Gun rust prevention and treatment

D

Derek Z

Well-known member
One of my guns took a beating on the salt last year. For some reason it seemed to attract rust quicker and easier than any others before. Its an auto with matte finish and no matter what I did it was gathering some rusty residue each hunt.
Can some of you guys pipe in and tell me what has worked for pre-treatment and post hunt?

I am considering the following:
- tear it apart and rustoleum the visual parts
- go old-school and whip out some mega cans of wd40
- ask here
- do nothing but what i have been doing - rust prevent before and after
- buy a new gun (excuse to get a new one)
 
you're screwed....

If you steel wool the hell out of it....de-grease it...and then spary paint it.....then the rust will just grow under paint and while it will be "out of site temporarily" when it resurfaces it will be a pure nasty mess.....with serious pitting of the metal instead of just surface rust....

Once you've been so sorry, (I know you that gun spent days in a wet gun case before you "remembered it" and then when you pulled it out you screamed..."cheap, crappy, gun"), that you've let it get started you'll fight it for the rest of the life of the gun.....

The only thing I've seen work on guns that already have started to rust from salt water exposure is to have them "dipped"...and pay the extra for the sandblast, or glass peening, first....start with a CLEAN surface and dip it.....nothing fights salt and rust like a "dipped" finish......

Oh, and for the record MATTE finishes rust easier than "bright blue" because of the texture of the surface......

Like you say though...you could buy an ALREADY DIPPED NEW GUN and just start over.....should be a couple of years before we hear from you again whining about rust....

Steve
 
doesn't work any better on guns than it does on other things painted with it then its as worthless as "boobs on a boar"......

I watched my paint brush rust while using that stuff....

Heck ALUMINUM painted with it rusted.....

still got some....matter of fact still got "most" of it.....You can have it Derek if you come and get it.....

Steve
 
I am only coming to get it if i can get a portirait done next to the milk carton mailbox.

tits on a boar, now that sounds exciting
 
derek my friend any gun you take to salt water it is gonna happen,my a303 beretta started to rust so i started coat it with vasoline and by gawd it worked and it helped camo the gun to lol lots of seaweed stuck to it for a while....saved the vent rib tho.....good luck
 
cause the 5 year "temporary" milk crate full of bricks post will soon be replaced by a mailbox stand designed to disembowel the next car that takes it on....and since this one has a 22" STEEL Truck wheel for the base it will just pull out of the ground when it gets run over.....traveling with the car until there are car guts spread all the way to the bottom of the hill...should make "tracking" the mailbox killer simple.....

Steve
 
I was thinking with the milk crates, if you stuffed them with bricks and sphagnum moss you could plant fern rhizomes in there, that would look pretty cool. Have Mike water it daily with a nitrogen based fertilizer and you would be all set!
 
Derek, I don;t hunt salt very often but there is a great product called Fluid Film. I started
using it on trailer lights and it has stopped all corrosion problems. It is lanolin based and
does not wash off easily. I used it the last time I went to Maine and it worked very well.
Just my .02 John
 
'Dipping' is just paint, applied through an electro film process....but paint, none the less. It's applied over a primer of paint, as well. Dipping just isn't a long term fix, IMO. Walter Birdsong passed back in July, but his son is still running the business applying their proprietary 'T' finishes. We had a few weapons in the military with Black T on them, and they wouldn't rust for nothing...salt water testing; they stopped the test Birdsong's finish after a year in a salt bath with no rust....and it coats ALL metal surfaces, in AND out. JMO.
 
For the next gun I really recommend the gun cases made with Shield Technologies product. I know the technology well, know the inventor well and have personally seen how great these cases work on big ass guns on many military ships. What used to be a complete full day job for a soldier to fight rust on the 50 cal. doesn't happen anymore. These cases have been used by the army and navy are really change how you need to take care of your gun. They may be pricey but worth it as you really can put a gun in wet and not have it rust.

http://www.envelopcases.com/

Mark W
 
Well the solution to your quest to completely remove (oxidizing) rust from a salt water environment is almost impossible...Not to say it can't be done...Salt (NaCL) is the number one ingredient to the electrolysis process in nature which makes a Ferritic (iron based) metal a(oxidize) rust...Your best hope is to make sure you keep the gun clean through a wash down, lube, and Rem oil rub down from an anal retentive standpoint between hunts...I would not suggest the cure all WD-40...The lubricant can gel in some temperature or after setting for a long time containing more dirt, moisture, and ect....

I also would suggest finding a military style rust bag which contains oils impregrenated in a plastic membrane that you put your gun in after each hunt when in route from your favorite hunting spot to home...You can find these on Cheaper Then Dirt website as well as other websites...Depending on the make of gun you have another thing to decrease the chance of internal failure due to rust is to convert all gas operated components...Cabelas sells a system that replaces all the internal gas operating components which are made of stainless steel with a special coat to also lubricate during use. My last purchase was a Rem 20 gauge youth model...The first conversion I did was replace the gas operating system with the stainless steel kit...

Like the rest of the group said a coating of any sort can if not applied correctly cause rust build-up between the gun metal and the coating which could be really detrimental to you as the shooter if the barrel is broken down enough to burst...

Good luck and keep it clean,

Regards,

Kristan
 
'Dipping' is just paint, applied through an electro film process....but paint, none the less. It's applied over a primer of paint, as well. Dipping just isn't a long term fix, IMO. Walter Birdsong passed back in July, but his son is still running the business applying their proprietary 'T' finishes. We had a few weapons in the military with Black T on them, and they wouldn't rust for nothing...salt water testing; they stopped the test Birdsong's finish after a year in a salt bath with no rust....and it coats ALL metal surfaces, in AND out. JMO.
Click to expand...


To counter, Black T is just a polymer finish like teflon (or is it justy teflon anyway). I'm not sure on the distinction between paint and a polymer, paint is a polymer and polymerizes as it cures. A dip is a film of plastic (which is a polymer). I dont' think distinctions on that level are inherently useful.

I will say that few use thier guns as Steve does and if he says a dip (I've seen his guns), a dip it is. I like a parkerized finish, it holds the oil on the surface - my benelli has hundreds of days on the salt and it has no rust. It is all about maintainance anyway if you actually hunt saltwater. You need to keep your guns oiled - period. You wipe after a dump - wipe your gun down when you have it in the salt. When I'm going to store a salty gun for a while, I forgo wipe and give it a nice freshwater bidet treatment.

T
 
Parkerizing works well because it's bonded to the betal and holds oil against the metal itself. The birdsong coatings aren't the typical teflon finish you normally see, but a proprietary chemical process that involves a coating with some teflon in it, that actually bonds to the metal, through the parkerizing that is the Birdsong 'primer'. I've got several guns with (factory) camo dipped finishes, and it looks great. However, if I am going to throw $150+ at something for a finish on a firearm, I want it to resist solvents like Hoppes and deet, no chip or peel or fade, protect my internals as well as externals from corrosion, and to be able to tack the abuse of slam-banging around metal and rocks, etc. There are a multitude of coatings out there that are more durable than dipping. A few can be had in various colors or custom patterns. A few others are harder and last longer under wear than Black T, but none that I know of prevent corrosion as completely.
 
Derek, I agree with Steve , you're screwed. I gunned salt water all my life. I had a Charles Daly double that eventually ended up silver from me steel wooling it. My son bought a Rem 870 a few years back that was Parkerized. Forget it, That turned into a bucket of rust the 1st day. My 1100 is probably 35 years old now and looks like a million bucks only because I take care of it now. Several years ago my son (vey young at the time) took the gun and put it back in the gun cabinet without cleaning it and without my knowledge. One day middle of the summer I took a look at my guns, and damm near died. My 1100 was disroyed. I sent it back to Remington they intern sent it to Gary Donavan. It took almost a year, but when it came back it was like new. I still take the 1100 into the field or out on the ocean almost everyday during the season and it still looks like new only because I carry Gun wipes that I buy at Cabelas with me. The gun gets wet, I wipe off the water, I clean it almost evey day and break it down at least twice a season.. My suggestion, get a new blued gun and start over.
 
Matt/parkerized finishes are not all the same.

When I was on a CG cutter & we did boardings, we carried Parkerized 870s in gun racks unprotected from salt spray in our small boats. When a crew returned the gunnersmates took all weapons apart, rinsed em off with fresh water & doused w/WD40. We had no rust.

I've repeated this process at the tailgate as soon as I get out of a salt water marsh. The gun is put away w/a coating of wd40 & is good to go on the next outing. My old blued 870 has no rust. The cheap Kmart matt finish 870 rusts no matter what I treat it with.

Attacking salt with steel wool is a bad idea. If you do get rust, wrap the affected area with a rag & soak w/WD 40. Let sit for a couple hours. Then wipe with an oily rag. It won't be perfect but will preserve whatever finish you have left.
 
Most of my duck/goose hunting is done in Long Island Sound. I had a couple blued, parkerized, and camo dipped guns that I have used in the past.
By far the best pertection from the elements was the camo dipped gun I currently use now. The worst was the matt finished guns, rust formed by the time the hunt was over.
 
I think there is some confusion on what real parkerizing is vs the non-milspec 'matte' finish offered by Remington and others.....big difference there.
 
For many years WD-40 was my main "go-to" lube and protector. I'm 1500 miles from the nearest salt water so that wasn't an issue. I always stripped and cleaned just before the season, then sprayed down real good with WD-40 and let it air dry. Once the volitiles evaporated off the film the was left behind lasted pretty much all season.

More recently I wipe down with RIG before and after a hunt and have total protection. RIG went out of business last year and I bought a couple jars. Recently I saw were someone else bought the brand and is producing it again. From what I have seen, it is the best metal protection out there.

I have used Breakfree CLP and for a lube it's fine but as a metal protector it's really bad.
 
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