took a flashlight powered by more than 2 standard 1.5v batteries to go crap in the woods and you are armed while doing it then you are commiting a crime.
If you shined a flashlight (of more than 3 volts) out to see what a noise was near your campsite and you are armed while doing it you broke the law.
The laws are crazy.
However to keep things simple for you. You can legaly bring a handgun with you. You must transport it in a locked case or in your trunk (which is still easier to just have a locked case so you can take it out of the trunk.) It cannot be loaded during transport. You must only bring magazines with a 10 round or less capacity.
Carrying it in the wilderness becomes more complicated and depends on many factors.
Technicaly it is not legal to carry a loaded firearm where it is unlawful to discharge that firearm (outside of self defense) in most cases besides personal property, business etc.
It will generaly be unlawful for you most of the time if you have no hunting license and are not on land such as BLM land, or where discharge is okay like at a range in the wilderness etc elsewhere.
You can keep a loaded firearm at a campsite as it counts as your residence, but that is different than the woods in general.
assuming the wilderness is an unincorporated area, and carry isn't prohibited for some other reason like state park land, you can open carry.
Even many unincorporated areas enact an ordinance prohibiting discharge of firearms, and that then triggers state laws regarding carrying of firearms because if it is not legal to discharge (recreationaly) then it effects how it may be carried. I spend quite a bit of time in some unincorporated areas that have ordinances against discharge of firearms. In fact I learned about this when someone I know wanted to shoot on thier own private property out in the boonies. They may have been miles from other people, but they were in an unincorporated area that had a local ordinance against discharge of firearms, and that even meant they couldn't shoot on thier own land recreationaly because that minor ordinance triggered other state law. (They could still carry any way they wished on thier own land of course.)
A large number of unincorporated areas have ordinances, and those then apply to the wilderness within them as well. For the purpose of openly carrying a loaded firearm in the wilderness (besides your campsite) it must be in a place where it is not unlawful to discharge the firearm recreationaly.
Further if you cross certain unmarked boundaries legal can become illegal. For example out in the desert there is land it is legal to carry and recreationaly fire a firearm. Then there is land where it is illegal to even have a firearm at all (state parks, recreational areas etc) criss-crossing through the desert. In reality the landscape does not change at all, just the invisible boundary does. So you need a zoning topo map to know how various places are zoned to even travel in the wilderness or remote areas and remain legal.
There is some areas I have gone out camping that travel within thousands of feet on several sides for miles of land that it illegal to even take a firearm into. Thier is no markers and you simply must know the invisible legal boundaries of the land through the use of satelite pictures and topographical maps that include zoning. Often times the boundaries are rather irregular, and include odd angles etc. There is no fences or visible difference in the landscape, so without the maps you would be unaware when you were legal and when you were commiting serious crimes (like having a loaded firearm in a state or national park in CA.)
