Thermostat issue in gun room: rust resulted in very nice M-1.

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Ignition Override

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The air cond. problem was during about one-two days, several months ago.
The bad news: had decided to sell the Service Grade Garand back to the buddy (retired Navy Rifle Team) who sold it to me, unaware of the bore condition.

A different buddy who also is a competitor discovered a good bit of rust in the bore.
This M-1 had a very bright bore but I had allowed powder residue to remain in it for months.

This other guy said that he got most of the corrosion out and that the rifle shoots well. He uses Butch's Bore Shine.

Now it's time to go through the other twenty guns. I felt bad that the other guns had been cleaned with oil patched in the bores, but not the nicest rifle-that Service Grade M-1 with the bore which Had possibly designated in a category Above Service Grade.

One response is to buy a large, pricey safe, but there's no point for some SKS, Saigas, AKs, Makarovs, all of which will be checked on a regular basis.
 
acdodd: Thanks.
It would probably allow my Mak 90 to fit.
How about a 20" barrel classic Colt AR-15 (20 years old)?

An Enfield #4/Mk.1 might be doubtful.
 
Check the various mail order gun emporiums for gun socks. There are several different sizes/lengths available but not everyone carries all the different sizes.

Also, the socks do stretch a bit so they can fit over some odd shaped firearms.

I use them mostly to protect my guns from "safe rash". They can have other benefits as well.
 
''How about a 20" barrel classic Colt AR-15 (20 years old)?''
They make socks to cover AR's. Check Cabelas and Midway.
 
It would seem the root of your problem was putting a weapon into long term storage without cleaning. In or out of a safe or a gun sock if the humidity was high and powder residue was present you would have a problem with corrosion. I know there are plenty here who poo-poo the use of bore snakes but a few passes of a bore snake treated with a CLP product would go a long way to preventing the OP's problem. It is not a substitute for a proper bore swabbing but it is better than nothing. I keep a lot of my rifles in sleeves but I clean them before slipping the sleeve on. I figure the sock is more a protection from dings and scars than it is from corrosion.
 
There really isn't a one size answer here. It pretty much depends on where you live and what the climate is like there. Obviously people who lives on the coast and have all that nasty salt error to deal with have it the worst, followed by people who live far enough Inland that they don't have any salt air to deal with but they still have a lot of humidity that causes problems as well. Here in the high desert of Southwest Idaho it's, well, dry. Not as dry as parts of California Nevada or Arizona but not far from it either.

Thankfully the climate here is ideal for preserving classic cars motorcycles and firearms. I clean my guns religiously every time I take them out shooting and sometimes in between just because, and my go to cleaning supplies are Hoppe's #9, Rem oil & WD-40. When I lived in San Juan County Colorado there was a lot more humidity so rust was more prevalent and required more preventative maintenance to stay on top of things.
 
Ignition Override said:
One response is to buy a large, pricey safe....
Click to expand...
A safe won't fix your humidity problem.
And unless you are shooting ammo with corrosive primers, cleaning the bore isn't the cause of your rusting.

1. Reduce the humidity That's what your A/C system does. Keep humidity low and rusting isn't an issue.
2. Chemically prevent rust I prefer VPI bags to Borestores or a coat of oil.
 
There is some Korean 3006 ammo that is corrosive also. Might be something to check.
 
Near Memphis TN. A few years ago hobby room we converted some crude attic space into a hobby room.

To review: for only one or two days--as far as we know--there was a problem with the thermostat in this room.
It must have been on a hot, humid day.

All of the ammo was from the CMP, and one of the batches (bought from an MSSA club member) could have been twenty-thirty years old.
 
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Steel Horse Rider said:
I know there are plenty here who poo-poo the use of bore snakes but a few passes of a bore snake treated with a CLP product would go a long way to preventing the OP's problem. It is not a substitute for a proper bore swabbing but it is better than nothing. I keep a lot of my rifles in sleeves but I clean them before slipping the sleeve on. I figure the sock is more a protection from dings and scars than it is from corrosion.
Click to expand...

I watched a video from Hickock45 on this a while ago. He recommended keeping an oil soaked rag near the gun safes and wiping down a firearm any time you touch it. And of course keep them in gun socks to prevent dings and scratches (I don't have confidence in their ability to actually protect from rust, though they do keep dust off them and that may help with that.)

I added a keeping couple Boresnakes handy to that advice and pull one down the bore every time I touch one of my firearms as well. It's cheap insurance.


 
I use a little labor about 30mins for a good cleaning, I like hoppe's#9 it's the best for lead,copper and powder fouling their is a simple test on YouTube that shows all the best cleaners and the winner is hoppes#9 .I also like rem-oil in spray can very easy to apply and keeps my guns rust free. Where I live in the south the humidity is always high and since my wife and myself own over 200 firearms I am constantly cleaning guns,usually two a day year around with just hoppes#9 and rem-oil in spray can, a light coat all over gun inside and out. Also I use hoppe's boresnake's for our guns if we have been shooting them, just a few pulls through the bore,then a couple patches.
 
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If you are humidity issues then I would strongly urge the use of a dehumidifier. A room temperature will not dictate RH. System run time is what removes humidity. You could have a 70 degree room and still have 80%RH. Even with a properly sized a/c unit, if it does not also have humidity control as most residential units do not, will only get the humidity down to an approximate 50%RH. Guns will want to store more around 35%RH If memory serves. A modular dehumidifier can be purchased under $100. Just remember to empty the condensate catch pan or it will shut off and stay off.
 
Interesting. The M-1, due to having residue from about eighty rds., so far is the only gun which showed much brown rust residue.
The 30-30 had a small mount on one patch, with a brilliant bore when cleaned for only one minute, using CLP.

None of the other rifles, shotguns or Makarovs left any brownish color--at all--on the cleaning patches (most patches only had CLP lube) used to test them tonight. Only a little gray carbon in two of them. What a relief......and then I used the small bore light which is taken to gun shows.
Those very good results must be because these other guns were all cleaned after use, before the thermostat problems happened on those two or so days.
 
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You can buy a small digital thermometer at Home Depot, Lowe's etc... for 4-5 dollars that has a humidity reading as well. If the humidity stays below 52% or so, in general, rust will not form. I'm not sure if corrosion from powder residue creates different rust issues. In my workshop, I've kept the humidity down close to 50% for the last 8-9 years and have had no rust issues on any of my tools. Prior to this relatively simple humidity management, My tools bloomed rust every year or so. I check every day or so and if the humidity is over 50% I turn on a humidifier. Someday, I'll get one that automatically turns on at a given humidity.
 
jimeast: Thanks. Will buy the thermometer.

As an overview, among the approx. dozen other guns which I've checked with patches of CLP or Hoppe's #9, only one gun had a little rust--on one patch. They then look very normal using the borelight.
 
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