Reminder: Stainless steel does rust if not stored well

[Tallinar]

I was recently working on a 10/22 for a friend. He was having some feeding issues with it and I told him I’d be happy to take a look.

In the end, I diagnosed the gun to just be in need of a thorough cleaning (which I did, and it cleared the issue). What alarmed me most though was this:



I brought it to his attention and asked how he stores it. He said he just keeps it in a gun sleeve and leaves it in his closet. He doesn’t shoot it very often, and doesn’t really clean or oil it.

I explained that storing it this way is a big no no; how storing a gun in a sleeve straight from the range will inevitably trap moisture and create a recipe for rust.

Folks often tend to think that stainless steel is somehow impervious to rust. It’s not. All basic maintenance considerations still apply. With enough neglect, stainless will rust just like everything else.

This has been a public service reminder!

 

[1KPerDay]

StainLESS means what it means. It’s not stainFREE.

 

[jmorris]

“Stainless steel” is a catch all term for a number of different alloys. The carbon, chromium and nickel content vary in them.

Austenitic/ferritic, 300/400 series stainless steels are different enough that one is magnetic and the other isn’t (for the most part).

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

My buddy works with stainless. He said there is different grades. Some are more rust resistant.

 

[Walkalong]

“Stainless steel” is a catch all term for a number of different alloys. The carbon, chromium and nickel content vary in them.

Austenitic/ferritic, 300/400 series stainless steels are different enough that one is magnetic and the other isn’t (for the most part).

My buddy works with stainless. He said there is different grades. Some are more rust resistant.

Both very true.

 

[frogfurr]

Any stainless will show rust if contacted with steel and not oiled. If you rub down your stainless gun with steel wool and don't oil it it is going to rust.

 

[frogfurr]

300 series stainless is more corrosion resistant than 400 series. 400 series machines better. I know because I have machined both. 400 series can be taken to higher degree of hardness than 300 series. 400 series makes for a better knife steel.

 

[epags]

My stainless steel BBQ is "living" proof that SS will rust!

 

[SterlingBullet]

This is why some stainless steel products are lacquer coated to reduce rust potential. However, as we all know, lacquer rubs off, rust can happen in scratches to the lacquer that reaches the underlying steel, or UV light and chemicals can compromise the lacquer. And finally, lacquer is not an impermeable barrier, eventually, water molecules will penetrate through.

Face it we must; water is the universal dissolver and reactive agent, and wins out over metal, rock and bone whether it takes hours, days, months, years or eons.

 

[Walkalong]

Some SS is extremely rust resistant.

 

[frogfurr]

In the machine shop we had to passivate the stainless parts when finished. Even the high speed steel cutting tools used to machine these parts would cause them rust.

 

[Grayrock]

I had a stainless sink/cabinet that I inherited from my dad. It sat in our detached garage when I was a kid. Then my dad moved it into his office and it was there until he died. I took it to the deer lease to replace the one falling off the wall in the cabin, but the landowner did not like that idea. Therefore it sat out under a cedar tree (mountain juniper, if you want to be precise) for at LEAST 10 years. I moved into a new house and needed a sink for my utility room and reclaimed it. After getting the ton of leaf debris, pillbugs and wasp nests out of it I just cleaned it with Fabuloso and a damp sponge and it looked as good as new. Not a spot of rust. It would not hold a magnet, so must have had a high nickel chrome content.

 

[JerkyFreak]

You mean chrome content.

 

[MikeInOr]

I prefer stainless firearms because if they do get wear marks from carrying a scotch bright pad will usually make it look like new again. No, stainless steel is not impervious to poor care.

 

[Onty]

300 series stainless is more corrosion resistant than 400 series. 400 series machines better. I know because I have machined both. 400 series can be taken to higher degree of hardness than 300 series. 400 series makes for a better knife steel.

And because of the higher carbon percentage than 300 series, 400 series steels could be quenched thus have higher strength.

For those not familiar with metallurgy, the most used stainless steel in firearms is 416R https://www.crucible.com/eselector/prodbyapp/stainless/cru416rs.html . Notice that "R" in a code, it sets it apart from standard 416 steel. That indicates that 416R steel is resistant to so called "cold embrittlement". When first 416 steel was developed, metallurgist found out it is prone to fracture, because of low ductility, on very low temperatures. They improved it and the result is 416R steel.

BTW, if you have problem with machining of 300 series steels, try Carpenter Technology Project 70 steels. I am out of manufacturing for some years, but at that time, their steels were superior to all others we tried.

 

[doubleh]

Firearms are made from the 4 classes of stainless steels. I forget just what number it is. It is not a true stainless and can rust under certain conditions. The 3 class stainless steels are rust proof. I worked with 316 a lot in crude oil production which involves highly corrosive water and never encountered any damage. 4 classes are friendly to machining, 3 not so much.

I loved to weld 316 stainless pipe. It is so easy and smooth it's like the metal was invented for that purpose. In the field welding was done using stick electrodes, not MIG or TIG.

 

[bassjam]

I don't think Ruger uses a high corrosion resistant stainless steel. I've had rust show up on the barrel of my 10/22 before (back when I kept it clean with remoil).

I also took the grips off my SR1911 a few years ago and found a surprising amount of corrusion underneath. Oh, and my Red Label had a small spec of rust on the reciever once, which I found pretty quickly.

To date, I have never found any rust on any of my other, non-ruger stainless steel guns.