Weathering out Mother Nature with our Rifles...

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Paul R Zartman

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I know... odd Thread, but mods shut it down very prematurely :fire: in "General Gun Forum" because a few people were " wishing us well here in Florida" because of the possible coming weather system.
We were discussing how I was going about protecting my RIFLES AND OTHER LONG GUN" as well as pistols, when we were rudely interupted at 6:30 am... the thread was shut down with this message from mod "..THR is not a weather forum"....
ANYWAYS...
Thank you everyone for your prayers and well wishes ...
As we were discussing... I oiled and greased all the internals and then put a heavy layer of "Johnson Spray Wax" on the exterior wood and metal. I then put them in 50 gallon drum heavy duty bags and then put them in boxes for transport or some will just go between mattresses in bedrooms, small guns, same process but go into ziplock bags and then into a safe that I will seal seams up with "flextape" . Hopefully this will protect them, any input accepted whole heartedly, I will leave most of these gun in this storage condition till after the hurricane season.
Paul
 
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If you get one of those vacuum seal things I doubt you'd need to do much else. Drop a desicant bag in with it if you want to get fancy. I've seen some that you roll out the length you like and it sucks the air out and seals it. If I lived in an area with extreme moisture I might do that instead of all the grease and stuff.ready ready to go if you cut the bag. Consider the wood, excessive oils will soften and weaken wood- I store my wood stocked long guns barrel down to prevent too much oil soaking wood and thickening in the action . maybe others got a better idea but that's all I got. Good luck
 
If you get one of those vacuum seal things I doubt you'd need to do much else. Drop a desicant bag in with it if you want to get fancy. I've seen some that you roll out the length you like and it sucks the air out and seals it. If I lived in an area with extreme moisture I might do that instead of all the grease and stuff.ready ready to go if you cut the bag. Consider the wood, excessive oils will soften and weaken wood- I store my wood stocked long guns barrel down to prevent too much oil soaking wood and thickening in the action . maybe others got a better idea but that's all I got. Good luck
I like the idea of vacuum sealing, ill look into that. The other thing is that in case there is a violent surg of salt water, how to keep them protected, I like the vacuum system, but would probably still mobile 1 my internals and wax my external surfaces
 
I deal with sea water, spray and mist on my guns all summer long.
I have CLP sprayed on each rifle after cleaning each day and they are good, even over a chilly night when condensation is at its worst. good to go all day the next day, and then cleaned as usual the next night.
If I dont go anywhere a slathering of CLP on all the exposed parts keeps the rust away for a good week.

If it gets submerged in salt water, I dip the whole rifle in the fresh water of our river when we get home. I do this right before I strip and clean, just to flush off the salts. Boiling water poured on steel thats been salted is a quick and dirty way to wash and a spray of CLP or a rag wipe with any gun oil and its good to go.
I picked up the boiling water method when I shot alot of corrosive ammo back in the day.......

I store mine in plastic bag after cleaning, oiled and greasing.
I tape paper/cardboard at sharp places, like the front and rear sights.
I have put Grease in the chamber and bore, and stored it with its cleaning kit and solvent bottle. All accessories are included with the rifle, or secured as a package.
I use 3 mil "Contractor bags", which are xtra tough trash bags for the cleanup at construction sites. They are very tough, but cannot be 'sealed'. I twist tie, fold and twist tie again.
Then put them in a cardboard box, or gun case and label it .

Its almost impossible to 'seal' a bag of that type, but the vacuum seal sounds cool and doable. Ive thought of it, but never tried it, Im usually just moving along with clean guns in a boat on a long trip home from camp or going the other way.

I grease the bore/chamber and heavily oil he guns when Im leaving them behind at home or a camp, as I never know whats gonna happen there or who knows what/
 
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As we were discussing... I oiled and greased all the internals and then put a heavy layer of "Johnson Spray Wax" on the exterior wood and metal. I then put them in 50 gallon drum heavy duty bags and then put them in boxes for transport or some will just go between mattresses in bedrooms, small guns, same process but go into ziplock bags and then into a safe that I will seal seams up with "flextape" . Hopefully this will protect them, any input accepted whole heartedly, I will leave most of these gun in this storage condition till after the hurricane season.
Paul

You probably know, but don't forget when sealing your safe that many of them have holes in the bottom for bolting them down, a hole in the top for lifting purposes at the factory and a hole in the back for an electrical cord. Good Luck and take care!
 
WD40 Specialist Rust Inhibitor. Used it on beach bicycle chains and gears all last winter. No rust! Good stuff.
 
Are you located in a flood plain? Do you have an attic or upper floor with space available for storage?
Most of the state of Florida is a "flood plain"... ;)
From years of working at sea I can say that the lube well and seal process is the best bet. Watch out for keeping stuff around that got wet without rinsing in fresh water though.
The salts can stick around and cause trouble when you least expect it. :cuss:
 
I have heard good things about that WD specialist, I m gonna find some and give it a try...
I use it on the parts of guns i cant easily get to without taking them all the way apart, it works quite well.

Like @caribou said, if it actually gets salt water on it, rinsing it with freshwater is usually the best way to remove the salt, cleaning solutions usually don't so a great job of that.

Alot of guys here have "boat" guns for popping fish. Usually the guns are stored in ziplocks or something similar when not in use
 
Brownells and Zerust have plastic storage bags with internal coatings. These are loose-fit on purpose. A person could slip those on the safe contents, and leave them racked in place. Which ought to protect safe contents to top of the muzzle or so.

And, those plastic ammo boxes are handy and light, but, you will want them high up, as they do not have the best reputation for staying dry.

Water is tricky, we can spend too much time and effort trying to halve the last half past 80% "good." "Good enough" is often good enough.

All of the above is sound advice, just need to pick whats best for your individual situation. Which along with all this practical stuff, might ould include having specific insurance on your collection, too.
 
Maybe vacuum seal them in Mylar or put them in a cardboard box and vacuum seal in the clear bags. I would throw in a oxygen absorber if you have any laying around.
 
Well, oiled, greased, waxed, sealed all but a few guns, put them all away in safe areas in prep for the hurricane surge, now its going in south of us and looks like we have dodged another big one here in the clearwater area, lots of wind and rain, I am so bored now that I'm actually thinking about pulling out my Benjamin air gun and cleaning it :what::what:...well maybe not, but maybe...still have alot of weather to get by us, thanks for your ideas and processes for storing and protecting.
Paul
 
I know... odd Thread, but mods shut it down very prematurely :fire: in "General Gun Forum" because a few people were " wishing us well here in Florida" because of the possible coming weather system.
We were discussing how I was going about protecting my RIFLES AND OTHER LONG GUN" as well as pistols, when we were rudely interupted at 6:30 am... the thread was shut down with this message from mod "..THR is not a weather forum"....
ANYWAYS...
Thank you everyone for your prayers and well wishes ...
As we were discussing... I oiled and greased all the internals and then put a heavy layer of "Johnson Spray Wax" on the exterior wood and metal. I then put them in 50 gallon drum heavy duty bags and then put them in boxes for transport or some will just go between mattresses in bedrooms, small guns, same process but go into ziplock bags and then into a safe that I will seal seams up with "flextape" . Hopefully this will protect them, any input accepted whole heartedly, I will leave most of these gun in this storage condition till after the hurricane season.
Paul
I shut down the thread in General because people were talking about storms and not firearms. THR is a firearm forum, anything outside of our scope is off topic. You could have sent me a message and I would have been glad to explain it...
 
After going thru the process of sealing and packing guns to thwart the possible direct hit....lesson learned
I am totally unprepared to seal, pack and store or move my guns... took me longer than covering windows and putting away the outdoor stuff... :what:
I got alot of thinking to do about this...
Paul
 
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