Firearms insurance for your hunt

[Hummer]

Has anyone ever dropped a rifle or had one fall out of a mount and wind up with a muzzle full of dirt?

I found a perfect thing to protect from dirt and muzzle and prevent muzzle crown damage from being dropped.

Pull up ebay and look for 16X22 MM caps as pictured above. I find this size fits the majority of my sporting rifles. For my rifles with front sight I cut out a rectangle chunk so the cap will slide down and fit close to both sides of sight.

You can also get the in bright red and if your muzzle is bigger you can order larger diameter. If for some reason it is a tad loose take black plastic electrical tape and make a turn or two around your muzzle.

An even better alternative is to have a M16 flash suppressor fitted to your muzzle. I believe they take 1/2"X28 thread and a compression washer. You can then order those covers as well which fit very snugly.

Best thing is in the heat of the moment and you get a jump shot go ahead and shoot. It will blow right off. Then reach in your pocket, get another and continue on. You will find the old one about 20 feet in front of you.

 

[Hummer]

Click on pic to enlarge it.

Rifle I just built showing M16 flash suppressor with muzzle cap in place. This set up utilizes a 2-7X NC Star handgun scope mount at 4" forward of front receiver ring for fast target acquisition (Scout scope) and allows the rifle to be reloaded with 5 shot stripper clips where I can easily shoot 5, reload 5 and shoot them in 60 seconds or less. Action is a 1903 Springfield.
The finish on the barrel and action is Sandstrom 28A which protects it from moisture.

I walk 5 miles in the morning carrying this rifle. Sling is a M16 Silent Sling (rough weave nylon) with M1 Sling hardware installed. Don't know how long sling will last. I have been using it about 40 years.

It is zeroed for 300 yards POA/POI and I hold under 6" at 100 and 2o0 yards and 14" over at 400 yards.

 

[Hummer]

The reason I use handgun scopes on rifles is that they have to be engineered to take much more abuse. Handguns have a much more severe recoil impulse than rifles and have to be made tougher to handle the abuse.

The bird cage flash suppressor can also benefit the shooter if you should find yourself in a situation where you don't want the guys in the space shuttles to know where you are or you are shooting in low light and don't want to get blinded by muzzle flash.

Of the two designs above I like the bird cage best and I guess I have them on about ten rifles. I first bought like five, the second time I think it was 50.

Oh yes they are made originally for 5.56 MM bullets to pass through them so if you put one on a 30 cal rifle you need to drill out the existing hole. There is a specific size I drill to I can't recall but if anyone needs to know just ask and I will post it.

Cheap insurance to insure a good hunt.

 

[mark-hunter]

This rifles looks very robust, and practical with attention to details.
It reminds me on scout rifle concept.

 

[Hummer]

Yep, that is what it is modeled after. As you probably know Jeff Cooper came up with concept and I had the pleasure of talking to him about 45 minutes at the shot show in las vegas in 89??? We literally agreed on everything we discussed.

 

[Hummer]

I forgot to mention if you have a tendency to go with medium and heavy barrels there is an even better muzzle protector called chair leg protectors you get at Lowes Building supply. They come in black and white and are made for 3/4 muzzles but can also be put on chair legs haha.

I have had my mountain bike dumped twice, once by a dog and another time and I had a slung rifle over my back and both times the muzzle went down into the pavement and both times the chair leg protector saved my crown job.

 

[Wyatt Smith]

What caliber? And why not use a 308 flash hider with the 5/8 threads.
Very cool rifle. I’m keen to try the Ruger scout rifle to be used with the ghost ring sight. I would prefer it to have a fixed magazine though.

 

[Hummer]

The cages I have are opened up enough to let the 30 cal bullets go by. The bird cage suppressors are not expensive and they were also used on a variation of the M60 MGs in 70s. I don't know if the commercial ones will take the M16 plastic caps and might be hard to get a match. Also the compression washers are already made for them.

I was cleaning up my shop a bit and found my extra ones I had mislaid two years ago.

As well with the commercial ones you don't really know how they perform till they are photographed in total darkness like we did at Aberdeen where they are photographed from about a foot from the muzzle.

Actually I had a M14 suppressor on a Mod 70 Winchester with the M14 front sight at one time but they are labor intensive to mount and grooves have to be cut parallel with bore to orient it so the sight will always be at 12:00.