Gun Safes | Battle Against Rust & Corrosion
The Battle against Rust and Corrosion With any safe, you must take measures to protect the contents from rust and corrosion. A sage once said “rust never sleeps”. It’s kind of pointless to have a big, expensive safe if your valuable firearms are rusting away inside.
The first thing you should do is attach seals around the door if your safe doesn’t have any. This will block the introduction of moist, humid air from the outside. Any rubber-type seal is better than nothing, but the preferred sealing material is Palusol?, in full-length strips. Palusol? expands to provide a very tight seal in the event of fire.
Next, you should coat your firearms with a proven rust preventative. The three best products we’ve found are BoeShield T-9, CorrosionX, and Eezox. All provide outstanding, long-term protection against rust without leaving a greasy coating on your guns. Eezox goes on wet, but after the carrier evaporates, it leaves a thin, glossy dry-film barrier that doesn’t have to be removed before using your firearms. Eezox is our preferred product for high-polish, blued handguns and rifles. CorrosionX and BoeShield leave a dry, wax-like finish on the metal.
We strongly recommend all firearms be stowed inside Bore-Store gun socks. Bore-Stores are made from a thick, synthetic fleece treated with silicon and rust preventatives. The heavy fleece wicks away moisture from the surfaces of your firearms, while providing very effective protection against nicks and dings. Bore-Stores are relatively inexpensive, and come in a variety of sizes for all types of firearms. We consider them a “must-have” item for in-safe storage of fine rifles and shotguns. You can order BoreStores from Grafs.com, Cabelas.com, or Brownells.com. You can often find them for sale at gunshows and larger outdoor retailers.
Controlling humidity and temperature inside your safe is also very important. Rust forms much more quickly with moist air and when temperatures rise and fall. An electric warming unit, such as the GoldenRod?, is the best means to regulate temperature inside your safe. The GoldenRod? heats to a surface temperature of about 140? F, helping to maintain warm air throughout your safe on a 24-hour basis. Maintaining a warm temperature in the safe lessens the chance that water vapor will condense and promote rust. We have also found that running a simple light bulb in the safe all the time performs much the same function as a GoldenRod?, with lower initial cost. You can use a plain 20-watt incandescent bulb, or to save on electricity bills, use one of the “long-life” fluorescents. Warning: Bulbs can get hot–use only a very low wattage lamp, and be sure to keep the bulb away from papers, wood stocks, fabrics or other contents that can easily ignite.
Desiccant products will absorb moisture out of the air in your safe. They offer handy, inexpensive protection against rust. We recommend putting small desiccant packs in ammo cans and handgun drawers, and a larger desiccant bag or pack on each shelf in your safe. Gun and hobby shops sell desiccants in various sizes, but you can save 80% or more on the price by ordering direct from shipping supply outfits such as Uline.com
The last line of defense in the war against rust is an active anti-corrosion vapor emitter. BullFrog offers vapor phase corrosion inhibitors (VpCI?s), which employ the same effective anti-rust ingredients used by the military, NATO, and major industries. These are available in strips or stick-on cups for small tool boxes and cabinets. For a large safe, use the Bullfrog Rust Blocker Shield. Priced under $10.00, a single Rust Blocker Shield will protect up to 50 cubic feet of space for one year.
Please call or contact me regarding us building a CUSTOM safe for you.
Thank you – Chris
Direct Line 510.397.1151 or
Toll Free 800-656-4143 x2000
Article compliments of: 6mmbr
Filed Under: Blog • Gun Safes • Private Security Products • Vault Doors
