Gun storage humidity

A

Aaron1100us

New member
I don't have a nice big safe, just one of those metal 10 gun cabinets. The begining of the year, I bought one of those rechargeable desicant dehumidifiers that have the silica gel in them. I figured that was good enough. I want to take care of my firearms the best I can. Two weeks ago, I bought a wireless hygrometer to check the humidity. Well, indoors was 55% so was inside the safe. Hmm. So I picked up one of those 18 watt lockdown dehumidifiers. Last I checked, humidity was down 4% from the indoor humidity. What is a good level to have? I was thinking 5-10%. Maybe thats not possible?

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Not sure I totally understand your question. Are you asking if 5-10% humidity is something to aim for? If so, then no. That's way drier than necessary, and might actually cause small cracks to form in wood stocks on occasion (although that's not a given). I typically keep my gun safe at around 45-50%, and even that's probably drier than it needs to be. I've never seen any rust form on any of my firearms the past 20 years or so.
 
I run one of those plain old room de-humidifiers in the room with my guns (actually move it around the basement regularly to keep it all dry). It will knock 65% humidity down to 45% in no time. Driving lower (towards 40 where I sometimes run) takes a lot longer. It's amazing how much water these things take out of the air!

De-humidifying the whole space keeps everything happy (including my windows :) ).
 
I use both types of the dehumidifiers you have in my similar sized cabinet, haven't had a problem, large silica gel on shelves with handguns, Goldenrod at bottom of cabinet -- heat rises, no problems in 20 years. Wipe everything down with a gun oil rag a couple times a years. Very humid where I live during summer.
 
Ok, thanks. No problems with rust recently. Before two years ago, all I had was one Glock, a cheap Savage .22 and two antique .22's. The Savage .22 was in the basement and got rusty sitting in a hard case. The Glock was fine. Then two years ago, I bought the metal gun cabinet and started buying more guns. I want them to last forever. Humidity is 48% right now. Sounds like that is good. I guess too dry would dry the wood out, didn't think of that. Thanks, I feel better now:)

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