What type of tape to protect bore from plugging with?

I've never used any tape .... if it's raining and I am hunting, then the gun gets carried or slung muzzle down......
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That served me well, for a long time, until I went out on a warm day after a snow storm.
There was no precipitation, nor any notable water dripping from the trees. However, all of the foliage was covered in water.

After hiking for a while, I took a logging road back toward camp, and took my exit through some trees (about 200-250 yards) to drop into camp. When I unslung the rifle, the action (bolt action) was completely filled with water, and it was running through the chamber and out the end of the barrel.

200 yards of no longer focusing on keeping the rifle dry was all it took to take it out of commission for at least as long as it takes to tear it apart, dry it out, re-lube, and reassemble. I opted to tear it apart and leave it to dry while I carried the backup rifle, but the problems could have been much more severe if I had fired with that water running down the barrel.


Another year, I had the same rifle fill up the barrel, because I carried it muzzle-down for a while, in similar conditions, with the muzzle taped up.

I prefer a muzzle condom and muzzle-up for carry, now, if the conditions are wet in any way.
 
None of the above.
Stormy wet hunting weather you'll find this fellow relaxing in camp keeping these old bones warm. I'm a old porch dog at heart. "Like the porch pooch neither he or I like to get wet."

Have a shoulder sling but its seldom use it. One hand carry. Barrel pointed in the direction of a Street L. (downwards) seems to work just fine for me when confronted with unexpected wetness in the woods.
 
I'm too old to like hunting in the rain or snow, but if caught out there with my bolt-action, I carry it muzzle-down, bottom-up, off my left shoulder. That keeps most moisture out of the action and scope lenses.

The left arm is held against the body, with my left hand wrapped around the forend. If a shot is needed, the left hand brings the rifle up and the sling drops away. The heavier, enlarged, rubber-faced portion of the light, cheap, nylon/rubber sling is at the rear of the stock, where it doesn't cause the forend to sway from it's weight as the rifle is aimed; instead, close to the shoulder, where it's better stabilized.

I don't often use the sling to brace my arm for a shot, as I'm a better-than-average free-style offhand shooter and I don't shoot unless am confident of a quick-kill shot.
 
Another year, I had the same rifle fill up the barrel, because I carried it muzzle-down for a while, in similar conditions, with the muzzle taped up.
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I have had that happen as well while riding in the rain with the rifle in the scabbard.

I always used the tape for dust more than anything else. Probably better without anything when it is rainy.
 
I have never even considered using anything to protect the end of my rifle/shotgun barrels. How common is this?
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Not very common from what I see. In fact I don't think I've ever run across another hunter doing it other than my brother.

I started taping my barrels 40 years ago, but only when hunting in rain. It finally dawned on me that there were other things that could find their way into the muzzle so I just tape up at the beginning of the season and keep it on there until the end. I often backpack into some pretty remote and rugged areas, where falling or dropping a gun has been known to happen.

If I shoot, or actually hunt in the rain it comes off long enough to clean the water off. To the best of my knowledge I've never actually needed it, but it doesn't hurt a thing and is cheap insurance just in case.
 
The only time I use it is while hunting with horses. Twenty miles in, and sometimes five or six miles out of camp and back for eight or nine days. Usually dusty. In and out of a scabbard several times a day.

The stainless barrel on my rifle is actually polished on one side from scabbard rub.

Dust in my mouth, eyes, ears, nose...

So, tape is a good thing.

But, I have never used it around home.
 
I don't worry about rain as much as I worry about snow and mud. When hunting in deep snow, it is not hard to inadvertently stick the barrel into a snow bank or have heavy snow on trees drop on you and your firearms and end up with a ice plug in the end. Same goes for mud. I like to hunt in the rain for both deer and turkeys. Heavy rain means mud and more than once I've found a mud plug in my barrel without ever remembering how it could have happened.
 
I don't even cover the muzzle of my muzzle loaders. We don't get much snow here and when we do you won't catch me out hunting in it but I have been caught out in the rain before. Never had a problem.
 
Heavy rain means mud and more than once I've found a mud plug in my barrel without ever remembering how it could have happened.
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That happened to one of my hunting buddies, about 4-5 years ago.

Three of us were out for a hike after heavy rain and he discovered a mud plug in his barrel, while about 1/2 mile from camp. No one could remember any conditions under which it may have happened, including him. We tried clearing the plug in the woods, but had to head back to camp for the tools.

While one of my brothers was unloading his truck to retrieve the (in hindsight) poorly-placed gun cleaning toolbox, the rifle's owner found some straight barbed wire to work with and discovered that the mud plug was 5-6 inches long.
Before the gun cleaning kit was ever found in the truck, we had the bore swept clean with 550 cord and then a bore-snake that I happened to find in my pack (I didn't know it was there :rolleyes:).


After that, he was a staunch believer in at least a balloon on the muzzle, preferably electrical tape (for him).
 
I have used electrical tape, balloons, and the finger cots. All work well. Lately though when I head out I usually have a pair of those surgical type gloves in my pack. If it starts getting really bad I will just cut off one or two of the fingers and pull one over each end of the scope and maybe one over the barrel.

To be honest when it's really that bad I try to be in the house, but if I am caught out in it, I am more concerned with being able to see what I am shooting, than my barrel getting full of water.
 
The tape came in handy today. We had about 6" of snow here yesterday, but it was deeper in the woods. I carry my rifle slung over my left shoulder, muzzle-down. When I had to go under many small trees bent over by the heavy snow, the muzzle hit the snow several times. The electrical tape took care of the problem.
 
I had never thought about doing this now that I think about I can see how easy it would be to put your barrel in the mud and not notice it. I will probably start putting electrical tape over the end of my barrel this year since it seems to be the preferred choice.
 
One tip, cut it with scissors and do not stretch it. It will Flag as they call it in the electrical trade. Just push it down with your thumb on the ends.
 
cots do the trick, but I used tape for years, just cut a square press it to the crown and go hunting, I have masking tape, I once used a piece of sticky backed DA sand paper, it was closest to where I was standing, its what I stuck on there.
 
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