How to prevent rust on guns

you need to wipe them down everytime you touch them and use a good gun lube protector like Break Free or other

the rust that there can be dealt with some 4 ought steel wool or 3 ought bronze wool but not well if is pitted

I store a lint free piece of cloth in a seal container that is wet down with Break Free so you don't need to pull out the can just open container and wipe down and don't touch it with bare hands putting it away, you can wipe them down as much as you like

when I shot .45ACP in competition, when I got home I would have surface rust finger prints on my pistol, they would clean right off but salts on your hands will cause problems

Ballistol.

I use these brass picks or even a smashed brass rifle cartridge filed like a chisel. Soak the rust with oil then pick or scrap away the rust. The brass will not scratch the steel or the blueing. Then when you’ve got it all gone wipe down your gun with Johnson’s Past Wax. 

So there are various corrosion inhibiting oils, however they are NOT all created equal, some definitively work better than others. The better of them tend to contain one of a class of compounds which bond/adhere to the metal surface to form a protective layer. If you'd like a deeper dive on the subject, you may find this video informative:
https://youtu.be/VpRrP3sqQLw

I personally prefer a product called Tuff Glide (in a spray bottle) for protecting my guns, and none have a speck of rust on them. I believe it contains a similar compound to Deoxit, as covered above. 


As far as corrosion removal, I have to strongly urge you NOT to scrub it off with steel wool or brass. If the substrate is a straight carbon steel, then by all means have at it with the steel wool, but if it contains any chromium (the stuff that makes stainless steel stainless) you'll be working against it. The reason has to do with how corrosion resistant grades of steel work. You see chromium in steel oxidizes, and forms a protective boundary layer of chromium oxide. If that is violated, by scrubbing on other metals such as carbon steel or brass, the chromium oxide layer can't form and corrosion will continue at that point. This is why stainless steel "pits," where that boundary has failed corrosion will continue to penetrate. Cuprous alloys, such as brass, are also inadvisable because they have a different reduction potential than steel, so cause galvanic corrosion. In plain english, they basically form the second electrode in a battery much like if you stick two different coins in a lemon. In doing so, they promote corrosion, thus are to be avoided. 

As far as preventing corrosion goes, aside from wiping down your rifle, dehumidification is your best bet. Water is an important part of the corrosion process, including water in the air. Dehumidifying your gun safe/case/house/shop/whatever is an easy systemic treatment for corrosion. The following is a decent quick-reference for humidity levels and corrosion:
http://dpcalc.org/

As an aside, beyond running a fully snarling compressor-based dehumidifier, there are smaller solutions great for gun cases and safes. Things like these:
https://www.amazon.com/Improved-Eva-dry-333-Renewable-Dehumidifier/dp/B000H0XFCS/
Or if you want to run the dessicant yourself, and you don't need it as a modular pack:
https://www.amazon.com/Dry-Desiccant-Indicating-Industry-Standard/dp/B01I5Y2DG6/

Keep in mind these are just two specific examples out of a massive genre of products. 





What do do with existing corrosion? Well there are a couple options. Deoxit and some patience with a q-tip is probably the most gentle strategy. Keep in mind that blueing is also an oxide process, so anything that'll take the rust off can also attack the blueing. You can run a citric acid passivation cycle. You can scrub it off with a synthetic scouring pad. Or you can reach for a chelation agent like Evapo-Rust. Be sure, after cleaning it off though, that you immediately oil it, preferably with something better than WD-40. 


I hope that helps. There is really quite a lot of information on this subject, and this is just kind of a quick skim with some simplifications. 

Like marflow said, it is a good habit to wipe down your gun after every use. The oil in our hands can be corrosive if left for a prolonged period. Along with wiping them after every use, I try to check on them every few weeks and glance over them. Rust can be hard to prevent if you live in a humid environment, but the best protection against it is just to be vigilant with your guns. 

Ok yeah I get how electrolysis works when two dissimilar metals come into contact with each other. 

Just remember. They’ve been screwing brass sight beads into shotgun barrels for many years. 

Balistol.........works great. Silicone cloth wipe down every time you handle it.

WD-40 is a water displacement not a rust inhibitor.

Do not use WD40....I use the "the good stuff"for fishing reels,also Tri-Flow ,SpeedX,and Rem oil.

WD40 is the MOST overrated product ever. It really is a solvent and a poor lubricant. I put it on a power car antenna once ans it failed in one day. It is good for only removing sticky tape residue.

Here is very detailed corrosion test. 46 products tested

http://www.dayattherange.com/?page_id=3667

After having some rust pitting develop on the underside of an Anschutz receiver, I started using a thin film of Hoppe's gun grease on hidden areas of my rifles before replacing the action in the stock. That would include the underside of barrel and receiver, trigger housing, and magazine well. I use the same process on airguns as well. The Hoppe's grease works great in this application, and I highly recommend it. For long term storage it could also be used on exposed metal, but you would want to wipe it off before use.

Other than that, I am just careful to wipe down each gun after use with a Birchwood Casey silicone impregnated cloth. It can be used on both exposed metal and stock. For bolt, bore, etc. I just apply a light film of whatever gun oil is my favorite at the time.

The point about humidity is a good one. Too much humidity and something is going to rust, if not a gun then one of your tools. I am careful to keep my basement humidity under control, ideally around 45%.

Chuck

My advice is a little different from the pack. Almost all oils etc evaporate over time. The problem is that in storage the new "wet" coat of oil attracts dust etc even if you can't see it. The oils evaporate leaving a thin layer of dry dust. This dry dust becomes a magnet for moisture, moisture leaves rust. 

Waxes on the other hand do not evaporate but instead dry to a film that repels dust etc. For guns I use with any regularity I use frog lube. There are haters out there but we have conducted similar tests to the ones cited earlier in this thread and, believe it or not, the natural products like frog lube and FUBAR performed much better in out coastal environment than any of the petroleum based products. 

For guns I am storing or not shooting more than once a month Renwax PERIOD!! It is used by the Smithsonian and almost every firearms museum on earth. Curators swear by it and they are charged with care over multi-million dollar collections.

For what it's worth the main ingredient in Frog lube and Fubar is Coconut oil. I have since purchased a big jar at Costco and I use it on my shop equipment like table saws etc. Works great no rust, doesn't stain wood and easy to wipe off for use. I only use paraffin wax as slide agent rarely and sparingly anymore.

Of course this is free advice and remember you usually don't get your money's worth.

I use Ballistol only. When I get back from a hunt it’s the first thing I do to protect my investment. I started using it about 10 years ago and have not had an issue yet. Some people don’t care for the smell “Lady Exziver” but I’ve grown to like it! Maybe because it means clean gun. Lol 

I am also a fan of Ballistol, an interesting product originally developed for military use in Germany.

Many modern products have been shown to have more sheer rust-inhibiting qualities in extreme conditions, but since I don’t store my guns outside I don’t worry too much about that, LOL! It is certainly more than good enough for any reasonable indoor conditions.

The nice things about Ballistol is that it leaves a extremely persistent protective film which is not greasy or slippery to the touch. Also an extremely effective solvent/cleaner (it is a staple of black powder fans worldwide). It is mostly made of inert mineral oil, so unlike some gun lubes it creates no problems for finished wood or the plastic and rubber components frequently used on airguns.

I agree that frequency counts for a lot. I keep a pre-soaked soft cloth at hand and wipe guns down after every use. I seem to have sweat that is more corrosive than average, but have never had the slightest issue on my guns.

I like to use a piece of lamb's wool with some RIG (grease) rubbed on it to wipe down the guns regularly. That seems to work very well for me.

Mike

WD40 is the MOST overrated product ever. It really is a solvent and a poor lubricant. I put it on a power car antenna once ans it failed in one day. It is good for only removing sticky tape residue.

Click to expand...

Correct you are. Worst lube next to water. The stuff is a great solvent though. 

I've been using this to clean my air guns barrels for years, also on external surfaces after use....always!

Living on the humid Texas coast, where microparticles of salt adrift in the air go inland for 40 miles I face horrendous corrosion problems. I've come to depend on either of two product to wipe my guns down (lightly) twice a year) and then just use a regular gun oil to again very lightly wipe down each outing. Upcheck on Ballistol from me too.

Check into LPS3 (in spray cans) or a rust inhibitor called Linebacker. I bought a quart of Linebacker 15 or 16 years ago and still have 1/2 of it left. I just wet a patch and use it to thoroughly wipe the gun, with all stocks and grips removed... Let dry to a wax and reassemble. Same for the LPS3 rust inhibitor (Note that LPS1 or LPS2 are NOT specially rust inhibitors)

Further note that WD40 slowly lightens bluing on steel and used for years will remove the black oxide protection until the surface is a pretty sky blue and not protecting. Also, it forms a GUM as it dries and will cause drag on internal parts. Cops used to spray their duty guns regularly back in the 70's until cases of malfunction incidents were traced back to the practice. [Some dumbasses even sprayed their guns with the ammo loaded and it got into the primers and caused misfires when they tried to shoot someone] The Alphabet org put out out a national alert warning them to stop using WD40 on guns. I read it in the NRA's National Rifleman which had a BIG article about it back then.

What do I also do to prevent corrosion? Well, I hunt with my guns and the last four years I started camo coating them. At first I used a primer then used combination of Rust-Oleum Camo (6 colors) to dress them for the field. But it wears away (that can be good as using the right non-plastic harming solvent it can be removed and changed) or can get sticky from skin oils - but a topcoat if polyurethane satin clear solves that.

Lately I learned that Duracoat is EASY to do at home and is a permanent solution. I use a base coat of 'Tacticool Coyote Brown' which stops the "black rifle look" and then overlay with other Duracoat colors for the region the gun is ment for OR I've even used the Rust-Oleum on top as it is temporary and wipes off the Duracoat without damage.

Stored in the basement. Dehumidifier set at '35'..............no problems at all.