The most rusted stainless steel gun I have ever seen in person - a PSA!

[chief38]

As I posted in another thread yesterday, a few of us made yesterday a "snub nose Chief Special day" at the indoor range (too hot now for the outdoor range). We all brought our 2" Chief's to the range as none of us has shot them recently (all former EDC / CCW guns). Anyway, we had lots of fun, had a great time shooting them after a long hiatus, but we actually all shot them very well.

After we finished shooting, one of my friends came up to me and asked me to help him because when he installed his rubber grips that morning he noticed his stainless M60 grip frame was covered in rust. We headed home and went directly to my workshop. We pulled off the rubber grips and yup - there was more rust than I had even seen on a stainless gun before! The grip frame had about 1" of solid rust from the butt up the frame! I started removing the rust and started thinking about if there was also rust inside the gun. I am quite familiar with working on Smiths so we detail stripped the M60 down to every last part - including removal of the ejector rod and springs from the cylinder. There was additional rust on the rebound slide, the rebound slide spring, the main spring and inside the frame itself. Thankfully that rust was light and was easily removed. The ejector rod and springs had crud built up on them after years of neglect and it was well worth the extra few minutes disassembling the cylinder. While I am not suggest disassembly of the cylinder and ejector rod on a regular monthly basis, it is a good idea to take it apart, clean and service it every year or two if the revolver is shot often. Less shot revolvers can obviously go much longer between intervals.

All in all the rust is now completely gone and left no permanent damage or pitting (lucky for him)! The friend who owns that gun usually takes very good care of his firearms however in this case he stuck his Chief's Special in the back of his safe and had not looked at it in 10+ years. That is an object lesson for all of us! As I always say to guys who own stainless steel guns, knives, etc...... stainless steel is stain - less, NOT stain - proof. This minor crises definitely woke him up and should served as a reminder to all of us to never neglect guns for a long a time, period. I just wanted to pass this along for some or many in the same boat! Oh - and BTW, his home has central ac and he does tend to care for his guns - he just let this one slip bye.

It is not a bad idea to go through your safe every 6 -9 months and inspect the guns while wiping them down with an oil cloth. I normally do that myself and have never had any issues. This applies especially to guys living in warm, humid climates but should also be done no matter your location (IMHO). Another thing I do is to clean my EDC gun every month even if it is not shot. You would be surprised just how much dust and debris accumulates. That procedure takes only minutes and I would also clean out your holsters that usually have dust in them as well. Just wanted to pass this along.

 

[Liftrat]

Excellent advice all around! I've been guilty of neglecting my EDC before, until I noticed lint everywhere. Fortunately no rust, but it pays to do regular maintenance.

 

[JohnHL]

NEVER store guns with rubber grips mounted!!!

John

 

[chief38]

NEVER store guns with rubber grips mounted!!!

Yup - I gave been aware of that for over 40 years when two Pachmeyer grips rusted two of my grip frames. Since then I have not owned any Pachmeyer brand grips. That said, his M60 did not have the rubbers on it while in the safe. It had the standard factory wood grips on it for many years and he was installing the rubber grips to shoot the gun at the range yesterday - that is when he realized it was rusted.

 

[minconrevo]

I haven't had rust under the grips on wood, plastic, micarta, or G10 grips. Still, every so often, the frame under them gets a light coat of low evaporating gun oil. Light coat please. I don't trust frames, even SS, under rubber grips not to rust, regardless of the oil.

 

[chief38]

Well I can tell you first hand that Pachmeyer rubber grips with the metal inserts will rust your grip frame if left unchecked. It took less than one year for rust to appear on two of my guns - about 40 years ago. Thankfully I caught it before it got really bad.

 

[AudieMurphy]

stainless steel may not rust like regular CARBON steel....but it does corode and tarnish (changes color). it has to be maintained take for instance older cars with stainless trim,headlight bezels. it fades over time

 

[bigggbbruce]

Had a friend who bought a 686 truck gun, half rust, half still looked stainless. Worst I ever saw.

 

[Greyman50]

Wiping down with Kroil few times a year prevents rust.

 

[Doctj]

As I posted in another thread yesterday, a few of us made yesterday a "snub nose Chief Special day" at the indoor range (too hot now for the outdoor range). We all brought our 2" Chief's to the range as none of us has shot them recently (all former EDC / CCW guns). Anyway, we had lots of fun, had a great time shooting them after a long hiatus, but we actually all shot them very well.

After we finished shooting, one of my friends came up to me and asked me to help him because when he installed his rubber grips that morning he noticed his stainless M60 grip frame was covered in rust. We headed home and went directly to my workshop. We pulled off the rubber grips and yup - there was more rust than I had even seen on a stainless gun before! The grip frame had about 1" of solid rust from the butt up the frame! I started removing the rust and started thinking about if there was also rust inside the gun. I am quite familiar with working on Smiths so we detail stripped the M60 down to every last part - including removal of the ejector rod and springs from the cylinder. There was additional rust on the rebound slide, the rebound slide spring, the main spring and inside the frame itself. Thankfully that rust was light and was easily removed. The ejector rod and springs had crud built up on them after years of neglect and it was well worth the extra few minutes disassembling the cylinder. While I am not suggest disassembly of the cylinder and ejector rod on a regular monthly basis, it is a good idea to take it apart, clean and service it every year or two if the revolver is shot often. Less shot revolvers can obviously go much longer between intervals.

All in all the rust is now completely gone and left no permanent damage or pitting (lucky for him)! The friend who owns that gun usually takes very good care of his firearms however in this case he stuck his Chief's Special in the back of his safe and had not looked at it in 10+ years. That is an object lesson for all of us! As I always say to guys who own stainless steel guns, knives, etc...... stainless steel is stain - less, NOT stain - proof. This minor crises definitely woke him up and should served as a reminder to all of us to never neglect guns for a long a time, period. I just wanted to pass this along for some or many in the same boat! Oh - and BTW, his home has central ac and he does tend to care for his guns - he just let this one slip bye.

It is not a bad idea to go through your safe every 6 -9 months and inspect the guns while wiping them down with an oil cloth. I normally do that myself and have never had any issues. This applies especially to guys living in warm, humid climates but should also be done no matter your location (IMHO). Another thing I do is to clean my EDC gun every month even if it is not shot. You would be surprised just how much dust and debris accumulates. That procedure takes only minutes and I would also clean out your holsters that usually have dust in them as well. Just wanted to pass this along.

I had a friend when I was stationed at Parris Island many, many moons ago who bought one of the first Model 60s I had ever seen. He lived in an old Hatteras at the Beaufort Marina and kept the revolver in the cabinet on the boat. We were going to go Cobia fishing a few months after he bought it and got it out to show me. He was surprised to find his new Smith was orange! I asked him if he ever oiled it before he put it up, but of course, he had not. I told him just was you said: stain-LESS, not stain PROOF.

 

[dfariswheel]

A good trick to protect carbon and stainless steel guns from rusting under the grips is to apply coat of wax like Renaissance Museum wax to the area covered by the grips.
Don't wipe this coat off, just let dry 20 minutes or so then remount the grips.
The wax seals the metal from moisture.

Don't use auto wax, it's not usable for this purpose.
Since I used up the last of my Johnson's Paste Wax and it's discontinued I'm using Min-Wax Paste Finishing Wax.

 

[Kinman]

Being involved with black powder shooting more than anything else I have seen and experienced some interesting areas of corrosion. One of the things that stands out was how corrosive black powder substitutes like Pyrodex can be. Many uneducated including myself did not consider it to be a problem when it came to corrosion that could equal black powder. However, as I found out it can be worse.
I had one friend that shot a stainless Old Army Ruger in competition. I mentioned that being stainless takes a bit of concern out of the need to clean as carefully as regular steel. He said that after a bit of messing around he found the best way to clean it was to disassemble it, put it in a plastic basket and stick in his wife's dish washer. Afterward give the cylinders a scrubbing which according to him is a breeze, run a couple patches down the barrel and give everything a good wiping down with a good preservative like Breakfree or Ballistol. He suffers no issues with corrosion following that practice.
My experience with Pyrodex corrosion involved a repop 1858 Remington by Uberti. I had received it from a guy that had used it in "Cowboy Action" sports, it came with three extra cylinders for a total of four, and everything he had been using for the sport, it was a great deal I knew a couple friends that shot 1858 Ubertis and knew the cylinders would be a hit. When I got the thing home at first blush everything seemed OK. I disassembled the revolver and found everything in great shape, when I got to the cylinders I found the one he had used last and put away fouled. In the course of removing all six nipples I found two that would not budge, after removing the four that would budge I had damaged the cheap wrench to the point I had to get out another one. In the end I had to drill out and extract the last two nipples and retap the threads to get them clean enough to not damaged new nipples. Two issues with Pyrodex and corrosion is the worst, the other issue is that in my experience the clock starts ticking the minute you open the container, at least with the powder, pellets I am unfamiliar with. In nearly every case where a guy is having trouble getting ignition with Pyrodex it is often with a can that has been opened the year before or less, the do require a hotter ignition, hence the reason for going to 209 shotgun caps. It is also the reason percussion cap manufactures designed "magnum" #11 caps. We don't allow people that compete in our Muzzle Loader events to use inline rifles or a black powder substitute.
As black powder chairman for our club I get questions from time to time or someone will recommend a guy come down on the days I am there. When it comes to inline muzzle loaders I quite often apologize and say that I am unqualified to help, if I do give a try I tell them again that I am unqualified but willing to help. They are very problematic when it comes to reliable ignition from everything I have seen, stainless or otherwise. I have seen some of the stainless models, the breech removal requires a special set of tools and is nearly always needed when dealing with a rifle that will not fire.
Sorry for the almost rant...

 

[Kinman]

I got off the subject and apologize for getting into a rant about black powder substitutes.
On the subject of corrosion and stainless steel I do have another story. I had picked up a Llama 380 miniature 1911 in a trade. I was into it less than a hundred bucks, it worked like a charm but was not what I was really interested in. It had been hard chromed as a hobby by a guy that worked in that industry. I had met him while getting the bores of some wheel cylinders off my '49 Dodge Power Wagon hard chromed. He told me it was absolutely impervious to weather or salt water for that matter. I got curious and one day took it apart and decided to run a test. It was early fall, I took the stripped receiver and slide, put one in one side of my shops rain gutters and put the other on the other side. I let them sit in the gutter all through the winter and it was not until late Spring the following year that I remembered them and took them down for examination. I was blown away, once wiped down they were spotless except for one very small area corresponding to action wear on both pieces, it was only slightly discolored.

 

[ameridaddy]

Excellent advice Chief. Much of stainless steel's corrosion resistance depends on the surface finish, as it does with all steels. Basically, the shinier steel is, regardless of alloy, the more rust resistant it is. If you look at a steel surface under high magnification, it doesn't look so smooth, but instead, very granular or textured, in fact a 3-dimensional surface.
The more textured, the more surface area presented for air/water interaction, and the more rust you get.
You've probably noticed stainless steel knives are very shiny, yet if you leave them partially submerged in a sink for a day or so, you'll find a narrow rust stain at the air-water interface on the blade. Because it's highly polished, the stain is more on the surface and easier to clean off than it would be if it were a rough cast surface, but none the less it IS rust.
Most stainless Smiths I've seen are not polished, and so while more stain resistant than equivalently finished blue steel guns, they will present an opportunity for rust as time passes without some attention to maintenance.

 

[austintexas]

In The USAF I attended a Corrosion control school. I was told stainless only stays stainless as long as it has contact with oxygen. He took a piece of stainless and drilled two holes in it. One hole he inserted a bolt with washers and a piece of rubber between the stainless and washer. Dropped it in salt water, took it out and put it on the bench. At the end of the 2 week course he removed the bolt with the rubber and showed us the corrosion underneath the rubber washers. Lack of oxygen caused the stainless to corrode.
SWCA 892

 

[Eddietruett]

As I posted in another thread yesterday, a few of us made yesterday a "snub nose Chief Special day" at the indoor range (too hot now for the outdoor range). We all brought our 2" Chief's to the range as none of us has shot them recently (all former EDC / CCW guns). Anyway, we had lots of fun, had a great time shooting them after a long hiatus, but we actually all shot them very well.

After we finished shooting, one of my friends came up to me and asked me to help him because when he installed his rubber grips that morning he noticed his stainless M60 grip frame was covered in rust. We headed home and went directly to my workshop. We pulled off the rubber grips and yup - there was more rust than I had even seen on a stainless gun before! The grip frame had about 1" of solid rust from the butt up the frame! I started removing the rust and started thinking about if there was also rust inside the gun. I am quite familiar with working on Smiths so we detail stripped the M60 down to every last part - including removal of the ejector rod and springs from the cylinder. There was additional rust on the rebound slide, the rebound slide spring, the main spring and inside the frame itself. Thankfully that rust was light and was easily removed. The ejector rod and springs had crud built up on them after years of neglect and it was well worth the extra few minutes disassembling the cylinder. While I am not suggest disassembly of the cylinder and ejector rod on a regular monthly basis, it is a good idea to take it apart, clean and service it every year or two if the revolver is shot often. Less shot revolvers can obviously go much longer between intervals.

All in all the rust is now completely gone and left no permanent damage or pitting (lucky for him)! The friend who owns that gun usually takes very good care of his firearms however in this case he stuck his Chief's Special in the back of his safe and had not looked at it in 10+ years. That is an object lesson for all of us! As I always say to guys who own stainless steel guns, knives, etc...... stainless steel is stain - less, NOT stain - proof. This minor crises definitely woke him up and should served as a reminder to all of us to never neglect guns for a long a time, period. I just wanted to pass this along for some or many in the same boat! Oh - and BTW, his home has central ac and he does tend to care for his guns - he just let this one slip bye.

It is not a bad idea to go through your safe every 6 -9 months and inspect the guns while wiping them down with an oil cloth. I normally do that myself and have never had any issues. This applies especially to guys living in warm, humid climates but should also be done no matter your location (IMHO). Another thing I do is to clean my EDC gun every month even if it is not shot. You would be surprised just how much dust and debris accumulates. That procedure takes only minutes and I would also clean out your holsters that usually have dust in them as well. Just wanted to pass this along.

Thst was well stated. I sold stainless steel and other alloys for 10+ years. Bottom line is Stainless will rust especially when in contact or close to carbon steel, but obviously way more rust resistant but not proof. There are many different versions of stainless as well, some magnetic and some not. Different versions react different when in contact with certain chemicals or acids.

 

[Baltimoreed11754]

My ss Ruger Vaqueros rusted under the horn grips where they were in a safe that unfortunately was on my screened porch. Had desiccant in the safe. I assume it was the moisture being trapped in the buffalo horn along with the humidity. Rest of the guns were fine.

 

[chief38]

Wiping down with Kroil few times a year prevents rust.

Kroil along with many other well respected rust preventative oils and grease will greatly help. That said, checking the firearms rountinely is prudent. Reapplicatoin with your favorite potion will always be the best bet.

 

[StevePi]

As I posted in another thread yesterday, a few of us made yesterday a "snub nose Chief Special day" at the indoor range (too hot now for the outdoor range). We all brought our 2" Chief's to the range as none of us has shot them recently (all former EDC / CCW guns). Anyway, we had lots of fun, had a great time shooting them after a long hiatus, but we actually all shot them very well.

After we finished shooting, one of my friends came up to me and asked me to help him because when he installed his rubber grips that morning he noticed his stainless M60 grip frame was covered in rust. We headed home and went directly to my workshop. We pulled off the rubber grips and yup - there was more rust than I had even seen on a stainless gun before! The grip frame had about 1" of solid rust from the butt up the frame! I started removing the rust and started thinking about if there was also rust inside the gun. I am quite familiar with working on Smiths so we detail stripped the M60 down to every last part - including removal of the ejector rod and springs from the cylinder. There was additional rust on the rebound slide, the rebound slide spring, the main spring and inside the frame itself. Thankfully that rust was light and was easily removed. The ejector rod and springs had crud built up on them after years of neglect and it was well worth the extra few minutes disassembling the cylinder. While I am not suggest disassembly of the cylinder and ejector rod on a regular monthly basis, it is a good idea to take it apart, clean and service it every year or two if the revolver is shot often. Less shot revolvers can obviously go much longer between intervals.

All in all the rust is now completely gone and left no permanent damage or pitting (lucky for him)! The friend who owns that gun usually takes very good care of his firearms however in this case he stuck his Chief's Special in the back of his safe and had not looked at it in 10+ years. That is an object lesson for all of us! As I always say to guys who own stainless steel guns, knives, etc...... stainless steel is stain - less, NOT stain - proof. This minor crises definitely woke him up and should served as a reminder to all of us to never neglect guns for a long a time, period. I just wanted to pass this along for some or many in the same boat! Oh - and BTW, his home has central ac and he does tend to care for his guns - he just let this one slip bye.

It is not a bad idea to go through your safe every 6 -9 months and inspect the guns while wiping them down with an oil cloth. I normally do that myself and have never had any issues. This applies especially to guys living in warm, humid climates but should also be done no matter your location (IMHO). Another thing I do is to clean my EDC gun every month even if it is not shot. You would be surprised just how much dust and debris accumulates. That procedure takes only minutes and I would also clean out your holsters that usually have dust in them as well. Just wanted to pass this along.

As I posted in another thread yesterday, a few of us made yesterday a "snub nose Chief Special day" at the indoor range (too hot now for the outdoor range). We all brought our 2" Chief's to the range as none of us has shot them recently (all former EDC / CCW guns). Anyway, we had lots of fun, had a great time shooting them after a long hiatus, but we actually all shot them very well.

After we finished shooting, one of my friends came up to me and asked me to help him because when he installed his rubber grips that morning he noticed his stainless M60 grip frame was covered in rust. We headed home and went directly to my workshop. We pulled off the rubber grips and yup - there was more rust than I had even seen on a stainless gun before! The grip frame had about 1" of solid rust from the butt up the frame! I started removing the rust and started thinking about if there was also rust inside the gun. I am quite familiar with working on Smiths so we detail stripped the M60 down to every last part - including removal of the ejector rod and springs from the cylinder. There was additional rust on the rebound slide, the rebound slide spring, the main spring and inside the frame itself. Thankfully that rust was light and was easily removed. The ejector rod and springs had crud built up on them after years of neglect and it was well worth the extra few minutes disassembling the cylinder. While I am not suggest disassembly of the cylinder and ejector rod on a regular monthly basis, it is a good idea to take it apart, clean and service it every year or two if the revolver is shot often. Less shot revolvers can obviously go much longer between intervals.

All in all the rust is now completely gone and left no permanent damage or pitting (lucky for him)! The friend who owns that gun usually takes very good care of his firearms however in this case he stuck his Chief's Special in the back of his safe and had not looked at it in 10+ years. That is an object lesson for all of us! As I always say to guys who own stainless steel guns, knives, etc...... stainless steel is stain - less, NOT stain - proof. This minor crises definitely woke him up and should served as a reminder to all of us to never neglect guns for a long a time, period. I just wanted to pass this along for some or many in the same boat! Oh - and BTW, his home has central ac and he does tend to care for his guns - he just let this one slip bye.

It is not a bad idea to go through your safe every 6 -9 months and inspect the guns while wiping them down with an oil cloth. I normally do that myself and have never had any issues. This applies especially to guys living in warm, humid climates but should also be done no matter your location (IMHO). Another thing I do is to clean my EDC gun every month even if it is not shot. You would be surprised just how much dust and debris accumulates. That procedure takes only minutes and I would also clean out your holsters that usually have dust in them as well. Just wanted to pass this along.

 

[StevePi]

My friend daily carried a stainless PPK 380 . I inherited his firearms when he died . The PPK was covered in rust .