Just wondering what suggestions you guys have for using blued rifles with wood stocks in harsh environments?

Whilst we dont have it as bad as you guys, I can go deer hunting during our winters in a day of snow or continues drizzle. I always have to pull the stock to make sure everything out of reach is still in good condition.

I am going to replace the bluing on my main hunting rifle with cerakote, but I have some nice blued / wood rifles I would like to use periodically without wrecking them.

quote:

Originally posted by Bwana_500:
Just wondering what suggestions you guys have for using blued rifles with wood stocks in harsh environments?

Whilst we dont have it as bad as you guys, I can go deer hunting during our winters in a day of snow or continues drizzle. I always have to pull the stock to make sure everything out of reach is still in good condition. I am going to replace the bluing on my main hunting rifle with cerakote, but I have some nice blued / wood rifles I would like to use periodically without wrecking them.

I pull the bbl/action out of the stock & get out the Johnsons Paste Wax & put a good heavy coat on every thing I can get it on/in. Then reassemble & buff off the dried wax on the exterior parts. An old tooth brush works great for getting wax out of checkering etc.

I wax the metal with paste wax and I also seal the wood with a urethane clear coat to keep it from being scratched and keep water from warping it.

Before stainless we all used wood and blued rifles and shotguns.

My model 12 bounced around in a canoe on the trap line and hunting for a long time

They just take more care.

I have no problem using them when I can care for them.

Long hard extended hunts in nasty weather is where stainless syt stock rifles shine.

I've been using Johnsons floor wax on wood and metal for 60 years with good results.

Dave

quote:

Originally posted by nopride2:
I've been using Johnsons floor wax on wood and metal for 60 years with good results.

Dave

I only been doing it that way for 50yrs or so

I admit stainless and synthetic have serious benefits in Alaska but I am also still using both rifles and shotguns that are over 100 years old

Likewise Ive used wood and blued guns for most of my life in inclement weather, Its some trouble keeping them operational and damage free, but its all we had for the most part and we got by..

But truth is SS and plastic does serve a purpose and if I lived in the far North Id go with that...Even in Idaho its smart to have at least one hunting rifle in SS and plastic..I do from time to time, but end up selling them as I just love wood and rust blue..but at 85 its easier to stay home on cold winter days!

BTW anybody need a Ruger boat paddle in SS and plastic, I'll sell mine, its a .338 Win, accurate and a dandy, and I have 4 .338s now, need to move a couple of them. Ill work up and add for the classified one of these days.

I also have a 308 boat paddle in SS.
never use it for hunting though, it's been deemed the no game shooting most Jinxed rifle of all time, and nobody will hunt with me if I bring it.

2 of my main rifles are wood and blued.
I full length bedded them sealing off everything from tang to the toe end of the stock.
they are getting dinged, faded, and scratched but the metal is still not rusted.

the third is a Bergara B-14, it's showing a little age now too, but,, meh they are hunting rifles they are supposed to have some wear.

Wet, rain and mud but above freezing pretty much describes hunting in Scotland. Many of us, self included use wood and blue rifles, and indeed 20 years that was the norm.

Wax the undersides, and good wipe down is what’s required.

We also tend to carry rifles and shotguns in gunslips until they are needed. Not big heavy fleece lined, but lighter weight slips that can be opened quietly. These keep the gun out of the weather until its needed.

With most deer stalking, certainly on the mountains a rifle is being carried most of the day, but you are stalking into a particular identified beast. Its no issue to pull it out of the slip as you prepare to shoot. Indeed slip then becomes the rifle rest.

There are plenty of new style slips now around. Indeed some are like a large neoprene scope cover that goes over the whole rifle and take but a moment to remove.

If you can keep the rifle out of the hard driving rain thats half the battle.

Show me two identical guns, one looking unhunted, the other a battered veteran with scars and I want to hold the old warhorse every time.

quote:

Originally posted by Heym SR20:
Wet, rain and mud but above freezing pretty much describes hunting in Scotland.

Very true. The difference between Scotland and Alaska isn't so much the weather as the tents. In Alaska you sleep in them; in Scotland you don't. In other words, gun care is much easier in Scotland.