On our list of suggested items to bring we have listed medical tape for your loading finger/thumb. We are commonly asked “what the heck is the tape for?” For those that have been to Argentina its likely you know, for those that haven’t experienced dove shooting in Argentina yet, we’ll be glad to explain.

For those that shoot double barrels this blog doesn’t apply.

On your busiest day at the skeet range or dove field in the US, you might load 100-150 rounds into your semi-automatic. In Argentina you may load 1000 or more rounds per day and over 3-4 days of shooting this equates to more than rounds than most shooters load in 2-3 years at home. Repeatedly pushing up and into the spring loaded tang or flap of the magazine tube thousands of times will cause your finger/thumb nail to be a sore, raw mess. I have seen the nasty bruising, sore digits and even blisters under the nail to bad that the nail fell off.

Simply wrapping tape around your loading finger provides protection for your loading digit, and allows a smooth surface to contact the tubular magazine tang.

It may sound crazy, but don’t make the mistake of going day 1 without the tape as on day 2 you’ll be squeamish and day 3 you’ll be so sore you’ll have your bird boy loading your shotgun for you!