OT - Who puts nickels on their gun barrels?

I've associated with gun owners for the last 40 years or so, never heard of this. I have, however, heard of using a condom or plastic bag over the barrel if being outdoors in the rain.

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When I looked at her quizzically, she said that he used to put knickels on the top of his gun barrels to prevent the dust from going down the barrels. When I asked her if that was a normal thing that gun owners do, she said he was the only one she knew of that did it.

Has anybody heard of that practice before?

No, but when I was young I put corks in the gun barrels. There was a handy string on them so they didn't get lost, too.

Were the corks there specifically for dust protection?

Sounds like a a pop gun?

I have not heard the nickel trick but I do know people who store guns, barrel down. That is supposed to be so bore cleaner or oil that may still be in the barrel, does not flow back into the action.. I

Aw, shucks. You had to go spoil the fun.

I asked her about that technique and she said that it was not good to rest a gun on it's barrel. I didn't bother getting the whole "There must be ways to hang them so that they are not resting on the barrel" discussion.

Now, I'm not doubting the "oil flow back" issue because I know less than squat about guns, but I do know this:

If you search Google Images for "gun racks" you'd be hard pressed to find a single image of any rifles stored barrel down. If "oil flow back" was a major issue, I'd think you'd see lots of racks built to store them barrel down. I'm just sayin', not doubtin'

A horizontal gun rack for a truck is different than a gun rack or safe for the home/hunting camp. The only barrel down images I found for safes is where they alternate butt down barrel down to gain more space.

I did find a forum where the question about barrel down was asked but the reason given was oil getting on the stock and deforming them, thus throwing off the aim. As far as I could tell, no one answered "I store my rifles barrel down for that reason." The few that did mention barrel down were once again referring to alternating to gain more space.

Can oil be that big of an issue if every rack and/or safe is primarily set up for butt down?

I don't really have an opinion, it is just something I heard, maybe in the NRA magazine

There is a discussion on

One thing to think about is oil contamination of the stock. I've fixed way too many Marlin, Winchester's and Savage leverguns as well as numerous bolt guns that were oil soaked behind the action and were setting back cracking the stock.

I prefer to muzzle down my long term storage items, the short term ones are normally synthetic stocked anyways so it doesn't matter with them.

"Fine" stocked rifles get muzzle down regardless. Good wood is too nice to wreck with oil.

Does the condom prevent the guns from becoming pregnant?

Now I know where the "son of a gun" comes from....

Yeah, I found one or two posts with that theme, but they are so few and far between that the sentiment is very far from the norm. Perhaps the root cause is too much oil being used in those cases.

Anyway, thanks...I was just curious. I doubt it's a decision I'll ever have to make.

Sigh. Do Mom and I have to explain it? This must be the night for "the talk". The rifle wearing the condom isn't at risk of getting pregnant, it's the person receiving the "load" fired from the rifle.

Help prevent unwanted dead deer, wrap your rifle.

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Does the condom prevent the guns from becoming pregnant?

Now I know where the "son of a gun" comes from....

You'll be happy to know that you can't get STDs from them, either.

Or, "oops, my gun went off", sorry

Harry K

Well, you did get one good bite :)

Harry K

I put duct tape over the end of my caulking guns to keep the caulk from drying up. It helps, biut only for a short time. Nickles would not work. But a 3/8" lag bolt screwed into the tip works ok too.

Should we use duct tape and 3/8 lag bolts on gun barrels, too?

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