Air Rifle Care

[Zoo]

Being the rainy season and all, my two rifles (HW77,Diana 54) have started picking up some spots of rust, especially on the underlever, sidelevers where I grip for cocking. Also a faulty AC thermostat is causing my room to freeze so much that I find condensation on my guns inside their covers!! This too is aggravating the problem.

I wanted to hear from other people out here what sort of care do you take after shooting your guns regularly and especially in the monsoons. I have a can of WD40(bought for my bike) and some vaseline(petroleum jelly). Should I just slather on the vaseline or is there something better?

Thanks in advance for your tips!!

[OverUnderPump]

Hi Zoo,

Begin by cleaning your rifles to remove any visible rust. Rub it down to a smooth reddish brown stain, then clean it up. You can also use 0000 or 000 grade wool for this. I'd be a bit more concerned about the insides of the barrel though, try some bore solvent or hot water based cleaning for the inside of the barrel. Try and see if you can get some Hoppes #9 and use it in place of WD40. Once cleaned up, you'd need to reblue the metal parts again. Check the relevant threads on the forum pertaining to rebluing.
Post rebluing you can coat the metal parts on the outside with a thin layer of gun oil for storage. Always keep a (gun-oil soaked) rag handy when you are carrying the gun. So that post use/handling you can recoat the spots you touched, bearing in mind that the spots we touch get coated with our fingerprints, which may cause rust. Wiping them down would prevent the same.

For the long term ,go with a gun cabinet. A portable dehumidifier should take care of the excess moisture and your guns will love you for it.

regards

OUP

[MoA]

I dont have any airguns. But in my gun cabinet, I do use dehumidfier sachets that I change every three months. These can generally be bought from hardware stores, and do a good jub of controlling humidity for the guns, powders and ammo.

[kanwar76]

try this http://tiny.cc/ioirq

[Zoo]

Thanks OverunderPump. Quite comprehensive. Have youtried doing any rebluing yourself? Is it easy? and the end results ? i don't want to botch up something further. What exactly is gun oil and in the indian context what can be substituted for it?

@MOA. I already use silica gel pouchs in my cases but I think I have to change them, is it the same thing your talking about?

@Kanwar, have you tried this product?

A gun cabinet is on my list but will take a year, when I get my own place.

[fantumfan2003]

How bad is the rust ? I can help you depending on where you live in Mombai.

As for prevention. I apply thick oil on hard to reach parts and those hidden by the wood, with cotton bud or small rag in tweezers. AFTER EVERY USE I (and we all) wipe the metal with an oiled rag. I use the same thick oil.
Seems you have not been using them much. Frankly I am hyper paranoid about rust on my gun.

M.

Being the rainy season and all, my two rifles (HW77,Diana 54) have started picking up some spots of rust, especially on the underlever, sidelevers where I grip for cocking. Also a faulty AC thermostat is causing my room to freeze so much that I find condensation on my guns inside their covers!! This too is aggravating the problem.

I wanted to hear from other people out here what sort of care do you take after shooting your guns regularly and especially in the monsoons. I have a can of WD40(bought for my bike) and some vaseline(petroleum jelly). Should I just slather on the vaseline or is there something better?

Thanks in advance for your tips!!

[Zoo]

Hi Fantumfan2003. I'm in Bandra, right opposite the BIggest Salt Spray Chamber, the Arabian Sea. Its not a lot of rust but enough to worry me. The HW77 is old so I dont mind but the Diana 54 is about 7 months so it affects me.
What kind of thick oil are you using? And yes your correct, i dont use any rags, never have. Just shoot and scoot! Paying for my laxity now, i guess.

If you can let me know the type of oil it would be great.
Question to all you oilers, doesnt the oil then spread from the barrel and parts to the stock and then to clothes and make it all slippery?

[Lucky Luke]

@ Zoo

There is a Birchwood Casey on sale by vkjalan.
Seems to me it would be what you are looking for.

[Zoo]

Cleaned both my guns today. Lots of oil and 00 grade steel wool. Rust came off easy. Oiled them with sewing machine oil. Will check next week to see whether the rust is back or not.

Thanks everyone who contributed on this thread.