I myself never have bothered with it. But last year, I woke up to a nice blanket of snow and decided to take the day off and go hunting. Well, I take my gun out of a warm safe and go. Well the snow was coming down heavy. And melted I suppose while hitting the frount of my barrel. I see a buck coming, but nothing I wanted to shoot at. An hour later I notice I have made this ice cap on the crown of my bore and a fee milimeters in the barrel. Thank goodness I didn' t shoot that buck. This could have been disaster. I should have used tape that day.