Our Early Muzzy season starts on Thursday, and we are supposed to have showers throughout the day.
I see on TV where they put Tape over the barrel.
Is this safe?
Is accuaracy effected at all.
Thanks in advace,
W.

It's perfectly safe as the escaping gasses force the tape off well before the bullet gets there.

I don't know how your state law reads, but it is legal for us to transport a muzzleloader with a charge as long as the primer/cap/flashpan is cleared. Because of that, I leave my charge in the gun for the entire week's season if necessary. I'm always concerned about accidentally double charging the gun. To prevent that, I went to Staples or Office Depot and I found those little red "dot" stick on markers they sell in packs of 100 or mor. I bought RED ones that were .75 inches. They cover the end of my Encore perfectly (as they do any .50 cal. gun) On the red dot, I print "LOADED". I wipe the end of the barrel with alcohol or lacquer thinner and then affix this dot over the gun barrel end. That keeps out any foreign matter, obstructions, water as well as reminds me that the gun is loaded.

i keep a bit of electrical tape over the muzzle of all my centerfire firearms when hunting.

No worries about debris or water in the barrel.

No effect on accuracy IME.

I have also been putting "Scotch" tape over the muzzle of my centerfire rifles for many years. No accuracy or pressure problems, and it keeps rain, snow, pine needles, etc out of the barrel.

george roof wrote:

quote:

I leave my charge in the gun for the entire week's season

I'm not sure about Pyrodex, but black powder attracts moisture, and I would be concerned that doing this could promote rust forming in the chamber.

I use Hodgdon Triple Se7en pellets. They aren't as corrosive as Pyrodex and don't seem to be as hydrophilic as the Pyrodex. Our weather is mild here and the gun is sealed. Haven't had problems yet. Remember the pioneers went through worse situations and they didn't have Encores. LOL

A small balloon works well too and isn't sticky.

Hey plainview,

quote:

A small balloon works well too and isn't sticky.

As an aide I found some black "Leprechaun Condoms" marketed as "Muzzle Protecters" at a hunting store store once and tried them too; trouble with those was they didn't work very well in conjunction with a front sight. I won't even start down the road with the humor you can get outa that encounter.

W.....

I normally use black electrical tape, normally stick a piece over the muzzle and then make a coupla turns areound th ends with a piece say 4"-5" around the ends so there's another bit ready after the shot to cover the muzzle again.

IME this has aboslutely no effect on pressure or accuracy nor have I encountered any other ill effects but the tape sure does keep the crud outa your barrel while underway. Nice to keep out snow, rain, ice, dirt, pine needles, wasps and whatever other potential barrel obstructions which are out there waiting to climb into your muzzle.

The tape blows off the muzzle well before the bullet arrives and after that the next coupla inches gets plastered over.

I used to take a small piece of saran wrap, place it over the bbl, and one wrap of scotch tape.

A friend used to cut the fingers off of surgical gloves and slide over the end.

Seemed to do ok. I can only remember taking one deer in the rain while using the saran wrap, but it worked like a champ.

Good Luck

Reloader

I've used tape over the muzzle for years, never had a problem. Use either plain old black electrical tape or masking tape.

I was watching Bob Foulkrod on a Stone sheep hunt today. The entire end of his barrel (I suppose covering the BOSS on his Browning A-Bolt) was taped over with black electricians tape. He missed the sheep but I don't think it was the tape that did that.

Excellent idea George...why didn't I think of that before. I've used various ways usually involving tape or a "balloon something", a couple of times I found latex "fingers" in the local pharmacy to cover finger injuries while washing, in various diameters that worked well for different barrel diameters, but your "red dot" also handles the safety issue and can be seen much better.

None of these methods should be used longer than necessary as they will cause condesation inside the barrel.

Finger cots - I think that is what they call them. Drugstores should have them.

example at Amazon

The tape on the muzzle idea goes across many applications. One is tank guns...for years, US tanks have been issued "muzzle plugs", or a rubber cap to keep dirt and moisture out of the gun tube when not firing or training. In the -10 manuals for the M60 and M1 it stated that if necessary, a sabot round could be fired with the cap on, and the column of air preceding it would blow the cap off before the round got there.

Use a tight patch and there should not be a problem with keeping your powder dry.

2008 fall / winter issue of muzzleloading magazine has an article on how to keep your ML from miss firing. In the article he talks about putting electrical tape over the muzzle and says it wont affect accuracy.
If you ever watch Jim Shockey on the Outdoor channel he always has tape over his muzzle.

I like electrical tape, the glue doesn't come off' and form a sticky snot like masking tape did for me. I use it on center fire rifles also. My main concern is snow or water turning to ice inside the barrel. That has caused many spectacular, instant, custom barrel reconfigurations.

20+ years of using a MZ to deer hunt and never used anything over the barrel. Never, that I can remember, had a gun not discharge either.

As I see it once the bullet/sabot go in and the cap on the charge can't be more protected. Of course I don't tend to walk around with the barrel pointed straight up in the rain either.

I always use electrical tape over my muzzle.
Won't hurt accuracy.

I have a great reason to put tape over the muzzle of any rifle. I slung my rifle out of my truck last deer season and the damn thing stuck strait in the mud if I would have had tape over the muzle it would have saved me from dragging the mud out with a zip tie that I found in my truck and cleaning the barrel with my treastand rope (like a boresnake). This is a great reason to use a small dia. rope 3/16" (emergency barrel cleaning) I will try to use tape from now on.

Have been putting tape over my barrels when it rains for years.
I have also left my ML loaded as long as 2 weeks. Just be careful, when it is VERY cold outside and you put it in a warm truck or bring it in a warm cabin. If it (sweats) on the outside of the barrel, it (sweats) on the inside.

quote:

Originally posted by Henry Hoover:
Have been putting tape over my barrels when it rains for years.

And in 25+ years of hunting with a MZ exclusively during gun season I haven't, and have never had a misfire, but if it makes you feel better....

And as to dropping your gun in the mud with tape over it, now you have to pull both mud and tape out of the barrel.

Lads,
I have had one bad experience w/Pyrodex and a caplock.
Starting w/the gun clean and dry (stored in our mud room at about 35 deg), I then loaded my 54 cal. w/Pyro and a Great Plains bullet leaving the cap off until I went into the woods.
Freezer was full of meat so I was looking for horns rather than hor d'oevres - never took a shot.
The rifle went from 0 - 10 deg. outside to 30 - 35 deg inside eveyday (no snow, one of our very cold/dry UP winter weeks).
Fired several caps to unload with no result. Pulled the bullet (not easy) and went to dump out the powder... turned solid!!!
Finally dumped some ffg in the nipple hole and touched her off.
Only time I ever had problems w/Pyrodex (powder from same can ok if I plug BOTH ends of the tube w/tape (remove cap and drop hammer on an old small piece of rubber eraser.
Shoot well,
Mike

Thought I'd expand on something I found effective to keep poweder dry in a loaded cap-style ML.
I cut a new pencil eraser off a pencil and used a leather punch to punch an appropriately sized hole in the eraser (fits snugly over the nipple). Push the plug out of the leather punch and cut in half - replace in the eraser (I used a dab of rubber cement) and place over the un-capped nipple, ease the hammer down.
A tightly fitting patched ball, or minie should seal the other end (also use the other methods in these posts) and no moisture should enter.
If you carry afield like this, be sure to have lots of the eraser dinguses... I always drop one or two using either gloved hands or frozen fingers!!
This is a non-scientific solution to what may be a common problem in damp areas.
Think first... then shoot well.
Mike

Could we maybe put Saran wrap over the nipple and form silicone RTV around it, and use this for a wet=weather nipple cap? It'd be Cheap, and you could afford to make several of them. Also, this might work to make a pan Plug as well.
KY Jim

First: you have to promise not to laugh or make any crude jokes.

In Vietnam they had condoms available from the company medics, just in case you got crazy enough to actually risk VD with one of the locals.

We put them over the muzzle of our M-16's during monsoon season. It worked.

Rich

"We put them over the muzzle of our M-16's during monsoon season. It worked."

It kept all M16's 100% free from V.D.

I didn't promise.

Although not a bad idea, I've never used tape over the barrel.

When it's raining I'm much more concerned about water getting in from the action end and usually keep the action tucked up under my jacket best I can. I haven't had rain stop the gun from firing yet.

Electrician tape works just fine on a ML, just as it does on a modern rifle. It has not changed the poi in my testing.

I can't speak for anyone else, but if the spousal unit were to find some condoms scattered in my hunting stuff I suspect every single one of my guns would be bent into a pretzel, and most likely around my neck...

I've hunted in some pretty wet weather and I must confess that even though I think electrical tape is a great idea I've never done it yet. What I have done with a caplock is to put the cap on and then wrap a strip of saran wrap over it a couple turns, strip only needs to be 3/8"-1/2" wide and it keeps everything dry. Just be careful as you have to cock the gun, then wrap it while holding the hammer then lower to half cock.

What is muchmore fun is keeping the priming powder dry in a flint lock.

It takes several minutes to dribble beeswax from a lit pure beeswax candle (petroleum based wax is too brittle at room temp and even worse in the cold) over the joint between the frizzen and the pan to "Seal" the pan.

But I've either used electrical tape or a fitted muzzle cap
on every rifle I own since I first discovered the trick 20-odd years ago.

AD

quote:

Originally posted by woodsie:
Our Early Muzzy season starts on Thursday, and we are supposed to have showers throughout the day.
I see on TV where they put Tape over the barrel.
Is this safe?
Is accuaracy effected at all.
Thanks in advace,
W.

W,

I've used the black electrical tape for many years on both my rifles and shotguns.
NO PROBLEM!

Black electricians tape when the weather does not cooperate. Spare tape round the barrel.

I did it for 45 years, it will not affect accuracy as compressed air blows the tape off before the bullet gets there.

Much, much easier for sealing the nipple without a cap. I use 3/16" tubing caps, they are rubber or soft plastic cups, meant for sliding over the ends of tubing to keep the insides clean. You can find them at auto parts stores.