Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Soggy guns-- HELP!

Guys,

In need of some help. My house got flooded during Harvey. All my rifles got submerged, and the stocks
are extremely swollen to the point I cannot remove the action screws. Right now I have oiled the bores, and cleaned the mildew
off of the wood, and spread them out on blankets on the floor. Any advise going forward would be of great value

Thanks,
Keenan

Just a guess, I would get them standing or suspended. The blanket will inhibit air circulation and hold moisture. If you could rig a closet with a little heat and good air exchange it would help. Just a 100 watt incandescent will make a lot of heat. You air flow needs to be exchange, not circulating. Don't get too warm, 90 degrees maybe, if your ambient is close that you still need heat to eliminate moisture.
You do not want to dry too fast. Watch out for that mold. I would want the metal out of the stocks asap.

Dehumidifier?

I don't often recommend WD-40, but this is what it was made for. (The WD stands for water displacing). I agree with everything that has been said, stand them up and let dry air circulate. Spray everything liberally with WD-40 , just be sure to clean and re-lube after the water is taken care of.

my guns were under 4 feet of water for 3 weeks during Floyd , do not try to remove the wood while it is swollen. try to hang them in a dry place with good air flow and some heat not over 100 deg.. or so and let them just dry out. WD 40 will work short term but needs to be cleaned off after a couple of weeks. As soon as you can get the wood off coat the metal in heavy grease to prevent rust and keep drying the wood ,you will loose some of the stocks and some will be ok , just luck of the draw. I have a no 1 that is in great condition and a weatherby vanguard I had to reblue and restock good luck!!

PS!! the 24x Leupold on the ruger is as clear as when new and the tasco on the vanguard was trashed

Once the wood is dry on the surface you need to slow down the drying. If you do not the outside will dry faster than the inside and splits, cracks, and warping will be much worse. Pull the pads off and paint the end grain to slow the drying of the end grain.

Bag them in a fairly warm area for a day at a time every few days to allow water inside to move toward the outside

AND take em somewhere -trusted friend- ect away from the mass clean up!!! utherwise you chance loosing them to over zlelouis helper who grab anything in a trashbag and toss it without looking inside!!

Some of my guns were submerged for a week when my home was flooded back in 2006. My wood stocks were swollen and there was fine mud everywhere inside and out. I didn't have any problem removing the barreled actions from the stocks immediately. Each got a thorough teardown, cleaning and lube right away. Stocks were left to dry at room temperature for several months. Some just needed refinishing because the swelling cracked the finish. Others the wood never returned to original dimensions and needed sanding to refit wood to metal and butt plates. All were saved, none of the stocks cracked and they still shot just as good after the flood as they did before.

Do you think packing them in dry rice would be a good start, at removing the water? I know it is used t to remove water from salt.

Probably not a bad idea, but packing in dry sawdust is a good way to go, and cheaper... Change the sawdust every few days or bag in brown paper bags and just leave them there. It is a little riskier than the earlier method, but easier and less work.

Whatever you don't pack them in sawdust or rice, you will rust the steel and crack the stocks
Spray the timber steel and all liberally with wd40 every day or so for a few days
Get them apart as soon as possible, and dry the wood out slowly out of the sun but with good airflow

I take it this is a bad idea?

The high humidity in south texas is actually your friend right now just keep them dry and out of the heat put a fan near them and let the air do its thing , as soon as they dry enough to get the wood off do so BUT donot force it loosen the screws and wiggle if nothing moves try again in a couple of days. When everything comes loose coat the metal with grease and seal the ends of the wood and wait at least 6 mo. or more for the wood to dry and even after all this crap you may still wind up tossing the stocks ..

It should have been clear I was speaking of wood only.

Without slowing the drying there will be issues with stressing the wood. Just exactly how do you think the sawdust will crack the wood.

Wood left alone dries too fast for its own good. Late in the drying cycle you can get a lot of benefit from a dehumidifier, but early on you need to slow it down... the finish helps quite a bit but is usually too uneven to be great.

Ok, I see.
Thx

I have a few very, very high end guns headed here from the bottom of the storm... will try to document what I do with them...

That will be most interesting.
I can't wait to see all these classy Texas guns that were sent to Alaska for a sawdust holiday, make sure to keep us updated.

They will not go in sawdust... I use a small cabinet with lots of air flow, temp controls, and pressure options.

The sawdust was relative to a cheap, quick way to do it... but you already knew that.