Rust on my Garand. How to remove?

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Thrash1982

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So every 6 months or so I go through the collection, run a couple oil patches through the bore and wipe down the metal with breakfree to prevent rusting. When I pulled my Garand out of the safe (and by safe I mean one of those sheet metal lockers) this is what I found:

IMAG0607.gif

It appears to be rust, some of it wipes off and some doesn’t. The chamber appears to be covered in it but I haven’t seen any pitting whatsoever on any parts. I don’t know how this could have happened because pretty much all the internal parts were greased. The chamber especially worries me. The bore itself looks fine and there is no brown on the patches.

What is the best way to get this cleaned up? Right now I’ve got it soaking in some kroil to see if that will lift some of this stuff off.

I’m pretty upset about this. None of the other 2 dozen or so guns in my collection have even a hint of rust. We’ve had an exceptionally dry summer here in Indiana but even with humid summers I’ve never seen anything like this. I pride myself on taking care of my things and feel like I’ve neglected the old girl.
 
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get a dehumidifier, put it in the safe. Than get some #0000 steel wool and put WD40 on it and rub the rust off.
 
Would a dehumidifier work well in one of those sheet metal type safes (lockers?) One of these days I'll get a large fire safe but don't really have room for it at the moment. The locker is the best I've got right now.
 
it should be fine. you could also use silica packs if you have them handy as a temporary measure until you can upgrade.
 
Thrash1982 said:
Would a dehumidifier work well in one of those sheet metal type safes (lockers?) One of these days I'll get a large fire safe but don't really have room for it at the moment. The locker is the best I've got right now.
Click to expand...
Yes, dehumidifiers will work fine in a cabinet.

http://www.midwayusa.com/find?userSearchQuery=dehumidifier

As to cleaning, I would recommend a stiff bristled nylon brush to prevent damaging the finish while still being able to scrub it well.
 
Try using RIG -rust inhibiting grease.

Note that it inhibits, but does not prevent forever, rust.

I have high humidity where I currently live, so I have to check often, at most every six weeks.
 
Grab yourself some Flitz polish to remove the rust. It removes rust without damaging bluing or other finishes. Then use one of the preservatives other people have suggested.
 
The kroil seems to be helping and some of the rust is coming off. I'll try some flitz if I can find any. Seems like I've looked for that before and haven't been able to find it. Any tips on cleaning the chamber?
 
Try using RIG -rust inhibiting grease.
Click to expand...
This is some of the best stuff out there. I store all my weapons with a coat of this. I also use it as lubricant for my M1 Garands and Carbines as well as some other guns.
 
Like mookiie, I've found that a light rubbing with fine steel wool and WD40 will clean up light rust.

A ten-watt bulb inside any cabinet will keep the humidity down. Doesn't draw much current; doesn't get hot enough to scorch or burn wood.
 
I've found that some greases do that (Tetra). I just wiped it off and reapplied a different grease.
 
It was a lithium soap based automotive grease. I've used it since I bought the rifle and never had any problems till now. This thing will be getting a cost of RIG once I get it cleaned up.
 
Lots of oil (motor type) on wool cloth and rub a lot. You will get tired long before the bluing or parkerizing is effected but the light surface rust will go quickly.

RIG for long term storage and be liberal with it. You will need to clean (bore and chamber) before shooting.
 
Would RIG work as a lubricant grease? Or is there something else that is better for it. I know the two original greases were lubriplate and plastilube. Anything that wont degrade?

The Flitz polish is working just fine to take the rust of. Just takes time and a lot of q-tips.
 
Automotive type greases (and oils) are designed for a sealed environment, like inside a bearing or engine.

Guns aren't sealed and the loads on them are different from a bearing or engine. If you stick with quality gun oil, you'll have better results. A good gun oil will have anti-rust additives, be very creepy, and have lots of EP additives.

Plastilube replaced Lubriplate on the M1 and M14, so I'd probably use that if buying new.

BSW
 
Id get some Eezox. So far, its been the best rust preventative Ive found and used. I have a couple of guns and a bunch of tools in a damp basement that also has a dehumidifier running, and anything not treated, still rusts.

Since Ive been using Eezox, I have yet to have anything treated with it rust, and some of those things have gone over a year with just one treatment.
 
So I've gotten most of the rust out of the receiver using Flitz and a boat load of q-tips. Sprayed everything down with breakfree for now and need to touch up a few spots with the Flitz. It'll get a generous coat of RIG when I've got some more time to sit down with it (along with all the other parts.)

I cleaned the chamber as best I could with Kroil and a ratcheting .30-06 chamber brush but there is still a patina of rust on the surface. You can see it here (sort of)

IMAG0610.gif

Obviously it's hard to really inspect the chamber due to the design of the Garand. My concern is that the patina of rust will cause the case to drag in the chamber and affect the functioning of the rifle. I haven't seen any pitting whatsoever on any other part of the rifle so I really doubt there is any in the chamber. I'm kind of at a loss now as to how to make sure the chamber is as clean as I can get it. Any tips?
 
So I've got most of the rust removed from the receiver and coated it with RIG. The Flitz metal polish worked great but it is really tedious on the smaller parts. At this rate I'm going to be at this for weeks. Every time I look I see some that I missed so I think it's time to try a different approach. Is there anything I can soak the parts in that will lift the rust off so I can brush it away with a toothbrush or something?
 
I use bronze wool and a light weight machine oil. It's very effective and the bronze is harder than the rust, but softer than the bluing.
 
A brass bristle "toothbrush" works like mad along with a little oil at removing this sort of light surface rust.

Along with or even as an option I'd stick a low wattage fridge or oven bulb light down in the bottom of your cabinet. Warming the air inside will lower the relative humidity by a heap and avoid this sort of nonsense without the need to recharge the silica gel packs or to deal with the size of a de-humidifier. For the longer term to avoid the fragile nature of light bulbs a Goldenrod or similar low power heater will serve well.

I encountered some minor surface rusting when I first installed my Stack-On safes in the basement this past summer despite being mounted up off the floor. I immediately installed a 20W light in each safe and the guns have been warm and happy since. I found out a while back that I can get Goldenrod heaters from a local outfit (Lee Valley) so next time I go into the big city I'm going to buy a couple and install them.

Oddly enough you only need to run the safe heaters when the house heating isn't running. Like in summer. The rest of the time with the house heating system running the warmth ensures that the air in the house has a low relative humidity.
 
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