Vaseline for preserving metal ?

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tercel89

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I have a pistol preserved for my son . I rubbed in all down with RIG grease . Well I found another gun for him and thoguht about using Vaseline to preserve it .
I was wondering if any of you have ever used Vaseline for preserving a gun ?
It has the same thickness as RIG . I want to really coat it thick and good to last a while , like 9 yrs when he is 21 . I know that it will be kinda harfd getting it off when the time comes , but do you guys think it will protect the metal like Cosmoline would ?
What are your thoughts on Vaseline ?
 
Not certain, but I would love to see the look on someone's face when you pull out a gun and a tub of vasaline.?! Lol.....sorry I couldn't be more help.
 
I just ran this by by wife and she laughed at me :confused: . Then said some nasty stuff :D
But seriously , I belive it would work like cosmoline.
 
it would do fine as long as you use the acid free vaseline. Make sure the gun is absolutely dry before applying it. wrapping it in plastic kitchen foil (that "keep fresh plastic stuff) afterwards will keep the vaseline soft for a long time. (Although I never attempted 9 years though).

added: I did this with my pistol in the army for 14 months (22 years ago) .. not because I did not like to shoot, but because our army does not supply us with the bullets nor sufficient range time. :D
 
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Any of you guys remember the jingle?
"Vasoline Petroleum Jelleeeeee, your first aid kit in a jar".
I would stick with the RIG.
 
For dry metal, especially if heated during application to fill all nooks and crannies, I'd think pure OTC vaseline (no skin care additives) would work well. However, plain old bearing grease might work better, as its formulation often includes corrosion inhibitors.
 
Lee, I cant belive I didnt think of good ole bearing grease! DUH:eek: Sometimes the simplest things slide right on by me !
Thanks , I will delete the vaseline and go with grease.
Thanks Lee ;)
 
I know of one guy over at swordforum.com who was going to buy an antique Naginata, but when he went to inspect it, he discovered the owner had stored it in Vaseline and newspaper.

The blade was totally corroded and pitted.
 
I dont see why Vasolone would not work as that is one of the original uses of the stuff. As for vasoline and newspaper wrecking a sword blade I would think so with all the chemicals in newspaper and news print ink. I bet Rig and newspaper would have the same effect. At one time most navys used vasoline as a rust preventive for most everything as it was quicker to clean up and get a gun in action than cosmoline was.
 
IIRC, "expert" articles I read in the distant past didn't speak well for the long term rust protection afforded by Vaseline. I heard a few years ago that the old standard RIG had folded, glad I still have a good bit on hand.

When I run outta RIG I figger to go to a tube of "high pressure" grease from an outboard motor company, that stuff has great film strength and is water proof too. I KNOW it's a very good bolt lug lube.
 
RIG or just take the grips off and drop it into a can of motor oil. In Iraq the Marines found barrels of Grease guns, Thompsons, BAR's, and M1's that were put in during WW2. Just motor oil.
 
I heard a few years ago that the old standard RIG had folded
Click to expand...
It is true that RIG folded after Silenco bought the company.

However, Birchwood Casey bought the RIG company from Silenco last fall, and RIG is back now.

rig1.jpg


rc
 
tercel89 said:
I have a pistol preserved for my son . I rubbed in all down with RIG grease . Well I found another gun for him and thoguht about using Vaseline to preserve it .
I was wondering if any of you have ever used Vaseline for preserving a gun ?
It has the same thickness as RIG . I want to really coat it thick and good to last a while , like 9 yrs when he is 21 . I know that it will be kinda harfd getting it off when the time comes , but do you guys think it will protect the metal like Cosmoline would ?
What are your thoughts on Vaseline ?
Click to expand...
Well you could coat the gun with Vaseline and hope that in ten years it's still OK. Or you could spend $2.79 and get a new jar of RIG and KNOW that in ten years it won't have any rust on it.

Seems like a really easy call to me.
 
In 1981 when I was in the Navy we were the first personel assigned to a Intermediate Maintenance Activity. We were give some crated (big as a small building) moble shops. These were ment to be capability of being taken anywhere and set up as a self sufficicant shop. Several different boxes were included Machine shop, mechanics shop, pipe fitters shop etc.
When opening and inventoring all the hand tools were packaged in either brown paper and Vaceline or newspapers and Vaceline, all the machine tools were coated with grease but the handtools with vaseline had NO rust at all on any of the hand tools.
The shops had been packaged since 1945 without any opening till we opened them.
I use RIG Grease but I wouldn't hesitate to use Vaseline if thats what I had.
 
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No reason Vaseline shouldn't work to prevent oxidation provided the firearm was clean and dry before coating and secondly that the coating was thick enough.
Having said that, are you sure that the tools you saw were coated in Vaseline. A lot of stuff was coated in Lanolin which is a proven effective rust inhibitor and still used by some Navies.
Personally in this day and age, with all the good proven stuff available, why not use the best you can get.
 
I was wondering if any of you have ever used Vaseline for preserving a gun ?
It has the same thickness as RIG
Click to expand...

I would expect it to be a poor rust inhibitor. It would be better than nothing.

Good rust inhibitors, such as RIG have additives designed to block the migration of oxygen.
 
I'm sure its vaseline if vaseline is petrolatum which the instructions on cleaning and set up said. I've seen lanolin used and it smells really bad.
I don't think they had RIG in 1945 and didn't want to have the shop tech's spending a year just getting cosmoline off.
 
However, plain old bearing grease might work better, as its formulation often includes corrosion inhibitors
Click to expand...
.

I have often coated spare engine parts that are prone to rusting in synthetic boat trailer bearing grease from Walmart and wrapped with Kitchen plastic cling wrap - works great and no rusting/corrosion even after 20-30 years. You can do the same with metallic gun parts.

I also have the Food Saver vacuum packer and you can pack metal parts separate from wood/plastic parts. The long rolls can even accommodate the longest rifles for vacuum packing if you like.
 
natman said:
Well you could coat the gun with Vaseline and hope that in ten years it's still OK. Or you could spend $2.79 and get a new jar of RIG and KNOW that in ten years it won't have any rust on it.

Seems like a really easy call to me.
Click to expand...
Natman , I have 3 cans of RIG , I just am wondering about other things to use .
 
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