I am wondering if it is not kosher over the long haul to store a gun in a gun cabinet with the weapon resting at an angle against its (bull) barrel. I fear the weight over time will cause the barrel to bend ever so slightly and thus cause an inaccuracy problem that would be almost impossible to discern without sophisticated equipment used for detecting bent barrels. Is a gun with a fat barrel best stored laying flat?

The barrel will NEVER bend. The only problem with vertical storage is if you use too much oil. The oil then drips down and damages the stock.

I store mine muzzle down to keep the oil out of the wood.

Rob

I found the best way to store for a long period of time is to oil the barrel and patch it. Then I lightly coat all exposed metal with light grease, and wrap the rifle with clear sandwich wrap and tape it. I then store it muzzle down. I've never had one rust this way. I am talking long term storage here.

In the damp atmosphere of the gulf coast, I find the best way to store rifles is muzzle down with LOTS of oil and gun grease. You can wipe it off when you are ready to shoot. Good luck.

Yup, muzzle down if not in the horizontal rack. When oiling use nitril gloves from the hardware store to keep the acids on your hands off the metal. Use a good clingy oil.

I am not sure what you mean by "long haul", but I have several guns in other houses that get little attention, sometimes years. If I believe that is going to be the case, I degrease the parts, heat, and add grease to them. The barrel/parts I heat with propane and drive off the moisture and then add warm grease, warm it to the consistancy of thick oil. The last cleaning patch (before adding the grease inside) I run through the barrel is a ~90 percent ISOP alcohol patch through it. Be sloppy and clean up any slop latter. The grease will return to being thick after it cools. cosmoline works fine.