There are quite a few pieces of my shooting and hunting gear that, because of their constant use, I would only notice if they were absent. A case in point are the Cabela’s silicone-treated gun socks that I use every time I go to the range or out to hunt with a long-gun.
For example, though I of course used my hard-sided case for my two rifles when I flew to South Africa last year, once I arrived, the rifles were transferred to the Cabela’s gun socks to protect them while traveling in my PH’s truck.
Likewise, last weekend during a continental pheasant shoot (see article here), I carried a second shotgun in one of my socks to be used if it started to rain. The plan was to remove my personal shotgun from the sock and slip the much more expensive Verney-Carron side-by-side shotgun into the protective, silicone-treated sock.
That was never necessary, but the sock holding my Browning Citori is pictured in the following photo.
Notice gun sock-covered Citori in the can. (Mike Arnold for TTAG)
The socks expand sufficiently to hold the longest rifles or shotguns — even equipped with scopes and/or slings — I’ve ever owned or been sent to review.
They also do a marvelous job in protecting the firearms from scratches, dings, dust and dampness. I have carried rifles in them to and from Georgia deer stands in the frequent rains we get here. I have never had to dry the rifles when I made it back home.
Maybe the silicone treatment will finally wear off, but I have not found this to be the case after using the same Gun Socks for nearly 10 years. I also have not had a hole develop in any of my Gun Socks. I don’t think I am particularly rough with firearms, or the Cabela’s silicone-treated gun socks, but I have been a bit surprised that I have not yet poked a hole through the end of any of them.
The gun socks only cost around $7. They have saved me orders of magnitude more in stock repairs from scratches and rain. I will keep carrying and using them as long as I shoot and hunt.
These are great. I even cover my long guns when they are in the safe.
Do you keep them in the sock because your local humidity level so high and you need the anti-damp properties of the silicone, or for the ‘ding’ protection?
I store mine vertical with as little contact to metal surfaces as possible so air can circulate in this humid climate, but I’m open to better ideas…
Mostly due to humidity. The silicone is a nice treatment on the metal parts.
I put damprid in my safe.
Got a silicone sock. Cheap protections…
“Got a silicone sock. Cheap protections…”
Silicone socks or thin polyurethane rubber, both are cheap and can ward off expensive mistakes… 😉
Too late! Hes 42😖
I see what you did there.
Worth every penny. Good article. I hope Bass Pro doesn’t mess up Cabelas old lines to much. Although judging by the cheap bass pro clothing replacing most of the old Cabelas outfitter series I’m not holding my breath.
Good to know, thanks.
Yea, I’ve been watching that happen at the little Cabela’s Outpost store a few miles from where I live. The great, old-school Cabela’s clothing / boots being replaced with K-Mart quality crap from the Bass Pro side of the business. If I wanted overpriced cheesy outdoor-wanna-be togs I’d order from REI.
Note to self: check Cabela’s for a couple more gun socks this weekend.
They do kind of suck! A number of years ago my father put his Mauser 2500 in one after he had it re-finished and after about a week of it being in it the sock imprinted the thread pattern on the barrel and receiver.
That sucks, but it sounds like the new finish wasn’t fully cured yet.
Definitely fantastic for storage, but I have to note that they don’t provide any real trigger protection so should be used with unloaded weapons only. My range doesn’t allow guns to be transported in them at all for this reason.
Bore Stores may be more expensive, but they have much heavier padding and offer better scratch and ding protection.