Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Recovering From Rust?

I moved back to Michigan after 13 years in AZ and unfortunately have had to keep my cheap gun safe and all my guns out in our storage garage. I put them out there last December and they've been out there all winter, spring, summer and fall now. I had been pretty diligent about checking them and keeping them wiped clean with a thin coat of BreakFree CLP and wrapped in sheets or towels. I also kept a couple of desiccant bags in the safe to try to reduce the humidity inside of it.

I had my CZ 550 American in the house for the last couple of weeks just looking it over and doing a little dry firing. I had the bolt out and noticed some light corrosion on the head of the extracter. I looked inside the chamber with a flashlight and saw what looked like light rust in one spot right where that part of the extracter butts up against it. I've had the rifle and gun out of the safe quite a bit since I've been here and when I've removed the bolt and cleaned/re-oiled it I've never seen anything like this before. It prompted me to pull the action/barrel out of the stock today to detail it and I noticed more rust down through a hole looking into the trigger assembly.

I pulled everything apart and there's rust and corrosion in places that were buried and apparently didn't get oiled such as deep in screw holes, outside of the magazine well (after I pulled it out) and a few light places in the trigger assembly.

I sprayed everything down with CLP and used a bronze brush on some parts and a nylon brush on other parts. It's coming along, but it looks like there is wear on the finish now from either the rust or where I might have brushed too aggressively.

I'm wondering, short of having it refinished, is there anything I can do to try and protect these little places better? I always give everything a good coating of CLP when I detail it, but I was thinking maybe I should put a little vaseline on a qtip and jam it down in the screw holes or coat the parts with where the finish is now weared down? I'm sure there are better products out there for that kind of application, but I'm dirt poor right now as we're expecting a daughter any day now.

I'm definitely going to bring my safe and all my guns in the house soon rather than leave them out there for another winter, I'm just worried now that those parts will be more prone to rust again now that they've already "caught it" once. I'll feel better if there's something I can do, no matter how minute, to protect everything a little better if I can't find the time to strip everything down and detail them regularly. I'm sure once our baby gets here my guns are going to be on the back burner for a few weeks or so until we get her on a schedule and my gf recovers from her c-section.

Thanks in advance for any advice anybody might be able to give me on this one, I just feel so sick to my stomach that I let this happen. It's killing me, I've always been so insanely obsessive about keeping my guns spotless and never letting the sun set on a dirty gun. I'm just disgusted with myself, this rifle was one of my very few prized possessions and now I feel like she's ruined.

Get the metal hot... taking it out of the stock is a good idea... trickle boiling water over it and rub with Brownell's Oxphoblue.

The spots will vanish.

Vaseline??? The last thing you want to do is seal in the corrosion process.

If you could see what we see when we pull barrels, you would puke. Lots of rust!!! First, don't drive yourself crazy, you just need to stop the rusting process. You do this by either removing it, or, chemically treating it and monitoring it. If the problem is minor, reach what you can using dental picks, wooden tooth picks, brushes etc, and give the area a little spray of this stuff. Let it sit a while to soak in, then blow or wipe off the excess.

http://www.theruststore.com/Boeshield-T-9-12-oz-Aerosol-P3C4.aspx?gclid=CLSxuoWshaUCFQUmbAodlk57Qg

BTW, I use this exact stuff in my shop on my own stuff.

Use Eezox in the future after you clean them up with the heat and Oxpho Blue.

Getting some air circulation in your safe will probably help, also. This is what heaters like the Goldenrod do, in addition to heating the air.

Thanks everybody, I appreciate you all sharing the knowledgeable insights. I'll review all the products that were recommended, just don't know when I'll be able to afford anything. That's why I was thinking something simple that I might have around the house, like vasoline. I wasn't really thinking about putting the vaseline on the rust, more like cleaning the rust off really good and then applying a thin coat of vaseline. Or something to that effect, just looking for more protection in those areas that seem extra susceptible now.

I wish I could sell this one and get something in synthetic/stainless like a Sako Finnlight in .260 Rem or a Kimber Montana in 7mm-08. But I like the blued/wood look, love the single set trigger and I've spent lots of time and money working up great handloads for this baby. But if I leave Michigan anytime soon I'll be heading to Montana or Alaska and if I stay in Michigan I'll be wanting to move to the UP so stainless/synthetic will probably make more sense as a hunting rifle for me. I never had any rust problems before, but I was living in AZ, keeping my guns indoors and I had a nice workbench set up where I could leave my guns torn down and soaked in CLP. Now my gf pisses and moans whenever I clean my guns in the house and I don't have anywhere else to do it so it's more of a hassle. I used to enjoy cleaning and caring for my guns, but until we get a bigger place I'm stuck in this situation.

For long term storage, I have removed the stock, and generously covered the firearm in a heavy coat of axle grease. Place it in a trash bag, and there ya go. Cleanup is not that bad if you set the bag in the sun to get hot in the summer first. Couple of rags, and some flush(clp) of some sort and your good to go. An added bonus is that on a parkerized finish, the gun will actually come out with a better finish as it absorbs the grease over time. I just wouldned recommend getting to aggresive with the cleaning on parkerized, just wipe off all the excess and go.

If you want to use a grease for long term storage I recommend RIG. It was used in WWII as a substitute for Cosmoline - a LOT faster getting weapons into service when unpacking, all that's needed is to wipe off the excess with a rag. You don't need gobs of it, a light coat will do. An advantage of RIG is it's sulfurated, sulfurated petrolatum actually, and wants to stick to steel more so than plain grease.

One caution: RIG will turn waxy over years when exposed to air. That can gum up the more delicate mechanisms in a firearm.

I don't know whether to just shake my head, or feel sorry for you.

I disagree on that one. Especially out in a garage where temps might range across 100 degress F in a year. Any wrappings or sleeves need to be made of breathable material. I won't even use vinyl cases and there is room for them to breath through the zippers.

I've had good results storing over 3-5 years in heavy duty poly gun sleeves and VPI paper (Brownell's). Cleaned thoroughly and wiped with RIG first. Moisture can penetrate plastic bags slowly so heavy gauge is better, metalized (if they still sell them) even better.

Been in the same boat as you for 23...?...yeah, 23 years of blissful marriage and two kiddos, one 15 and one is 21. Just keep on keepin' on and cleaning when you need to. Find out what is so objectionable about you cleaning your guns inside (it's usually the fumes - "I can't BREATH when you use that STUFF"!), and find other ways doing things. Use the more volatile chemicals outside, then bring the firearm in and detail it with CLP, or whatever rust inhibitor/lubricant you use; those DON'T smell. Hell, Hoppe's #9 is an aphrodisiac! Keep chuggin' man, it ain't the end of the world!

It isn't the lack of air circulation. After a cool night the
temperature of the metal stays below the dew point for a while.
That is why your winshield fogs on the outside.
A constant temp or surface protection is in order.
Good luck!

My gf is actually pretty good right now considering her present condition. The only reason she complains about me using CLP in the house is because she's due in 3 weeks and her nose is extra sensitive and all kinds of smells really bother her. I try to be understanding, but since this place is so small I'm cleaning the guns on the kitchen table (on a thickly folded sheet) and I know that bugs her. But she also knows how important my guns are to me and even though she opens all the windows and kind of exaggerates how bad it smells she doesn't make it a major issue. I just hate feeling like I'm putting someone out while I'm being responsible and taking care of my things. When the baby is born I'm going to have to set up a temporary bench out in the storage garage until we can get into a bigger place with a basement or attached garage with electricity to set up a more permanent bench. Until then she knows I'll clean my guns when they need to be cleaned and I know she won't like it but she'll deal with it.

Back on topic, I have some Lubriplate that I bought for my M1 Garand, would that stuff work well on the areas that I cleaned the rust off of? I'm planning to bring the guns inside soon, but I'll feel better knowing those spots have a little extra protection in case I can't get around to checking them for a month or so when the baby first gets here. I'm kind of shuddering right now thinking of all my reloading equipment that is boxed up out there. I need to pull all of that out and hopefully my dies and press and stuff won't be ruined.

Thanks,

Lubriplate is a grease meant to make parts slide together more efficiently than spit. You need a rust inhibitor and preservative. Lubriplate, Vaseline and car wax might work okay to help prevent some rusting, but if you can't hunt down, remove or kill the hidden stuff first, then your just wasting your time. PM me your address and I'll send you a can of Boeshield T9 to try.

The Boeshield is good stuff...used it for years now. The remedy for rust is to put a shield between the gun metal and the atmosphere
Oxygen causes rust..any oil, grease, or substance to keep oxygen from the bare steel will prevent rust from happening.
Sitka has the cure for rust after it has started.

What ever you do, put a Goldenrod in your safe.

I now live in a very humid climate, Exox and Goldenrod eliminates rust in a gun safe.

Best wishes

Malm, thank you so much! I was out bow-hunting all week, but I used some of that Boeshield T-9 on my multi-pliers because they had a little rust on the teeth and it works great! I will be giving all the guns I plan on storing for a while a heavy coating and the guns I will use for the hunting season a light coating.

I hope you get a lot of good karma man, thanks a lot and Happy Late Veteran's Day!

My pleasure.