Why bluing?

[Brian Dale]

It's the salts in perspiration that are hygroscopic.

I'm another satisfied Johnson's Wax user. I'd also be happy with Renaissance Wax. I won't use car waxes on firearms; I've read that many of them contain fine abrasives.

 

[gatorjames85]

Nothing worked until one day I tried some Johnson's Paste Wax. No rust for years now

I'll have to try this.

 

[KJS]

My late father has an S&W Model 10 that spent most of 40 years sitting in the basement unused. I can't recall him ever firing that gun in my lifetime. If I had to guess, he probably fired a couple dozen rounds through it to see that it does, in fact, shoot and then never fired it again. This theory is supported by the fact that when he died several years back he had a half-used box of .38 ammo. Given the aged look of the ammo box and lack of a UPC code, I'm guessing it had to be from before about 1975.

Despite his lack of care and storage in less-than-ideal basement (musty) even he couldn't manage to get this gun to rust any.

Of course, he did have the advantage of not having sweaty hands on it daily, which I've seen can rust even "stainless" rental guns.

 

[waldonbuddy]

"You're not taking enough care of your guns if they're rusting.."

Ok, then please tell me what I'm doing wrong since you know so much about it.

I clean the barrel with bore cleaner, then wipe dry with a cotton rag, and use Hopps 9 to wipe down the other parts, then wipe the whole gun down with Eezox before storing in my safe which has four dry bags, plus one of those moisture catchers I bought from Walmart.
I do this once a week, but on my old blued Shotguns it still doesn't help.

Again, I'm not knocking people who like bluing, but don't say I don't know how to take care of my weapons. I learned good cleaning habits when I was about six when I first started shooting, and I am still practicing them.

Another issue with bluing, for a hand gun, is pulling it in, and out of the holster as this will also start to remove the finish.

If I had a rare weapon that I kept only as a safe queen then it wouldn't be so much of an issue, but for weapons that get used regularly I prefer parkerizing on my rifles, and stainless {or parkerizing} on my pistols.

 

[CWL]

I don't think you are not taking care of your guns, but something about the environment where you are, makes you need to take care of your guns more often than you are currently.

Give wax a try, but if you really have a hard time, you probably need to investigate polymer coatings for your firearms. Parkerizing may not be enough.

 

[Action_Can_Do]

In the right environment, stainless guns will rust too.

Waldenbuddy
You might want to try using a different oil. There's no guarantee it will help any, but it can't hurt.

 

[Blakenzy]

It may just be coincidence, but I find that the more polished (blued) guns I own seem to be more rust resistant than the duller ones, regardless of care. Perhaps one is more porous than the other, leading to easily trapped moisture?

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Under normal conditions,highly polished and blued gun metal rusts much more slowly than a matte finish.

 

[[Pb]]

I also have issues with blued firearms rusting in my house. It is old and too humid. I've even had jams caused by this, I leave a film of oil on all my blued guns now.


Parkerizing=Awesome

 

[Millwright]

Y'know there's a reason why gun museums and collectors keep their display/storage areas at 50% humidity and 65'F........Just like there's a reason why you see persons handling collector/museum guns wearing cotton gloves....

Do some basic research on what the process of oxidation is and conditions that favor it. Then research means of controlling it... >MW