What To Do With A Wet Luger?
 

I hope the day never comes but what if your lugers get wet or sit in water for some time due to a forced rushed evacuation? I already suggested the rubbermaid container~What if they are submerged for any length of time. Should they remain in water until they can be saved? How do you save a drowned luger? What about wet leather?

Remove the grips and chuck it in a bucket of oil. The luger, not the grips and the holster. :)

Let the grips air dry. Forced drying may crack them.

If the pistol was in the water a short time, it may be ok, but expect major rust issues if it spent a lot of time in the water. Not much can be done, except removal of active rust. Marks will be left and the gun will never return to what it once was.

Come to think of it:
When the grips are removed and the pistol is submerged in an oil bath in a closed container, that should give it good protection against flooding for a while? Even storing it in an air tight (vacuum) enclosure should work?

I use a Foodsaver on a Handi-wrapped gun inside a dampened holster to mold the holster to the gun, but preserving/protecting a gun with the system seems like a very effective approach. It is air and water tight.

Remove the grips. mark on inside on paper tape to match the gun. Store grips in ziplock and store with guns separetly~ Store each in gallon zip lock bags and store in Rubbermade containers. I will store leather seperetly and seal the top with gorilla tape or like!

How about not let them get wet in the first place? I keep mine in tupperware type boxes, they are moisture and waterproof.
They stack neatly inside the gun safe.:)

And my house is 500 feet above sea level. If I ever get my feet wet I expect to see Ol' Noah and his ark. :eek:

There is one Luger inside each of these. :D

Attachment 68279

Is there a chance for condensation to form in those containers, especially in a humid environment? We are really dry out here in the desert, so I don't know much about humid environments except is sweat a lot when in one.
Dave

Good point<Ill seal each in a double zip~lock bag and seal them in the plastic rubbermade. We always have our a/c on, low hummidity! Anything is better than doing nothing! Thank You!!

I suppose whatever ambient moisture is in the air when the lid is sealed would be in there. Toss one of those silica gel packs in with the clean, oiled gun and forget the worries! Just make sure to put the Tupperware someplace it can't float away!

A Just In Case Question For Dave~ What if a leather holster gets soaking wet in fresh water??? I'm asking as it had to be pretty wet in the trenches!!

Dave, Good Point, I'll put it in a high place ie top of wash machine or dryer! Would you stuff them with white cotton socks? Assume for conversation, you have a soaking wet WW1 holster that has been sitting over the weekend in water, what do you suggest? I am asking as a member on our other forum suggested keeping the holster on the top rack of your oven on low heat! I don't know what he means by low heat~ Any truth to this method~ What causes cracking on the leather and can it be remedied? I guess I owe you both a Free Will! Luvya!

Those poor guys in the trenches probably weren't as concerned as we are these days about wet holsters. They probably just dried them off the best they could and didn't care beyond that. They weren't putting out a few hundred dollars to get one like we do. I don't know enough about keeping leather when it gets wet and hope I don't have to experience it. That is a bad plan if I were living in TX now, I know.

The problem is we often ask the question far to late! We are blessed with some of the greatest minds on the subject. Once they are gone unfortunately so are many answers. In Law School we were taught that often the questions are far more important than the answers! I prefer both!

Jerry can set us straight if I'm off base, but I think any time leather gets wet it will at least take on a darker tone, and probably shrink a little bit when it dries. If the entire holster has been soaked, it may dry out to the darker tone in a fairly even fashion. Leather does NOT like heat! Air drying is best. Rubbing pure lanolin repeatedly into a warm holster can make its leather more flexible, but it, too, darkens the leather.

I wouldn't trust one of those Tupperware containers.

Get a vacuum sealer, place the gun and some silica gel packets (dried out) in the bag, flood the bag with dry nitrogen, and quickly vacuum and seal.

You would need an industrial size sealer and most can't afford one~ It is a wonderful suggestion though A tuppware properly sealed and taped will be waterproof and placed on top of a wash machine will stay dry in water placed above the waterline! Its amazing any holsters survived the muddy war! I guess that is why we have more lugers than holsters!

I am sure there were many collector grade guns that got "wet" in all the Harvey flooding. I wonder how many were severely damaged or totally lost? So many heirlooms and irreplaceable valuables affected that we don't hear much about in the news.

Next on the list ERMA~ https://www.accuweather.com/en/weath...he-us/70002598

My thoughts exactly.

If concerned about air moisture I would add a pack of desiccant.

They won't float away inside the gun safe that is inside the safe house. :D

And as I said. At 500 feet above sea level. If I get a flood, it is THE FLOOD.:eek:

Should be no prob here in Florida. Our A/C is always on and I'm surrounded by lugers~ I would individually put them in a ziplock bag as tight as possible~

Mario, we are at least ten feet above sea level and we can flood. Heres are backyard. All that rain doesn't get absorbed even in sand Of highways, parking lots, etc. When the alligators are at my back door its too late! Thank God maybe not this year! What A Mess!

Eric 10 feet is not 500. I live on the top of a hill, It's the highest ground for a few miles around.

Ask Noah, He had to build an Ark! Hah!

Eric, I forgot to mention that Foodsaver replacement bags come on a roll that is basically one big, long bag. Cut to length, the raw stock can make any depth bag you want, which will also be about a foot wide, to fit any pistol or holster. Cut one long enough and you could even seal up your carbine's parts. Even a 98K! (That leather carbine carrier Jerry made you might be the exception.)

A guaranteed air and water tight seal. If one should develop a leak, it's easily detectable because the plastic becomes un-scrunched from whatever it was sealing inside. And, of course, the setup is perfect for storing or freezing food on its days off from Luger protection!

That would be the ultimate!!! TKS

Kriegsmarine P08s' on the bottom of the Atlantic are beyond resurrection, just saying.

On a positive note, the greatest majority of flooding is not salt water. The salt water is almost instantly destructive.
A collertor friend of mine was evacuated from Galveston during Ike several years ago. Lost about 40 years of collection.

Mark

Well thats sobering! TKS

Debbys daughter has a food saver~Just need to pick up the rolls!

eBay or Amazon

I had many a wet soaking weapon in VN.
Just dried them and applied oil.
I had a near new tan .45 holster that got darkened after being submerged a few time.
You can bet just about any military weapon in history got drenched more than once.
Dry and oil. Not much else to do as it will happen again if you are in the field.
I would certainty inspect any flooded pieces and clean and oil them as soon as possible.
Friend got some pieces messed up in Katrina, cosmetically at least.

Don't forgey the leather ie Test Luger holster, 2 artillery, one navy, one Kriegoff, one police, 4 imperials and 21 lugers. Debbie is a amazon next day addict! Jerry thank you for your suggestion~ Thank God the carbine comes in 2 pieces!! Eric

I would be inclined to first submerge dampened guns in WD40 as it is specifically intended for water displacement.
If you ever read Elmer Keith's "Hell, I Was There" he talks about all the guns that were destroyed in a house fire, double rifles, etc. The sad part was that they weren't actually destroyed in the fire, but were caused to corrode due to the fire-retardant used to put the fire out.
dju

Having cleaned and restored many guns over the years that have been fire and/or water damaged I can say this: If it were me, and I had to protect my guns from water, I would use the foodsaver method. First I would hose them down with my favorite lube, stick them in the bag, and seal it up tight. Then I would stick that bag in another, and seal it up tight. I don't think one bag is sufficient, as it would be very easy for the bag to become compromised and leak. Once water gets in, it won't evaporate, it just stays in the bag. We've all seen guns that have been left in a wet holster or rug, and it is very bad. Zip lock bags will leak. Tupperware will leak. Tape is insufficient to seal against moisture. Much of the damage we see from smoke in fire damaged guns is not from any fire retardant, but is from the corrosive smoke from all the burning plastic in your home, such as the carpet, mixed with the water they spray on the fire, which turns into some kind of acidic steam, that will remove the blue pretty quickly. If your guns actually get exposed to open flame, you are probably out of luck. Some heat and smoke is survivable, but it's hard to protect against. Remember, your safe is fire resistant, not fire PROOF. But a good fire resistant safe may protect your guns long enough for the fire dept. to get there.

It seem easier to move to Jerrys!