Allen nylon soft cases wear gun finishes?

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elano

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I have used many pistol soft cases with zippers also known as "rugs" made with a soft liner. Today I went looking for a new rug for my blued speed six and found that the sporting goods store only sells one kind of soft case now. It's rough nylon texture on the outside and a softer but still somewhat scratchy feelng on the inside. It is an "Allen" brand.

Are these as safe on the finish for storying my pistol in as my other soft cases that have cotton/flease liners?
 
Cases like you described are only useful for transporting guns for short trips to the range. Do not "store" any gun in a soft plush case because the material will suck moisture from the air and cause your gun to rust. This is not an internet theory - I have seen many guns ruined by storing them in plush cases. The best way to store a gun is in open air in a humidity controlled environment and to apply a thin film of rust preventative oil to the finish. The plush material in a soft case will not scratch your gun but if the lining picks up grit or dirt you may get damage. A holster will wear the finish of a gun much faster for the same reason - grit.
 
+1 On storing out of the case in open air.

A nylon gun case will not wear the finish on your gun.

Drawing it from a dirty holster 100 times will do more damage to the finish then hauling it back & forth to the range in a nylon case 1,000 trips.

rc
 
Awesome thanks for answering the question!

Unfortunately, I don't have a safe at the moment and I don't feel comfortable just throwing them on the closet floor. I keep them wiped down with oil though before I put them up, and inspect them at least monthly.
 
Look around your house and use your imagination for hiding places. Before I had a safe I would hang the few guns I owned on the short wall above the sliding closet door in a spare bedroom. You could only see it if you walked into the closet and turned around and looked up. (which almost no one ever does) Fill the closet with boxes of junk and no one will be able to get into it. I have also seen people install a fake cold air return grille or heating vent into a wall and hide things inside it. Most burglars are smash and grab oriented and do not want to take the time to really look at stuff. Just make sure to use a dry interior wall with no plumbing in it.
 
You may buy a handgun safe for less than 100 bucks at any sporting goods retailer or a bigger steel cabinet, where you may store longguns, for the same amount. I think it is worth the money.
 
Believe me, I plan on investing in a handgun safe and lockable rifle cabnet. Right now they're in a deadbolted closet. Some are in socks, some are in soft cases. I just don't like the idea of them sitting out uncovered.

What if I were to keep them in the pistol rugs, but maybe 1/2 unzipped? Wouldn't that allow any moisture (if there really was any) to escape?
 
The problem with socks, pistol rugs, fabric bags and so on is that unless you live in a very dry climate, e.g. Arizona, they will absorb and keep some amount of moisture which, inevitably, will affect your guns.
 
The problem with socks, pistol rugs, fabric bags and so on is that unless you live in a very dry climate, e.g. Arizona, they will absorb and keep some amount of moisture which, inevitably, will affect your guns.
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What about the socks impregnated with oil?



.
 
Half unzipped will still allow moisture from a humid day to be held in contact with the metal. Open air in a controlled environment is the best way. (The heating and cooling system in your house should keep the air dry enough (unless you live next to saltwater). Even fabric linings or socks saturated with oil will still absorb moisture. The padded cases are for transport only, not storage. As a retired smith I cannot tell you how many rusted guns I have seen from storage in those things. I absolutely hate them. If you care about your guns either store in open air or in a ziplock bag with a dessicant pack in it and most of the air sucked or squeezed out. The main thing to remember is to keep checking on them every couple of weeks and make sure to keep a thin coat of oil brushed on the gun. I have been using Breakfree Collecter for several years applied with a small paint brush and have no rust on any of them. They are then placed in a bag with a dessicant pack and store in a safe. Just check on every 10 days or so.
 
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Is out in the open storage the only way?

I've had a blued shotgun that's been zipped up in a softcase (inside flanel, outside leather or mock leather) for at least 5 years and it looks like the day I put it in. Shot maybe once per year. It hasn't even been wiped with oil until recently. Maybe I'm suffering from gun OCD but I've only heard about the "don't store guns in cases" thing recently and it's got me worried.
 
It may not be the "only way" but it is the safest method I have found. I have too much invested in some out of production classic pieces to take any chances and I have seen too much damage from using cases. It just depends on where you live and what the relative humidity is most of the time in your house.
 
Fabric on it's own does not attract and hold moisture. Well... other than if it was dried with a fabric softener then maybe. However you guys are right that a thick padded rug can certainly HOLD moisture caused by condensation on a cool gun if not dealt with once you get home.

Storing them in fabric socks or rugs is only an issue if the gun and sock or rug changes temperature by a sizeable amount and with frequency. Under such conditions the gun's temperature going from cool to warm generates some condensation and the fabric of the sock or rug holds that moisture. But if the padding is a sock then it's thin enough to dry easily IF you give it half a chance to do so.. A padded rug, on the other hand, has enough padding that it'll dry very slowly.

The trick is to make sure that when you get back from a cool day at the range that you open up the rug or take the gun out of the sock and let it warm up fully to room temp and dry off. In fact stacking the whole works over a floor register with the heat on would do a find job of this. Once warm and fully dry there's no moisture trapped by the sock and putting the gun and sock away in a cabinet or known dry closet would be fine.

About two years ago I made up some fleece and cordura slips for holding my handguns. Because the material is thin and I have my cabinet in a warm and dry location I have had zero troubles with corrosion.

When I take them out for shooting and it's a cold or wet day they do not go right back into the cabinet, Instead they are laid out to come up fully to room temperature and allowed to "soak" long enough for any possible condensation to have long since evaporated. At that point I put them away. This has worked fine for me despite living in one of the wettest climates areas on the continent.
 
I beg to disagree folk's, as I have used an impregnated "SACK-UP" for all of my
handgun storage for a very long time. I usually apply a thin coat of Eezox* to
the bore, as well as the exterior of my firearms; before storing them in the
"SACK-UPS". No rust of any nature has reared its ugly head. Then, I place the
"SACK-UPS" in a proper size pistol rug for storage. Of course, I keep a close
eye on all of my firearms in short intervals. Once this process is completed,
all of my firearms are place in a secured RSC~! Never, ever had a problem
doing it this way~~!!! ;) :D

*FootNote- Eezox won the salt water spray test; protecting bare metal longer
than any of its competitors~! :cool: :)
 
I store all of my handguns in a pistol rugs. I wrap the blue ones in a well oiled piece of flannel and stick them in the rug. I got the flannel ideal when I bought a 1965 model gun off a guy a few years ago. He had it wrapped in oily flannel. He said he had been storing the gun like that for years. The gun looked like new.
 
Many of you don't know what you are taking about. My daddy keep his shotgunes in zippered cases all the time. the newest one was over 25 years old when i got it.
His guns had no rust and were rarely cleaned between shooting.
One of the cases was a fleece lined case from almost 40 years ago.

I just finished working this gun over and the only issue at all was some dirt buildup in the action that had to my knowledge never been torn down.

He lived in southwest Ohio where there was lots of heat and humidity.
 
I've seen rifles and shotguns kept longer than that in old, dirty cases. I did it through the '50s, '60s and '70s in Baltimore and D.C.(talk about high humidity.)

I think that's why they didn't rust, the cases were impregnated with oil and grease. It's still a bad idea to recommend it as a good storage method.

You can spray the inside of a new zip-up or foam-lined plastic case with oil or silicone if you like. Done that too in the old days.

John
 
Many of you don't know what you are taking about. My daddy keep his shotgunes in zippered cases all the time. the newest one was over 25 years old when i got it.
His guns had no rust and were rarely cleaned between shooting.
One of the cases was a fleece lined case from almost 40 years ago.
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My dad is the same way. He keeps nearly all of his guns in zippered cases and does have at least one of those oldie leather looking out the outside and fleece looking on the inside cases. He has used the same silicone impregnated gun cloth that he keeps in a ziplock bag t wipe his guns down since the early 70's. I don't think he ever owned any true gun oii until this past Xmas. He just used 3-in-1 oil or similar for his oiling needs. He has some really nice old guns and has zero rust....FWIW, this Xmas I bought him a nice cleaning kit, solvent and oil...I doubt if he's used any of it, though...LOL.
 
What about keeping them in leather holsters inside a zipper case. I keep mine holster and stored in Allen (or similar) cases? Will this hurt them
 
It's your gun. I inherited my grandfather's Smith and Wesson snubbie made in 1947 when I was 16 and more ignorant than I am right now. I kept it in a drawer in the leather holster he kept it in. It ruined the bluing everywhere the holster touched metal. Leather absorbs moisture from the air, plus the leather was cured with some type of chemical which affects the finish of metal when left there for a long period. Leather starts to deteriorate from the day it leaves the animal. It's great for carrying a weapon but not for storing.The nylon case will indeed absorb moisture from the air. Foam padded cases are really worse. They suck the oil off the weapon as it sits there. Perhaps using one of the KleenBore Long Term Storage bags available from most big box stores and on-line. I keep some highly valued weapons in those and the oil coating is always just as I left it. These bags are easily resealed when you take a gun out for firing or cleaning.
 
I think that many of us do know what we're talking about but there are a lot of variables involved here. Some fabrics and linings will absorb moisture very readily (cotton flannel) and some will not (most synthetics). Leather absolutely will but it may be treated to resist it to some extent. Some leathers are tanned with natural oils and some with chrome salts. Some of the leathers used in holsters and cases can cause damage to a piece of steel even with no moisture present at all. How do you know which kind you have? You don't. While some folks posted they have seen guns stored in plush cases that did not rust I can assure you I have seen a lot more than have rusted badly. And every one of them was stored long term in a plush case.
 
TennJed said:
What about keeping them in leather holsters inside a zipper case. I keep mine holster and stored in Allen (or similar) cases? Will this hurt them
Click to expand...

Leather is a whole other story. A lot of the tanning treatment materials or dyes used in the leather could possibly be hygoscopic. That is, they pull moisture from the air such as table salt and sugar in humid conditions pull in moisture and form lumps. And then I seem to remember that some of the natural oils and steric acids in the hide are also hygroscopic. Either way leather is rarely going to be a moisture neutral material so it's not wise to store a gun in leather for long periods regardless on your opinion of the use of socks or gun rugs.
 
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