Is it okay to store guns in a hot garage?

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eazyrider

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I keep my guns and ammo in the safe in the garage. I live in Texas and it is wicked hot in there. Does long term exposure to heat harm guns or ammo? I really don't have another place to keep them but at the same time I don't want them to deteriorate. Today I pulled the Anaconda out and the rubber grips were wet, this concerns me. I have inspected all my guns and have found no evidence of rust.
 
Guns in Hot Garage

I have been conducting corrosion tests on two pistols. I keep them in my cars 24/7. I live north of Palm Beach and about three miles inland. The pistols, a TT33 and a CZ 82 have been in the cars for about three months. The cars are not garaged. Neither one of the pistols is in a holster, but rather in an opened gun case and in a center console. So far no signs of corrosion. I attribute this to the vehicles' windows being closed at all times. Also, a light coat of oil is maintained. It gets pretty humid here but the temps probably do not get as high, 90 here 100 there. My carry piece a sccy is carried in a pocket with no exterior lubrication on the pistol. It has no corrosion to date, after three years of carry.
 
I live in Virginia. It gets hot and extremely humid here. I have my safe in the garage for the last 10 years. No problems are all. I keep my guns wiped down with oil.
 
My safe is in the garage, in Northern IL. Pretty humid here during the summer.

Goldenrod in the safe along with a couple of rechargeable desiccant containers to be safe.

No problems with rust and it's been over 9 years. I do keep everything lightly lubed and I wipe them down after handling with one of those silicon rags.

I'm pretty paranoid about rust, and check everything regularly. I haven't found one speck of rust in that time. I keep the garage heated during the winter if that matters at all.

It's more comfortable for me and keeps the temp transitions down.
 
It is not the heat, it is not the humidity, it is the rapid CHANGE in temperature between a cool evening and warm morning that causes rust. Steel is much denser than air and takes much longer to warm up than the surrounding air. You are no doubt familiar with the term “cold steel”? When the warm surrounding air contacts the cold steel of the gun it will condensate and steel to sweat like an iced tea glass. That will promote rust within hours. The only safe way to store guns in the garage would be in a vacuum packed container with absolutely no humidity or totally covered with cosmoline. Hide them under the bed or the couch or wherever so that they will not rust.
 
High heat will tend to dry out wood stocks, some will crack. A synthetic stocked gun in stainless will/should be most durable, but wiping either blued or stainless with a light coat of oil is your best bet. AMMUNITION is a different story. I have seen rimfire ammunition and shotshells degrade in a few seasons of storage in a hot garage. Most ammunition manufactures advise storage in a cool, dry place. Same for powder & primers in component form. A chemist who works with a lot of nitrocellulose products advised that high temperature, high humidity, and constant variation in temperature will shorten ammunition shelf life.
 
Well here in central texas it goes from 100 something down to 75 at 4 am.
Plenty of humidity though not as bad as Houston-wink
Never seen any rust in my storage unit where my parts, belts and some ammo resides.
 
As stated its the amount of moisture in the air that will cause you issues

Take it from me. I did two tours in Iraq as a Armorer amongst other things

When there was little to zero moisture in the air the weapons were fine. And we stored them in shipping containers. During the summer I measured temperatures beyond 150 degrees. (inside the containers) So long as it was not humid we were fine.
Kick it over to a different part of Iraq where we had heat and humidity? then I had issues keeping up with corrosion. (Mind you in those situations I tried to keep mothballed weapons in a separate container so I would not have to open it and expose it to the elements as often)

Also, during winter months when we did have rain, corrosion was much more rampant even in dry shipping containers and at far cooler tempratures.

If you are in a arid part of Texas, check on things, oil them up and don't worry too much.

Otherwise put something in your safe to absorb moisture.
 
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Maybe in some parts of the country you can get by doing that with no ill effects but in general, not a good idea. Humidity is the biggest offender.
 
I live in north Texas and store some of my ammo in the garage. Some of it has been there almost 20 years, yeah I don't shoot that caliber alot but I once did, and it still goes bang like it is supposed to. Same with a few guns I have in the garage safe. But, I use LPS2 as my wipedown fluid which is a milspec rust preventative and lube that dries after application. I have NEVER had a problem with rust....chris3
 
"I live in north Texas and store some of my ammo in the garage. Some of it has been there almost 20 years, yeah I don't shoot that caliber alot but I once did, and it still goes bang like it is supposed to."

My dad lived in the Panhandle and kept a good bit of shotgun ammo in an unheated attached utility room. When he passed I took an old, faded box to experiment with and it all went "bang." That said, I keep all my ammo, powder, primers, etc. inside in a dry, cool area.

(My bro took the rest of the ammo. It was quite a haul. When they told him what the overweight charge would be at the airport he turned white as a sheet!)
 
I currently keep all my firearms and ammo in my home but I'll eventually build a strong cinder block storage building with climate control... through-the-wall A/C and oil-filled passive radiant heater. If I need humidity control I'll just tune the heater and A/C to work in unison for that duty. This building will also store freeze dried foods, etc. A few firearms and some ammo will remain in my home for HD.

Regarding storage; I guess I'm a bit O-C and A-R...
 
I live in the South and the humidity is so bad that when I stepped out of the air conditioning to go to the mail box a while ago my glasses foged up to the point that I could not see. It was because they were cooler than the ambient air temprature and that draws condinsation. Cold steel will do the same thing on a warm morning.
 
"Store in a cool, dry place" is pretty good advice for most anything you care about preserving, including guns and ammunition, or reloading componenets.
 
I live in S. Florida and have kept a blued Ruger pistol in my truck, outdoors, not garaged, in the blazing heat and humidity for the past 10 years. I live 6 miles from the Atlantic ocean. No rust, no problems.

btw, the gun is locked in a special gun safe mounted in the center console and bolted to the floorboards. Unfortunately, the company that made the safe has gone out of business and i've never seen another one as well made as this one.
 
It is not the heat, it is not the humidity, it is the rapid CHANGE in temperature between a cool evening and warm morning that causes rust.
Click to expand...

In this part of Texas, there isn't a cool evening during the summer. At 6 AM it is already in the 80s. My loaded safe has been in the garage since 1986, and with a Golden rod, has never had a problem with rust or wood damage on any of my firearms.

My ammo stays in the climate controlled house with me.
 
I put a couple if these in my indoor safe and my workshop ammo storage.

http://www.amazon.com/Eva-dry-EDV--Renewable-Wireless-Dehumidifer/dp/B000H0XFD2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1310445800&sr=8-2

Keep an eye on them and when they turn pink, plug them in until they turn blue, then return them to the safe.

I also have most of my ammo in sealed ammo cans, surplus and plastic.

If you have to store guns in the garage, I suggest that you put them in water tight cases in your house before closing them, then carry them to the garage. This should keep the humidity in the cases at a reasonable level.

I would still take them inside periodically and check them and/or wipe them down again with CLP or your favorite oil.
 
In hot humid places, everyone I know has central air conditioning. Here in Florida, I made sure to put my gun safe in a walk-in closet. So my guns are always cool and dry. My garage gets to be over 100 degrees on July and August afternoons and the humidity is over 90%.:eek:
 
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