I am sure eld made himself clear that this is a bad thing to do. Dad gone, my little cousin reads this page. Hope he don' t get any ideas from you guys telling him to try to put mud down his barrel.

Big Country, you are absolutely correct!!NEVER PUT MUD IN YOUR BARREL!!

Those hunting hard in snowy country should also take care that they haven' t scooped or stuck their barrel into the snow inadvertently. A snow-plug could freeze solid and create a similar obstruction as would mud.

8mm/06-With tape over the muzzle snow is not a problem.

I wasn' t denying that the tape works i was just a little confused on why mud would burst a barrel. Im not saying it wont, i believed you the whole time i just wanted to know why and how it happened. It just confused me because if you put one of those ballons over the end it would sink into the barrel some, wouldn' t this be the same as putting a little tape in the barrel?

stibblejumper,
I agree about the tape, or other methods used to keep the barrel clear. I personally haven' t bothered with it unless I' m muzzle-loading in heavy rain. I have always stayed vigilant re: the position and contition of my barrel tip. My grandfather was a gunsmith and kept a collection of about a dozen burst barrels in the front window of his shop. Some had some very sad stories behind them.

Nuge, lets say you could take a picture in slow motion with tape or ballon over the barrel it would show the pressure would balloon out the material upon firing the firearm, long before the bullet reached the tape or balloon. Both tape and ballons are elastic and flexible, when you push air into them they move forward...no! Then apply this to a solid substance such as mud or hard snow, they do not have the same characteristics and flexible enough to move rapidly ahead of the projectile. While it may be true some mud or debris loose packed (meaning there is chance for air to escape quickly), should blow out with no effect, it isn' t something you should chance. If by chance the balloon or tape dimpled in would it not be assumed that the air created this dimple in the first place and thus it will not create an obstruction. You see the key is elasticity(sp??) in the materials mentioned, if it moves forward from the rush of air, it will not create built up pressure inside the barrel. The main surface is in fact outside the barrel, not in the barrel like mud, snow or debris.....does this make sense. The air or pressure blows out the tape or ballon, not the bullet. With an obstruction the air or bullet can' t escape normally, causing problems

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.

SJ is absolutely right on this. I have used standard electrical tape for years on rifles and never had a problem. The gas escaping past the bullet takes care of the tape long before the bullet gets there.

BTW the only dangerous thing I ever did by putting a small balloon over the muzzle was have the Guide I was with laugh so hard when he saw it that he almost died. Something about practicing " Safe Rifle"