Texas, Florida, Humidity, Guns, Rust, Comfort

[Pendragon]

Two parts to this thread really.

Here in Sacramento, our humidity is usually just under 20% I have never had a gun rust or much of anything rust that was not under water or something.

It stil looks like we are going to move to hopefully either TX or FL (TN is a distant 3rd choice).

The one thing I really worry about is the humidity. My wife REALLY hates humidity - she says it will wreck her hair and makeup and she will not want to go anywhere.

I also worry about caring for my guns. I will probably have my Valtro hard chromed - that should help, and my revolvers should be SS and alloy - but how much more rust prone are things in those parts of the country?

Are you guys just used to it or does it bother you in the dead of summer? More importantly, how do your women handle it?

We get 110 degree temps here sometimes, but as they say say "it's a dry heat".

I am really interested to hear if the humidity affects your firearms, what you do about it and if anyone has move to those areas from a less humid place, what their experience was like. (especially your wives experience).

Oh - we are looking at Jacksonville, Dalas/FW and maybe Austin...

 

[El Tejon]

Gets bad at times here. I carry a blued weapon. No problems if regular upkeep.

 

[Pendragon]

Indiana has bad humidity?

All the good gun states are plagued with humidity

 

[synoptic]

The humidity doesn't bother me much. You get used to it. As long as you keep your gun oiled and such it should be alright. Also a good idea to keep them inside, like not in the garage or trunk, the humidity may get to them in those places, but inside the air conditioning keeps the house pretty comfortable. One of those golden rod things in your safe may help as well...

 

[Ledbetter]

Goldenrod looks like the best anti-humidity deal going, put one in your gun safe and one in your wife's hair.

I crack myself up. Congrats on getting outta here. I'm in Austin a few times a year and there's some real nice hill country around there you might like. Texans are real nice people too.

I/ve been thinking about Kentucky/Tennessee and I know it's humid there, but when the poop hits the turbine, I wanna be near water and away from town.

 

[Lone_Gunman]

I've lived in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama all my life, and still havent gotten used to the heat and humidity.

There is just no way to enjoy 95 degrees and 95% humidity, and thats what you get most of May, June, July, August, and September.

Make-up runs, and hair goes flat, for sure (note this is from observation, not personal experience).

I havent really had a problem with blued guns either, just keep them clean, dont get sweat on them, and wipe them down every so often, and they will do fine.

The only rust problem I have ever had involved a Keltec that fell into the Gulf of Mexico with me once, and then I forgot to clean it for a few days. It was a mess.

 

[TarpleyG]

If you hate California, you'll hate Austin too... Just FYI. As for humidity, don't sweat it (pardon the pun). Just keep the hardware wiped down and get a good holster.

GT

 

[Jesse H]

I remember vacationing in California for a summer, then moving back to Houston....it took about a week to get used to it. My main carry gun is blued and I haven't had any rust problems. It stays in a kydex holster with a sweat panel that keeps moisture off the gun.

You hate it, you try to stay indoors as much as possible...but you get used to it. I've been through about 22 Houston summers and every year I complain about hot muggy it is, but you get used to it.

 

[Dorrin79]

I was raised in Houston, and currently live in the Austin area.

Austin is a lot less humid that Houston, but probably still pretty unpleasant to someone from California.

I doubt it's really humid enough to damage things, though.

You need to be on the coast for that (like, Galveston)

Unless you're referring to sweat, in which case I recommend doing what we Texans do, and getting a severe case of heatstroke early, to switch off your sweat glands for the rest of your life! (It's not like they do you any good here anyway)

 

[MacPelto]

If you hate California, you'll hate Austin too...

Not true. There are plenty of normal people in Austin, and it's just an island of liberals in a conservative state. The only places that are hard-core liberal are campus and coffee houses. And if it's really too much, it's not hard to live in Williamson county, Lakeway, Manor, etc. and work in Austin.

Now, as to sweat/humidity...bluing has to be kept oiled on a regular basis, hard chrome and tenifer are the easiest things to deal with, hence...Glock.

When it comes to makeup, I don't know; but a trip to Plano (a Dallas suburb) will teach you that there is no weather that can withstand an entire can of Aqua Net hairspray!

 

[rick458]

You said Dallas area right , Dallas is fairly dry Houston is definitely
High humidity but you just wipe your pistols down with your lube of choice I use FP-10 now. The only thing I had rust was a blued colt mag and it just had a light dusting of rust.

What you can wipe the wife down with to fix her hair I do not know

 

[Drizzt]

MacPelto: I lived north of Georgetown and drove into Austin for work when I first came back to TX. Unless the improvements they made on I-35 were nothing short of a miracle, I wouldn't wish that on anyone... SW Austin is now 'where it's at'. Living almost right next door to Red's works out pretty well for me.

I think a lot also depends on what you are carrying. I ususally either carry a Kimber Ultra Compact in Stainless, or a HK USP Compact in stainless, and have never really had any issues. I make absolutely certain, though, that I wipe them down as soon as I get home, though. Even in Winter...

 

[Greybeard]

Moving to Dallas from the dry Texas Panhandle, we got here just in time for the record-breaking summer of 1980: 40 something consecutive days of 100 degrees+. But ... even The Wife survived. Inside with AC going, humidity not a problem, but she is known to sometimes get the "big hair" once in the outdoors.

Depending upon the time of year, it can take about a month to get acclimated to DFW area humidity. Austin a little worse. The coastline ... I avoid if at all possible unless able to go in shorts and/or a swim suit.

Gun rust not too a big issue here unless ya do something often like ridin' 'em hard and puttin' 'em up wet. But then, that's why God sent Gaston Glock, huh?

Y'all come.

 

[sm]

In Ar we have humidity. One gets acclimated, unless they have respiratory problems.

Guns: Storage, mine are in a safe, in a walk in safe at an undisclosed location. Wiped down , stored in 'sack ups' , inspected on a regular basis. Used Formula 3 or RIG

CCW, Wiped down daily. Kleenbore Formula 3, RIG univeral grease. For ..well now I guess 30 yrs.

BF CLP has been very sucessful here for many years.

I did find that the ProTec products works well on internal/external also, if one prefers another synthetic choice.

Main thing is to inspect and maintain.

Drink lots of water

 

[CZ-75]

Guns will need a thorough cleaning when coming back from range trips. I've found that leaving crud in the barrel can lead to rust, as it wicks moisture. I got away w/ not doing this for weeks in the Midwest, but not in the SE, as evidenced by minor pitting in a Moisin-Nagant and CZ-52.

 

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

Humidity is nothing in Dallas compared to Houston. PVC plastic rusts in Houston. Granted, Dallas seems like an induction furnace from May through September but with the afternoon thunderstorm alerts and occasional baseball sized hail like we've had 2 days this week it isn't all that dry. I carry a P229 daily (concealed- either in a fanny pack or a IWB holster) and I've never had a problem. All my longarms are secure in a special closet and I've not had a problem with surface rust.

BTW, I grew up in deep east Texas in the riverbottoms; in the summer it's 100 degrees with 100% humidity with no breeze. I don't trust air I can't drink.

At least in Dallas there's always a 10 to 30 mph wind blowing. In the winter, the only thing between north central Texas and the North Pole is a barbed-wire fence. It does most assuredly get hotter in town than in the outlying areas likely because of all the concrete. 4 years ago the temperatures during August were frequently over 105 with 70% humidity. At least it'll keep your lungs moist if you can stand the ozone levels. God made Texas. Dave Lennox made Texas inhabitable.

The only other place I'd rather live is down the Texas coast, probably Corpus Christi or further south. Hurricanes are another story, though.


Regards,
Rabbit.

The most terrible job in warfare is to be a Second Lieutenant leading a platoon when you are on the battlefield. - Dwight D. Eisenhower.

 

[Kentucky Rifle]

I live in Kentucky (Obviously)...

Sometimes in the summer, I'll step out of the house and my glasses will fog up due to the humidity. The Ohio Valley is the worst. I have a lot of stainless steel guns. However I also have several blue guns. My new Marlin will be blue. They all, even the SS, get the "Rig-Rag". When guys like RJ Hedley (Florida) and CR Sam (Mountain top in Arizona) tell me to use Rig, I listen. Sam told me that he'd been using Rig for 60 years! A sheep skin Rig-Rag is inexpensive and good protection from rust.

KR

 

[sm]

Kentucky Rifle,
Don't you hate the fogged glasses?
when I worked in an OR the solution used to prevent fogging was mainly isopropyl alcohol. I've been trying the alcohol swabs to clean mine ...not sure yet.

My shooting glasses came with a cloth and worked fine for preventing fogging. Getting worn, and not sure what the preventative is.

Be at a disadvantage to have a situation occur about the same time glasses fogged...I just look over mine when it occurs...still...

 

[TheFrontRange]

Ditto those remarks about there being no way to enjoy 95 degree temps coupled with 90%-plus humidity...ughhh...I've lived in 'Bama most of my life and I'm still not used to it, either! The visits we make to see family in Colorado are SOOOOOO nice!

In the summertime I give my carry weapon a wipedown with some RIG lubricant...I've gotta check out one of those RIG-rags I've been reading about out here. I did have some rust try to settle under the wooden grip panels of my 1911 once, so now I even pull the grips off and wipe there after extended carrying. With the 1911, I'm normally packing outside-the-waistband.

I've just started carrying a SIG P239 in a Kramer Confidant holster shirt and the gun usually gets soaked in perspiration on the side facing in to the body. Again, a nightly wipedown is in order. The three mags I have for this pistol are all blued and I have had some rust develop on whatever spare mag I'm carrying in the offhand-side pouch on the holster shirt. I've actually had to do some careful sanding and then attack it with the RIG lube to stave it off.

 

[tonerguy]

Here in Houston we have some wonderful "festivals" that you will enjoy.

Right now we are having one of several "Allergy Festivals" where half of the folks are hacking and coughing and tearing up. This occurs twice a year for some, more often for others.

The big event, of course, is just beginning - our annual "Humidity Festival." It lasts from May 1st to October 30th give or take. If you take a shower in the morning now just add another when you get home from work if you work in the heat.

If you go from A/C house to A/C car to A/C office and then again in reverse order you can stay reasonably dry to the touch. If you mow the lawn take a towel.

Despite the heat and humidity, Houston is a great place to live, especially if you are a small business person. Entrepreneurship is honored and encouraged in the Bayou City.

Your wife will have an opportunity to test her adaptation skills.

 

[rick458]

You know the man that invented Automobile AC lived in Houstonhe paid $1000.00 in like 1924 to have a Kalvinator installed in his trunk.

 

[Feanaro]

I live in THE birthplace of American humidity, Alabama. It's never really affected anything I clean regularly, such as a weapon. If I left a gun outside for about five, six or seven days it would start to rust(I never leave anything with metal on it outside if I can help it. Rusts real fast). But I always clean 'em and bring them inside.

Florida and Texas always seemed dry to me. Florida is also hot as hell, I might add. TN is another story...

 

[feedthehogs]

A resident of South Florida for 25 years teaches you to tolerate the heat.
I work outdoors everyday. During summer you learn to slow down and drink plenty of fluids.
Its not that bad other than the further South you go, the more Northern you get.

Guns kept inside do just fine in the AC. Keep a heating rod in the safe along with desiccant paks incase the power goes out during a Hurricane.

Lightly oil blued guns with a no evaporating oil. Don't use WD 40.
Gun X from corrosion technologies works great.

Don't use the silicone treated gun socks.
The socks absorb moisture and trap it next to the gun.
Can't tell you how many ruined finishes I've seen.

 

[Drizzt]

...and another thing tonerguy forgot to mention about Houston is: you had better upgrade to a high capacity, large-caliber handgun, because those mosquitoes don't go down easily. God forbid you only wing one of 'em...

 

[tonerguy]

Skeeters

...and another thing, tonerguy, I forgot to mention about Houston is: you had better upgrade to a high capacity, large-caliber handgun, because those mosquitoes don't go down easily. God forbid you only wing one of 'em...

Isn't that the truth! Rather deal with a wounded bull elephant!

Now I wait 'til they land on something before I shoot. Found I can't wing shoot worth a flip with a pistol, and my wife won't let me shoot the 12 guage in the house any more. (Anyone know a good sheet rock repair guy?)