Storage

[Pondoro]

Posting in Revolvers because most of my guns are revolvers, and because of a question about hammers that is probably unique to revolvers.

How do you store guns in the safe? I've heard foam lined boxes can hold moisture and cause rust. I've heard leather holsters can cause rust. Got it!

Also heard of a guy whose revolver fell out of his safe, landed on the hammer, and broke the spur.

So I've been keeping my revolvers in gun rugs so that should one ever fall out of the safe, onto the hard concrete floor, it has some padding. But gun rugs have foam in them, I realize they breath. Has anyone had bad experiences with gun rugs and rust?

I spray my guns with a rust preventative or wipe them with same. I have a reusable desiccant dehumidifier in my safe. I have two dehumidifiers in my basement.

What do the experts think?

 

[Ribwizzard]

I leave them out by themselves, just sitting on a microcloth rag on the shelf. The microcloth would be the same one I wiped it off after a good dose of gun oil, not a fresh one.
Same with knives, open and out.
This is inside the airconditioned room of course.

 

[MetalMan]

My stored guns are coated with RenWax (including under the grips), placed into silicone-impregnated gun socks and locked in the safe. I do this for both blued and stainless firearms.

If not shot for a period of months, I periodically take them out, lightly oil and work the actions, re-wax then back into the gun socks and the safe.

Has worked for me over the years with no issues.

 

[gmborkovic]

Only my experience, basements are damp! So I store everything in
the guest room, first level of the house.

 

[M_conrad_0311]

Only my experience, basements are damp! So I store everything in
the guest room, first level of the house.

I have a couple of anchored safes in the basement with an external dehumidifier that is plummed into the evacuation system. I keep all of my guns in my office on the main level with my pit-bull that has somehow aquired HIV. I think she (Angel) aquired it from the Guinea Pig (el Diablo).

 

[Housepuss]

My stored guns are coated with RenWax (including under the grips), placed into silicone-impregnated gun socks and locked in the safe. I do this for both blued and stainless firearms.

If not shot for a period of months, I periodically take them out, lightly oil and work the actions, re-wax then back into the gun socks and the safe.

Has worked for me over the years with no issues.

I do the exact same thing. Have never had a problem.

 

[Jtown]

I use a electric heater in my safe. I have had it for over 20 years and can't recall the manufacturer. I believe it was called a Golden Rod. I clean and oil the guns regularly and have never had a moisture problem.
Walt

 

[Hondo44]

Vinyl gun rugs are a problem holding moisture. I wouldn't use those, but use the others.

I have a thick rug in front of my safe for the possibility of a dropped gun and on the floor of the safe.

And the threshold of my safe has been lined with thick stick-on foam insulation strips.

 

[Gordyf808]

I use a electric heater in my safe. I have had it for over 20 years and can't recall the manufacturer. I believe it was called a Golden Rod. I clean and oil the guns regularly and have never had a moisture problem.
Walt

In Hawaii I keep a Golden Rod twice the size recommended in my safe along with a tub of Damp Rid.
Seems to work OK

 

[CajunBass]

The first time I had enough guns to worry about them scratching together, I looked around for something to protect them from each other. I found some old mismatched cotton socks. They worked just fine, and I still use just plain, white socks, usually the ankle height ones work on my guns. I suppose a purpose made gun sock would do the same thing, but I've never really seen any reason to change. I'll buy a new pack from time to time at the dollar store. Sights and hammers will wear them over time.

I use Ren Wax on the gun itself.

 

[samandglove1]

I used to try all kinds of things, but I've used silicone treated gun socks for the last ten or so years. I found a bulk pack on Amazon and bought 3, so I had plenty extra to grow my collection. They have worked great and they take minimal room in the safe.

The only issue you run into is it's sometimes difficult to determine which gun is which. To somewhat alleviate that issue, I have N-frames on one shelf, K & J-frames on another shelf, semi-autos on another shelf, etc...

 

[Tom Kent]

To protect mine I use the canvas and foam gun blanket pouches. I take the guns out and inspect and do any maintaince on them every few months. The blanket pouches protect them from damage if they are dropped.

 

[Hawg Rider]

Gun care depends upon location...

I think the best method of firearm care depends totally upon where you live and how you store your guns. Down here in Florida, high humidity and salt air necessitate keeping my guns in the A/C, otherwise they'll start rusting within days. Since we run our A/C almost year-round, I have no need for a dehumidifier for the safe. When I display some guns and the windows are open, I have to apply a light coat of gun grease to protect them. I do have a gun safe and gun cabinet for most of my guns (except a couple that are stashed for ready access!)- long guns are just racked, and handguns are sitting in Versatile or SnapSafe wire pistol racks. I also use Gun Storage Solutions wire pistol hangers. I do not store my guns in their cases, holsters, boxes, gun rugs, or flocked presentation cases. Like you've read in previous posts, a periodic inspection and wipe down, including a light application of Ren Wax, is all that's required before putting the firearms away.

 

[glowe]

35 years of safe use with not one problem. I had a safe in an unheated garage for 15 years, on a main living space for 10 years, and in now my basement for 10 years without any rust problems. I have tried heating rods, desiccants, oils, waxes, silicone bags, etc. and now have settled on a Goldenrod for my first line of defense. I still have desiccants in the safe but honestly do not regenerate them as often as I should. Always use a heavy oil and wipe them down and now store on sets of open racks available via MidwayUSA. I have dumped all bags and cloth sleeves, deeming them unnecessary for rust protection. Wax is fine, but oil is something I can see, feel and it makes me happy. Having used just about every kind of oil and rust preventative, I have now settled on my homemade concoction, a derivative of Ed's Red. It has 2 parts Mobil 1, 1 part STP, and a small bottle of MPro7. Been using it for 20 years and it works great. I have taken guns out of the safe after 2 years storage and they still have the coat of oil on them, no drying, no evaporation, total protection.

The desiccant situation is something I was religious about for 20 years and lax about it for 15 years with no difference either way. My belief is the key to controlling the environment is the use of a heating rod. Corrosion occurs when moisture has a chance to attach to the metal due to a mini-dew point setting up in your safe, like moisture attracting to a glass of cold liquid. As long as the temperature inside your safe is higher than outside, you should never get moisture attaching to your guns. Oil is the added insurance, so that system works for me in three totally different storage environments.

 

[amazingflapjack]

I clean mine with flitz, wrap them in T-shirt material, and put them in S&W plastic boxes in a safe in an A/C controlled area. No problems now for many years.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

The first time I had enough guns to worry about them scratching together, I looked around for something to protect them from each other. I found some old mismatched cotton socks. They worked just fine, and I still use just plain, white socks, usually the ankle height ones work on my guns. I suppose a purpose made gun sock would do the same thing, but I've never really seen any reason to change. I'll buy a new pack from time to time at the dollar store. Sights and hammers will wear them over time.

I use Ren Wax on the gun itself.

I use socks and Crown Bags.....Works as good as anything out there. Cheap too.

 

[H Richard]

Most all of mine are stored on pegs on the wall with air circulation all around them. They are coated with Ren wax, the rack is on the back wall of the walk in vault I built in when we built our condo 14 years ago. It's in the basement, but there is a dehumidifier in the vault. Nothing touches them.

 

[Housepuss]

I used to try all kinds of things, but I've used silicone treated gun socks for the last ten or so years. I found a bulk pack on Amazon and bought 3, so I had plenty extra to grow my collection. They have worked great and they take minimal room in the safe.

The only issue you run into is it's sometimes difficult to determine which gun is which. To somewhat alleviate that issue, I have N-frames on one shelf, K & J-frames on another shelf, semi-autos on another shelf, etc...

I had the same problem trying to figure out which guns were in which socks. I went over to an office supply store and bought a package of white price tags, with string. Then I marked on the tag enough info to allow me to easily identify the gun ie: S&W 15-2 snub or S&W 1905, r/b, nickel 6" and for those guns, of which I have several of the same model, I will add the DOS year. I then take the price tag and loop the string through the sock's draw string, and draw it up tight. Sock and tag are secured to each other. Makes looking for a specific gun a lot easier.

 

[sonora]

All good advice. You may want to give Bore Stores a try. They a soft synthetic cloth enclosure that is breathable, will not hold any moisture and is good padding. You won't have to worry about scratching your revolvers or rust.

 

[rct269]

Well, after all that stuff up there, you're not even going to believe this; but they're my guns, and I don't care if you believe it or not.

I don't remember when I found out about CorrosionX, but it's been quite some time ago---early '90's maybe. Ever since then, all the guns that come to live here----and those that were here before, have been through Ralph's Bath (revised edition). That goes like this: The gun comes apart---all apart---every piece except for barrel and action studs. Everything soaks, gets scrubbed, rinsed (mineral spirits) and blown dry with DRY high pressure air (110-125 psi). Then they get sprayed with too much CorrosionX, set a spell, and get blown dry again----as dry as you can get 'em---there's still a film of CorrosionX. Then they get put back together, the exterior gets wiped down with Hoppes #9 (to get rid of the CorrosionX film) and dried/polished with cotton cloths---and put on the shelf. The shelf is in a made to order display case---with one minor fault. It's not air tight. That being the case, the guns and the shelves get dusty. So---about twice a year, the guns and the shelves get vacuumed. The special treatment given the guns at that time is they have their own dedicated vacuum brush (and the shelves make do with a regular everyday vacuum brush).

There are guns in that cabinet going on 30 years. They're just fine.

Ralph Tremaine

And any time a gun gets handled, it's wiped down again (Hoppes), dried and polished.