I spent 4 years in Hawaii now 2 in Korea and 4 more coming up in Hawaii likely.

My cousin in Florida kept a lot of my firearms and goodies and made sure they stayed wiped down and lubed. But his wife is going USAF and they are moving. My only real option is to rent a climate controlled storage unit and put my firearms locked up in on long term.

Would wiping down and lubing liberally before vacuum sealing be the best way to go? Or cleaning completely dry and vacuum sealing with desiccant in the bag?

Military uses cosmoline. Hard to remove though.

Tough to beat covering in cosmoline, wrapping in plastic, and securing in large gauge pvc pipe with sealed endcaps.

I once received an HK91 covered in cosmoline and wrapped in plastic. It was a mess to clean up, but it cleaned up in perfect condition.

It's a pain, but you will thank me when the zombies get inside the wire.

H&K-Guy

Does cosmoline affect wood?

quote:

Originally posted by OttoSig:
Does cosmoline affect wood?

Yes, it soaks into wood, and can be a real bitch to get out.

Okay so I need to remove all stock and foreends and just cost metal well and wrap in butcher paper basically and stick in 3” pvc and cap each end. I think the AR lowers will be fine. Don’t see why anything would happen to the anodized aluminum with climate control.

Wipe em down good with RIG and put them in a ziplock freezer bag and burp it.

OK I've spent a long time learning the answer to this in another context. At this point here is what I know. 1. any wood has to go somewhere else (best answer somewhere people live and survive). 2. Gun metal should be sprayed with some preservative. Lots of choices. I happen to be partial at the moment to the breakfree preservative, but I have tested lots of other choices and its not a critical issue. cosmoline is fine as is RIG and just about anything else. The more effort you put here the longer it lasts, but the more work you have getting it up and running 3. The gun needs to go in a VCI bag. This the THE absolute critical issue. And in all of my tests I have added a VCI emitter and a bit of desiccant. 4. Seal the above and remove as much air as possible, vacuum helps but is not critical.
At that point it can go anywhere underground, underwater, in any amount of humidity. If you want underground or underwater put it in a PVC tube and seal it.

quote:

Originally posted by OttoSig:
Okay so I need to remove all stock and foreends and just cost metal well and wrap in butcher paper basically and stick in 3” pvc and cap each end.

Honestly, if they're just going to be in a climate-controlled storage unit for 4-5 years, disassembling them and dunking them in cosmoline before sealing them in PVC tubes is pretty drastic.

Buy a quality grease like RIG. (I mean, it's right there in the name... Rust Inhibiting Grease. ) Breakfree Collector heavy weight oil is another option, being slightly easier to apply than grease but lasting a little less time. Put a coating of the grease or heavy oil on all exposed metal. Then put them in storage.

If vacuum sealing them or sticking them in VCI bags before storage gives you greater peace of mind, go for it. But that shouldn't be strictly necessary.

Understand that new old stock guns routinely sit on shelves in storage for 4-5 years or more with just the factory preservative, which oftentimes is little more than a coat of oil.


Packing disassembled guns in cosmoline inside sealed containers is for austere conditions like if you're burying them in your backyard for the inevitable future zombie apocalypse, or sending them as aid to a third world country where they'll be stored in a damp jungle basement for decades.

Yeah in all honesty I’m hoping to be able to check on them yearly but my SBR for example hasn’t been touched in 5 years so I’ll plan for that.

Good lubrication and bag it sounds like the best ticket.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

If it's climate controlled, I think Breakfree collectors oil sprayed liberally all over them (after a good cleaning) should suffice.

Corrosion X has great lubricants. I would fully trust their grease.

Before going on a five year overseas tour, I used LPS 3 on several guns. The handguns were sprayed down with the wooden stocks removed, put in plastic bags (not vacuum sealed), and left in safe deposit boxes. The long guns were covered with the LPS 3, put in plastic wraps, and left in a Minnesota storage unit that wasn’t climate controlled. When I got back everything was perfectly fine.

And a little-recognized, but obvious fact:

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Understand that new old stock guns routinely sit on shelves in storage for 4-5 years or more with just the factory preservative, which oftentimes is little more than a coat of oil.

Probably won't matter too much if they are in spaces that humans normally occupy. Tend to have managed temps and humidity. But outside of that you want some help. The absolute minimum I would do is lube generously and put in a VCI bag. Good for pretty much all but the absolute extremes.

quote:

Originally posted by doublesharp:
Wipe em down good with RIG and put them in a ziplock freezer bag and burp it.

Another vote for Rig. Museums have used it for more than 50 years.

Are they worth insuring ?

While insurance could help for a situation like the storage unit getting flooded out, broken into, or totaled in a fire/tornado/hurricane, most insurance isn't going to cover normal everyday rust from the "neglect" of just sitting there unmaintained for years.

Just like your homeowner's insurance doesn't cover wear and tear to your house over time, or losses that result from lack of basic maintenance.

It's typically only for "disasters": fire/theft/storm/vandalism/etc.

Some of my (deceased) dad's shotguns and hunting rifles have sat in the back of a safe for literally decades after nothing more than a good wipe with a silicone cloth before being put in the safe. None of them are rusty.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Military uses cosmoline. Hard to remove though.

I've found that WD-40 works OK with removing it. Still a pain though.

I use some R.I.G. grease at times myself, longer term storage.