There is much talk about cammo shotgun finishes but I personally don't much care for the look of cammo on a shotgun. Mine are mostly blued steel and walnut as I guess I'm a bit of a "traditionalist" and enjoy shooting some vintage guns. Further, I don't feel these to affect my crow shooting ability and/or overall kill. These guns do "shine" at times but I'm a firm believer is staying very still until birds are in a position to offer a good shot. Your feelings?
Ted
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When I bought my 870 i burchashed it in black because I didnt plan on doing much hunting with it.... Since i began turkey and crow hunting I decided to Camo dip my shotgun, it turned out pretty good. But to answer your question I havent noticed a difference.. When i shot my turkey in november from 20 yards she didnt seem to notice it was black either!
I have a couple of pump guns that I have done my own custom camo jobs on. I also have two older Ithaca/LeFever Nitro-Specials that are side by side 12 gauge guns. To me, it would be a sin to camouflage these old doubles. So I leave them in oiled wood and blued/case hardened steel.
I don't feel that having the natural wood and blued steel limits my ability to hide or blend in when hunting. In fact, my best hunts with the most kills have been while using the "non-camoed" shotguns.
It is not as important as camoing up your face and hands, but as Skip says who knows how much it helps. I do know that a man in leafy gear or a ghilly suit, with a camo facemask and gloves, and a camo'd shotgun is pretty hard to pick out in the bush.
All that being said, camo painting/dipping old shotguns of quality is a crime against humanity, as Ted implied!
I think an uncamoed gun is just one more thing to worry about. The name of game is to be your surroundings. I self camoed two guns years ago. I'm not telling anyone to spray up your old favorites, but it can't help to have a shinny barrel sticking out of your blind. My blued barrels don't come hunting.
It also comes down to where you live. Guys with big populations, green birds, migration routes, lots of properties and private lands can get away with more.
Here's one I did a while back. It's starting to get a little scratched up.
As I said already, i have a couple of older classics that I will not paint, BUT.......
There are products out there that you can camouflage an old classic gun without ruining the value, or the blueing/wood. One of them is a type of "sock" that stretches over the gun, another is a shrink wrap that can be removed without damage to the original finish.
My 870 came with an almost flat black finish that doesn't shine (and is easier than blueing to care for). Never really gave me any trouble with turkey or crows.
A camo gun can't hurt. However it's the quality or lack of your blind that makes the difference. Part of my enjoyment is using my old side by sides from that are on average 100 years old and I would never consider altering their finish in any way nor will I cover them in anything as I like to look at them when things are slow.
Hi M-12 If all I shot was model 12 winchesters I would feel the same way. The craftmanship and the pure beauty of that breed of shotgun is unmatched. In my part of the country tho you need every bit of any edge you can use on these bandits. Camo is the way to go on a sunny day. I have a buddy that I have hunted with for 40 years. He shoots a slick B-80 I have seen him flare birds that he is not even shooting at from a distance. By the time the birds I get down here have been thru your school they have PHD's.
I fully realize this is an old thread; but I'm new and am trying to contribute here and there as I familiarize myself with the forum. (My bio is on my profile; so I won't introduce myself here.)
I'm a traditionalist through and through. I would much rather wood and blueing to any techno-polymer garbage out there. (No offense to those who love black guns; I do have a few around.) When I waterfowl hunt, I actually try to NOT wear camouflage to see if camouflage really helps. (Most of the time, I simply wear colors that match the surroundings . . . lots of browns and some deep greens.) But, of course, the blinds we hunt from are very well made and provide excellent concealment. So there really isn't a need to be camo-ed up.
Most often, camouflage guns are not needed. In fact, if concealed really well, I suppose no camouflage is needed in any hunting situation. Concealment and movement are key, not some new, fandangled pattern.
With this being said, however, hunting very open country has its limitations, where the majority of the local foliage is 3 to 4 feet high sage brush and random scatterings of choke-cherry and servus berry patches. In those particular situations, I camo up on everything, from the chair I'm sitting in to the gloves on my hands, because to make a blind can be difficult in some of these areas . . . not all, but some. So despite my absolute love-affair with the more traditional approach to shotgunning, I do have two shotguns that are dipped (Beretta 302 and 303) and I do wear camo clothing from time to time, such as setting up on the edge of a safflower field. (They LOVE safflower!!!)
I use "No Mar" camo tape on my turkey and crow guns. Works well and comes right off. In pure white snow hunts I like to use some white athletic tape over the "No Mar" -- too sticky to put directly on a gun.
I think the camo vs matte finish is a personal preference. A satin finish is where you need to be concerned as it can flash and shine more to attract attention. However, I have read that sometime metal flashing has drawn crows into to investigate. I can not provide any details to support this idea.
My thoughts that a camo barrel, if protruding from a blind or cover does not stand out as bad as a black barrel; just my thoughts. I use a camo because I do more turkey and waterfowl hunting and I like the all covered prospects.
When I first started using a camo gun, I learned that I needed to pay close attention to where I leaned my gun while setting up. You would be surprised as to how well a camo gun can blend into the surroundings.
. . . I learned that I needed to pay close attention to where I leaned my gun while setting up. You would be surprised as to how well a camo gun can blend into the surroundings.
Agreed. My ducking buddies and I have lost a gun or two for a few minutes before.
They probably see you move before they see a blue steel and wood gun.
Mine is wood and a gray metal finish (field model Win SX3)
Most (not all) of the crows that die to my gun don't even see the gun or where the shot that killed them came from.
Some see the gun and me move ..... but it's too late.
Does camo gun help. Maybe if you hunt around salt water.
I bought mine in cammo but that seemed to be what the limited offerings was! I beleive it was supposed to be a turkey gun but i used it for crows not caring for mossbergs at all.I always slid a camo sock or something on shotguns in the past. that shine can be seen along long ways off and crows can spot that a long long ways off. best to eliminate any possibility of a possible failure.
IF you stay out of the sun you probably don't need to. But I always did out of habit but again-I used a loaner shotgun and kept out of the sun and it worked great-but my timing was off...check out the English crow shooters on youtube...although their style of shooting is in direct contrast to mine-I do not pop up like a duck hunter to shoot crows-i do it sniper style! If you do duck hunter style or goose hunter style maybe your shotgun ought to be cammied up?
There is much talk about cammo shotgun finishes but I personally don't much care for the look of cammo on a shotgun. Mine are mostly blued steel and walnut as I guess I'm a bit of a "traditionalist" and enjoy shooting some vintage guns. Further, I don't feel these to affect my crow shooting ability and/or overall kill. These guns do "shine" at times but I'm a firm believer is staying very still until birds are in a position to offer a good shot. Your feelings?
Ted
I've been wanting to get my Baikal cammo dipped for a while, never got around to it, glad I didn't , I did a Mossy oak/ 3M cammo wrap on it and it turned out sweet and holds up well, looks like a factory gun
Just how I like them "low and slow"