I always use tape on my rifles. I have done extensive tests with precision rifles and it does not effect the point of impact. However some cautions are necessary. Once I had taped up a rifle with a KDF muzzle break. My wife and I were hunting together, and when I shot a deer a piece of the tape struck her in the face. No doubt from one of the holes of the muzzle break.

Also when in rain water WILL enter the bbl from the chamber end. It does not matter if you have a bolt action, pump, semi-auto or a double rifle. If you have tape over the muzzle thje bbl can fill up with water. In heavy rain I usually check the bbi and take the tape off the end if necesary.

Heard about it 40 years ago, thought about it, thought I kept a good enough eye on my muzzle, never done it.

I do it when hunting in snow or when it rains. BUT I was told the gas pressure blows the tape off before the bullet exits. NOPE it did not. Got a hole in it with the tape firmly on the muzzle. Still hit the target somaybe its right that it does not change POI but am not so sure now.

The blowing off sounded logical but did nit happen. What are your experiences?

Regards
JohnT

Maybe it's too early this morning, but how does a lasered 405 equal an actual 300 due to a 60 degree angle?

It's a geography thing, Asq + Bsq = Csq.

I don't use tape but I always have a small sack of party balloons that I will use in bad weather when I Elk hunt in colorado, easy to slip on. Good shooting.

I always use it in snow, and where it's really dusty. I used it when Buff hunting, when you're always crawling around.

Just as educated guess as I did not have a calculator with me. Something to do with shooting up or down bullet is still effected by gravity based on the distance across. If you shoot straight up or straight down the bullet will not drop of course until gravity pulls the shot taken up back on your head. Now that is my scientific take on this. Perhaps the physics guys will help you out!

I have always used a tape muzzle since the day I had a sling break while on my shoulder. The muzzle planted itself 4" into the mud and ended the days hunt. I wrap a couple turns a couple of inches back for spares.

The bullet drops according to the horizontal distance involved. The same applies to a downhill shot not just uphill............DJ

I'm not thinking I'm the one that needs the help.

Kensco, perhaps before you get in too deep some of the true intellectuals will come to OUR assistance as it obvious you enjoy nit picking!

You made a statement that defies physics as I know it. A lasered reading of 405 is a straight line unless you've found a way to laser around corners. It doesn't matter whether it is uphill, downhill, sidehill, whatever. The 300 you came up with as actual yardage would be shorter than a straight line between Point A and Point B. I found that bizarre. Like I said, maybe I'm missing something. If anyone would like to straighten out my thinking, tell me what I missed.

I'm surprised that you didn't just come back with, "Oooops, my mistake!" and move on. When someone makes a bold statement and is wrong, I don't think it is nitpicking for someone else to ask him to look again at his comment.

Like I say maybe I'm wrong. I have no problem if you want to believe your bullet hit your game by travelling 105 yards shorter than your lasered range finder recorded. My advise would be to throw it away, it's broken, or go back to the instruction manual. Something is wrong.

You sound closed-minded so I'll move on.

For MY simple mind I draw a triangle and for ease of math say it is a right tringle (probably never is). Assume my elk is directly across from me and that distance is 300 yards. Now move across that same canyon but move the elk down the mountain to make the shot a 60 degree downhill angle. Now the distance from me to the elk is not 300 yards but is 405 yards. My bullet is only going to come under the influence of gravity for something over 300 yards but not near 405 yards. The "drop" will not be a 405 yard drop but a 300 yard drop. Thus if this is a 300 Wby Mag zero at 300 my aim for the vitals would be right on versus 9" high for a 405 yard shot. At least that is the physics I have been operating under. It would be great for the physics majors to draw it on the board for us. That is my $.02 worth in any event. The elk is on the wall and I am a happy camper. Now back to the tread - perhaps I was just lucky and the physics were wrong and the elec. tape kept by bullet from hitting where I aimed. If so I had rather be lucky than good any day!

Kensco, I was being funny calling it geography, but muygrande is right. The bullet travels along a path governed by gravity. Like he said, think of it as a triangle, if the lasered point is the hypot. (longer dim.) then the horiz. leg is a shorter dim. The steeper the angle, up or down will cause a greater effect. The old school rule is @ very steep angles or greater distance w/ angle, hold low. Sorry my friend, but the one who is close minded here is you. The "bold" statement is correct, the exact distance may not be 300yds as I'm sure the exact angle can't be measured but a brief study of math & physics will get you the info. you need. This is also explained quite a bit in the better books on sniping. Before calling someone "wrong" know your facts, it saves time & explanation.

Assuming an angle of 45deg. quite steep, the range to target would be app. 290yds. If you doubt, actually go out & shoot it, but the math is sound.

First of all, Kensco is 100% correct as he is taking a literal interpretation of what muygrande said, if it was a lasered 405 yards, then, assuming the laser is accurate, IT IS 405 yards, NOT 300. What muygrande meant, and what you are stating incorrectly is that the angle, made the bullet's trajectory the same as tho it were 300 yards, not the 405 the laser measured. Geesh, all of you need to either learn to type better or understand better and quitcher picking nits.

I don't think I stated it incorrectly. If you hold for a 405yd shot you will shoot high, that's a fact, easy to understand or not.

not sure how we got from tape on the muzzel to shooting at angles, but it's fun to read.

300 yr base x square root of 2 (1.414 there abouts) would be 424 yrd of bullet travel if I didn the math right. bullet drop would be 300 yd equiv, is that an easy way to look at it.

I'm not a math whiz, so I might have calc it wrong.

Gato, now you are talking semantics my friend. The original thought was how you could laser 405 & shoot for 300, geesh!

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.







The "line of sight" distance to the target is 350 yards. The distance to the target relative to the pull of gravity is 300 yards. The trajectory of the bullet will be the same as a 300 yard shot fired on level ground.



When the shooter fires downhill over the "line of sight" distance of 350 yards, the bullet will drop less than if the shooter fired 350 yards over level ground. Therefore it appears that the bullet drops less when shooting downhill. It's the actual distance to the target, relative to the pull of gravity, that determines the trajectory of the bullet.



-Bob F.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeha, "Now that's what I'am talking 'bout". I knew if we hung long enough it would show up. Thanks for the pic!

I've been doing this for years, actually since Terry Weiland did it on a caribou hunt in 1991. I asked him why he did it, and the explanation made sense. Black electrical tape is cheap. A new gun or a hospital stay isn't.

Thanks for the back up guys, I new someone would figure out how to post a dwg. of this. Why is this such a hard thing to follow?

This book 'splains it pretty well.

You got it Gato. If anyone read his words they were not what he meant to say. No one doubts the effect of gravity. He made no reference to bullet drop. He was refering to "actual" distance. The actual distance was the same as his laser reading.

I don't care what the climate is, electrical tape always goes on my muzzles to keep out sand, twigs, whatever. I also wrap a few inches extra around the muzzle, about an inch back or so, so I have extra after I've shot the tape over the muzzle. I also carry some in my shooting gear when I'm hunting.

Russ

This is why I bought an Angle Cosine Indicator (ACI).

Russ

I recently ran a test for a fellow hunter who thought that using a covering over the barrell end would effect the velocity. We ran several tests using electrical tape, scotch tape and no covering with a 300 Weatherby Magnum. All shots fired with and without tape etc. were within 25-35 fps of each other. So, no problem with type of material used to keep rain, snow, mud, bugs etc. out of rifle barrels.

rslus

I am posting here because this was repeatedly questioned on my recent trip to Africa. I have for years placed a piece of elec. tape over my muzzle to keep snow &/or debris out. I was asked by several of the PHs about it. Am I the only one who does this in temperate climates as well as snow? I thought it saved me some greef crawing thru the swamp grass!

I put a bit of elec. tape over the muzzle of my rifles whatever the climate. I also wrap some of it
around the barrel a few inches below the muzzle so I always have a supply on hand....if needed.

I have never had a problem with the tape but, I sure have had issues with debris, water and snow when
I wasn't using it.....

I am more than a bit surprised that the PHs hadn't heard of this.....

Regards,
Dave

I do it during deer and moose hunting.

For those who haven't tried it before, make sure you take it off every night. Moisture can get trapped around it and cause problems.

I always tape the muzzle when I'm in the bush. More to keep the dust out than anything else. The worst place for dust I've personally experienced is Botswana where it's like very fine talcum powder.

Fred,

I only do it in the snow and ice country.

I have done some target testing with tape, and it does not change point of impact. It seems that gas cuts the tape before the bullet gets there.

I haven't seen the need in temperate climes.

jim