How Important is Weapon Camouflage?

Whether you are on the offense or have taken a defensive posture for the protection of yourself, your family or your country, it is universally agreed upon that you and your equipment should be as discreet and undetectable as possible. Invisible would be ideal. This also applies to hunting and surveillance operations.

In order to achieve effective camouflage, one of two things must happen. 1. The item being camouflaged must blend in to its surroundings through the use of coloration and/or the application of materials such as burlap, leaves, twigs, grass, etc. Or, 2, the item must appear to be something that it is not.

The Redcoats of Revolution 1.0 considered the way the farm boys conducted themselves in the woods to be unfair or unethical, but it was very effective. There was really little improvement in camouflage techniques from then until the early 20th century. A few new things started happening during WWI and, WWII brought us a little more but the jungles of Vietnam provided continued and rapid improvements in the way we conceal ourselves, our vehicles, fighting positions and our weapons, which brings us to the point of this post... concealing our weapons.

I'm not talking about concealing your pistol by putting it under your jacket, I'm talking about long guns; rifles and shotguns, and how they have given away our positions for decades before someone finally got wise to it. 

Of course, the snipers of the world were probably the first to take camouflaging their rifles into consideration. I have personally conducted several tests on this very subject. Is it really worth the effort? ABSOLUTELY IT IS! 

Quick story...

Several years ago, we conducted a field exercise near Superior, AZ. Most of us were wearing a camouflage pattern called Multi-Cam. I think it is one of the finest, all-around camo patterns available. We were shooting a steel target 200 yards away when someone damaged the frame and it fell down. My son volunteered to go fix it and stand it back up. At a full 200 yards, in full camo and face paint, he was virtually invisible in that particular environment. However, when he turned his right side towards us, the black grip of his handgun stuck out like a fluorescent lamp. A quick glimpse out there was like the old "follow the bouncing ball." 

That was the catalyst that began our testing. 

The results of the testing were jaw-dropping. Regardless of the type of camo or the background surrounding it, an untreated gun was incredibly noticeable.  That changed the way we all thought about how we camoed ourselves and our weapons.

So the takeaway message here is: if you want to be fully prepared to either fight or hide, offense or defense, your weapons MUST be camouflaged! It can be as simple as matte spray paint or camo tape or a more expensive route like DuraCoat, etc.

This is very important, considering the turbulent times we are about to experience!