First, I stress that you should clean and inspect your weapons at a minimum of once per week. If it is done less frequently, then you must take several factors into consideration: temperature, change in temperature, humidity, sunlight, and location your firearms are kept/stored. If you happen to have a temperature/climate-controlled gun storage safe or the equivalent, then you can “whittle” your time down for disassembly and inspection of your firearm. For the rest of us (myself included), a regular maintenance program is essential.
Depending on where in your house you store your firearm and how you store it (in a gun safe, or a moisture-controlled case, for example) will dictate the challenges you’ll face. Alternating temperatures cause some problems. If you have a home that (when you’re inside of it) the temperature is kept at 70 degrees F or such, if the temperature drops to say 50 or 60, you may have problems with moisture. The weather (and the relative humidity) will also be a factor.
Metal tends to “sweat” with a change in temperature, that is for condensation to build up, especially when the change is drastic or sudden.
You’ve been outside all day hunting that deer with your Winnie ’94 30-30. You just came into the house, and after kicking off your boots you hung your Winnie ’94 up on the gun rack. Guess what? In about ten to fifteen minutes, even if you were as dry as dust coming through the door…the weapon will have condensation all over it from the sudden change in temperature.
Another scenario is that you must vent out the house a bit: your woodstove has been on “overdrive” and you need to air out the place just a tad. It’s raining outside and humid. When that cold air and moisture wafts inside, guess where it’ll go? Yep, right onto the barrel and mechanism of that trusty rifle you have hanging over the mantelpiece.
Another one is that you have a rack in your bedroom, and you opened the drapes to allow a little sunlight into the room…and it just happened to hit your rifle on the rack. The rifle gains about 20 degrees from the sun, and then when it leaves, the coolness of the room and the weapon’s proximity to the window causes the sweating.
During the wintertime, it isn’t enough just to pack it all up and wait until the springtime. As far as things are with me, the only time I would ever pack one up is if I’m transporting it somewhere and it needs to be encased and protected for a few days to a week. Other than that, I stick to my regular maintenance schedule. First thing you do, is wipe off any excess moisture on the weapon. Then completely disassemble it and carry out an inspection of all your parts. You are looking for any debris and any buildup of ferrous oxide (that’s rust!) from excessive moisture. There shouldn’t be any.
The reason there shouldn’t be is that there will not be…if you carry out a regular program of maintenance. You haven’t fired it; however, you can still run patches through the bore with a light coating of lube on them. Clean off any rust and oil all your parts. It protects from rust or moisture.
Also, want to save a little money? You don’t have to bankrupt yourself on those stingy little bottles of lube/gun oil…a 3 or 4-ounce bottle…for 7 or 8 dollars. Go buy yourself a quart of 5W/30 Mobil Synthetic oil. We used to use it in the service, and I still use it now. Does the job just as good and (most of the time) better than those cheap, thin, junk oils such as Hoppe’s or Remington’s or the like. A quart will last you a long time, and then you just refill the small bottles that you normally use with it.
Same for patches. Take an old t-shirt, sheet, or pillowcase. Cut out your squares on your own, and also cut yourself some 1’ squares for general purpose weapons cleaning rags. These can be washed and then reused a couple of times. Use a bristle brush of some kind and brush the oil vigorously all over your working parts, and then wipe off any carbon and/or rust you have. Then give it a fresh coat (thin), and reassemble the weapon. Voila! Your weapon is good to go. Make sure that when you reassemble it that you perform a functions check on it, and ensure that it has been reassembled properly without any glitches.
One thing you can also do is to “shroud” your weapons. This is merely covering them as they are on a rack with a sheet of some kind. Try to match the surrounding colors of the room. If you have a white wall, then a white sheet would be a good thing. This keeps dust from settling on the weapon, and any ash/soot from the woodstove, as well. It also keeps your weapons out of sight for when some “snoopy” human comes over to the front door, such as the ever-present, never-reliable neighbors, or some door-to-door sales clown, or some other pest. The less they see the better.
Minimum of once per week per firearm. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as Ben Franklin once said. Protect them within a case for when you’re traveling, and remember to give them a good wiping down and a thorough lube when you reach your destination. Maintain that firearm at all times, and it’ll see you through, whether you’re hunting deer or stopping someone from breaking into your home. Keep that powder dry and stay in that good fight! JJ out!
JJ, what do you think if this idea to help offset any condensation…after thoroughly wiping down your Model ’94, if you have a gun bag, how about tossing several new desiccant packs into the bag with your weapon? Wish I had a Model ’94…
Dear Sideliner,
Absolutely, yes…good idea! I do it with ammo that is in ammo cans. Here’s an “up and skinny” for you. Go to Target, Wal-Mart, or any of those big box stores. Go to the “home furnishings/home stuff section. You’ll find these stacks of wicker baskets, and stacks of wicker hampers, lampshades, and stackable, compressible boxes with cloth-type sides. Stacks of ’em. Lift them up, and you’ll find 1″x1” dessicant packets in under almost every one of them. I already went to two managers in each store, and they don’t care if you have them…just clear it with them, so that you watch your six…then take’em home and do just what you said. I use them with a lot of equipment just to take that “fudge factor” out of the equation, and cut down on that moisture.
Anyway, thanks for the question, and you have a good one!
Respectfully Yours,
JJ
Very informative article! As one who is familiar with winters in the Rockies, one’s firearm may well in fact develope condensation when brought indoors from brutal outside winter temps, however, unlike an electronic device like one’s smart phone when condensation can damage the electronics, a little temporary condensation won’t hurt a firearm. When the firearm warms up to room temp in the low humidity of the high country, any condensation will soon evaporate. Tip: let your firearm warm up at room temp before you take a shot at that buck that comes crashing through the front door. Anyway this condensation will quickly evaporate with no harm when your shootin’ iron warms up. Unlike that smart phone of yours that shorted out. All that pesky moisture will quickly evaporate and you’ll never even know it was there in the first place.
The #1 worse thing one can do to their firearm, is “over oiling” it. Excessive oil can cause all kinds of problems. If you did discharge your firearm using that cheap corrosive ammo you bought to save money, then by all means clean it as soon as possible. If you want to store your firearm until next year, after bringing it in from the cold, then you may want to consider some cosmoline. Otherwise, a little temporary condensation won’t do any harm.