4” flood in safe room. Need advice.

I would search out a few gallons of WD40 and soak the pistols in it one by one and wipe with a micro fiber cloth (bought in bulk to keep using them) , I'm sure that should take off the rust . Then pass a brush thru the bores and cambers and a patch with more WD40 . Note this is one time WD40 shines for use on guns. set the guns so treated away for further treatment and lubing after the first step. Rifles: field strip soak as much parts as you can in wd40 bucket (or oderless kerosene works almost as well) and set ood parts in warm dry area with a fan on them then BLO or wax. Actually Ballistol works well on dry wood and Ballistol is the next step in thorough cleaning. Compressed air really helps after a full immersion in solvents . The atf type baths are better preservatives or combat type lubes than what you need which is a water displacing solvent that has rust disolving or loosing properties.
None of your stuff pistured warranted 0000 steel wool , a good rubbing of a ballistol soaked part with a micro fiber rag should remove the light rust shown.
Now I understand your response to the USPS shipping receipt I sent you. Sorry for your hassles you are facing .

1KPerDay said:

Any gunsmiths here or anyone know what a good careful smith would charge for this kind of work, by the hour or by the job? For insurance claim

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I would not go that route ! should not be necessary if you give the revolvers and parts a submersion in wd40 for a bit then blow out excess with air and set aside for further lubing later.
WD 40 is about $25 a can from tractor supply or amazon , get three in a 5 gallon plastic bucket. and a large pack of microfiber wipes. and a few quarts of Balistol

Look up oxalic acid crystals. I use them to make a solution for soaking rusty car parts and removing stains on boats. Won't hurt paint and finishes generally, just gets the rust. I wouldn't use it on the most valuable thing first but might be worth a try.

TransAmConvert said:

Look up oxalic acid crystals. I use them to make a solution for soaking rusty car parts and removing stains on boats. Won't hurt paint and finishes generally, just gets the rust. I wouldn't use it on the most valuable thing first but might be worth a try.

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Oxalic acid will etch some things… aluminum comes to mind.

Don’t have basements here but I had a funny thought about bolting them to the floor (above). I bet that would make it even harder to break into, on a step ladder...

Disassembly, Detail cleaning, Reassembly, Function Test, & Test Fire at the last shop I worked at - $65, or $85 if ultrasonic was specified or needed as determined by gunsmith.

Best of luck with this, man. I think if they didn’t sit in water for a long time you might well get lucky and not have permanent damage. Seems like most of the rifles I see with obvious water marks on the butt of the stock look like they sat somewhere wet long enough for the buttplate and screws to rust and the stock started drawing that stained water up into it via capillary action. But if you have a sizeable collection the time required to strip all those (and the space to lay them out during their lengthy drying) will be a major PITA...

1KPerDay said:

Sir, do you have any firearms in the vehicle? LOL

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Why yes officer, "I'm doing my once in a flood detail cleaning."

I would first completely dry then heavily apply oil inside and out until you have the time to clean and refinish where necessary. I use Renaissance Wax, a microcrystalline type. Apply and use a heat gun for maximum adhesion and getting into tight spots. Then buff lightly with a soft cloth. This product is known to prevent corrosion better than oils etc. After katrina there were reports of collections being flooded. Apparently the firearms that survived with the least damage were treated as I recommended here. Of course in a flood, sealed containers are best or plastic bagged with a dessicant and sealed. Many years ago when I was in the army we oil dipped FN's, Browning HP, Smg's etc. and plastic bagged them with a dessicant. They were tagged and were to be inspected twice a year for signs of corrosion. The process seemed to work well though they were also stored in lockups in heated buildings that don't flood. If you have insurance take the $ for any firearm that is not a high end collector gun or have personal history. The value is in the original finish remaining, corroded firearms drop in price significantly.

And once this is all lover and done with, build a platform at least a foot high, or higher, for your safe to sit on.

OK, here's the key:

You can greatly mitigate any rust damage by IMMEDIATELY doing a deep clean and re-oiling everything.

You absolutely cannot afford to put this off. In a way, it's like blood stains...the sooner you get on it, the less likely you are to have permanent staining.

When something like this happens, you'd be surprised at how much rust will actually wipe away with no visible aftereffects.


So do this for the METAL:

Disassemble your weapons. Butt plates come off, grips come off, magazines get disassembled down to springs, followers, butt plates, etc. Slides come off, bolts come out, actions get opened, etc.

You need to do this because you want to get all the water out as soon as possible.

Wipe everything down to dry them, then immediately do a deep clean and oil everything. Don't just "let them air dry"...actually get in there and actively wipe things dry by hand and leave the air drying for after you've thoroughly done so. If you do this right away, you'll likely find that a lot of rust is really surface rust that will wipe off or will be able to remove with a little elbow grease and a cloth.

If you cannot get to a deep clean right away, shoot WD-40 in all the assemblies, down barrels, around springs, over triggers, etc. WD-40 is a penetrating water displacement formulated compound which will also put a protective layer over the metals to keep air exposure to a minimum. You'll have to clean all this out later, but it buys you time to do so in the process. If you have a lot of firearms, you may want to WD-40 a lot of items right away simply due to the amount of time it would take to get to everything.

And no...WD-40 is NOT intended to be a long term lubricant. Over time, it WILL gum up the works. It's a stop-gap measure in this program and should not be "the end of the story" when it comes to corrective actions. Finish the cleaning as soon as possible.


WOOD:

Wood damage may also occur which might affect either the wood itself and/or the finish.

First thing...get all the metal out/off of the wood. Butt plates, trigger guards, screws, etc. Dry the wood thoroughly by hand (wipe down) and air dry it for a short while to get the surface dry.

If the wood was soaked (which it sounds like), then you want to further dry the wood to draw out excess moisture from the wood grain. The key to this is to do it SLOWLY. Since the wood was already fabricated into stock pieces, it's not going to behave like "green wood" in this process, but you can still get cracks by drying too quickly, especially if the wood did much swelling due to water absorption. A lot depends on what the wood is and how the wood was originally treated and sealed. I'd put stocks and other wood components in something like a small plastic trash can, not much taller than the wood, and loosely lay a plastic bag over it, then set the trash can in the corner of the room somewhere away from air currents which would disturb the plastic cover.. You do not want to seal it...you want some minor amount of air to naturally circulate as the wood very slowly dries out.

After a couple weeks or so, check the wood and start looking into what you may need to do to restore the finish, if needed.

1KPerDay said:

Yeah. This is a sort of different situation but definitely not leaving guns in there except mounted high on the walls or on 3’ shelves in future. And redundant sump pumps that run on blown V8s

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Our basement flooded six years ago. About $20,000 in damage.

We had Everdry do a total waterproofing. New tiling outside, tore up the interior floor along the exterior walls to install drain tile. Two double sump pumps with battery backup that will last three days without power. Plus, we got a Generac whole house generator

For mold, we used the cheapest mouthwash you can get at the Dollar Store diluted 50/50 in a pump sprayer. Works incredibly well.

For mold, the absolute best thing you can do is immediately gut all the drywall and start drying things out with a vengeance.

That's another thing that you have to get an immediate jump on, like the rust deal with the firearms.

Once mold sets in, it's exceedingly difficult to kill due to the nature of wood itself.

Rubbing rust spots with a copper penny will not harm the finish ...

I always use my air compressor to blow out dirt and any excess lube or solvent. With your situation, use lots of WD-40 and the air compressor. Lots of hand rubbing and more lube. Sorry for your troubles Mate.

My formula is Kroil and a rag. Dunk, let sit, rub, repeat.

1KPerDay
Steel wool will remove the oxidation and ruin the blueing unless you decide to reblue them.
Sadly, there are some pitting but mostly is superficial.
Skylerbone is not far from a good advice.