How do i stop surface rust on reloading equipment

T

Travis_V

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My reloading bench stays in the garage where it is not climate controlled. That being said i have found that my Hornady powder measure is getting covered in surface rust along with the inserts for the case activated powder drop. what are somethings that i can do to stop this? currently i am spraying remoil on a old shirt and wiping them down when i am done.

also is it safe to store powder and primers in the garage?
 
I have found rem oil to be almost useless at stopping rust for any length of time. I've started using Hornady one shot Tap-hd extreme on all my blued guns and anything else that's exposed (like padlocks). Seems to do a great job at protection and lubrication.

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As far as primers and powder, I would think you would want those items in a controlled atmosphere, I know the powder is in a sealed container but are the primers? Do you want them exposed to all that condensation?
 
When I was a machinist we always used WD40 from a gallon can, (not the aerosol spray), to wipe down everything out of the degreasing tank as well as freshly cut surfaces. WD40 leaves a protective residue that makes it unsuitable for some applications, but it is good protection against rust.
 
Travis I have my setup in a unfinished basement that got flooded badly a couple years ago. I had sprayed my LNL and powder measure with One Shot and had just a very small amount of surface rust on the sides of the rotor which wiped off very easily. I keep it sprayed with it and have had no rust issues.
 
I fight with rust on everything iron here. I'm a few hundred feet from the Atlantic Ocean, a seawater canal in my back yard, and a few hundred yards from the Florida Bay. EVERYTHING here rust! Things in the house all rust - lamps, ceiling fans, refrigerators, everything.

My reloading equipment gets sprayed with Break Free CLP. My boat gets sprayed with Corrosion Block by Lear Chemical. It holds up great on my boat that is sits in the water all the time. I may start coating my dies and equipment with that.
 
Nothing is going to completely stop rust in uncontrolled climate. You'll just slow it down with any kind of oil. Grease works better on parts that don't move anyway. Oil, of any kind, will run off. There are some paints that'll work too.
Worst of it is the insides of your dies will require cleaning every time you use 'em.
Your best option, if it's possible, is to get out of the garage. Plan 'B' would be to insulate the garage. Rigid foam insulation is reasonably priced and is easy to put up. You'll need to do something with the floor too.
"...WD40 from a gallon can..." Is the same thing but cheaper than in the spray can.
 
"...WD40 from a gallon can..." Is the same thing but cheaper than in the spray can.
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And wiping it on with a rag doesn't get the spray all over. I still have the can I bought in 1989! About 1/3 left in it.
 
The problem with most gun oils is corrosion resistance isn't high on their property list. They expect to be replaced all the time. All the things that are specific to corrosion inhibition are usually tacky on the surface after they've been there for awhile.

In a recent thread it was pointed out that lubricants for food processing equipment have to goods adhesion, corrosion resistance, and remain a good lubricant (not get tacky). They also have to be non-toxic and not add undesirable odors to things. The only problem is you sometimes have to buy it in quantities larger than you may be interested in, though I seem to recall spray can size quantities at Farm & Fleet and other stores catering to farm maintenance and activities.

I searched around and found air tool oil typically has those properties and is available at big box home repair stores. It has moisture emulsifiers like you mix with water to make a non-rusting cutting fluids (Kool-Mist and others). It's always having to protect air tools from water in compressed air that condenses inside the tool as the air expands and drops in temperature.
 
Thanks for all the quick responses guys! I guess I will just keep my primers and powders inside the house. As for my bench unfortunately I have to keep it in the garage. So I will look into the food Service lubricants and the air tools one. I can get both pretty easily.
 
You'll want to remove existing rust, too, to help stop the spread. You can loosen it well with Gunzilla by wetting the parts with it and letting it sit for at least a day. I've submerged rusty parts in it and let it sit a couple of months and returned to find the rust had fallen off the part to the bottom of the jar.
 
also is it safe to store powder and primers in the garage?
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I guess that depends on where your garage is? One enemy of powder is heat and powder begins to deteriorate the day it is manufactured. Heat expedites the process and powder left open container will absorb moisture, it is hydroscopic. Our friends at SAAMI wrote an entire little white paper on the subject which can be found here. If we cut it down smokeless rifle or pistol powder should be stored in a cool dry location. If your garage is in Phoenix, AZ. and not temperature controlled your powder will likely have a shorter life than if you live in Lemongrove, CA with an average temperature of 70 degrees F.
Properly stored powder will last for decades as will primers. Just as long as any deterioration does not come in light of its intended use.

Ron
 
Once cleaned, EEZox, Boeshield, Johnson's paste wax, WD-40 (look up the tests), RIG grease and similar will keep the rust away.
 
Where do you live as that would help with what to use? If you are on the coast then you will need something different than if you are in the desert. Where I'm at it is usually low humidity unless we get flooded from the weird storms we get now in the spring after the snow melts. Hornady One Shot works very well where I'm at but maybe not so good in the rust zones.
 
I spray my dies and powder measure with Mpro7 which is a pretty good rust preventative. It dries without being sticky which is nice too. WD40 is oily so powder, primer dirt and brass shavings cling to it.
After wiping my dies with Mpro7 I store them in a plastic ammo box.
 
uncontrolled environment and storage of primers

I must be holding my mouth just right or something, but I have some Rem and CCI primers which have been stored in my JAX, FL garage (located within 175 feet of a saltwater marsh) since April 1989, and have never had a FTF attributable to these old primers. Before that they were stored in my garage in Davie FL.

I have with intent tried to drown primers in water and they still fire. I did manage to get some green residue to finally seep out of some primers but only after agitating them in hot water and 409 for a good bit. And most of these still popped under a hammer.

I keep seeing folks warning about the climate controlled storage of primers, but seriously question the requirement. For my dime I will continue to believe "not storing my primers n powder under the direct Florida sun" to be more than adequate.

As for surface rust protection, a lot of Birchwood Barricade and Hoppe's (yellow) Wax Gun Cloths. I never, ever put anything away without a good wipe down with those waxy gun cloths.
 
Birchwood Casey/ Barricade.
If it can keep gun bore's barrels & un-blued receivers from rusting no doubt it would keep bare metal seen in reloading equipment from rusting too.
 
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