Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Hot gun help, please

Not that kind... My (2) brothers' home burned down this weekend but they got the guns out before it was too late. They were quite warm but no burn marks on the stocks and no melted scope covers. They're covered with smoke film and soot and we want to make sure we're protecting them the best we can until a 'smith can check them out. Other than a good cleaning of all surfaces and the typical solvent, gun oil, etc. is there anything additional or any specialty products we should consider?

Thanks for your help.

smoke is acidic, get it off of them now....it will rust metal

No expert but I would run them threw complete cleaning and a fresh coat of oil down the barrel to keep the rusting down to a minimum

Having restored many "fire guns" during my tenure as a gunsmith for a major firearm manufacturer I can tell you that smoke form a fire is extremely acidic and will severely pit the metal. Give your guns a thorough wipe down with mineral spirits after this I would give them a though oiling inside and out with whatever gun oil you like to use. Needless to say this should be done with the metal removed from the wood. This should prevent any further damage until you can get them to your 'smith. If as you say there were no burn marks on the wood and the plastic scope covers did not melt you're probably O.K.. The way we determined if the guns did not get so hot as to compromise their safety was to examine the springs. If the springs were O.K. and had not collapsed from the heat then the gun was deemed to be safe.

Thanks much, guys for the quick help. I'm not close by but my father has them apart and was doing the cleaning today. I'll pass this on, especially the mineral spirits to help cut the crud.

I'm thinking they'll be ok but we want to make sure. They're nothing real fancy, but have lots of family history.

Thanks again.

Hope it works out, but hey, lets have a fire sale, we should get a smoking deal on them, I can start the bidding if you like.

But seriously, hope all is well and they can recover from this terrible fire.

It looks like one of his Glocks is toast but the other guns were in the opposite end of the home and some firemen knew enough to get them out before it was too late - warm and dirty, but it looks like a good cleaning will be all they need.

All in all, it could have been worse. Thanks again, folks.

Glad it worked out as well as it did for ya.

your lucky the fireman got them out for you and you got them back, I seen many times when fireman and cops take the guns out a fire right to the truck or cars and there lost.

Really?

For sure seen it twice

You a fireman or cop? GW

I've never seen that.. .I've been on a few fires... we get the guns out to the owners asap.

Biggest one was in the 60's when a place called Shooters Paradise in Shamokin Dam,PA blew up. State cops came in and loaded what they could take, and I mean arm full, they never got turned in and that I know for a fact. I got 3 rifles from one of the cop that later told me were they came from. Latest one was a year ago, owner of the fire said 5 of his guns went missing. No one othere than firefights were allowed in the place. No ashes or melted metal.