Handguns from Cold Trunk to Indoor Range

[Dave_D55]

Hi all,

I sometimes shoot on my lunch hour, so I have to keep my guns in a cold car trunk all morning before going to the range. Does anyone have any ideas how to prevent condensation when I take the thoroughly cold guns indoors to shoot?

It was 31 degrees F below zero this morning - coldest I can remember in decades.

Thanks,
Dave

[Drail]

I have had to deal with this problem before. What I do (assuming the car is warmed up) is place the pistol on the defroster vent on the dash to warm it up before bringing it inside. If the pistol is really cold and you suddenly bring it into a warm building it will condensate, because the warm air generally has a higher moisture content. If you can get it warm and then place it inside your jacket it should not condensate once brought into a warm environment. Hope this helps. Man, that is cold temps!

[dmw16]

That would be too cold to get me to go anywhere.

There isnt much you can do about condensation other then try to warm the gun up more slowly. But really, I'd just carry a microfiber towel in your range bag.

[Sport45]

The problem is the condensation on the inside that you can't wipe off. There's not much you can do about that. The defrost vent will work because that air is dry (that's why the a/c compressor runs when you run the defrosters) but it leaves your gun in plain sight for a while. Keeping it warm under your jacket works, but that would be too humid for warming it up.

All that said, I don't worry about condensation. If I know it happened I'll clean the guns when i get home. If I don't have time to clean them I'll give the insides a shot of aerasol lubricant and then blow out with compressed air followed by a good external wipe down.

[Rodentman]

I have a heat rod in my safe which I believe will eliminate moisture when I bring the gun in from the cold car to the house. It was only -25º here this morning.

[dagger dog]

Put them in a airtight zipper baggie and try to purge most of the air in the bag before you bring them in, the moisture wiill collect on the bag and not the guns, this works for electronics also cameras, radios, etc.

[Jolly Rogers]

Buy stainless.
Joe

[CWL]

In temperatures this low, shattered steel should be a bigger worry than condensation. The Germans found this out in WWII.

[earplug]

Any decent oil such as CLP will protect from rust, just use it alone without anything else. be diligent in swabbing the bore and breech face after use.
I have had this condensation problem with my handguns. CLP has been very good to me.
How do you deal with a very cold grips when firing the pistols?
I wish my indoor range had a pistol heater to warm up the stocks.