Long term storage materials

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natman

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I need to store some guns for several years and am leaning toward VCI paper and plastic bags (along with a good coat of oil).

Any recommendation where I can buy VCI paper in the San Francisco area? I can find it online, but shipping is expensive. I can't find long plastic bags anywhere. All the manufacturers use them, so they must be sold somewhere.
 
Check on Kleen Bore bags . They call then the Inhibitor and they come in rifle or pistol sizes all ready for longer protection .
 
I've been reading this forum for quite awhile, but just registered to post on this thread.

Would vacuum sealing work? My Food Saver sealer has bags that are 11" wide by as long (up to 18 feet) as I want to make them. Seems most guns would fit in a bag 11" wide.

Oil up the weapon then vacuum seal it. Maybe add some padding around the gun before sealing to cover any sharp places on the gun that could tear the bag? I'd probably put the sealed gun/bag inside a normal gun case to protect the bag.

I've never tried it, but may be worth a shot.

Might be a good way to keep extra sidearms in a "travel" bag to keep them dry...
 
I've used CLP's "Collector" oil with good results for storage. They advertise that it meets DoD requirements for 5 year storage. I find that it smells like the fake butter at the theaters.
 
Would vacuum sealing work?
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I don't have the answer, but suspect that it should work. Vacuum packing is done on a lot of other items for long storage life as it removes oxygen . Rust being iron oxide , I would think it benificial to vacuum seal.
 
If I had something special and knew it wouldn't be fired for long while, I'd certainly consider field stripping it and packing the entire insides with grease and then storing it in the grease can. I'm sure you can get a big container of wheel bearing grease at a reasonable price.

Granted, making the firearm functional again will be a messy ordeal..
 
Guys, I have a lot of guns to do. Packing them in grease or cosmoline would certainly work, but would be too labor intensive on both ends. I have already decided on the CLP collector oil in a close decision over LPS3.

The Kleen bore bags are tempting, but expensive. Does anyone know where they can be bought in bulk?
 
Regarding the vacuum-pack idea;

I recall bringing that idea up a while back (if you're bored you might be able to find the thread, but it was quite a while ago).

On one hand, straight vacuum-packing will likely leave at least some amount of residual oxygen in the bag, which could lead to rust. When I brought up the idea of using an O2 displacing gas (such as CO2 from dry ice) it was brought to my attention that the presence of CO2 could also lead to oxidation, or even carbonic acid.

It would seem that the best packing might be in an airtight container, but with desiccant and enough room for air to circulate allowing the desiccant to absorb the moisture.
 
Backwoods Home Magazine's current issue has an article by someone who buried their Mini-14 for 15 years. He disassembled it sprayed the metal with preservative, and wrapped it in a mylar bag. He put this along with cleaning equipment and ammo in PVC pipe, purged the air with nitrogenand sealed it. He buried it long way down with 3 feet of dirt over the top. It worked for him.
 
Would vacuum sealing work? My Food Saver sealer has bags that are 11" wide by as long (up to 18 feet) as I want to make them. Seems most guns would fit in a bag 11" wide.
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I bought a FoodSaver V835 2 or 3 years ago specifically to vacuum pack some firearms for long storage (and use it for other things when needed). I douse the guns with Boeshield T9, allow to dry, pack the gun in a silicone impregnated gun sock and vacuum pack using the 11" rolls. Pistol gripped semis will fit (minus the mags in place). IMO, any amount of moisture and air left in the bag after vacuuming is not suficient enough to induce corrosion, particularly with the added rust preventing measures I had put into place.
 
Grease (RIG works), cosmoline, etc., and you're good to go under almost any conditions as long as you store it in a water-tight container. I've seen items greased and buried in milk cans that emerged years later in perfect condition. An old man had buried a Luger like that, for some reason...
 
When I brought up the idea of using an O2 displacing gas (such as CO2 from dry ice) it was brought to my attention that the presence of CO2 could also lead to oxidation, or even carbonic acid.
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The oxygen is still present it the CO2, this is why it's not a good idea. However, a purge with nitrogen to displace all the oxygen, then all should be well and good. As for the dessicant materials, they absorb the oxygen out of the immediate atmosphere, thus tying it up and keep it away from your precious metals. ;)
 
Thanks jeepmor, I had forgotten about the nitrogen treatment. IIRC that was also discussed in a previous thread on the topic. And since chemistry was my worst subject, I probably should have kept out of that part of the discussion...
 
I may have had an exceptional streak of luck but while I was doing a three-year deployment overseas I had to leave my little collection of bangsticks in an unheated, unair-conditioned, tin roof shed in the back yard.

Before deploying I cleaned everything with Eezox and gave them all a wet covering of same. When I came back, they had gone through three humid Georgia summers and three wet Georgia winters without a single speck of rust.
 
Grease (RIG works), cosmoline, etc., and you're good to go under almost any conditions as long as you store it in a water-tight container.
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I've heard that PVC with end caps glued on works good.
 
About a year ago I read where American troops found hundreds of weapons in Iraq that were in storage since WW2. They were in a barrel filled with motor oil, and when cleaned all looked new.
 
I may have had an exceptional streak of luck but while I was doing a three-year deployment overseas I had to leave my little collection of bangsticks in an unheated, unair-conditioned, tin roof shed in the back yard.

Before deploying I cleaned everything with Eezox and gave them all a wet covering of same. When I came back, they had gone through three humid Georgia summers and three wet Georgia winters without a single speck of rust.
4thPointOfContact is offline Report Post
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I have used Eezox for years very successfully. If I was storing for a long period of time, that is what I would do.
 
When I brought up the idea of using an O2 displacing gas (such as CO2 from dry ice) it was brought to my attention that the presence of CO2 could also lead to oxidation, or even carbonic acid.
Click to expand...

The oxygen is still present it the CO2, this is why it's not a good idea. However, a purge with nitrogen to displace all the oxygen, then all should be well and good. As for the dessicant materials, they absorb the oxygen out of the immediate atmosphere, thus tying it up and keep it away from your precious metals.
Click to expand...

:confused:

Oxygen (O2) (and CO2) in and of itself does not cause rust. An electron transfer reaction with the aid of another component capable of disassociating electrons to reduce the oxygen is needed to react with the iron in the steel (oxidize). This can be done by moisture.

Dessicants are hygroscopic, they scavange moisture from their surroundings, not oxygen. Having them near your metal is always a good thing as they intercept any moisture that would otherwise complete the rust reaction.

With the amount of oxygen in ambient room conditions with normal room humidity there is no danger of rust. If you live in a moist environment and/or near a natural (salty - including fresh water) water source, there can be an issue. We would all be in rust trouble if the above previous posts were true. With applying a vacuum to the environment the stored guns would be in in the plastic bag, there would be less oxygen and less moisture than there would be if the guns were left at normal pressure.
 
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