safe storage
 

Have read that keeping your Luger,or any pistol for that matter in its holster is not a good idea,
What’s the consensus of the best way to keep one safe not only from the obvious thing theft,children etc. but also from the environment. Also long guns.
Gun safe, lockbox etc.?

In a safe, in a controlled environment with dehumidifier in the safe. JMHO.

There are many threads with varying opinions around "storage", a search will find scores of opinions. :)

The OP lives in Southern Az. and really has no need for a dehumidifier, unless he is cooling his house with a swamp (evaporative) cooler. I also live in So. Az, and have experienced no problems with rust, even during the "monsoon" season. Your leather goods may well need a bit of care in order not to dry out too badly.

I use a gun safe for my firearms, and have been quite happy with the results. I have built racks in the safe for handguns, and the guns are open in the safe....not in any case or box.

I think we worry too much over gun storage. All my firearms are stored in an open room with a liberal coat of light oil inside and out. They have been stored this way in several States and even humidity Washington DC. Just keep them out of holsters/gun cases etc. Has worked for me for 60 years+. [Bill

The easiest way to ensure their safety is to just check them every month or so and lightly oil as needed. Gun cleaning/inspection day is one of my favorite days of the month!

speaking of! Evidently it’s not a good idea to be leaving handguns in a holster,what’s the reasoning behind this? Damage to the finish is the only thing that sounds plausible.

Leather is tanned with and still contains "chemicals" which can form corrosive compounds when combined with moisture and are in contact with metal(i.e. a pistol).

Leather can retain moisture. Also leather contains tannic acid. I have seen several firearms ruined by cases and holsters. The last was a once beautiful 1902 luger carbine stored in it's original case. Sad.

Answers my question thx.👍🏻

I keep mine on a cold, wet cement floor by year made

Picture/photo?

Ed's off his meds again.

Isn't that the only kind of floor there is in Washington state?:cheers:

Just make sure you flip them over every now and then so you get an even patina. :p

In Florida where a/c is always on, I keep them racked up!

I can confirm that... I just spent a week in Seattle. I had hoped to see Ed while I was there, but he lived 3 hours away... :(

Hey Ed,
I'm sure you meant a concrete floor and not a cement floor.

Ragnar,
I like a coating of RIG grease and putting them in bore stores.

Tom

+1 on the bore stores, plus I use a thin coat of CLP or Rem oil.

Rem oil....Remington?

Yes, rem as in Remington. That stuff does everything but clean the bore. I like to use Hoppes 9 to clean the bore then use Remoil for most everything else on all my firearms. It’s a bit like duct tape in applications to gun maintenance. I’m sure it could work in a pinch as a bore cleaner but I’m perfectly happy and well served with my current methods of bore store plus rem oil on my Lugers with a, at the minimum, monthly inspection for rust and the like.

Mine’s the Model 1900 with the strange side plate and am curious as to cleaning it properly. Have Hoppes no.9 and the Remington oil already and seeing as this Luger is on the far side of 100 years old and with a rather pitted barrel would I be remiss if I was to attach a brass brush of the appropriate barrel size to say a battery powered screw driver and with Hoppes no.9 gently use it to clean the
Barrel? Or would that be a really dumb noob idea lol

You can clean things by hand. No need for the aggressive action of a power tool.

Besides, you don't rotate a bore brush while cleaning. You push it all the way through, and then draw it all the way out of the bore. You never reverse a bore brush while it is inside a barrel.

The barrel steel of a firearm is probably softer than you think it is, and you can do real damage with even bronze and brass tools if you do things wrong.

I personally use new formula Hoppes No. 9 to clean my firearm bores, and finish things off using Remington spray gun oil, then store things inside home made bore-stores (silicon impregnated sleeves).

Do not spray silicone directly onto the metal of a firearm. It's almost impossible to remove.

Otis makes videos describing how to use their products to clean firearms. They may prove helpful.

Here's an example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fQ0tfU8tyk

I think that more damage is sometimes done to bores and rifling by improper cleaning than by actually firing of the gun.

Sooo’ dumb idea! but then I haven’t had to clean a firearm in 50 years so thanks for the refresher course!!

This topic has been dealt a number of times.
FWIK the best way to preserve any gun is to leave it clean and properly lubed in a dry safe, period.
I just put a liberal coating of BALLISTOL inside and out my collectibles, then I wipe them.
I give them a good cleaning two or three times a year, and I NEVER leave any of them stored in holsters or cases.
This has worked for me for 40+ years.

I have actually done what you're describe, but only in the chambers of really cruddy barrels. It won't do you any good in the rifling anyway, most of the crud is normally in the grooves and you won't be hitting much of it with a rotating brush. Back and forth together with plenty of bore cleaner is the only way to get the rifling clean. If it's really bad, you can soak it in penetrating oil for a few days, this tends to loosen the deposits and make the cleaning easier. Still, there's no substitute for good, ol' elbow grease.

Sooo,field stripping and soaking the barrel and reciever in Hoppes bore cleaner for a couple of days should work as well?

No, Bore cleaner will corrode the finish.

I’m learnin’ I’m learnin’!!

For really dirty guns I like to soak in a penetrating oil like Kroil, WD-40 or similar, and for general cleaning you can dunk the gun in kerosene. You can also mix up a batch of "Ed's Red" ( https://www.frfrogspad.com/homemade.htm ), many say that this is the very best gun cleaner. There's a lot of fantastic, space age products on the market and some may be more effective, but a gallon of WD-40 is $20, a gallon of kerosene is $9, and you can buy it at any hardware store. ;)

In the past, I have owned some barrels with really nasty bores. What I do is plug one end of the barrel, set it upright(plug to bottom, and fill the bore with Hoppe's #9 and let it sit for a few days. Hoppe's #9 contains kerosene, and has worked wonders for many decades.

I have done kind of the same with Kroil: Wet the bore good, wet it again the next day and then let it sit for another few days. The longer it sits, the better. Rinse and repeat as necessary.

I had an SVT-40 with an extremely nasty bore, no matter how hard I scrubbed it was still rough so I wrote it off as a hopeless case. Then somebody suggested that I spray some Kroil in it, so I did that, put up the rifle and forgot all about it. A few weeks later a friend comes buy and wants to buy it, so I sold it at a "bad bore price". A few days later he texted me and said that the crud wiped right out, the bore was a little corroded but the rifling was fine. :banghead:

I keep an empty olive bottle around that I fill with #9 for 911 barrels, and other removable barrels that are really nasty. Let them sit for a week or so, and my right arm/wrist thanks me. :)

thanks for all the suggestion’s gentlemen!