Thread: How do you prevent rust in your gun safe?

Evening all

Kind of a basic question at first glance but despite employing most of the obvious techniques I am still finding slight surface rusting, mainly on a Baikal single shot but also surprisingly on a Tikka SS.
Im very generous with gun oil (G96) and have even slathered on grease on the baikal, run a dehumidifier in the wardrobe where the safe is yet still confronted with it. Next step,is to try and rig up a light bulb I guess to keep guns warm.
It’s annoying as putting me off buying anything blued in case it goes rusty.
Any tips
Cheers

I use ballistol on my firearms and have muslin bags of moisture absorbing silica gel in any cases. Also containers of damprid in the safe; available from bunnings. I also maintain firearms every couple of months. I don't use heat because warm air holds more moisture than cold air.

I have more than one bakail in my safe..no issues...try switching to breakfree CLP...... the final whipedown rag has that and some 2stroke oil on it.....just cause I have some 2 stroke in a wee 3n1 oil bottle that sometimes just gets used..... one of the old school trouble lights like was used in garage car pits with a 25 watt bulb will keep safe warm n dry,the hard part is working out how to have cord through side or door of safe without compromising security. try running dehumidifier in room where safe is,wardrobe door open... its amazing how much water is in our homes...

Hard to say without seeing the situation, it almost sounds like you have corrosive chemical vapor in your safe.
Years ago in a past life I worked at a fuel terminal. There were two separate loadout shelters for the tanker trucks. From memory one did diesel and the other the petrol and avgas. The two shelters were set up the same, same fittings same layout etc. In the diesel shelter, just about anything that could rust did develop a heavy surface layer of rust. Even some of the stainless or crome fittings would get a bit of it. The petrol and avgas shelter stayed in fairly good condition. Your description of what is happening in your safe reminds me of those loadout shelters.

At first guess I would pick you haven't spilt battery acid in the bottom of the same but something like that would be a good thing to rule out.

buy a dehumifier and do the whole house, you will not believe the difference it makes to heating and cooling. when we moved into a rental we took over 20l out in a week, after that the place was warmer and heated faster.
DVS is a joke though.

I wired a 100watt anti condinsate heater and thermostat in mine never falls under 20 degrees along with a spray of ballistol. Never had any issues with rust even on the boys Jw15 that rust as soon as they get out in the open.

Cheers Longshot
Interesting, not sure if it could be related but I had a plastic tub of damp rid fall to the bottom of the safe a few years ago, cracked the tub and spilled the trapped liquid causing the safe to rust in places. It was about the same time I first noticed the guns picking it up but put it down to being in the garage, since moved into the house.
Thanks to all for your advice, apologies for the double post🙄

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...h%20DampRid%21

Originally Posted by Woody

I use ballistol on my firearms and have muslin bags of moisture absorbing silica gel in any cases. Also containers of damprid in the safe; available from bunnings. I also maintain firearms every couple of months. I don't use heat because warm air holds more moisture than cold air.

You are correct that warm air holds more moisture than cold air. By warming the air up the moisture stays in the air and doesn’t condense on the guns.

I would recommend a very small heater/light bulb with a thermostat, what’s best is steady temp control 18-20deg.

3d printed firearms don't rust, so I've heard

@Sasquatch how do you find that? I was given that exact same one today.. wondering if it would be better than the tub of damp rid im currently using.
Cheers

Originally Posted by Kiwilad2021

@Sasquatch how do you find that? I was given that exact same one today.. wondering if it would be better than the tub of damp rid im currently using.
Cheers

I have a very similar one, I've had no rust issues since I started using it, and don't need to recharge it very often now. To recharge it plugs in and heats itself to redry the crystals inside it.

@Cigar good to hear. I plugged mine in to charge/dry today, must take ages to recharge? 8 hours and still not done. I thought if they work well it'll give me more room as the damp rid tub is always in the way.

Originally Posted by Kiwilad2021

@Sasquatch how do you find that? I was given that exact same one today.. wondering if it would be better than the tub of damp rid im currently using.
Cheers

@Kiwilad2021 they work well. I moved from a tub of damp rid to the rechargeables and noticed an improvement. Plus it's easy, just plug them in and leave overnight to dry out.

They do take awhile to recharge though, like 10-15hrs.