Do you worry about hiding your stainless barrel while coyote hunting

LeviSS

LeviSS

New member
I just bought a new AR with a stainless barrel. I'm thinking about rigging a gun sock to hide the barrel while coyote hunting. I think I've seen a picture on here of someone doing this. I'm going to guess that it is pretty important because of the shine. If you have pics or suggestions of how to do this, post em up.
 
I'll go out on a limb here with my opinion. My stainless gun is a muzzleloader, and I don't bother to camo it for deer hunting. Probably wouldn't for coyotes either

Stainless doesn't shine any more than a glossy blue barrel. Sure it's lighter colored, 'cause it doesn't go to blue or black.

As a photographer, the glare one deals with in photographing metal is the spectral highlight -- like the sun glaring off a glossy blue barrel or one of Browning's high-polished stocks. So a matte finished stainless barrel could actually be "less shiney" than a glossy blue barrel.

Don't trust me? Fine, I don't think any of us will argue with the idea of reducing the source of any possible glare or shine.

+1 on tan vet wrap, if you can get it on without changing the POI
 
I went hunting with two other guys and i had a new custom rifle along and did'nt have time to paint the barrel and never thought it would matter much.. I was wrong! We got busted on two stands and i asked the others what they thought caused the coyotes to lock-up and then turn and run off. Both stated it was my new rifle barrel it really shined in the sun. Knowing this i switched over to my spare rifle which was fully camo'ed and we called in nine coyotes dureing the rest of the hunt that mourning..
 
The first year I had my Savage 12VLP in .204 Ruger (2004) I used vet wrap tape on the barrel and the scope. For those of you who are not familiar with the 12VLP, the barrel is SS and fluted. Here's a photo of the way I had the vet wrap tape on the barrel and scope.

Coyotes_Left_side_Gun_small.jpg


I have not bothered using the tape since then. I honestly haven't noticed any coyotes shying away from me when they are coming in. I can agree that there will be some shine off the SS barrel, but unless you are waving the barrel all over, the coyote might not get wary. I'm sure there are many items out in the wild that reflect sunlight similar to what you'd get off a SS barrel. That's just an uneducated guess on my part, but I have called in bunch of coyotes and not had my SS barrels camoed in any way.

Here's the 12VLP without the tape:

PD_by_Windmill--small.jpg


Here's one of my .17 Remingtons with a fluted SS barrel in sunlight.

Coyote_2_gun_FoxPro_Call_closeup--s.jpg


And here's the other .17 Rem with a fluted SS barrel. Sorry about the dead prairie dog in the photo. He refused to get out of the way of a 27.8 gr. BTHP Hammett bullet!

1st_PD_of_day_w_rifle-1--Small.jpg
 
I have been busted from the glare off a GP-100 Stainless 357 on more than one occasion.

If your stainless barrel is not beade blasted with a non reflective finish, then coyotes may pick up the glare off the barrel.

Remember, hunting coyotes is not a life or death situation. If you don't care if they shy away from the glint off the barrel, it really will not change anything but your success for that day's hunt. If you are just out to have fun, it's a small thing to consider.
 
We hunt very open country and most of the time there is no shade available to set up in. My philosophy is to cover every base I can--there are enough bases I can't cover to mess me up. So, to answer your question, I either use camo tape or McNett's camo wrap to cover anything that might shine or look out of place. I'm sure the vet wrap works every bit as good.

2007Verminators090.jpg
 
Picture this; if you were a coyote which just came pounding into my stand, and happened to look my way, you would be looking at the muzzle end of my rifle and the objective lens of my scope. If I camo'ed these two crucial parts of my calling rifle, I couldn't see,for the piece of camo tape over my scope lens, and I'd have a gob of vet wrap stuffed in the muzzle.
Do I worry about the stainless barrels of my calling rifles......no, I don't.
 
Interesting post. In Winter snow cover. I hunt open rolling cropland hills.

I never painted or camo'd my rifle or shotgun. During those yrs. I've had coyote's peg me[dressed out in all white camo] from afar. Firearm non-camo'd.

Flipside, some coyote's just stared hard my way. Boring a hole on my position. I got to thinking, perhaps the older[local] coyotes went on alert. Because they recognized something new or out of place. I believe that to be true on some of these hunts.

The local coyotes in my hunt area. Often hunt the same area's. I believe some recognize when something new is in their area.

Yrs ago, it didn't take long to realize. A Red Fox, although having good eye sight. Does not have the same vision of a coyote.

I've been camoing my firearm for the last 30yrs or so.
 
I used to not worry about it. Then a couple deer busted me that should not have. A few days later I saw another hunter walking through the woods about 100 yards away, he was carrying a stainless rifle. That rifle stood out way too much. In fact I may have not noticed the hunter if not for the rifle.
You can test it for your self. Lean 2 rifles up against a tree. 1 stainless 1 matte blue. Make sure both rifles are in direct sunlight. Next back off and see what you can see. Try this with the sun at different angles, and different gun finishes of stainless and blue. I did. Now I want my stainless Savages bead blasted or painted.
 
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