Firearm storage

Pheroze

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I have invested a fair amount of time and money into my firearms and want to ensure they are correctly stored. These guns are stored in a safe in an upright position. But, what do you folks say about how to do so correctly?

Do you store a long gun with its barrel up or down? I read about storing them barrel down, but I am afraid to damage the crown.

What about keeping the action open or closed? I thought opening would promote better air circulation and keep the bolt face dry. However, others say closed better

Does the fact that it is a bolt or semi-auto matter to this?

Thanks
 
I dont know, if I am keeping it in perfect correct manner (but, my guns dont show any signs of neglect so far), and, here is my storage:
- Barrels up, and slightly oiled
- Dummy round in chamber, and firing pins fired and relaxed
- silica gel in bags around in safe (for dry air)
- Magazines empty. (springs relaxed)
- scopes covered.
- before storage each gun is cleaned, dust removed, oily rag passed over metal parts, barrel cleaned, and left with a drop of oil.
-Guns in use during hunting season, are not kept with oily barrel, but dry brush is passed through barrel after each outing.

Ammo, for long storage should be protected from direct air exposure. Commercial carton packing is not good for long term ammo storage. It should be kept in ammo containers, with good seal.
 
I'll share my experiences and opinions by addressing each of your questions inline below; and I'm sure others will share their thoughts as well:

These guns are stored in a safe in an upright position. But, what do you folks say about how to do so correctly? - I inherited almost 2/3 of my collection from my late father, and many of those guns have been stored by our family for 50+ years (and some of the guns are nearing 100 years old). There is a double digit number of classic hunting rifles in this collection; comprised of mostly walnut stocks and blued steel, which is a pretty common set of materials that we on this site have to maintain and protect in storage. The guns are almost all universally in Very Good, Excellent, and (in a few cases) Like New condition. I say this as a testament to how well our methods seem to have worked. There are probably others who have stored nicer guns, more of them, and for longer; so definitely take their input in addition to mine. All this being said, your two main enemies (aside from theft or misuse) are humidity and heat (e.g. fire). To beat the humidity, I have an electrically powered dehumidifier rod in each gun safe; as well as a pair of rechargeable dehumidifiers that I bought off Amazon (and can look up the brand and model if you like). I also have hygrometers in each safe to show what the humidity level is inside the safe. I can reliably keep the humidity between 40-50% in each safe, which is saying alot because they are sitting in a garage that gets fairly hot in the summer (I know, not ideal, but still works and has for many years). I also make sure that any guns that will be sitting for more than a month or two are cleaned and have a light coating of RemOil inside the barrel (and the rest of the gun is wiped down periodically with a silicone impregnated cloth). I also use a Leupold scope pen to clean the lenses of the rifle scopes, and each scope has a scope cover of some sort.

Do you store a long gun with its barrel up or down? I read about storing them barrel down, but I am afraid to damage the crown. - Our rifles have always been stored with the barrels facing up; and having done this for 50 years, does not seem to have caused any issues. I would be much more concerned with damaging the barrel crowns during handling of the guns.

What about keeping the action open or closed? I thought opening would promote better air circulation and keep the bolt face dry. However, others say closed better - We have always stored our guns with the actions closed; and again, after 50 years still so far so good. That being said, I do make sure that the guns are not cocked and that the firing pin (or hammer, where applicable) is lowered.

Does the fact that it is a bolt or semi-auto matter to this? - Not in our experience; we have treated them all basically the same using the storage methods described above, and seems to have worked equally well.

Last thing I'll mention is that, if you have a substantial investment in your collection, get an insurance policy that is specific for your gun collection. I personally have used Collectibles Insurance, but there are a few other providers (such as Gun & Trophy) that are worth looking at as well.

PS - not that you asked about ammo, but I agree with mark-hunter about the storage of ammo (and now I need to go move some commercial ammo from cardboard boxes to some sealed plastic containers). ;-)

Hope this helps, and feel free to ask any additional questions that may arise. Cheers!
 
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Action closed. Barrel up. Clean before storage. I don’t cover the scopes.

I do periodically check the safes and rifles. I also monitor humidity in the room. And use a rechargeable humidity device and also have a little heating device to dry the air in the safe.

Ammo is in military style ammo boxes.

During hunting season I don’t clean the rifles with oil. If they get wet, the get placed not to close to a heat source to dry. I also never put a cold rifle next to a hot wood stove, they heat too fast and I believe can cause issues with the scope seal.

Some of the cheaper rifles, like a Ruger American or Ruger predator can rust quickly, the barrels have a rough, unfinished texture and that loves to rust.

A freshly cleaned rifle won’t shoot the same POI with any oil residue in the barrel. (That has been my experience). So I don’t clean the barrels during the hunting season.
 
Very interesting stuff!
 
Great advice, thank you. I never thought about ammo storage in that sense, so I appreciate the comments there too.
 
- silica gel in bags around in safe (for dry air
Crappy tire has the large silica bags, just need to replace, try to do it when you replace batteries in smoke detectors. Even in my gun cases i keep the small silica pouches you get in multiple things and throw a couple in gun case pockets
 
i keep the small silica pouches you get in multiple things and throw a couple in gun case pockets
Exactly what I do, myself.

I forgot to say, my gun safe is in air-conditioned room. And hygrometer is on the safe.
 
Even in my gun cases i keep the small silica pouches you get in multiple things and throw a couple in gun case pockets
That's a great idea!
 
Interesting about humidity. My grandfathers Parker shot gun that I inherited, was stored in extremely low humidity for years (1972 to 2012, never touched). The metal was rust free, the stock was a dried out piece of junk, that had to be scrapped. One has to find a happy balance.
 
Speaking of Parker shotguns --
My oldest Parker has no case and rests butt down in safe with humidifier control.
My reproductions all remain in the takedown cases they came in. The cases reside in big safe with humidity control.
 
One thing I do on the bolt action rifles is take the bolt out and put them in a sock to keep the bolts from dinging the stocks of surrounding rifles. I then store the individual bolts in the pistol pouches on the safe door.
 
Interesting about humidity. My grandfathers Parker shot gun that I inherited, was stored in extremely low humidity for years (1972 to 2012, never touched). The metal was rust free, the stock was a dried out piece of junk, that had to be scrapped. One has to find a happy balance.


Heres a trick I learned through my cigar smoking hobby....




Use 49 RH Boveda packs...

A boveda is bi-directional.. if the air is dryer than 49% it will release a little bit of moisture and bring the humidity level surrounding it up to 49... if it is wetter than 49%, it will absorb the additional moisture in the air and bring the humidity level down to 49%..

If you safe isn't air tight (most arent) and you're in a really dry climate, the boveda packs will dry out over the course of a couple of months (will release everything they have trying to get the humidity up).. thats not really a big deal.. throw them in a piece of tupperware with a couple of caps of distilled water next to them.. seal them up.. and just leave them alone for a couple of weeks.. they will absorb the water and get "soft again"..

At 49 RH. thats dry enough that its going to take a LONG, LONG time for a firearm to rust... if they are lightly oiled, you should never see rust at that RH... but still moist enough that wood isn't going to dry out and crack.. Thats the RH that many foods should be kept at for long term storage.. and high value wooden instruments (violin, oboe, clarinet, etc) are stored at 49%..

To give you an idea of what 49% RH is... Dallas avg annual RH is 65%.. Las Vegas is 30%.. Denver is 52%...

Another challenge is... your HVAC system impacts the RH in your house.. and RH rises and falls throughout the day... a boveda helps to regulate that and keep things at the prescribed number all the time..
 

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Heres a trick I learned through my cigar smoking hobby....




Use 49 RH Boveda packs...

A boveda is bi-directional.. if the air is dryer than 49% it will release a little bit of moisture and bring the humidity level surrounding it up to 49... if it is wetter than 49%, it will absorb the additional moisture in the air and bring the humidity level down to 49%..

If you safe isn't air tight (most arent) and you're in a really dry climate, the boveda packs will dry out over the course of a couple of months (will release everything they have trying to get the humidity up).. thats not really a big deal.. throw them in a piece of tupperware with a couple of caps of distilled water next to them.. seal them up.. and just leave them alone for a couple of weeks.. they will absorb the water and get "soft again"..

At 49 RH. thats dry enough that its going to take a LONG, LONG time for a firearm to rust... if they are lightly oiled, you should never see rust at that RH... but still moist enough that wood isn't going to dry out and crack.. Thats the RH that many foods should be kept at for long term storage.. and high value wooden instruments (violin, oboe, clarinet, etc) are stored at 49%..

To give you an idea of what 49% RH is... Dallas avg annual RH is 65%.. Las Vegas is 30%.. Denver is 52%...

Another challenge is... your HVAC system impacts the RH in your house.. and RH rises and falls throughout the day... a boveda helps to regulate that and keep things at the prescribed number all the time..

These look great. The weather here goes from sticky humid to dry as toast.
 
Heres a trick I learned through my cigar smoking hobby....




Use 49 RH Boveda packs...

A boveda is bi-directional.. if the air is dryer than 49% it will release a little bit of moisture and bring the humidity level surrounding it up to 49... if it is wetter than 49%, it will absorb the additional moisture in the air and bring the humidity level down to 49%..

If you safe isn't air tight (most arent) and you're in a really dry climate, the boveda packs will dry out over the course of a couple of months (will release everything they have trying to get the humidity up).. thats not really a big deal.. throw them in a piece of tupperware with a couple of caps of distilled water next to them.. seal them up.. and just leave them alone for a couple of weeks.. they will absorb the water and get "soft again"..

At 49 RH. thats dry enough that its going to take a LONG, LONG time for a firearm to rust... if they are lightly oiled, you should never see rust at that RH... but still moist enough that wood isn't going to dry out and crack.. Thats the RH that many foods should be kept at for long term storage.. and high value wooden instruments (violin, oboe, clarinet, etc) are stored at 49%..

To give you an idea of what 49% RH is... Dallas avg annual RH is 65%.. Las Vegas is 30%.. Denver is 52%...

Another challenge is... your HVAC system impacts the RH in your house.. and RH rises and falls throughout the day... a boveda helps to regulate that and keep things at the prescribed number all the time..
thanks a lot for this great tip @mdwest !
 

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