I noticed one of my rifle has rust on the front sights. Its a Remington and the rust seem very slight, but I would like to fix this problem before it gets worse.

I store my rifle in a safe, but other than that nothing apparently keeps it from getting rust. My safe does not have the golden rod (is this what it is called?) and I believe I may need to get some "heat" in my gun safe so moisture stays out. My safe is small, a 16 gun safe.

I read somewhere that someone used a silica gel packet (sp?), how does this work and where do you order it from? This looks like something I may need to get.

Finally, I oil my gun when going for long term storage. But the oil I use does not last that long, what I mean is it does not seem effective. I think there should be something like a gun grease where it last a long time on guns...for long term storage. Who uses this and where can I find this?

We had lots of rain this summer, and my basement seem moist. However, I turned the AC off about 1 month ago and in between using the heating unit and the AC, there seem more moisture. So I am currently using a dehumifider.

Any advice on what others use to fight rust is appreciated. Thanks.

You'll be better off with a golden rod than one of those packs. You have to recondition the packs when they get full. I would forget and the rust would start again. The golden rod stopped the problem in my safes. You could also use a low watt bulb for the same effect.

Bob257

I had a rather wet summer sometimes and got some moisture (actually puddles of water) in my basement and had a moisture problem in my safe even with the goldenrod. It didn't rust anything but I did get a layer of light mold on several stocks. Even though I had a dehumidifier in the basement. Anyway, I had to open the safe and point the dehumidifier inside and let it blow in for several hours. I had to do this twice. Also, for moisture absorbtion you can also use a box of baking soda or (a favorite of mine) a coffee can of charcoal briquettes, which will soak up a lot of moisture. Of course you could just put 3-4 briquettes in your safe too but it is nice to have the extra capacity if things ever get really damp in there.

The first thing to do is to run a small light bulb in the safe. Even a 4W candleabra will do it.

If there is no hole in the safe to wire 115V 15A then snake a speaker wire around the door opening and hold it with tape. This will run a 4 W bulb just fine.

I have a damp basement as well and have had a safe there for 20 years and there is no rust on anything in the safe.

Keeping the firearms just a tiny bit warmer than the surrounding surfaces seems to be the key to avoiding condensation.

Well, I am a bit peranoid about rust, since I have now had a couple of different rifles and a pistol get it. Seems my hole place is damp.

I have a goldenrod in the bottom of my safe, and a box of the dehumidifying stuff in the top. Both of those things you can purchase through brownells or midwayusa.

I wipe my guns down real good with Sheath, then make sure not to touch them. I am also going to do that Wax thing next time I have them out to clean. That is where you use a hairdryer to heat the metal and then wipe it down with a rag that has Johnson's floorwax or that minwax stuff on it. I haven't tried it yet but hear that it works good. I just don't know if I have to take my action out of the stock every time and do the stuff under woodline too.

Red

Thanks! I'll try to snake a thin lamp cord around the opening and see if this works. Hell, I would like to at least do something, eh? This is getting me parnoid even though my guns are POS, at least I want to keep it looking good and not be forced to dump a barrel.

I have used wax on my boots by heating the boots with hair dryer, and rub the wax on. It seems to work but not sure if this aplies to guns? There ought to be something where you can put heavy duty grease on guns and leave it for the duration of storage?

BTW, how long goes a candlebara bult last? The 4W kind, if you run it 24 hours how long do they last?

Thanks.

Blue,
Most safes I've seen have a hole in that back to feed a line through. If worse comes to worse, you could drill a small hole and get a rubber gromet so it won't cut the wire.

Bob257

Bob: I'll check and see if my safe has a hole already in the back. Its a cheapo safe, but keeps my guns together and out of chidren's reach.

Ol'Joe: Same here, my basement seems pretty dry in the winter time but I am not sure if its as dry in the deaf of the summer, because I use the AC and did not have a dehumifider during the summer. I only got the dehumifider after I stopped using the AC, and noticed I had to empty the bucket pretty often (every 10 hours or 8 hours maybe). I will have to test this dehumifider in the summer when the AC is running, and see how much water it collects.

By the way, the RIG gun grease, I see them on midwayusa or brownells, and they sell them in 3 different sizes. I figured I'd get the 5 oz size. However, I am wondering if you guys use it in the barrel as well and around the action (taking the stock off to do the action) etc? If you put it in the barrel, then removing it is difficult without running the barrel hot? Just wondering...

Thanks.

A candleabra 4W will run about three months or longer. Even when it burns out the rust does not start at all unless you open the safe and then close it without replacing the bulb.