Hello all,

I know this has been previously discussed to some degree, but I was wondering if I could get one more survey on rust preventatives. This weekend I bought 2 rifles (a Savage 99 and a Winchester 71) that have quite a bit of bluing worn off in places. Both are excellent mechanically, they look like they were carried a lot but shot little, I'm pretty excited about them. Anyway, just from handling them in the shop and putting them in the safe when I got home they had started to develop that dreaded brown haze. It didn't get far and I was able to easily remove it with a little Break Free (which I left on fairly liberally). However, I was curious what peoples thoughts are on the best solution(s) is/are for both long term storage and a durable product for use during hunting season when the guns will be handled more. Unforunately, as I am basically dealing with bare metal in places, I probably have a little less margin for error that most.

TIA,
Bob

You know what, I have a particular problem it seems my skin has oil like acid, if I get it on any of my guns it will rust up quite nicely. I personally to this point just use solvent on them and then wipe them down with Sheath real good, from Birchwood casey I think.

But the one thing I have been meaning to try and not gotten to was suggested by Jack Belk, it was to use wax to coat them. I will do a search and see if I can find it and get back to you. I know I printed it out at home. I don't like the idea of having to get all my guns reblued later because of my toxic skin! :-)

Red

Here is what I found

http://www.nookhill.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=006033#000000

You can also do a search ont he gunsmithing forum for wax and get some other things to read, Saeed did some testing once and I think he even said that nothing is better than wax.

Look later today for my post with questions about using wax, now you have got me thinking and there is some stuff I want to know. :-)

Red

I had this problem for many years due to the hunting conditions I'm in and where I live, I found a product a couple of years ago which I swear by and I'm pretty sure it's available in the USA it's called "Gilly Stephenson's gun polish" the wax contains camauba and beeswax, I just wipe it on lightly over the whole firearm, all wood and metalwork and then give it a light buff if I'm storing it and if I'm heading out bush I don't buff it off and it gives a good non-slip grip, no more rust and rain just beads up, and I always have a can in my camp, the stuff is made in Australia and if I can dig up a web site I'll post it here...take it easy all...Les

Birchwood-Casey Sheath has always worked extremely well for me, even in Alaska where everything goes to hell pretty fast. I use it on all my reloading tools as wellas guns. Also, "Rust Prevent" from Shooter's Choice has a good rep. For long-term storage, nothing is better than R.I.G., and it is easy to remove.

bob... I use a propane toarch to drive water off my blued guns, then coat them in a hard paste wax *while its still warm*. Brush the toarch lightly enough to see the metal surface "faint".
waxes with a high content on canabura wax in them seem to be pretty strong. From there, if you can get a hold of rangoon oil, or some other hard/varnish based oil, you can add a bit more protection.
My blued guns have only rusted when I let them.

Here are some previous threads on the topic:

http://www.nookhill.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000954#000004

http://www.nookhill.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=001853#000000

http://www.nookhill.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000967#000002

H. C.

I use a product found in a local hardware store. The name is 'Kel', it's made by the Kellog Company, it's in 12 or 16 ounce areosol can, white, blue and gold. This product looks like a mixture of WD-40, cosmoline, lanolyn.
I spray my blued revolvers once a year, I've yet to get rust even with the Richmond, Va. swampy summers.
The matt finish, don't know if it's blued or Parkerized, on the barrel of my AR-10t gets warm after firing 20 rounds, one treatment last spring, no rust.
Jim

I have serious rust problems with my large cast-iron stationary power tools in my humid, unregulated shop. While wax alone is a pretty good preventative, I've had much better success using a product called Boeshield T-9, along with a top-coat of carnuba wax.

I first clean the exposed metal surfaces with WD40 to remove any previous coatings and other contaminates, wipe it down completely - squeaky clean - then spray/wipe on a coat of Boeshield T-9, let it dry, and then buff it down (once dry, it's sorta like a wax coat). I then apply a coat or two of carnuba-based wax, buffed down as well. Since I started using the T-9/wax combo instead of just wax, I can go months instead of weeks between applications. I'm using this same method with all my firearms now and have had good results there as well - even with a couple of "rust-magnets" that have always given me trouble.

FYI, T-9 was developed by Boeing specifically for long-term storage of expensive aircraft parts in the Pacific NW. It is also an excellent dry lubricant. Grizzly Industrial carries it and you can find it in most machine shop supply houses. Good stuff - highly recommended.

Hello All - I must open an file and park my anti-rust comments there so that need only copy/paste them each time this topic comes up.

I live within a long bowshot of that expanse of blue stuff that protects Africa from the Americas. Rust is the norm here. I have chisels that look as clean as the day that they were bought some time back in the mid sixties. My workbench top is made from 3" channel with 3" angle legs - it too is never going to see 30 years again. Also absolutely rust free.

What do I do?

I pop in to the artists supply shop and buy the odd 200 ml bottle of Linseed Oil and Turpentine Oil (not mineral turps - the turpentine oil) Mix them 50/50 and apply to any surface on which you want protection from rust.

Degrease the item, rub on the mixture with fingers, have a cup of tea, crack a frosty - or whatever and wipe of the mixture with a paper towel. A thin film will be left behind for - well I can only vouch for 40 years ....

I stumbled over this application for the mixture when oiling a stock and preparing some metal for bluing. The metal was all shiny bright and almost ready, when something intervened and I only came back to it after about 5 days or so. There was this thin film of surface rust - and some absolutely clear finger print whorls - still shiny. Obviously I had handled the metal with stock oiled fingers - and - no rust. Been using it with great success ever since.

cheers edi

I use Corrosion X.

I used to use a good past car wax on
shotguns with pretty good results in
Alaska. But ya gotta de-grease the
areas for it to "stick". Buff or not
as you please but buffing makes em
pretty slick. Generally would be
good for a week or more when out
hunting. Don't know how long it
might protect when not being handled.