Gun safe and rust

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Gordon_Freeman

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I noticed that I am getting some light surface rust on some guns. I have my safe located in a corner where there are 2 outside walls; one wall behind and one wall on the side of it. It is a 24 gun safe that weighs about 500 pounds. The room is on the ground level and is temperature controlled. I also have all of the guns stored inside gun socks.

I thought that I was doing everything right, but I guess not. Is the location beside the outside walls the problem?

I am thinking about getting a dehumidifier to keep in the room. Also I am thinking about getting some of the premium cat litter to keep inside the safe. Do you have any other suggestions?
 
That's scary that the guns are in sock, in a safe, in a room that has a controlld temp. I keep my guns in the safe and the safe has a dehumidifier in it. I think its called a gold rod. The guns aren't socked up. I also keep a coat of tetra gun oil on them or rem oil...whichever I have at the time.
 
What thefamcnaj says, is what most people use, in my area during the summer it is really humid, i use two gold rods in the safe, guns are coated in oil (FP10 or something along that line), wood is a moisture attractor so all my wood is removed from the steel guns. This is from seeing the same as you have experienced. When you rust up a 900.00 gun the preventative measures are cheap. Also when you wrap your pistols in cloth it attracts moisture, cant breath in the change of temperature. The rods can be purchased at Brownells too in different lengths, i placed one on each side of the bottom of the safe. seems to really help. good luck. regards.
 
... Do you have any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

Minimum, use a golden-rod-type heater stick or a small incandescent light bulb in the gunsafe. That will keep the temp a bit higher than outside and, therefore, lower the RH.

I know that some folks swear by the gun socks, but (fwiw) I would not store firearms in something like that for fear of moisture attraction.

I also have rechargeable desiccants in my gunsafes for the warm, moist months.

The temperature in my gunsafes is always a few degrees higher than the room temp and the RH is never higher than ~50% and usually closer to 40%.

I also have a small fan in each gunsafe permanently moving air ... probably not critical, but it makes me feel better knowing that no trouble spots are developing due to lack of airflow, y'know? :)

HTH
 
Depending on how cold it gets where you live, anything along two adjoining exterior walls (corner) might tend to get colder inside than the temperature within the room, especially inside while the door is closed.

Buy one of those indoor/outdoor thermometers and set the outdoor sensor in the safe with the guns and mount the indoor portion near or on the safe, NOT on an exterior wall, but in a location where the indoor thermometer will display the actual room temperature.
 
I also have all of the guns stored inside gun socks.
Click to expand...
I've seen guns rust bad when stored in gun socks.


There is a product called Corrosion X.
I flew helicopters in the Gulf of Mexico, a very corrosive atmosphere. We used Corrosion X to help keep down the rust and corrosion on these multi million dollar machines and it works as well on guns.

A good example of how well this stuff works is,
I have a gun safe in the barn. The safe is little more than a secure steel box.
Years ago, I hadn't looked at the guns in weeks, then one cool humid morning I opened the safe and freaked out. All the guns were covered with water, like the outside of a ice tea glass.

I closely examined the guns. There wasn't a speck of rust on any of the guns.

On any gun that's stored where there is any likely hood of rust, like car guns, once in a while I wipe the guns down with a very light coat of Corrosion X instead of regular gun oil.

Corrosion X can be found at many places that sell gun cleaning supplies.
 
I also have all of the guns stored inside gun socks.
Click to expand...

Right there is your biggest problem. i've seen guns totally trashed from being stored in cases and socks. Put a Goldenrod in that safe also.
 
Except that proper gun socks are silicone inpregnated and keep moisture away...not attract it to the gun.

Never put the gun away wet though...and always oil it. Let it warm up after being out in the cold as well...wipe of condensation and oil it.
In the past I have stored guns in non-silicone impregnated cases for years on end...pull them out and not a speck of rust on them. But I also have used WD40 on the outside and now I use Breakfree.
 
Move it away from any outside walls. Outside walls are prone to condensation forming because of the difference between the outside and inside temp. Every time you close the safe you are trapping humid air inside the safe. Buy a humidity gauge and keep the humidity in the safe room below 40%. When the warm air (with moisture) hits the cold outside wall condensation will form on and inside that wall. You need to either move it or invest in a good dehumidifier. I have also seen LOTS of guns rusted from being stored in a rug or sock or soft case. Store them in open dry air on a shelf or a peg with a good coat of CLP, Breakfree Collector or Eezox applied to the metal. Use a small paintbrush to apply a thin coat. Check the humidity level and the surface of the guns a couple of times a week.
 
My Dad had 2 pistols that he stored in special artificial-fleece-lined & silicone-impregnated zippered cases for many years ... before I opened them and found both pistols rusted & pitted ...

... that is the day I ab-so-lute-ly stopped trusting anything close-fitting and "silicone-impregnated" for firearms storage.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. The reason I use gun socks is so the guns won't get dinged because there are so many in there. The gun socks are Winchester brand from walmart mostly.

I picked up some of the crystal cat litter today. I am also going to move the safe to the other side of the room. I will pick up a dehumidifier that I have in storage. This will keep the whole room dry.

I have a hygrometer in the safe and the humidity is usually around 60%. The temperature in the safe is usually in the upper 70s in the summer.

I noticed that most of the rust is on the blued guns. I always clean my guns after I shoot them and I put rem oil or CLP on them before they go in the gun sock.

I picked up some 0000 steel wool today. I am going to try getting the rust off. I have to figure out how to get the rust off the internal parts of my Mosins.
 
I don't know about storing firearms in the socks but my brother left a shotgun in a carry case for about a year and that thing rusted something awful. I just keep my weapons in the safe with a desicant type container in the bottom. It has worked fine for me for many moons! And yes, I oil them after shooting and before storage.

The Dove
 
Look at the rust, Rust, RUST thread for ideas.

Short response is don't put holes through your safe that aren't sealed with caulk. Do oil your guns before you put them away every time. Do put a heat source (Golden Rod, light bulb) inside your safe. Do use desiccant.
 
Golden Rod + RIG grease, + a RIG Rag wipe-down every time you pick one up.
Plus, store out of the gun socks for free air circulation.

I have used R.I.G. on an extensive gun collection for almost 50 years and have never ever seen a trace of rust that wasn't already there when I bought the old gun.

The guy who's rare S&W revolvers appeared in many of the photo's in the Standard Catalog of S&W book told me about R.I.G. when I was 20 years old.
My new bride & I rented our first house from him in 1964.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=3...SAL-GUN-GREASE
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=3...ASE-APPLICATOR

I agree your 60% humidity is a little high.
But not so high R.I.G. won't handle it.
50% at 70 degrees is museum grade ideal storage conditions.

Here is a link to rust preventive product tests:
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/lid=...inic-Knowing-the-Limits-of-Rust-Preventatives

rc
 
+1 for Barricade. Seems like not a lot of people know about this stuff. Or maybe it isn't widely available and I'm just fortunate enough to have my local firearms store stock it.
 
Ditch the socks.

They can hold moisture.

Do you have a set-back thermostat?

Changes in temperature can result in condensation.

The weight of the metal lags behind the room temperature, and if the cool gun falls below the dew point condensation occurs.

A goldenrod heats up the contents (hopefully) enough to prevent slow changes from causing condensation.

Installing a small light bulb will do the same thing.
 
I was examining my guns more closely, and I think I overreacted. I think most of the rust I saw was on a couple of Mosins that already had rust when I bought them.

I am still going to take some steps to lower the humidity. That corrosionx rust remover looks great. I need to try to find some of that stuff. The review of CLP and Eezox is really good. I will only use those products from now on.
Thanks guys.
 
I like the idea of ditching those socks. I live just a few miles back from the ocean. We have heat, we have humidity and we have salt in the air. I have no rust on any of my guns and I use nothing in my safe to combat humidity or temps.
 
Definitely ditch the socks. Nothing worse than putting a soft moisture absorbent in direct contact with metal.

One option that is easy to use, reusable, and can last from 5-20 years is our line of ZCORR anti corrosion firearm bags. We started by making gun bags for the Marines and basically simplified the design making them much more affordable while still offering the same technology. You can check them out at ZCORR Products

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