|  Author | Topic: Preparing guns for long-term storage (Read 232 times) |
dipodale
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|  | Preparing guns for long-term storage
« Thread Started on Feb 25, 2007, 3:38am » | |
I am shipping overseas in a few months for at least the next three years, and am wondering how best to prepare my firearms (shotguns, rifles and handguns, if it matters) for being in commercial storage for several years at a time. Anything to recommend? Any special coatings or storage containers I should look at? Thanks.
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ELB
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|  | Re: Preparing guns for long-term storage
« Reply #1 on Feb 25, 2007, 9:03am » | |
dipodale,
Here's what worked for me when I PCS'd to Saudi Arabia a few years ago: Made sure everything (rifles/shotgun/handguns) was cleaned and oiled, then put them in those silcon-treated grey stretchy gunsocks that most gunstores seem to have. I put my pickup on jacks in my mom's garage (I hated the thought of commercial storage for my guns), put my Homak gun cabinet horizonally in the back of the pickup, and then put all my firearms in that and locked it up. I put one key in my mom's safe deposit box, and another in my own safe deposit box at the local bank, along with an inventory and serial numbers. Then I piled some boxes on top of that to keep it out of view. There were enough firearms and ammo in the gun cabinet that I think not even two peope could lift it.
Everything kept just fine, no corrosion or other problems.
Best wishes to you.
elb
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nevadaalan
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| | Re: Preparing guns for long-term storage
« Reply #2 on Feb 25, 2007, 10:44am » | |
A lot will depend on the storage conditions and the climate that you will be storing in. It sounds like you will be storing your guns in a typical unheated garage door-type rental storage unit that will allow the items inside to be indirectly exposed to weather conditions (due to the poor sealing of the garage door). Unless you are going to store in an arid climate, this is what I would do: Coat the external metal surfaces and bores of your guns with RIG (stands for Rust Inhibiting Grease) grease by Rig Products. This product has been around since almost forever and almost any gun shop or gun-oriented sporting goods store carries the product. It serves the same purpose as cosmoline, which the military uses for long-term preservation of small arms (but is much, much easier to remove). The RIG grease has a slight tendency to harden a bit over the long term (say, several years) so may not be the most appropo for delicate internal mechanisms; a good gun oil or one of the modern, high-tech rust preservatives (but not any like the the light rust preventatives like WD-40 or silicone spray, which can evaporate over a period of years) might be better for the internal parts. But a light coating of RIG on all internal metal surfaces would be the safest bet, even if it requires more clean-up. Up to you. I would put a fairly heavy coating of the RIG on the external metal surfaces in case some is rubbed off in handling before storage.
The ideal way to store firearms for the long term is in an air-tight container with fresh, new dessicant packs. The reason that you never want to do such without dessicant pacts is that you can very easily seal the container with moist, humid air in it with your guns if you store your guns on a humid or rainy day (almost any day in some climates). Without the dessicant packs to absorb the trapped moisture after sealing, when the temperature of the moist air drops (due to, say, cold winter weather) it will reach its "dew point" and the moisture will condense out as water on all the internal surfaces of the container, including on your guns. Such containers are expensive and hard to find for long guns and the above "RIG-ing" of your guns should be sufficient, although surplus .50 cal. BMG ammo cans with the rubber seals in good condition would work well for handguns.
Another thing that you want to avoid is storing you guns in contact with any materials that can absorb moisture and hold it against the surfaces of your guns. Cloth, at least organic cloth like cotton, cardboard and paper (which also contains sulfuric acid from its manufacture) and wood are examples as they can absorb moisture from the air like sponges. I have had experiences with the foam padding in hard gun cases getting moist. Plastic sheeting is impervious to this and is chemically benign to gun steel and finishes and this is what I use in contact with my handguns. Using towels and blankets to cushion your guns from each other is o.k. as long as you don't allow them in direct contact with the guns; use sheet plastic as a protective barrier between them and your guns. The rust-preventative papers that Smith & Wesson, Walther and others use to wrap their guns in at the factory are exceptions and Brownells (www.brownells.com) may market this stuff. It would be another layer of protection for you guns if you wrapped them in this paper. You can also buy rust preventatives such as little squares of cardboard or similar stuff that you put with your guns that is impregnated with a chemical that exudes a vapor that envelopes your guns and prevents rust. Probably impregnated with the same stuff that the paper that the handgun companies use at the factory. Check Brownells for this stuff.
This is all that I can think of. Maybe others have ideas.
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dipodale
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| | Re: Preparing guns for long-term storage
« Reply #3 on Feb 25, 2007, 6:39pm » | |
I have a couple of airplane hard suitcases for my long-guns, but I was worried about moisture creeping in over the long term. They'll be stored in Washington DC area, so lots of moisture to worry about. Sounds like RIG, with dessicant packs and plastic wrap or the rust-preventative paper is the way to go. I'd much rather come home to guns that need a serious cleaning than find them rusted on the inside. Thanks.
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pff
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| | Re: Preparing guns for long-term storage
« Reply #4 on Feb 26, 2007, 7:47am » | |
Most hardcases don't seal up very tight at all. Unless it has an air valve like a Pelikan case it doesn't seal.
RIG works quite well and has for generations. A combination of grease with a wax. It also works good for the bore but be SURE you get it out before shooting. Gunscrubber or other solvent and a brush make quick work of it. Thick coats clean up easier than thin ones, so use plenty.
I think the Army has approved BreakFree for short and medium term storage.
Some machine shops keep VPI (vapour phase inhibitor) paper on hand for their use and might sell a few sheets. It isn't cheap. One local shop gets its parts wrapped in big sheets of it, which I glom onto when I'm there.
The batch I have on hand is marked:
CORTEC Corporation
St Paul MN
651-429-1100
CORTEC VpCI-146 Class 2 Style A Form A
conforms to MIL-PRF-3420G
No idea what all that means (Other than the MIL spec) but maybe it will help locate some.
Hope this helps a little.
Regards,
Pat
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nevadaalan
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| | Re: Preparing guns for long-term storage
« Reply #5 on Feb 26, 2007, 7:55am » | |
Humid and wet climates have upwards of 100% atmospheric humidity much of the the time. This is the "kiss of death" on raw, unprotected steel.
It's highly unlikely that your "airplane hard suitcases" are airtight when sealed. Virtually all gun cases, even when they have gasketed rubber seals, aren't air tight in the sense that they prevent the case from "breathing" air in and out with temperature and barometric pressure changes.
But not to worry. Just use the RIG on your guns, wrap them in rust-preventative paper {the VPI (vapour phase inhibitor) paper that pff mentions above) if you can get it, and make sure your guns aren't stored in direct contact with material that can absorb and hold moisture against them (like the padding or cushioning common in gun cases). In anything less than a completely airtight container, the dessicant pacts will probably be saturated in a few months or a year, so the other measures will be your primary "line of defense." But the dessicant packs won't hurt and don't cost much. The more the better. If you can't get the VPI paper, then throw a few of the little squares of cardboard or similar stuff impregnated with VPI with each of your guns. Brownells should have this stuff. Search with keywords "VPI" or "vapor phase inhibitor." Google and Yahoo for this stuff if Brownells doesn't have it.
Re-post here for sources of desicant packs (I use them in my work). They will come in airtight packaging to keep them dry and fresh. Don't open the packaging up until you throw the packs in the storage containers with your guns when storing them.
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gator13
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| | Re: Preparing guns for long-term storage
« Reply #6 on Mar 5, 2007, 9:12pm » | |
I've seen some discussions on various gun forums about using WD-40 as a cleaner/lubricant. I was reading 'Gunsmithing: Pistols & Revolvers' Expanded 2nd Ed. By Patrick Sweeney. FWIW he says "WD-40 has many useful functions, but not for firearms". He believes that when the volatile portion of WD-40 evaporates the remaining oils from it will harden into a mixture so as to "glue" the small parts of a firearm together and make the piece inoperative. That mixture also collects dust and lint turning it into a "solidifying gunk"...pg 79.
I have no idea if this is correct but I know many people who do use WD-40 as if it was an all purpose gun cleaner. I'm going to stick with the traditional gun
cleaners and oils such as Gun Scrubber, FP-10 , Militec , Sheath ect... until some one can convince me otherwise.
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nevadaalan
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| | Re: Preparing guns for long-term storage
« Reply #7 on Mar 6, 2007, 7:02am » | |
Quote:| He believes that when the volatile portion of WD-40 evaporates the remaining oils from it will harden into a mixture so as to "glue" the small parts of a firearm together and make the piece inoperative. |
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I've had this happen exactly, specificaly to the relatively delicate trigger mechanism of a .22 bolt-action rifle. The volatile fraction evaporated away over a period of years leaving a varnish that glued the mechanism together. A powerful solvent like Gun Scrubber will fix it, but it's an aggaravation.
Quote:| I have no idea if this is correct but I know many people who do use WD-40 as if it was an all purpose gun cleaner. |
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I've never used it for a solvent or gun cleaner, but for around 30 years I used WD-40 as a rust preventative on the external surfaces of my guns by going over them with a cleaning patch wet with WD-40 when I put them away. It worked splendidly for this purpose and I didn't have any problems, but several years ago I begain hearing anecdotes about problems with this stuff. Seems that it is formulated to function as a bolt-loosener like "Liquid Wrench" and therein lies the problem. In certain circumstances it can attack finishes. A poster on on the old www. fnhipower.com forum said he soaked some parts in a pan of WD-40 for a day or so during humid weather and he had the parts rust. I believe moisture from the air dissolved into the WD-40 which brought it into contact with the gun parts being soaked in it. I've quit using the stuff altogether and use silicone spray from Wal-Mart as a surficial rust preventative like I used to use WD-40 for.
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NCBubba
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| | Re: Preparing guns for long-term storage
« Reply #8 on Mar 6, 2007, 1:49pm » | |
This has always been an interesting subject to me & I try to learn all I can, since I have a number of safe queens in storage in a safe with a golden rod installed.
Not to disagree, but my own experience has been as follows on certain methods. 1) I have small handguns stored in appropriate cardboard boxes (such as flat one used to sell golf balls) that are packed inside an old cotton white sock (cut to length). After appropriate lube of the gun, I spray Ballistol heavily on the sock-almost to saturation. Cheap & it seems to work. 2) Hard pistol cases (will hold 2 HP sized pistols or revolvers) with the foam lining: I again spray Ballistol heavily on all sides of the foam, protect guns from each other with small piece of plastic bubble wrap & snap shut. Seems to work.
I have even used the sock method on new guns in factory new plastic boxes--but often the sock prevents box from closing.
Regards to all, G>M>F>
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pff
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| | Re: Preparing guns for long-term storage
« Reply #9 on Mar 7, 2007, 9:12am » | |
A cotton or wool sock saturated with RIG is sort of traditional for old S&W revolvers. 
I have one stored thus in the safe for old times sake (5-screw M&P snubby) and as a long term test. Plus it adds a nice scent when I open the door.
I use zippered cases sometimes also, but ONLY if I can blow air through them. In other words, a loose weave cloth outside and open-celled foam or cloth inside.
No plastic, no leather, no closed-cell foam.
I give them a good coat of BreakFree using a shaving brush, which gets into crevases and crannies better than a wet patch.
I have no longterm experience with Ballistol but its got an excellent rep.
I have used Marine Tuff Cloths (Sentry Solutions) for protection in extreme conditions (salt spray and the like) with complete satisfaction and confidence, but I don't know how it holds up long term.
Before BreakFree came along I used Marvel Mystery Oil when I didn't have RIG. Worked OK.
WD-40 does what it was designed for quite well: displacing water. In the 1977 flood at the mill I worked at we bought every bit of it available in the southeast. From tiny promotional giveaway spray cans to 55 gallon drums. It works. I can't abide the smell of it anymore, but it works. It also gummed up anything that didn't get re-cleaned before being put back in service.
I had a few rifles that went 10 years or so with nothing in the bores except Hoppes #9 (the old formula) and they did fine in west Florida.
Just a few added data points.
Regards,
Pat
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bmcgilvray
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| | Re: Preparing guns for long-term storage
« Reply #10 on Mar 7, 2007, 4:19pm » | |
I'm a RIG fan for long-term storage. It's not failed to completely keep rust at bay. I'd RIG-up my firearms for long term storage including a thin coat in the bores.
One consideration you might have in commercial storage facilities is bugs. I'm not certain just how to keep them out of your firearms unless the guns are in sealed containers. In the olden days a perimeter squirt with a strong solution of Diledrin or Chlorodane would knock out any bugs that came prowling but such poisons are not politically correct.
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Joshua M. Smith
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| | Re: Preparing guns for long-term storage
« Reply #11 on Mar 21, 2007, 10:17am » | |
A .22 revolver that I 'smithed had been stored in WD-40. All of it had turned to varnish and the cylinder wouldn't even open. It was baaaaad.
On the other hand, I tend to go a bit overboard: I use a coating of automotive bearing grease. It's like cosmoline almost, and it's made to take heat, cold, and general abuse. I've not found that the additives do anything to the finish, but as it wasn't designed for guns, use at your own risk.
When you go to take it off, hot water and brake cleaner will work wonders. Keep this stuff away from wood though - store stocks separately perhaps.
Josh <><
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gator13
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| | Re: Preparing guns for long-term storage
« Reply #12 on Mar 21, 2007, 3:51pm » | |
Hello Joshua:
I have a Remington Rand which I replaced all the drop in parts I could including the plastics grips. I did this to preserve the original parts since I fire the Rand at least twice a year. One thing I noticed is that plastic grips have a tendency to curl so you have to keep an eye on them when you store them long term.
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Corky
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| | Re: Preparing guns for long-term storage
« Reply #13 on Mar 22, 2007, 12:33am » | |
Break Free now offers "Collector," which is advertised as "Developed for military use to protect weapons for up to five years of storage. Exceeds military requirements for rust and corrosion protections." If memory serves, it sells for about $5 for 4 oz. Have yet to try it. --c
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howlrwy
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