Just a reminder that if you’re going to tape over the muzzle be sure to do it prior to loading your firearm

Every deployment I ever went on in the Marine Corps, I was issued a barrel cap that fit over the birdcage on my service rifle. No worries about it, it shoots right off as soon as you fire.

Hold up... Ryan just said... "if you run out of tape, take a nitrile glove and TAPE around it" 😂😂

Instead of using tape, try getting a small finger cot. They can be gotten from Amazon for about four dollars per hundred. Goes right over the tip of it in the elasticity holds it to the barrel. Keep an extra couple in your gear bag. Kind of like he was in the glove finger. Thanks for the video

Thanks for the talk. You answered my question near the end when you hit on muzzle brakes.

Everyone I hunt with up here in interior Alaska tapes the muzzle, typically with electrical tape. Several benefits: 1) Protects the crown 2) Prevents rain/dust getting into the barrel 3) A tumble could plug the barrel with mud and then dangerous unless you have a cleaning rod in the field to safely remove mud from the breech end.

There’s a product called “finger gloves”, some teachers used them back in the day to avoid chalk cracking their skins. Gamers use them to avoid callous these days apparently. They work like a charm over muzzles.

Steve Rinella on meateater was the first i'd ever seen a muzzle taped.

This is the first year I wish I had tape with me. Had a doe and buck come out of the woods and I took a shot at the doe when I seen a ball of moisture out about 15 foot from my barrel and it sounded like buck shoot going threw the Branches and leaves. The deer scampered off back into the woods. It was that until a few days later after watching one of your 10 minute talks I realized I had a bullet failure and the only thing I can think of that caused it was it was raining and I got some moisture in my barrel. Love your channel

I had never heard of this but majes so much sense.

Never heard of doing that. Makes sense though. Love the podcasts. Keep up the good work. 👌

I first heard of it in the Marine Corps. It's saved me a lot of trouble on at least one hunt.

My father had a 30-06 made by Eddystone. It was a 1917 model that he sporterized. Great gun. Tack driver. My younger brother was carrying it as a teenager on a miserable sleet and snow day. He forgot to cover the muzzle and must have gotten some buildup in the barrel because when he got the chance at an elk that barrel split open and 1/3 of it peeled off and twirled away into the distance never to be found again. Thankfully nobody was hurt but we learned a hard lesson that day.

While you have to take a 2 second extra step to remove it, rifle covers such as the solo hunter one are extremely helpful to eliminate anything entering your muzzle, as well as protect the rest of the rifle and scope. Mine has saved numerous things from entering the muzzle as well dings and scratches to rifle and scope

Electrical tape works great. One strip seems adequate for my 45-70, although I haven't plunged it into the mud to verify this. I learned this from "how to hunt" you tube video and tested it at the range. I had zero effect on poi.

When I was in the army in 80s South Africa we used the esbit cardboard tube to cover the muzzle of fn or R 1 as we called it. The esbit tablets were for heating water but we seldom used them. We just scraped a little trench with the heel of our boots and used a handful of twigs and put the canteen (fire bucket) to boil. Boer maak a plan

Always been doing it here. I think I read about it in hunting magazines as a kid.

Thanks, never thought of tape. I always worry about shit getting down my barrel. I was going to use a jimmy hat with a rubber band but didn’t want the jokes. I wouldn’t have thought it would affect your accuracy.

Taping muzzle and an objective lense cap on your scope are a must for western hunting

Never heard of this before. Thank you.

This should seriously be tested with a really good slow motion camera.

11:40 Ryan, you said to use a glove and tape it to the barrel if you forgot a tape. I believe you meant to use cable tie or a rubber band. Love the channel, watching for a couple of hours every day during the summer holiday😄 Best wishes from Norway

I use a curtain wire with a bore brush tapped into it, it’s plastic coated so won’t hurt the bore, if it’s blocked bad a bore snake won’t get through to clear it

Ear plug works well too!

The little finger condoms used for sorting paper work great!

We do it all the time in NZ👌

I have never taped my muzzle. But I do carry a bore snake in my pack just in case I need to clear it out. Have had to use it a few times.

Taping your muzzle... I like the saying "silence is golden but duct tape is silver" better... LOL Never heard about taping your muzzle before. When I was kid on a duck hunt I tripped in the marsh and fell sticking my barrel straight in the mud and didn't tell my dad because i didnt know any better and I didn't even know that a barrel would fill with mud.. Needless to say I figured out the hard way on the first shot. It split about 6 inches of the barrel and blew the rib off the full length of it!!!

Thanks for the tip!

I prefer small balloons to tape nowadays. They stay put pretty well and accomplish the same thing that tape does without the risk of any residue. Plus it's easier and lighter to just bring a second balloon than a roll of tape for after your shot (you can still take a fall on your way back to the truck, might as well keep the gun protected for the whole hunt).

I wish I could've been a guest on this podcast! Haha, because I had a firsthand near miss on this subject. Hunting in upper northwest WI with a Ruger Gunsite Scout rifle in .308, the end of the barrel is topped off with one of Ruger's own proprietary flash hiders similar to a full birdcage, Google search for a good view. It's a complete snag hazard when going through thick brush and vegetation. While going through a particularly rough drive during 9 day rifle season I noticed the rifles flash hider constantly stripping tree bark off of twigs and small sticks constantly becoming entangled through the prongs of the muzzle device. At one point during the day, thankfully I took a minute to inspect the muzzle and noticed something slightly off about the inner portion of the flash hider and decided to unload the rifle and do a quick bore inspection with the bolt removed. My stomach churned a little bit with the thought of "what if", when I saw a stick had somehow managed to run down the bore and broken off inside. I didn't have a cleaning kit or bore snake at that time so I improvised by unscrewing my old 97 Chevy pickup radio antenna and flushing that down the bore and pushed the stick out. It was approximately 8 inches in length. I'm fairly certain that had I fired a shot that day that there was a high probability something catastrophic would've happened. I have since removed the factory flash hider and went to a Wilson Combat extended A2 type of flash hider with a much more sleek design, and had no further issues with snagging or objects being attracted to, and funneled into the muzzle. I never had even heard of taping of muzzles before that day, but immediately a bead of electrical tape went over the muzzle. I'm really glad to see a video on this subject, and hope to see more people make this a standard practice in the future.

As far as finger cots , baloon/condom go , they work great for water but if forced by dirt/mud , pebbles or sticks/ branch can easily break thru and cause obstruction , tape would be much stronger.

Using a finger off a latex glove pulled fairly tight, and then taping it 2 inches back from muzzle where the finger was cut.

This would be a good project for high speed recording.

Never heard of taping the muzzle before. Maybe its a northern /western thing? I dunno. I can see where a strip of electrical tape over the end would be good in hard rain/snow/sandstorm etc. We always carried our rifles carefully usually pointing ahead and down slightly. Out west where everyone is carrying on their shoulder climbing large inclines, I can see this being popular tho.

Wait, you don't use your barrel as walking sticks?

those orange plugs for barrels you talked about come from Mauser

Good one never even heard of it.

Been taping my barrels since day 1. Dad, grandad, even hunters safety class buried that into my skull. Have never had issue with accuracy.

I use masking tape. I always have some around, and the gasses coming out of the barrel would have no problem punching a hole in it before the bullet ever comes in contact.

The Army issues shoot away muzzle caps(see Steven Cooper's comment). They aren't an issue. Last year, after a terrible nursing home visit, I neglected to put a finger from a nitrile glove over my muzzle. I stepped on some exposed wet clay and fell. Luckily I hunt on my own land and could just walk back to the house and clean my shotgun. Ten minutes later, back in my blind.

Can confirm the David E. Petzel article, must be close to 20 years ago. He range tested electrical tape and did a write up

Tape of any kind put over the muzzle to prevent debris from getting into the bore. The muzzles of all my long guns are taped at all times. Shooting through the tape does no harm to the firearm. See Hatcher's Notebook about this.

I had also heard that back in the days of the big asian vacation, soldiers would tape or rubber band a condom on the end of the barrel to prevent intrusions. But probably just electrical tape is easier and less prone to cause guffaws, snorts, and chuckles.

I have always carried a roll of electricians tape in my hunting pack just for that and many other reasons.

Seen a rem 700 300win banana peel it's barrel and splinter the stock from sleet and rain getting in barrel. It was loud and the owner walked away basically unharmed. Lucky.

The pressure of the bullet coming out knocks the medical tape off we do it alot in Canada

Can yall do an episode on 300 win mag

I slipped on a muddy creek bank and stuck my barrel 6" in the mud. After being dropped off by my buddies at my tree stand. Before sunrise so i had to watch "helplessly" as a shooter buck came in and milled around along with several doe. I needed a cleaning rod to clear it out. But tape would have saved the day

Finger cots work awesome

From the name of the video and the picture it looked like you were tuning harmonics with tape

Almost always do this with my Muzzleloader

What about if you hunt with a suppressor? Should you tape the end of that too?

I use a piece of Saran Wrap.

I don't generally think tape is nessary snow won't cause a problem nor will water but rocks mud clay will alot has to go wrong for a barrel to blow up

Used cond#ms on my m203...

I got some muzzle condoms from a guy in kamloops bc there specifically made for the barrell

Wish I had a nickel for every barrel that has been ruined by sand , snow , water , dirt , mud ,,people sometimes don’t realize that they have something in their barrel

Anyone else get the blowing over an open bottle sound running a suppressor and no muzzle tape? Yet another reason to tape

You can also use surgical glove finger tips over muzzle with a piece Of tape on side used if needed we used condoms in the military no change in point of impact.. I did a video on taping 👊🏻

True story… last year I was tracking a deer I just shot. It was super wet and muddy out, the boot I had on were designed for sitting in cold for a long time, not walking. I was walking over a fallen tree, lost my footing, and straight up ate shit. Broke my pinky on the landing and it took me a few to collect myself. I had my rifle slung, and the way I landed the barrel went right into a mud puddle. I walked back to my truck, unloaded, and the mud was so thick and deep I couldn’t use a bore snake. I had to get my cleaning rod. I’m the end, I pulled a 3/4 inch wad of Indiana clay mud out of the barrel. Had I not already taken a deer that day, I would have been done. Finger socks is what I use now.

Idk…. I’ve seen some hi point blow out a completely soldered barrel…. And concrete filled. I mean I wouldn’t wanna be holding it….

I've heard of some people using those foam ear plugs in, do you think this would be okay???

How about a soft ear plug?

That’s Sauer’s making the orange cap.

223 WSSM and the Factory rifles that shot it

okay, crazy question. how the fuck is tape on the end of my barrel not a barrel obstruction, but dirt in my barrel is? I dont get how the tape wouldn't lead to pressure problems.

New product idea: "barrel condom"

Barrel condoms. New hot seller. Lol

Uhh.... I've been putting a condom w/ a rubber band (yes, I am talking durex/trojan type of condom) over my barrel for ages now. Electrical tape would look a lot less sketchy.

Latex Finger Cots might work - they are like the latex glove, but just made to cover one finger - like putting a small condom on the end...

Why wouldn't you carry a boresnake? It's so small and easy to carry? I keep one in my butt stock bag.

I wonder if it could affect the barrel harmonics? I’ve taped my muzzle in the past but I do hand load for my hunting cartridges and I just wonder if the barrel harmonics are changed thus affecting accuracy?

Ive used ear plugs too

Try a foam ear plug .

Water ballons work well.

Waiting on the muzzle brake question. Go to walmart and get a bag of finger condoms in the first aid section. No tape required.

ALWAYS pack your bore snake.

I wonder if finger condoms from pharmacies would work in place of tape.

Latex glove finger.

Instead of tapping it, just shove an ear plug down so its flush with the crown

Ear plug > E tape!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Murphy's Law

Common sense 101. Lol

NYC has a big muzzle taping scene

I use the fingers of gloves. Get the small stretchy ones and cut the fingers off and slide it over the tip like a condom.. no need for tape🤣😂🤣 Or you can use ear plugs on diameter is over 30 cal

Genius. Just remember to remove it 😅

I've seen condom being used, when I was in the Army.

Uses you hunt with a Hi Point , I mean hell DemoRanch tried to destroy guns , most of them were fully functional afterwards

Or you could use a balloon

Lol

Barrel condoms..

condoms work pretty well.

just get some condoms and slip one on .. flavor / lube and size is up to how big yours is //barrel that is

This is what condoms are for

Seems like 10 minutes of talk looking for a relevant topic. Just saying....