Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Rust-Resistant Mountain Rifle

I�m tired of removing rust from my rifle after every elk hunting trip. The bore, screws, trigger components, and any un-blued metal seem very susceptible to rust. I am eyeing the Remington Model 700 Titanium and the Browning A-Bolt Mountain Titanium rifles. Are all of the components of these rifles resistant to rust? Are there any other suggestions for a rust-resistant mountain rifle in a short or medium length action? Thanks!

cerakote it.

I'm not sure if Cerakote will help my bore, my Canjar trigger, or even the slots in the screws that lose their blueing when they are tighten with a screwdriver. I am looking for a new rifle that maximizes the use of stainless steel, titanium, or other rust-resistant materials.

Oil ,tape and a cleaning kit are your friend....

Cerakote the outside; borecoat the bore.

Stainless steel can/will still rust.

Only the action is titanium on the A-bolt and the Rem. Ti. The trigger assemblies, aren't. The barrel and screws, aren't.

Coating the exposed metal, with Cerakote, Gun-Kote, etc., will go a LONG way to remedying the rust problems externally, regardless of whether it's CM or not. Coating the bore, will do likewise.

Maintenance is STILL job #1, and that will keep them in good working order no matter what they are made of or where you are.

Nothing is totally rust proof. I have a stainless synthetic Rem 700 mountain rifle, and one long day in sopping wet rain forest hunting on the wet coast will produce a trace of rust on the bolt. It is guaranteed to rust a bit if you leave it overnight after such a day. Even smaller trace of rust on barrel and trigger guard.

Don't know how the titaniums fare.

Stainless helps a lot, but you still need to wipe, oil, silicone, etc. I can get away with a three day hunt without any care unless it is really sloppy wet, equivalent to submerging the rifle for hours. Away from the coast I go from Sept. to January without a thought of rust on the stainless.

If you like the Mountain otherwise, why not the LSS version. I really like mine in the 7mm-08 version. I only wish it was a 280 instead so it had the bigger receiver opening. That would be a boon to cold weather reloading, a sometimes handy deal when caribou (or wolf) hunting.

I know where you are coming from!

If you really want to keep rust at bay then start out with a SS or Ti Rem 700.

Have the action Cerakoted but don't stop there. Make sure you have the scope mounts Cerakoted as well. All the action screws, scope ring & base screws, bolt stop etc should be Cerakoted or KG Gunkoted as well (KG GunKote works well on tight tolerance parts). The newer SS & Ti 700s are shipping with the new X Mark Pro trigger which is very corrosion resistant too. I also seal off the undersides of scope base screws, ring and action screws with a bit of flat black Rustolem paint, it blends real well with most matte black finishes.

The only areas I wipe down on a hunt are the exterior surfaces of the bolt and the bolt head/extractor areas. The all time best gun oil for wiping down metal surfaces IMO is Corrosion X .

I do all my own coating to keep the costs down and for QC reasons.

On the Rem 700s and Mod 7s, they have less springs and water traps than most other makes. The bolt head does not collect that much moisture and there are not many coil springs or areas that collect moisture.

And tape off your muzzle with electrician's tape too. There is a good thread on this subject in the Alaska forum.

MtnHtr

Curious as to the make and model of your rifle. I have friends that think because they have a stainless gun that they don't need to take care of it. Wrong. I have had many blued versions that I take care and they look better than any stainless.

Hunting in Colorado during the fall is hard on rifles because moisture condenses on and in your rifle when the temperature drops at night. In the hunting tent, there are no dehumidifiers, so the rifle takes a beating for a 1-1/2 week season.

My rifle is a 284-caliber chrome-molybdenum Ruger M77 with a Canjar trigger. I do use preventative measures but some components, such as screws and triggers, still need to be replaced every few years due to rust. There is usually no rust on blued surfaces so I'm not certain how Cerakote will help. After 17 years of owning this one rifle, I am looking for a new one.

If you can recommend a rifle that maximizes the use of rust resistant materials, I would be much obliged. I will look closely at the Remington and Browning rifles with titanium actions and stainless steel barrels. If these rifles are not available in the 284 chambering, I will consider the 7mm-08 chambering.

I should have added that I only coat an internal action part if it's a chrome moly part. If it's a SS part then I may coat it for asethetic reasons only. SS and nickel plated parts hold up real well if you wipe 'em down with Corrosion X.

I think you would do real well if you went with an SS or Ti 700 and kept it wiped down with Corrosion X. I coat most of my rifles with CeraKote or KG Gunkote because I have the equipment but sometimes forget most folks don't have those resources or the funds.

Another tip is to stick with a good synthetic stock, they handle moist environments better than most wood stocks do though some folks are pretty good and at moisture proofing them (like our moderator Sitka Deer).

MtnHtr

I would steer clear of the Brownings, one of the reasons I sold mine was due to rust problems (though none of 'em were the Titanium model).

MtnHtr

Titanium is about as corrosion resistant as there is. I would prefer the previous generation Ti 700. As long as you at least wipe the sucker down every couple of days, the SS won't rust and the Ti can't rust.

If the screws are NOT SS or Ti, I would treat them with something- this should give you a lot of latitude in taking care of it without worries.

When camping in cold weather, I always leave my rifle where it stays cold- I don't have any condensation issues that way. About 10+ years ago I was on a deer hunt in Montana with Muledeer. We were staying in motels and bringing the rifles in every night. A week went by and I tried to shoot a buck. My rifle went "click", twice. I had to use his spare at that point (an ULA in 257Imp).

When I got home, I found that the interior of the bolt was rusted, cushioning the firing pin which didn't fall hard enough!

That was an eye opener...

This information will help me select my next rifle. Your recommendation of CorrosionX is also helpful as I am wary of coating internal gun components with anything other than oil.

You might be interested in this Rem Ti that I put together with wet weather in mind.

The GreTan shroud is alloy and their firing pins are alloy/SS, less parts to rust!

MtnHtr

++1!

Taking equipment from cold into warm is harder on it than leaving it out in the rain IMO. Moisture condenses on the cold metal, inside every part. Going from dry cold to warm moist air is also a severe test of waterpoofing on optics.

We leave rifles outside in the cold if possible, under some kind of rain shelter if it is raining: porch, big tree or plastic bag as long as the plastic is above the rifle and not clinging. If not possible, I have taken a hair drier and warmed and dried the rifle and action thoroughly in a motel room. At least open the action, remove muzzle tape, dry, and wipe down till the piece is warm, dry and no longer condensing moisture.

Getting in and out of a warm pick-up in cold weather produces condensation each time you get in the rig with the rifle. I don't have a good solution but I keep windows open if I can stand it for short stays in the rig, or try to warm the piece slowly, then put it right in front of a blast of warm dry heater air to dry out the action inside.

I've had ice form from water inside the bolt that has caused misfires on two rifles. One was a Rem 700 on a bull elk at dawn. It had rained the afternoon before and I'd wiped down my rifle and left it outside the tent as usual, where it froze hard overnight. At the break of the sear there was a soft "chiiink". I knew what had happened. I ejected the cartridge as quietly as possible in the morning fog and saw a small dimple in the primer. I hoped that the firing pin had broken enough ice to fall harder on the next try. It did and the rifle fired. Hidden behind a big log I was resting over, the bull hadn't noticed me in the sound-dampening fog at 100 yards. Lucky. The other one was on a coyote with a 22-250 in a 788.

Another way of drying the bolt out is to place it on the dash of your vehicle near the vent with the heater/defroster on high. One can pull the firing pin assy out(even on a Rem 700)for faster results.

I did that once after falling in a creek after dusk, rifle went completely underwater! Luckily my camp was a half mile away, I ran all the way back! (Unit 66A in ID)

MtnHtr

Exactly....

Send it to Doug Burche for a make over, buy yerself a roll of 3M, and your worries are over.

Wouldn't say it if it weren't so........

my sako finnlights have been through an aweful lot and been very easy to take care of, pretty much don't have to deal with anything til after the hunt, be it a day or weeks.

I have yet to see any rudt on either of my Ruger SS Rifles. I have hunted in some pretty crappy weather nad jus tput the rifle in the truck for the night if at camp, or put it right in the safe at home. I know that SS can rust, but with my on going "expermint" I have not witnessed any yet.