shiny brass on hunting rifles

[laufer]

what do you use to darken the shiny brass while hunting, if anything?
friend of mine uses tape over patch hole, rings and trigger guard.
thanks.

 

[paulvallandigham]

The sulphur in the powder residue you find on your dirty patches is strong enough to combine with moisture in the air to form Sulphuric acid, and will stain your brash dull with one swipe of a dirty patch. If the brass is coated with lacquer,you might have to take the lacquer off with alcohol, before tarnishing it, but that is all that is needed to get rid of the shine. Any acid, ( vinegar, mustard, nitric, sulphuric), and even some caustic materials like ammonia will tarnish brass.


After Hunting season, You can use an copper cleaner, or stain remover, kept in the kitchen to use on pots and pans, to clean the brass back to nice shine.

 

[roundball]

what do you use to darken the shiny brass while hunting, if anything?
friend of mine uses tape over patch hole, rings and trigger guard.
thanks.

I keep my TC Hawkens clean and shiny with Brasso...it's never seemed to keep me from filling tags.

I recently started hunting turkeys with them, and took a couple last spring but had one of those 30" high pieces of camo material in front of me with the Flintlock laying on my lap and they never saw it.

If I was going to go after turkeys without a screen of material I'd tape over the brass as a turkey's eyesight is so sharp...but otherwise it's never been a problem for deer, crows, doves, squirrels, rabbits...movement is the main thing for them

 

[Stumpkiller]

I just ignore it and after a while it starts to patina in shame and despair.

 

[nchawkeye]

Use it!!! It won't stay shiney long, I got tired of trying to keep mine nice and shiny years ago...

 

[Protrucker]

I just ignore it and after a while it starts to patina in shame and despair.

Patina is not a bad thing. It is just part of the increasing "character" a gun gets with age. I prefer the patina over shiney.

 

[smo]

Time :thumbsup:

 

[laufer]

The sulphur in the powder residue you find on your dirty patches is strong enough to combine with moisture in the air to form Sulphuric acid, and will stain your brash dull with one swipe of a dirty patch. If the brass is coated with lacquer,you might have to take the lacquer off with alcohol, before tarnishing it, but that is all that is needed to get rid of the shine. Any acid, ( vinegar, mustard, nitric, sulphuric), and even some caustic materials like ammonia will tarnish brass.


After Hunting season, You can use an copper cleaner, or stain remover, kept in the kitchen to use on pots and pans, to clean the brass back to nice shine.

thank you very much, those are great tips.
mine is iron mounted, so i do not have this problem, but have seen reflection from my hunting partner from far away. i'll "fix" him with some vinegar. thanks again.

 

[laufer]

Use it!!! It won't stay shiney long, I got tired of trying to keep mine nice and shiny years ago...

:thumbsup:

 

[paulvallandigham]

The only way your buddy's rifle is " flashing " you is he is moving around too much, and too fast. Tell him to stop moving, or to slow down. If he is going to hunt with any kind of shiney metal, then tell him to find the shade and stay in it.

Most modern hunters act like they have ants in their pants. It has to do with the fast pace of life we ordinarily live.

Think I am mistaken? Leave your wrist watch in your car while you are in the field, and count the number of times you try to find out the time when you are sitting on a stand.

It usually takes me two days to acclimate to the weather (Longer as I get older) and about 5 days before I can stop looking for my watch all the time, and just function on Mother Nature's Time. Its only then I can really sit still without falling asleep, either on the ground, or in a tree stand.

I have spent many days in a trees stand, down wind of another hunter in his tree stand, maybe 100 yards away, and I can hear him all day long, either coughing, are crinkling plastic wrappers, or clattering pop cans when he is through with them by throwing them out of the stand when he's done, or stamping his feet on the metal floor of his stand, or see the flash of aluminum foil as he opens and closes the wrapping on his lunch, etc. And he wonders why he never sees any game go by him...........


The sweat from your hands will cause the brass to dull, eventually, and if you don't spend time polishing the brass back to shiney, it will not " flash". There are modern choices, as Roundball has indicated to deal with shiney brass. Camo tape, or cloth barrel covers work very well.

I am not a fan of camo stocks, or covers, simply because I have met too many guys who put their guns down and can't find them again in the leaves! They ask me to go back with them to help them find their guns. I ask them to point out where they remember they were when they put the gun down, and then READ their tracks to find out what direction they leaned, to find the gun. ( am a tracker) Most of the time I can see the gun in the leaves, and don't even have to resort to reading the walls of their footprints to find the gun. They are always amazed, and embarrassed that the gun was so close but they couldn't see it.

I give them a strip of plastic Blaze orange surveyor's tape to put on the gun's wrist, which is covered by their hands when shooting, but is visible when they put the gun down.

Animals are NOT frightened by seeing color= instead, they are frightened by MOVEMENT. Colors will draw the attention of a Turkey, but he is more likely to be curious than frightened, if the color is not moving. Roundball's use of camo netting to cover the bottom 3 feet of the area in front of where he is sitting is a terrific example of the use of a simple ground blind. :hatsoff:

 

[tg]

A lot of folks use the mentioned methods of darkening brass, I have done so to age some guns a bit, as for hunting I suspect the hunter is more concerned about the shiney brass than the Game..

 

[bucktales]

I agree.
One year while deer hunting in pa., I was sitting next to a blow-down tree. I was dressed in the required blaze orange.
I had no less than 50 turkey milling around 50ft in front of me for an hour.
I didn't move an inch and when they left, they walked by me about 10 ft away, single file.
Even though I looked like a pumpkin,that didn't bother them. I didn't move, and that was the key.

 

[redwing]

I think we get a little confused on this issue. There are many stories from back in day on this subject. They mention using a berry that grows in the east that will dull brass. They would rub the berry juice on the brass. This in turn could be cleaned off with little problem.

The big thing in all this. These men you will note were more often Rangers and not just hunters, They were more concerned about being spotted by other soldiers or NDNs. In war humans would look for such thinks as soft metal on fire arms. Most deer and wild game look only for movement.

 

[laufer]

paulvallandigham, we do move when we hunt, we do not hunt elk and mule deer from stands. i agree with you on being less patient nowdays and having to fight modern times urges while hunting.

 

[laufer]

I think we get a little confused on this issue. There are many stories from back in day on this subject. They mention using a berry that grows in the east that will dull brass. They would rub the berry juice on the brass. This in turn could be cleaned off with little problem.

The big thing in all this. These men you will note were more often Rangers and not just hunters, They were more concerned about being spotted by other soldiers or NDNs. In war humans would look for such thinks as soft metal on fire arms. Most deer and wild game look only for movement.

it seems that it is mostly my problem, professional defofrmation i guess, animals have not complainde so far, it only bothers me. we hunt in blckft lands, and it adds to my discomfort. :wink:
thanks for all the comments.

 

[paulvallandigham]

You got me. What is " defofrmation" and what is "blckft" lands ? And why would you be bothered or worried by hunting wherever this is?

 

[sidelock]

The patina that developes on good brass sure is pretty, and isn't shiney. I'll never clean my brass. For those who have the oppertunity to visit Colonial Williamsburg---- just look at the door knobs.----- Man----. just my choice. :hatsoff:

 

[Vaino]

My elk rifle has iron hardware and our loan out elk rifle has brass that is dull because of usage. A fast way to dull brass is to apply cold blue and lightly rub out. I kinda like that some deerhunters seem to think that moving around is the way to put meat on the table or they just can't settle down from the hurry-scurry rat race of this modern lifestyle. They surely do put meat on my table seeing I perch in my tree stand all day long and most often these "wanderers" rile the deer so they "escape" in my direction. No complaints! The greatest share of these "wanderers" are young people who because of all that youthful energy and not knowing how things were different in years past, charge through the woods in the hope of seeing a glimpse of a white "tail". My son and grandson of 16 yrs. are patient hunters and are fortunate that they can make the transition from the "rat race" to the low key attitude req'd for successful deer hunting. Sorry to partly digress off topic.....Fred

 

[Ephraim]

Just pull an old dark color sock over the butt of your rifle. The next time your friend flashes you in the woods tell him to put a sock in it or on it. :rotf: :rotf:
Ephraim

 

[roundball]

"...I kinda like that some deerhunters seem to think that moving around is the way to put meat on the table..."

Still hunting is very often a desirable alternative to just sitting in one spot, hoping & ambushing. No question it is more challenging than ambushing but to some that's actually the point...one of the attractions...the challenge of beating a deer at its own game.

Another benefit is simply enjoying moving through the landscape, seeing a variety of different wildlife in general...done right it gets its share of deer...and no question it provides a more rewarding sense of accomplishment than just waiting in ambush in one spot.

Different strokes...