A friend lives in Dar Essalam, Tanzania, and has a safe with a few rifles in it.

Despite oiling all of them before storage, he found that they still rusted.

Many years ago we did a test on corrosion protection, and CORROSIONX came top.

OUTERS RUST PREVENT was very good too.

We thought of running another test, this time using every oil or coating we can find here.

I got a steel rod, 1 inch in diameter, and cut into 6 inch pieces.

Insane blosted all of them.

I have made a board, with pipe clips to hold these rods.

Today I got aboutv25 different lubes and coated each rod with one of them.

I have left the board with coated rods outside.

24 hours later, my intention is to spray them with a mixture of sea water and tap water - 50/50.

I will photograph them in 24 hour periods, for a week.

I have more lubes, so after a week, I will sand blast them again and test more lubes.

Any suggestions you might have would be much appreciated.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
A friend lives in Dar Essalam, Tanzania, and has a safe with a few rifles in it.

Despite oiling all of them before storage, he found that they still rusted.

Many years ago we did a test on corrosion protection, and CORROSIONX came top.

OUTERS RUST PREVENT was very good too.

We thought of running another test, this time using every oil or coating we can find here.

I got a steel rod, 1 inch in diameter, and cut into 6 inch pieces.

Insane blosted all of them.

I have made a board, with pipe clips to hold these rods.

Today I got aboutv25 different lubes and coated each rod with one of them.

I have left the board with coated rods outside.

24 hours later, my intention is to spray them with a mixture of sea water and tap water - 50/50.

I will photograph them in 24 hour periods, for a week.

I have more lubes, so after a week, I will sand blast them again and test more lubes.

Any suggestions you might have would be much appreciated.

How about Johnsons paste wax? Or similar, & thanks for taking the time!!

Wax was the best corrosion protection I found before.

Will try some too.

someone has done this a while back. They did corrosion and lubrication tests. If I remember eezox and one shot were on top and frog lub was on top for lubrication.

standby I'll try to find it.

found it

http://www.dayattherange.com/?page_id=3667

Saeed, if possible, try to get industrial/military grade Corrosion Inhibitors, such as:

Cortec 369 (oil based, also available as spray)
Cortec 368 (wax based, also available as spray)
Cortec 325 (vegetable oil based, biodegradable)

Last one, my friend used for protecting swords for outside use with great result. I believe that "non bio" are even better.

I have and use 368 and 369 in cans. Also use 239 (military grade for electronics).

Can be bought online, for example here: https://www.theruststore.com/C...t-VpCI-369-P158.aspx (American market).

There are also different manufacturers, Zerust for example.

Jiri

In the 1970's I was hunting the Kenai peninsula after the area had been dusted with volcanic ash. It was damp and misty. Almost immediately light rust began to form on my rifle (almost like the rust that forms when you rust blue a firearm).
Cleaned rifle and gear with no apparent damage later that day.
I was planning another trip and mentioned to a friend who had been brought up in Florida. He said that some of the residents coat their airboat frames with LPS3.
I used it and it does work. However, it leaves a waxy coating that is slightly sticky particularly if sprayed directly.
After some experimenting over the years, I would disassemble, apply a light coating to the entire surface (never to trigger, bore or moving parts) then reassemble, verify my sight-in and go hunting (sometimes for weeks).
In wet conditions I would occasionally patch the bore and wipe off moisture. I never had any rust form on the surfaces covered by the stock.
Also used a product called GuardZit once which seemed to the same as the LPS3

How about Salt bath nitrid without any other rust preventative applied.

John

Inhibitor VCI

Ive had good luck with most of them, the real secret is maintenance, check them often..I like WD-40 and Ive heard all manor of bad things about it and if you only check your guns once a year or whatever in bad climmes your going to be dealing with rust..If I store a gun for any amount of time I use gun wax or Johnsons wax, It I hunt in the snow and I do, I juse johnsons wax..the old stuff not the new gooey soft stuff.

The late author and African PH Finn Aagard wrote that he used paste wax on all of his guns and it did a splendid job of rust prevention.

ATF and WD40 -- let's put these to rest, once and for all ...

and brake fluid .. dot 3 or dot 4

BTW, i do suggest "warming" the metal .. say 150-200f,before applying

Boeshield T-9?

I spray and wipe it on under the stock on my rifles and it seems to work great, but I'm about 1500 miles from the ocean!

For semi-long term (more than 3 months) I have found that a wipedown coating using basic petroleum jelly works. It will require cleaning and wipedown before next use but is an excellent sealer against moisture.
For short term storage, I use "way oil", the same kind I use to lubricate the ways on my milling machine an lathe. It is designed to coat and hold onto the metal. My machines are in an unheated garage and they have never developed rust on any area that has been coated with this.

I have also been told that lanolin (like that used to treat leather) can be used if nothing else is available.

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:
Inhibitor VCI

Yes, that is exactly what I wrote above (Cortec, Zerust).

Well, the plot thickens!

I went to have a look after two hours of spraying them with 50/50 sea water/tab water.

Some actually are showing signs of corrosion!!??

Could you please try some Renaissance Wax? It is a synthetic wax which is supposed to offer better protection than natural waxes like beeswax.

I've used Johnson's floor wax for about 60 years with good results.

Dave

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Well, the plot thickens!

I went to have a look after two hours of spraying them with 50/50 sea water/tab water.

Some actually are showing signs of corrosion!!??

Rusting after only two hours? Treated or untreated example?

Jiri

Why I am talking about industrial corrosion inhibitors?

My friend has Ph.D. in "surface coatings". After I tried samples from him, I use it.

Very best "gun products", such as great Hornady One shot Tap HD Extreme will yield 400+ hours in salt chamber.

Oil based Cortec 369 yield 3500+ hours for carbon steel in the similar test.

Jiri

Balistol
Eezox

Looking forward for your results.

Eezzox, It is a little bit of work to put it on but the results make it worth it, I found it to be an excellent rust protector.
BB

About 6 or 8 years ago I did a similar test on a smaller scale. I treated steel scraps form Tally bolt handles and left them out in the rain. I meant to post a report here on AR but never got around to it. I used the following 5 products in the test:

Chevron Dextron ATF: horrible, looked worse than the untreated(control) sample.

Birtchwood Casey, Barricade: good

Olive Oil: good

Shooters Choice Rust preventative: Very good

Eesox: By far the best


The real surprise of the test was olive oil. It did a decent job and it has little of no unnatural odor. I wanted to try it in the test become someone here on AR recommended it as a good option for rust protection when you wanted to limit unnatural odors(I believe it was Alberta Cannuck). He was right.

Thompson/Center Wonderlube - used for muzzle loading patch lube. It is a a waxy substance and I use it as a rust preventative for my muzzle loader and any gun I'm taking in the field. Put it on thick wipe off the excess - never had any rust.

This is the result of part of our test after 24 hours.

I have other oils coming, these are the ones I have found in our workshop.

Some of the protectors seem to put a brownish coating on the steel - not necessarily rust, as it looks.

We should know after a few days.

My intention to keep track of these on a daily basis for one week.

I would like to see if you can get your hands on some Evapo-rust. It is supposed to be a rust remover, and works very well at this. It leaves a dark gray color and patina on the metal. It would be interesting to see if it then prevented rust. After removing the rust, the finish looks like Parkerizing sometimes.

My reason for this test is to see how different oils and rust prevention oils we have perform in preventing corrosion.

I have asked a friend in the US to send me what he thinks might work too.

I love your tests. You might try "Trewax" a carnauba floor wax. It was highly recommended by Finn Agaard from his experiences in Alaska. I have used it on my fine guns, wood and metal for 30 years. Available in US from Ace Hardware stores and Amazon. Thanks for you work and website.
Dave

Very interesting, Saeed.
Balistol seems to be living up to its reputation.

BTW, that Outers can looks like it was made in 1975.

Shocking, Saeed. Amazing how the specific gun oils seem to all be hopeless. Glad to see that my old faithful Ballistol seems to be doing well

Based on the Ballital report, I just purchased a 16 Oz container for $21.99 and free shipping.

Since Saeed's picture shows a German product, I hope that what I receive will be the same chemically.

I use Evapo-rust extensively and can tell you first hand that the cleaned parts will begin to rust as soon as they are dry and the good old O2 hits it.

It seems there has been slight increase in some of the corrosion on some of the rods, but not much to warrant displaying them.

I will leave them for a week and see what happens.

I have also got more oils, and spray waxes, and setting up another board.

Will update you on our results.

The Ballistol is at least 30 years old!

Ballistol "Klever" sure looks like the champ.

Very clever test, and a lot of work!

Break Free CLP by SAFARILAND please?


Rip ...

Very interesting. I've always heard that Rem oil is one of the worst and your test so far more than proves it.

It would be interesting to see Break Free CLP if possible. When I shot handguns competitively it was very popular.

Thanks for doing the test.

I don't remember very much from the chemistry classes I took when I was in school eons ago, but it seems to me that since rusting is a chemical reaction the issue isn't to cover the metal as much as it is to prevent the reaction from happening.

Perhaps many of the things being tested are evaporating or losing the proper preventive chemical structure at such a rate that they no longer offer coverage protection or prevent the chemical reaction.

Perhaps there are some chemists here who could comment on the actual chemistry of rusting or oxidation of steel.

Well, I have no knowledge of chemistry in this regard.

But, our aim is to see what we can use that will stop - or at least prolong - the possibility of our guns to stay away from rust.

When iron, oxygen and water (air moisture) combine, the iron loses electrons to oxygen atoms, = oxidation. When oxidation occurs, a chemical reaction takes place creating iron oxide, AKA ferric oxide (FE203), commonly known as rust.

OK, well #1 is to store the guns in an enclosure that keeps humidity low. #2 is to coat the metal with a substance that will prevent salt air from contacting the metal. The time proven method is to store in an air tight enclosure with a heated element to drive out moisture. With the metal you have a couple of options. Coat with a heavy grease, an oil, a wax, or a coating. The coating can be a drying oil or varnish rubbed in and then excess wiped off. After a couple of weeks drying a wax coating can be applied to add extra protection.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Well, I have no knowledge of chemistry in this regard.

But, our aim is to see what we can use that will stop - or at least prolong - the possibility of our guns to stay away from rust.

This is not as easy as we think, as different areas have different environments, and different people store their guns in different ways.

A friend had his in a gun safe, and six moths later the rifles were rusted!!

Despite the fact he had oiled them!!

Our test board was left outside, on purpose.

And last night we had a downpour of rain.

I have got some spray wax and other oils to use.

Thanks for making this effort, Saeed. You sure shined some light on some doubtful products. What do the humidities run at your house?