We prepared for the worst and hoped for the best, but...

[hdwhit]

We've had a couple of threads already about getting your guns ready to survive a hurricane or flood, but let's say that in spite of whatever precautions were taken, the gun was immersed in water for a couple of days and now has some surface rust on various pieces; particularly where closely fitted pieces mated together.

What would be your suggestion on how to clean up the gun, remove the rust and prevent further progression of the rust to the rest of the gun?

Thanks.

 

[John Joseph]

Consider our friends in Texas who have gun safes still under water, and likely will be still be under for days to come. With Irene it's likely going to be sea water. Yikes!

 

[edwardware]

What would be your suggestion on how to clean up the gun, remove the rust and prevent further progression of the rust to the rest of the gun?

In the immediate term, towel dry and whatever oil is at hand; if there's no wood stock, immersion would be fine, and any oil will do. Don't oil-soak wood stocks; remove the wood and soak the metal.

In the medium term, I've yet to meet the rust that a brass bristle toothbrush and 0000 steel wool wouldn't remove nicely.

Long term? Restoration after damage is its own art.

 

[Tinpig]

Most of us who've run small outboards in salt water have eventually had one go overboard. The main thing to remember is that if the motor (or firearm) is immersed in salt water, keep it there until you have the means and the time to thoroughly flush it with fresh water, then dry it, and give everything several baths in oil. The only thing worse than salt water on machined steel is salt water and oxygen.

 

[jdfoxinc]

WD40. Water displacement formula 40. Then soak in tool box buddy. It is a Mucus oil product that penetrates yet dissolves rust without harming blueing

 

[hdwhit]

John Joseph wrote:
Consider our friends in Texas who have gun safes still under water, and likely will be still be under for days to come.

I am. That's a big part of the reason for the post.

 

[hso]

Read this - https://www.nssf.org/what-to-do-with-firearms-and-ammunition-affected-by-flood-waters/

We're told to never use WD40 on firearms, but it is readily available and effective in displacing water. Just don't leave it at that.

Recommendations are a bit counterintuitive, but rinse off your guns with fresh water. There's a lot more in flood water than just...water. Take them out of their stocks and rinse everything, dunk then in clean water and keep doing it until all the chemicals and fine silt are out. Then spray them with WD40 to push water out of the various nooks and crannies. Get the WD40 off with light oil and then soak them in Kroil. Stocks should air dry. If you can hang them vertically so the air can circulate you'll get the best results. If you have access to a large ultrasonic cleaner you should use that. The ones I've used to clean surplus firearms have a large cleaning solution tank as well as the oil tank. These do a wonderful job at getting in the nooks can crannies of firearms.

Alternately, if you can get enough Ballistol follow the instructions on it, but still get the furniture off the firearms so everything is cleaned and treated.

 

[BSA1]

hso is on the right track except I would;

Remove the grips and stocks and wash the guns with dish soap and warm water my concern being simple water will not get off and kill all of the chemicals, bacteria and other nasty stuff we don't want to even know about.

Then I would rinse the guns off with as hot as water I could stand. Lay the guns and parts out and the water will quickly evaporate.

I agree with hso about Ballistol. I would spray and treat everything with Ballistol. Ballistol will not gum up over time like WD-40 and protects against rust. It is the go to rust preventive and lube for blackpowder shooters for decades. Ballistol can also be used to treat wood stocks and leather items like slings, holsters and shoes.

 

[hdwhit]

BSA1 wrote:
Remove the grips and stocks and wash the guns with dish soap and warm water...

I think that's a very good suggestion. Flood waters are almost inevitably going to be contaminated with soil or mud and that's probably going to contain clay fines that will help moisture "cling" to the metal and the dish soap will help remove it.

 

[hdwhit]

hso wrote:
We're told to never use WD40 on firearms...

I have always followed that advice, but I have also assumed it wouldn't apply in extreme situations.

 

[HANDLOADER]

Strip it, hair dryer, ample amounts of oil, reassemble, test fire, live life

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

As black powder shooters know immersing in water is not necessarily bad for guns. As long as they are completely immersed with no air (oxygen) present no rust should form from a week or two of immersion. As others have stated, disassemble, rinse in clean HOT water, dry with soft cloth, hair dryer, or whatever and dip or generously apply something that will lube and protect. I don't think WD40 is a problem as long as you wipe the weapon down and apply some other oil or protectant before reassembling it. I use a number of CLP type products as well as Mobil 1. Feel free to use whatever trips your trigger.

 

[hdwhit]

Steel Horse Rider wrote:
...no rust should form from a week or two of immersion.

That's immersion in clean water.

Immersion in flood water containing sand, clay, petrochemicals, fecal matter, innumerable bacteria (some of which live by digesting metal), naturally occurring nitrates, agricultural chemicals, and the like is an entirely different proposition.

And while I agree with washing with water, a detergent is going to be needed to remove the electrically charged particles that were in the flood water and deposited on the metal, followed by thorough rinsing and liberal use of oil or other preservative.

 

[Walkalong]

Slip 2000 and M-Pro 7 both make a gun cleaner that is a concentrated soap which really does the job. They leave things squeaky clean, so you must oil afterwards. That is how I would go. Disassemble completely, clean thoroughly, oil, reassemble.

 

[22-rimfire]

WD-40 is not a problem unless these are guns you seldom shoot or clean and you leave the WD-40 inside the gun to gel up.

 

[Beach Bum]

Most of us who've run small outboards in salt water have eventually had one go overboard. The main thing to remember is that if the motor (or firearm) is immersed in salt water, keep it there until you have the means and the time to thoroughly flush it with fresh water, then dry it, and give everything several baths in oil. The only thing worse than salt water on machined steel is salt water and oxygen.

It's the journey that comforts me and those that I meet as I pass this way......Goose.... pack leader .

 

[Tirod]

We just returned from a week in the Galveston/Bolivar area. It was pretty close whether the roads would open to get there - arriving from the east side to avoid the interstates was also where the most flooding occurred outside Houston.

It was mostly rain water backing up - not sea water. Irma deposited a lot of rain and it ran off slowly. The terrain is as flat as Kansas with almost no geographical features - High Island is a bump on the skyline, at 38 feet elevation.

Getting to the point, in 2008 Gilchrist suffered a 12 foot storm surge which nearly wiped it out. One of the few homes to survive was built on 14' piers above ground level. It's now a very common sight to see in the peninsula - you can park a large RV or trailer under them with no overhead issues. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=homes+built+in+bolivar+tx&t=ffab&atb=v78-1_b&iax=1&ia=images The one we stayed actually survived Ike.

While it's not impossible, those folks don't plan on their firearms getting soaked in the first place.

A ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We are on a gun forum, how to clean them after a flood seems a bit late in the game when our larger focus should be not being in a flood zone in the first place. However, I do get it - if and when some of us recover our firearms lost in that tragic boating accident, we'd like them to be as pristine as when they hit the drink. From what I read around on the net, they will be, but nobody is saying how they got them looking so good.

As for cleaning one it's no different than any gun that you got caught with in a downpour - complete disassembly, drying and oiling every nook and cranny, then wiping down the excess. I've seen a lot of phosphate finished parts get scraped with dental picks and knife points to loosen the rust, then off to the armorer to turn in. And if you draw the same one back - lo! - there's new dirt and rust in places you know you cleaned. Hmmm.

I'd say the life of a working gun over a 20 year period will do more to damage the finish than a few days in water. Which also goes to - you planned to store them below the local flood line of the last storm? Which, btw, is eventually exceeded by another.

 

[JONWILL]

Read this - https://www.nssf.org/what-to-do-with-firearms-and-ammunition-affected-by-flood-waters/

We're told to never use WD40 on firearms, but it is readily available and effective in displacing water. Just don't leave it at that.

Recommendations are a bit counterintuitive, but rinse off your guns with fresh water. There's a lot more in flood water than just...water. Take them out of their stocks and rinse everything, dunk then in clean water and keep doing it until all the chemicals and fine silt are out. Then spray them with WD40 to push water out of the various nooks and crannies. Get the WD40 off with light oil and then soak them in Kroil. Stocks should air dry. If you can hang them vertically so the air can circulate you'll get the best results. If you have access to a large ultrasonic cleaner you should use that. The ones I've used to clean surplus firearms have a large cleaning solution tank as well as the oil tank. These do a wonderful job at getting in the nooks can crannies of firearms.

Alternately, if you can get enough Ballistol follow the instructions on it, but still get the furniture off the firearms so everything is cleaned and treated.

I learned my lesson the hard way on that. When I was a kid there was no internet just PDU's (Paper Display Units aka books and magazines)

I cleaned a Smith 15 with WD40 and left it that way for quite a period of time. The stuff gunked up on the inside of the cylinder and it wouldn't rotate without massive effort. Never again will I leave it on guns again. Just as a water displacement agent then wipe off and use oil