Metal glare

S

svenrh

New member
How many of you hunters worry about the glare off scopes or glossy gun metal while hunting?
I've never spooked any game while rifle hunting that I can confirm, but I do have a glossy 870 Wingmaster that I want to start waterfowling with that I wonder about flaring birds. I have though about trying some satin type wax on the metal to reduce the glare, but is it really worth the effort or should I just go hunting?
Weren't polished metal guns all the old timers had?
 
Not me, I been busted by scent many times but any time I was able to bring the weapon to bear, it has been okay. Now, I am positive that a deer will see the glint off the bottom of a beer can or liquor bottle...:o
Brent
 
I've been bust more by moving at the wrong time, I don't worry about my rifle. I don't hunt birds, but there have been a lot killed by shotguns with shiny finishes of that I'm sure. If you are going to be hunting around water a lot then it sure wouldn't hurt to wax down your rifle to have a mostiure barrier. Use a natural wax like Carnuba just rub it on I'm sure it will dull the finish on your metal as long as you don't buff it out.
 
I wouldn't worry about a shiny gun. You'll get busted by movement and or scent long before you'll ever spook any thing by having a reflection from your gun or scope.
 
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Hunted for years in the LA marsh with an 870, 1100, and a A-5 without problem. Movement was the important factor. We had an old Cajun that wore a white hat one morning to demonstrate that point.
 
Seen it more times than I can count duck hunting. As those birds move south, they get pretty wary and savvy. Used to hunt on a lake in a blind, and would have to laugh at some other fellows in a blind across the lake from me. Their barrels in the morning sun would cast a bright glare that looked like a laser. A flock would take a high look at their decoys, flare off, and fly right over to my spread :D. I've had it happen to me too, forgetting about it, and keeping my barrel up too high in the sunlight. Keep the shiney barrel low (in a safe direction), get it parkerized, or wrap it with barrel tape....but don't broadcast a shiney barrel up high while waterfowl hunting, the birds will see it literally a mile away, know it isn't right, and never give you a chance.
 
IMO Camo shotguns are overrated. Did you know the U.S. is the only market where camo shotguns are sold. That's right. Imported guns to the U.S. only make Camo cause we buy it here...nowhere else. Marketing. Realtree and Mossy Oak are thriving businesses. Every couple of years they can bring out a new camo pattern and suddenly everyone's Benelli is obsolete so they can sell you a new one with the new camo that will net you more ducks.....Yeah right!!!

You can use SC Johnson's paste wax and not buff it off to reduce glare if it's bothering you. If you keep your gun down, hidden you wont flare birds. If you want it camoed it only runs around $150 to have it dipped. The dipped finishes are not as durable as polyurethane wood and real bluing IME.
 
I've scared more off from putting my coffee down than by the bright blueing on my shotgun. The time the birds see my blueing they are going to see a fireball out of the barrel and it's too late then.
 
I don't claim to be a great huntrer,but I know not much in nature makes a flash.I have seen the flashing off a shiny stock,like a signal mirror,way off,1000 plus yards.
I have seen my buddy with red lense binocs,diddy bopping along and light coming through the bouncing binocs looked like a turn signal.

I have had antelope catch the glint off my eyeglasses before.I try not to have anything that gets a hilight.

How do the ducks like a little shine on the decoy paint?
 
Camo guns are going too far, but you will spook game with a gun that shines if you are in direct sunlight. If hunting in the shadows it makes little difference. Some of these guys who claim they have never spooked game have no idea how many opportunities they have lost. I have lost count of how many flashes of light I have seen reflect from barrels and scopes and I never actually saw the hunters. I just went in another direction just like the ducks would do.
 
If glare was no big deal during a hunt, why to snipers wrap their rifles with cloth?:confused:

I'm not into having pretty guns, since all I do with mine is hunt, so I paint all my hunting rifles with a flat paint. I don't know if the deer are spooked by the glare or not, but I don't take any chances when I am hunting. It takes a lot of work to hunt my game, and I don't take the chance that anything so easily fixed could be a problem.
 
If glare was no big deal during a hunt, why to snipers wrap their rifles with cloth?
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Not so much for glare as the rifle is dull anyway... it is because there are few round pipes of any color that all of a sudden show up pointing at the enemy.
while they do use special coatings on the sniper scope objective... glass that is that high clarity will always reflect a glare of some degree... I wholeheartedly believe glare reducing tube extension was first used to reduce the glare the enemy sees and they then found out that it also aids the viewers vision as well so we get it in the civilian scope world too.
Brent
 
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