Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Camo Tape.

How many use camo tape on their stainless rifle barrels?

Both my present SS rifles are Ruger Hawkeyes with a very subdued matte finish as-is. Never saw it as a problem anyway; movement is the killer.

Blue tape is the only tape that works silly

I dont have any shiney stainless they are all matted or dull and i notice mine all are somewhat close to the color of the branches of some trees and bushes I hunt against.

When stainless barrels first became popular, a hunting buddy of mine was convinced that his Ruger was costing him coyotes. He got me to get a couple of hundred yards away, and see what I thought. When the sun would hit it just right, it did have a rather bright reflection, but you only noticed it when it was moving. Anyway, I hunt with 2 stainless rifles, a Remington LVSF and a Model 7. The LVSF barrel is a lot brighter than the Model 7, but I've never noticed a coyote shying away from me, unless I moved, and then he most likely saw me instead of the rifle. I did experiment some with camo tape on the Model 7 barrel just to see what it looked like. It did not want to stick, and that ended that. As others have said, movement is the key.

Some one posted a rifle that was matte stainless and then coated with moly lube. It had sort of a tungston color to it. I tried it with engine assembly lube and mine didn't come out as dark but looked good to me. Camo tape on my bow and waterfowl guns only but it does prevent scratches on a rifle. Don't leave it the entire season if hunting in the rain or especially around salt water. The tape wicks the salt and water underneath it when it gets older and less sticky.

My Model 70 Classic Stainless barrels blend right in to the fall woods that I hunt, and have less shine/reflection than my blued barrels. Never saw a need to cover any of them up.

Only when in full ghillie suit!

I put camo tape on a couple of barrels , oiled then buffed off then waxed [pledge furniture polish] then camo tape , left it on for a few months . Did the same to my R-700 22-250 stainless douglas barrel that Mickey Coleman built for me .
The blued barrel looked perfect after months of tape , re-did the camo tape process - left it on for a couple plus years - still all good underneath - so left the tape on the stainless barrel - figuring - hey it's stainless .
Took the tape off the stainless barrel after 3ish years and it had several tiny surface rust spot . SO don't leave tape on stainless long term - long term didn't leave the slightest spot on a blues cz 527 221fb barrel .

I had a roll but I can't locate it.

I hate having to clean tape residue off my guns and worrying that water got under the tape. I prefer McNett Camo Wrap on my guns. It is a reusable self sticking camo wrap so easy to put on and take off. If the adhesive properties start to diminish you only need to hand wash it and let it air dry and the stickiness comes back.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/3219167905/mcnett-tactical-camoform-protective-gun-wrap

I don’t tape any of my stainless hunting rifles, but use mcnett for tons of other stuff and been using it on duty stuff for years.

Brown or black shoe polish if you feel the need for camo on a stainless barrel works- and as it is really just wax offers some enhanced moisture protection.