Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on what are the “best†environmental conditions in terms of temperature and % humidity for proper storage of firearms. I’m currently running at 70 degrees F with about 51% humidity. No signs of rust, wood stocks seem to be stable etc. I was just wondering if anyone can point me to some testing data or experiments as well as your individual thoughts, especially in terms of the humidity value. Obviously the extremes are not good but is a level of 51% too wet?

Thanks
Paul

Interesting that out of all the folks that "claim to be" Termite Food lovers, that not a one could help you.

I don't know the answer, but would guess it should be close to the Relative Humidity you normally hunt in. Only problem is the RH changes as the day progresses in most parts of the country.

Down where I hunt the RH is close to 97-100%RH most mornings and then settles w-a-y down to maybe 80-90%RH. For these conditions, you can just lay your Safe on it's back and fill it with water to be "relatively" close.
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The lower you keep the RH, the less likely you are to get rust on all that easily rustable blue.

Plus the Termites don't like it real dry either.

I keep a humidor in my safe that hovers around 40-50%. To achieve that, I keep the room dehumidifier at 35%. So far, no problems. I'd be interested to hear other's thoughts as well. Too dry could hurt the wood. I use Weiman's furniture cream on all of my stocks (any super market has it). A little dab will do ya. I rub em' down once a year or when I'm lonely in the off season.

Tupperware! On my gun? Life is too short to hunt with an ugly gun : )

I live in the Northwest and humidity is a constant problem. 50 degrees and raining is not the best enviroment to store firearms. I have found that if the room is heated to 70 degrees and the safe isn't pressed up against an out side wall, your rifles wil be safe as mine have been for years. Our humidity in the region ranges from 70-80%, which is fairly wet for firearm storage, but as long as the room is heated to at least 70 degrees condensation won't form, hence no corrosion.

Last year, as I got more serious with competitive shooting, I bought an electric dehumidifier. The reason being is for reloading. I found that keeping the room at 50% humidity gave me the best reliability, the best standard deviation on stored reloaded ammunition, and a comfortable work enviroment on days the temp exceeds 70 degrees.

I think 50% humidity is the best balance between corrosion prevention and wood condition. If a person is worried about accuracy of the rifle for a particular hunt coming up, then the rifle can be stored a 70% humidity for a couple of days before sighting in.

Temperature is the easiest way to stop corrosion, so adding an extra golden rod to your safe or turning up the thermostat is a simple solution without worrying about stocks cracking.

James_B, great post. I'll throw in my two sense on this one. The EPA guideline on Mold and Moisture recommends maintaining a humidity level below 60% in your home with an ideal range between 30-50%.

I would suggest 45-50% should be ideal.