question about stainless and rust...

[hipoint]

I know stainless guns can rust, not nearly as bad as a neglected blued gun, but rust nonetheless.. I have a ruger 10/22 to prove it ;-)

anyhow, just picked up a browning a bolt in stainless and was wondering what people's thoughts were about whether or not this would rust under a decent camo tape job? I don't wanna paint the gun, or otherwise ruin it's possible resale value, I got stainless because it is a little more forgiving than bluing, but the fact that it's shiny is kindof a put off for me... any suggestions for a way to make it not shiny without ruining the original finish? I'd hate to cover the gun in a layer of tape only to remove it and see rust later down the road.

 

[hipoint]

oh, I do NOT have a gun safe and do NOT run AC in my home during the summer, so we get 90 percent and higher humidity in my home from time to time. I call my home "the gun ruster" ;-) just thought that info might be helpful as well.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

Real stainless should not "rust". I am puzzled though as to why you want to preserve the original finish if you don't like it being shiney? You could have it bead blasted to dull the "shine" and not have to worry about corrosion under some other covering material. You could wipe it down with any of the products sold to protect stainless barrels but then your tape probably wouldn't adhere to the surface. It would seem to me that an alteration of the conditions and expectations needs to be made in order to have a satisfactory outcome.

 

[hipoint]

I am merely wondering if there is something I can do to NOT make it look stainless such as tape. I'm thinking it probably will rust under tape.

this is a bead blasted finish, so maybe "shiny" wasn't the correct word, should have used silver and bright... anyhow I have been altering conditions of which I use my rifles my whole life, mainly it involves me oiling the guns that I really care about on a weekly basis. If I were a wealthy man I would either be able to run AC in my home, or have a home large enough to have a humidoor gunsafe in, sadly neither is the case. I got this rifle because I could afford it, it was there, and stainless requires quite a bit less care than a blued gun. I'm curious if there's any way to do something to it that will make it not stand out like a sore thumb (meaning silver and bright) that will not allow it to rust and will be removable so if I ever do decide to sell this gun I won't have to worry about having "ruined" it...

I thoroughly understand where you're coming from, just curious if there is a way to make my gun a little less sensitive to neglect while making it a little less "hey look at me with my shiny gun" at the same time

 

[squarepants33889]

I don't have a definitive answer for you. One thing I am certain of is that a polished piece of stainless will exhibit a little more resistance to corrosion than a rough one. I understand steel horses reply, but sometimes, depending on the type and grade of stainless, even stainless can rust. It usually starts off looking like a bit of mold on cheese. Often, it wont "grow" much and can be easily buffed off with a piece of old denim or such. Except for in a couple of severely neglected instances, I haven't seen stainless rust enough to pit or score the the surface noticeably.

 

[CatManDo]

cerakote?

 

[hipoint]

I've never heard of cerakote before... I had a remington 700 sps with some sort of factory black finish on it, it too started getting rust, it was coming through the "paint" onto the outside of the finish, was fairly easily removed though.

I am thankful of winter, one of the reasons is with the decreased humidity I can slack off a bit on my oiling routine... it's a real chore to remove all the furniture of my guns and oil them well so often... I've been considering putting cosmoline on the parts that are under the furniture and have no mechanical movement.

 

[rcmodel]

Use R.I.G.

It beats cosmolene every which way.
http://www.brownells.com/gun-cleani...ntion/rig-universal-gun-grease-prod31842.aspx

http://www.brownells.com/gun-cleani...ag-universal-grease-applicator-prod31843.aspx

I used cammo tape on my blued Browning A5 every year during turkey season.
But I always took it off after the season was over.
Never had any rust issues under it.

rc

 

[Cee Zee]

I bought a new car with a stainless steel exhaust. It rusted off before the warranty was up. Anytime you capture moisture and hold it against steel (like under tape or inside of an exhaust system) there's a real good chance that steel will rust stainless or not. I wouldn't count on anything preventing rust under tape. Just my $.02 though. What do I know?

 

[greyling22]

duracote or cerrakote would work, but it would not preserve the original finish. And yes, stainless will rust if you let it. Though it takes some effort and bead blasted stainless is much more prone to it.

Humidity is so high here in east tx that I put my blued guns in silicon socks if they're going to be in a case in the trunk for more than a few hours. (oh my poor 30/30. you took a beating so I could become smarter. your sacrifice will not be in vain!)

I agree with RC, tape it and clean it off when you are done. oil it real well when you put it away. Personally I like rusty duck.

 

[BCRider]

Putting tape on and then removing it is one thing. Leaving it long term gives the tape a good chance to hold moisture inside to attack the metal.

If you really hate the look that much then look at one of the gun kote paints or talk to a local outfit that blasts or etches metal about dulling the finish and an optimum surface that will accept and hold oil or some other protectorent well.

 

[MCMXI]

I bought a new car with a stainless steel exhaust. It rusted off before the warranty was up.

Exhaust systems are typically made from 400 series stainless steel which is magnetic and far less corrosion resistant compared to 300 series stainless steels. The lifespan of your car's exhaust system has zero relevance to firearms since firearms aren't made from the same series of stainless steel and they're not exposed to anything the like the conditions seen by most exhaust systems.

hipoint,
Back to your original question. Corrosion requires an electrolyte and anytime you create a crevice where an electrolyte might be present you greatly increase the chance and rate of corrosion at that location due to significant pH swings. Waterproof tape can create a crevice but if you're set on applying camo tape make sure that the surface is free of all contaminants, particularly chlorides, before you apply the tape and make sure the tape bonds entirely to the surface of the steel i.e. no bubbles/crevices. I worked for 10 years in corrosion research and wish I had a dollar for every system/design we encountered that increased corrosion potential (no pun intended).

 

[Captains1911]

Real stainless should not "rust".

Wrong. Stainless Steel has a higher resistance to corrosion than other types of steel, but it is not immune.

 

[hipoint]

wow, so many responses thank you guys! I am not "set" on applying tape to it, was just a thought. you guys kinda confirmed what I thought.

1858 wow, what luck to get someone respond who is an expert on that! awesome, thank you for your insight.

RC, I own a farm and have permits to remove nuisance deer, my .41 blackhawk I referred to on the revlovler forum will hopefully be my full time farm carry now for deer removal but this gun will be it's backup so it isn't like it'll be used for a period and then stored, it'll pretty much be in service year round as are all of my guns, they each have their purpose on my farm. I don't have anything that could be referred to as a safe queen or something like that... I guess maybe the B.A.R. could be deemed a safe queen because now it'll be retired till I can sell it.

I may look into one of the coatings, as I think a coating on top of stainless would give it the maximum protection one could hope for and probably wouldn't hurt the value of the gun, might even make it go up a bit... at least for someone who wants it to use instead of a collectible. I don't plan on selling it, but my plans change pretty quickly

I think that may be my best bet, won't happen till I can spare the cash as I'm sure it isn't really cheap, but I would hate to see this one end up like my 10/22 did. My poor little ruger still works just fine, but I couldn't sell it for a hundred bucks in the shape it's in now...

it's not a huge deal to oil them, but it does get to be a bit of a pain in the butt. I have a bubba job 98k mauser sporterized deal that I got real cheap, it was pretty ugly and had been cut and chopped up so much that I don't have to worry about it. I painted it with rattlecan engine paint, it works great, but nitro-solvent will take it off pretty quickly!

thank you for all the knowledge folks!

 

[MCMXI]

1858 wow, what luck to get someone respond who is an expert on that! awesome, thank you for your insight.

My previous boss is the corrosion expert (PhD from MIT), I was just a worker bee but I did learn a thing or two over the years.

as I think a coating on top of stainless would give it the maximum protection one could hope for

This is without a doubt my favorite system. I have a number of stainless 1911s with factory applied coatings and I've painted a number of firearms and parts with Cerakote and GUN-KOTE. Cerakote over stainless is probably the best readily available and easily applied finish. A salt nitride finish is better yet, but you'll have to send the firearm out if you want that sort of high end finish.

 

[hipoint]

awesome, thank you all for your advice, I think that's what I'll do! I've been a painter of houses and cars in my former life, now my gal is a potter so we have a kiln even ;-) I'll look into what is required to put this stuff on.

 

[Cee Zee]

The lifespan of your car's exhaust system has zero relevance to firearms since firearms aren't made from the same series of stainless steel and they're not exposed to anything the like the conditions seen by most exhaust systems.

That's an awfully broad statement. My post was about a process that very much applies to both types of stainless whether they are identical or not. It applies to all steel in fact. If you seal moisture against it then it's going to rust. You don't have to be a metallurgist to know that.