RIG is Rust Inhibiting Grease.
Here is why many of us are very sad to see this product no longer available.
We read on Internet Forums all the time about a Stainless Steel firearm has rust.
Folks are all in a panic about how to store guns for long periods of time as they head off to college, head off to war, firearms and knives are put into storage while they build a house, or other reasons.
Stainless is just that- "stain" + "less", it will rust.
Now the metallurgy on blue guns differs than stainless. To put it in simple terms, the pores are smaller and bluing is a form of "controlled forced rust".
Forced patina on carbon, tool steel knives is akin to this "controlled forced rust" as well.
Humans vary in pH levels, hence the reason some folks touch metal, be it carbon or stainless and a rusty fingerprint will appear in short order.
Leather has acids and other properties that will cause metals to rust, hence the reason guns and knives are not to be stored in holsters and sheaths.
Now we have blued guns, that have been around a long, long time.
These shotguns have busted ducks in sleet, rain and snow.
These shotguns have hundreds of thousands of rounds fired shooting clay targets.
Cops carried that issued Model 10, Model 19, Colt Detective Special ...etc. for 20 years and yes, there is holster wear, still that issued revolver has been in freezing cold, the heat and humidity of summer, plus rain, sleet, snow and sweat.
1911s and BHPs have not only been Military issue, they have been LEO issued and carried by civilians for decades.
Lever Action rifles have taken deer for 30 years and will take again this year.
We get Internet posts about stainless guns getting rust, even those guns with synthetic stocks.
Inspect and Maintain is what folks were raised to do.
Marketing came along and dumbed down society in so many areas, including firearm care.
Three products have kept blued guns free of rust for a long long time.
Cosmoline
RIG
Johnson's Paste Wax.
Petroleum Jelly is the fourth product. Often referred to as "poor man's cosmoline".
Yes the same stuff your mom put on your bottom when you were a baby and most known as Vaseline.
So folks go on and on about the newfangled guns with synthetic stocks and uber gun care products and they still get rust on stainless guns.
Parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and the geezers with blued guns, do not have rust on their guns.
Oh they might have some holster and handling wear marks. Still if you looked at their Model 60, 64, 66, Steel Combat Commander, - you would see holster and wear marks too.
Inspect and Maintain is the key.
Common sense assists as well.
Remove metal from wood, and apply a thin, and I mean it does not take much, RIG under where the stocks fit onto metal.
How many posts have we seen with folks removing stocks and finding rust on that stainless gun?
Stock bolt on a shotgun?
Folks prepped the gun, then inspected and maintained.
Cops would come in from a shift and remove the Model 10 from leather holster, open cylinder and remove ctgs.
Then use a RIG Rag to wipe down gun, as the inspected and maintained.
If they grabbed the shotgun, on a Prowler call, it too was wiped down before it was placed back into the rack of the squad car.
Now I am not the only one that has had some bad weather this year.
Still we had guns prepped, inspected, maintained and 'stored" for as long as 1 year, that were pulled out of storage and put to use during tornadoes, and floods.
No rust on these blued guns.
One old Model 10, was set back for a year, and there was no rust, and it was carried in a leather holster with rain, wind, and everything else going on.
It has some bluing missing, it has wear marks, as this gun was carried for long time, and shot a lot!
It has been taken down and prepped and looks fine, and ready for the next emergency. Yes, the ctgs all went bang when fired as well.
Now we watched some stainless guns rust right before our eyes. It did not matter what lube of the week had been used, they got rusty.
Later, two guns would not fire, and one was a synthetic stocked gun.
These folks bought into the marketing hype and were not raised with inspect and maintain.
Nor were they raised with Investigate and Verify.
My handy home shotgun was prepped with Johnson's paste wax.
This is what I use on it.
The hinge pin has STOS on it.
There are other fine waxes such as Johnson's that protect metal and wood, many woodworkers use these, and these protect shop tools, just like Johnson's.
Still Johnson's is most known to folks and can still be bought at the grocery store.
Just me, I think I am going to snag some more yellow cans of Johnson's.
Nobody is whom they used to be anymore.
Acquisition and Mergers and whatever else going on, and products are being alleviated, such as RIG.
Browning had one of the best gun oils forever in that tin can, and for a little bit afterwards in the black plastic one.
Winchester had a good one too, in the tin can with red and yellow label.
Hoppe's Lubricating oil was in a tin can back then too.
Somehow these old blued guns run, in all sorts of weather and still do.
Some of us can truly say we have dropped more shells/ctgs than some have ever shot.
We see shotguns with no wear marks, with all sorts of stuff attached and hanging off them, and they get cleaned a lot, with whatever the latest gun lube of the week is.
"How does it shoot?" we ask.
"Don't know, but this new wonder lube is great, it does this, that and the other ...".
How do they know? They don't, the gun is never shot or used to find out.
I do know of shotguns , blued, with hundreds of thousands of rounds fired through them, and they still run, and look fine.
RIG is one product, as are Johnson's, and STOS.