(I missed posting about this earlier, because I was sick and tired and my head was a fogged up from cough syrup.)

Friday morning of Opening Week,  it was colder than usual. I admit my hands were cold and fumbly when I got up into the blind. However, they were thawed out after I got settled in about 10 minutes before legal hunting began before 0700. About 0800, I looked at the barrel of my rifle, a stainless Ruger Hawkeye in 30-06. Something seemed amiss. Sure enough, there was a plug of frozen mud in the end of the barrel. Yikes!

How it got there I can only conjecture. I have one of those strap winders that pays out as I’m going up the ladder. When I get to the top, I pull up the strap and the rifle comes up in a barrel-down attitude. I’ve had the strap winder for over 30 years– never had any trouble.

So what happened? My guess is that as the rifle was coming up, I must have hesitated a bit and the barrel was still on the ground the barrel found a soft spot and sunk in about a quarter-inch, and then the wad of mud froze. I have no idea if it would have blown out, but I suspect not– especially after it froze. That mud was packed in there good. The results would have been disastrous.

My solution? I unloaded the rifle immediately and left the blind. I went back out later with another rifle and left the Hawkeye for my return at lunch. By this time, the plug had thawed. A 30 cal jag and a couple of patches cleaned up the mess, I then ran a bore snake down the barrel. It does not look like the bore was harmed. Long term, I will have to add this situation to the list of ones I use electrical tape over the bore.

I just wanted to remind everyone it is only through constant vigilance that we remain safe.

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