Cap plugs needed for 12 ga shotgun

[Hummer70]

Looking for cap plugs to place over the muzzle of a New England Firearms Single Barrel break down 12 gage. Muzzle measures about .853.

I am going to carry it as a car gun and want to cap the barrel so something not needed doesn't get in the barrel.

On my hunting rifles I have 3/4" muzzles and use chair leg protectors over the muzzle so that in an emergency can just be shot off without taking time remove it.

We tend to run up on snakes in the road around here and I have to pass up shots for fear of ricochet going off towards a house but with a shotgun I could remove the 0 Buck and replace it quickly with a No 8 shot shell and eliminate the critter without fear of something bad happening.

Two weeks ago I killed a copper head out in front of the house when I went out to walk.

I have been looking for cap plugs but they tend to jump from 3/4" to 1".

Guess I could use some of the internal yellow plugs I see in tubing.

Just fell into this this gun at a flea market yesterday morning. Appeared unfired and came with a Sears flannel lined case with plastic covering which can tend not to be the best thing to keep a gun in so I just coated the bore with Ed's Red and the external surfaces with Johnson's Paste Wax.
27 1/2" barrel, 3" magnum 12 ga.

 

[entropy]

Wide electrician's tape.

 

[Virginian]

A balloon works too. Don't have to take it off before the shot either.

 

[Hummer70]

Yes that black Gorrilla tape would probably do but still I think a cap plug would be better as it would not only seal the muzzle but protect it.

 

[entropy]

Gorilla tape will leave residue. If you are thinking of something like the M16 cap for the birdcage, I'm sure some sort of furniture leg cap would work. Mike your barrel and hit the hardware store, you'll probably find something like that.

 

[Hummer70]

Entropy, I did exactly that this afternoon, miced at .853 OD, went and looked in town and leg caps are 3/4" and 1".

I think a M16 bird cage cover might work. I have some of them around here somewhere as I bought about a dozen of them about 18 months back. If I don't forget I will look for them tomorrow.

 

[entropy]

I figured considering where you worked, you'd have a "few" sitting around......

 

[Hummer70]

Entropy, you are exactly correct but the long cap plugs were not in play when I was. At any rate I remembered I had purchased about a dozen of them on ebay and went out and dug through my loading area and found them.

They are a little bit tricky to get started (need stretching a bit) but I got one on and then it hit me. I should have taken a hole punch and made a hole for the front sight to pop into so I forced it off and punched a hole.

I thought about it a bit and decided not to punch the hole way deep so I put in about 3/8" in from open end and it slides on, front sight pops up so I can see the front sight. In case it gets tired from removing it down the road and splits, all I have to do is trim off the first 1/2" of the cap plug, punch another hole and reinstall it. It appears I could punch a third hole down the road and use it yet again.

I made up a couple rifles to walk/ride mountain bike with when I exercise. I had several crashes on my bike (dog related) and when I went down every time the muzzle got rammed into the pavement or ground. It did not help the chair leg protector but I never had a crown damaged.

I have always been sensitive to muzzle damage as I saw a rifle being lowered out of a deer stand with fishing line 50 years ago and it broke. Muzzle rammed into the ground and filled with dirt and that stuck with me all these years and I take care it never happens to me.

One rifle barrel just was not big enough when I got it for the 3/4" chair protector to fit snugly so one wrap with electrical tap made a perfect snug fit I can remove. I decided to shoot one of the damaged protectors from the bike falls and 30 cal bullet went right through it and the blast pulled it off and deposited it about 30 feet in front of me.

Of course we have all seen pics of long guns with peeled muzzle from obstructions. With the cost of firearms these days it pays to protect them.

 

[FL-NC]

Duck tape. Maybe the small containers used by tattoo artists to put ink in when they are working.

 

[HB]

FWIW, I wouldn't shoot a snake on a public roadway. I can only recall killing a snake or two and it was with a canoe paddle because I was lightly clad and barefoot in an area I swim in.

BUT, to answer your question I have used the thumb of a rubber glove before.

HB

 

[Hummer70]

The area I live in is very rural. On my road you are more likely to be snake bit than hit by the mail lady. When I walk at night I have one of those awesome headlights with the jumbo batteries that lasts for right at an hour on full on mode. Also got higher milliamp batts for it. It is nice for bringing out eyes watching you from the fields.

 

[Xeon256]

Aww leave the sneks alone. Shoot the spiders instead.

 

[kBob]

Um the slide on M-16 muzzle protectors are to go over a 22mm bird cage. 22m was the old NATO rifle grenade standard and AR flash suppressors are the grenade spigot. There was a round, many clawed spring that went between the FS split spring washer and barrel step on guns that were to be used as grenade launchers to prevent the grenade from slipping off while maneuvering.

If an M16 cap will fit then a one inch chair leg protector should have come close enough that front sight bead should have held it on. Just not that much difference between 22mm and 25.4mm.

I thought it odd that overseas I always got issued black muzzle protectors, but stateside they were red. "Tactical" verses someone's idea of safety?

When I was much younger and most folks in Florida lacked Air Conditioning and resturaunts in tourist areas sported penguin decals proclaiming "15 degrees cooler inside" a gunsmith friend had quite a collection of "Steel Flowers". Those were the bannanna peeled muzzle ends of various shotguns that had been fired without checking for Dirt Doppler (Digger Wasps) nests.

Lots of guns with two major wear spots in those days, one on the barrel and one on the stock from riding around in the gun rack in the back window of pick up trucks. Aggrivating at times to find an other wise pristine gun with perfect blue, except a 3/4 inch wide strip on the barrel and perfect wood finish except a worn to the wood 3/4 inch swath just behind the grip area. I miss the days when you could ride with your deer gun and a .22 in the rack in the truck rear window.....and park with the windows rolled down when down town and not worry about the guns being there when you got back. Of course that last may be because other folks had guns in their back windows as well........

-kBob

 

[jmorris]

Finger cot, any drug store should have them. Shoot right through them, won't even notice.

 

[Hummer70]

Was going through my outbuilding today and found five more so I am good for years ! ! ! !