Firearms time capsule?

[FSCJedi]

So I'm reading about the life of properly stored ammo, and I start conjurin' up some thoughts. I think when I can afford it, I'd like to make a time capsule to bury somewhere, complete with "treasure" map (to include geographical coordinates, of course) leading to it.

Now, here's my questions. What's the best way to store a firearm, complete with ammunition, extra magazines (or whatever it takes), owners/opperators manual, and maybe a typed up historical description of the gun, for a very long period of time? I've heard of using dry ice to seal and store food for long periods of time since it fills the container up with nitrogen. Would this work in this instance?

Second, what firearm(s) would you want to store in such a manner, and how much ammunition? Keep in mind that it might be many many years before it's unburied, and when it is finally unburied, there may no longer be ammo available for that particular weapon.

I was thinking along the lines of storing handguns, complete with the proper leather belt holster. The handguns I have considered are the Colt Peacemaker (or another nice replica of such, chosen for it's historical benefit to humankind); the Colt 1911A1 (for it's long military service) w/ 10 mags; and the Beretta 92FS (for it's replacing the 1911) w/ 10 high-cap mags. Please, let's not let my choices start a debate. Along with burying them, I'd want around 1000 rounds of ammunition. Yeah, I know, it's not a lot, but it is something that could all be carried to wherever it needs to go when it's unburied.

So wadda ya'll think? Let's talk TIME CAPSULES!

 

[natedog]

Are you talking burying a gun just for historical purposes, or for in case there is mass confinscation and you need a stash somewhere?

Anyways, I'd be willing go bet that the 9mm cartridge is going to be around for as long as people use firearms. It is a neat idea though.

 

[Tharg]

Never had enough cash to bury guns less i planned on doing it so they wouldn't be "found" when i didn't want em to be... and haven't had one of those situations yet either...

prolly be interesting tho - if someone erm... 1000 years from now in a MUCH more technologly astute world that used ray guns and other futurama stuff found em...

they might be worth a fortune since all the ray guns are key'd w/ GPS and auto logs and the guns plain d don't opperate w/o those functions working and verifying back and forth from the tracking agency and the gun! Via hyper secure blah de blah transmission protocols etc etc... there would be a "steath" 1911 for somone's use! Man - there you go enabling the criminal element.... BAD jedi... BAD...

ROFL

teasing of course =)

J/Tharg!

 

[Majic]

For handguns and ammo you could use the vacuum pastic sealing machines. It's moisture and air that causes the destruction metals. Seal it in a vacuum and it will last as long as the seal isn't broken. IF you could seal a bag large enough it would work for rifles also.

 

[Mulliga]

Coat the sucker in Breakfree or FP-10 and seal the bag/capsule up tight. Be very careful about where you bury it - don't want some nosy kids seeing what you're doing and digging the thing up. Also note that the earth in many areas gets turned up for various reasons.

Don't forget to include info about what is inside - all sorts of info. If you actually make it a few hundred years in the future, knowledge about loading and firing a handgun may be as obscure as knowledge about firing a wheel-lock pistol today.

 

[joab]

Throw some Silica Aero Gel into your vacumm pack put that into a water proof container and bury all of it in a waterproof concrete vault.
Or just coat the sucker in cosmoline and throw it in a lake, I believe it has a half life of a million years and it will never ever come off your gun completely.

 

[lee n. field]

hat's the best way to store a firearm, complete with ammunition, extra magazines (or whatever it takes), owners/opperators manual, and maybe a typed up historical description of the gun, for a very long period of time?

Hopefully they'll be able to read the documentation when the piece is retrieved.

How long? 10 years? 100? 1000?

 

[BeLikeTrey]

long term?

I had always hear PVC. dismantle completely in to parts. Put cosmoline all over every part and use silica gel and vacuum seal. put all vacuum sealed parts into a big, well sealed, pvc tube and bury. keep specific instructions and make sure of PERMANENT landmarks. Keep in mind trees grow and change over long periods and that may even be cut down. I was also told to take other metal pipes and nails etc and bury those scattered all around to throw metal detectors off.

Hope this was what you were asking ?

 

[shermacman]

Just a note, dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide, it is not nitrogen. That being said, the problems of corrosion are due to water and oxygen. The silica gel packs will help but over the span of a hundred years it will break down and the captured water vapor will be released. I think that vacuum wrapping small parts and cosmoline would work best. Use PVC schedule 80 pipe not the schedule 40 stuff you find in hardware stores. Schedule 80 is rated for long-term underground use.

 

[BryanP]

Bury them in my back yard. I'll make sure they stay safe. I'll check them out regularly for functionality, just to make sure no corrosion has occurred. And I'll replace the 1000 rounds of ammo once in a while. Yeah, that's it. Out of the kindness of my heart and all that.

 

[White Horseradish]

PVC and long-term don't mix well. PVC leaches solvents and becomes brittle over time. Just ask the folks who take care of the space stuff at the Smithsonian.

ABS (black drainpipes) would probably be better. That stuff is damn near indestructible, unless some UV light hits it. If it's buried, that shouldn't be a problem.

Polyethylene would be even better. It is very chemical-resistant and should last pretty much forever.

 

[DF357]

Do like the gummint does.

cosmoline. It works for them.

 

[WT]

As my friends in the police say, people are generally too lazy to bury things deep enough. The ground penetrating radar finds it everytime.

If you want to bury something you need to dig down 20-30 feet. However new technology may even be able to find that soon enough.

 

[Tamara]

WT,

As my friends in the police say, people are generally too lazy to bury things deep enough. The ground penetrating radar finds it everytime.

Even the most casual reading of the initial post would reveal that he's not trying to bury it to hide it from your friends in the police.

 

[shermacman]

Can't be too careful though! Every time I have needed to bury a body and the gun I used to kill it with, I dig down 30 feet minimum! Some times it takes awhile, working all night, then firing up the flood lights and generators and going all night long. The neighbors complain about the dynamite when I have to blast, but I live in the poor part of town and the cops never come around much. I have had to do this many times in my back yard. Haven't got caught yet!

 

[4v50 Gary]

What about crystallization? Any metallurgist here?

 

[WT]

Reading between the lines ....... what's the "real" purpose for burying weapons and ammo?

 

[FSCJedi]

For anyone who's actually wondering what my "real" purpose for burying these is, it is seriously for historical purposes. I'd put in some info about me as well, to provide whoever digs it up someone to credit the site to.

 

[daniel (australia)]

What about crystallization? Any metallurgist here?

Metals are 100% crystalline in the solid state. They aren't going to get any more crystallised

BTW one understands that there's a fair bit of experimentation into long-term burial of firearms going on here in Oz. One has no direct knowledge of actual instances however

 

[Tamara]

WT,

Reading between the lines ....... what's the "real" purpose for burying weapons and ammo?

Well, he "told" you "what" his "real" purpose was, "right" there in his "initial" post: A frickin' time capsule, with clues left behind for it to be dug up long after his death. Big secret. Shhh! Don't tell the cops!

Ever since I saw the time capsule at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, I've been kinda enthralled by the idea myself. Maybe before I go, I'll put some of my older, classic guns, some of my ancient coins, some good books, and a custom blade or two in a time capsule myself...

 

[2nd Amendment]

As my friends in the police say, people are generally too lazy to bury things deep enough. The ground penetrating radar finds it everytime.

Forunately the police are usually too lazy to find anything if they don't already have a pretty good idea where it is.

 

[WilderBill]

On a related note; several years back, one of my co workers spent a weekend playing with a metal detector in E. Texas.
He found that there was "something" along a creek bed and started digging.
What he found was a mostly rotted heavey wooden box. Inside he found about a dozen muzzle loaders of various sorts. They had been covered in thick grease, then wrapped in cloth before going into the box.
Most of the outside ones were rusted with rotted stocks, barely good enough for wall hangers.
The ones on the inside were still ready to be cleaned and put back into action against the yankee invaders! Some were marked CSA.

I expect that with modern technology, you could do better than that.

 

[HankB]

Old Russian joke:

"Why do Lithuanians sprinkle oil on their gardens?"

"To keep the guns from rusting."

If I were storing something LONG term, I'd thoroughly clean it, coat it with RIG or cosmoline, and put it in a vacuum-sealed bag with some VPI - Vapor Phase Inhibitor - chips or tablets. Maybe even some of the "Bianchi Blue Bag" stuff if it's still made. Ammo - I'm not sure that vacuum packing it would be best, as I'm unsure about the long-term effects on the powder of vacuum. Probably evaculating a bag with a little dry ice inside would be better - when the dry ice sublimes, the ammo will be in an inert atmosphere of CO2 with positive pressure.

Then I'd pack the whole assortment in a polyethylene pipe with the ends filled up with that expanding foam stuff, a layer of caulk or RTV, and a solid cap. Maybe see if I could sonic weld (is that the term?) the end caps on.

 

[Gifted]

I'd say a good place is a chest in the attic. You make it one of those forgotten things, and it'll be a good long while before someone opens it up to see what's inside. Burying it isn't the best idea in the world.

 

[Evil_Ed]

4v50 Gary said:

What about crystallization? Any metallurgist here?

Well, I'm not a metalurgist but I DID stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Seriously, I have studied it somewhat in regards to my knifemaking (I'm a knowledge sponge when it comes to things that interest me). Metal is a crystaline substance in it's solid state and the settling of it's structure is pretty much over by about 6 months after the last heat treatment process it goes through. I could get into the differences between martinsite, pearlite, etc but it starts to make my head hurt.


Edit: BTW, you can change that crystalline structure further after the heat process by bringing it down to extremely low temps to force a change in the metal that makes it more durable/stable. Knife makers started doing this quite some time ago and in recent years some companies offer the service for barrels and other gun parts.