How long can you go without wiping down a blued gun

Kinda depends on you're skin Ph and the local humidity. A few hours, a few days... no hard, fast rule here.

C
 
After I handle then, I wipe them down before putting them away. Like Creeper said, there is no hard and fast rules though.
 
Do not wait. Wipe it down with an oily rag as soon as possible. Keep an oily rag in your gun case/pouch/rug. Even if your sweaty hands don't seem very corrosive other people's may be. I used to have to wipe down all of the guns on 3 tables at gun shows I worked at where people would walk up all day and handle them. Some people sweat acid I swear. Some people's sweat WILL rust and pit even stainless steel. I didn't believe this until I saw it. Also you never know what they were eating/handling before they put their fingerprints on your gun. Don't wait. Be anal about it if you value your blued gun's finish. A good product for this is Birchwood Casey's Sheath. It will neutralize the acid in your fingerprints and really does a great job. We used it in the shop for years. But almost any gun oil will do.
 
I've seen what happens, so I keep one clean rag with oil on it and wipe mine down after every handling. If not used in quite a while, I'll take a look for any signs of rust, and if I see any or not, I wipe it down when putting it back away.
 
I wax all of my blued guns (Johnson's Paste Wax), and reapply when I see any smudging. I generally don't use oil on blued finishes. I will use WD-40 in a pinch on a blued gun if wax or gun oil is not available, or if a blued gun/rifle got wet - more as a water repellant.

I too have seen what an oily/sweaty finger print can do if left on a blued finish, and it's ugly!
 
I wipe them down anytime I handle them. I once had a shotgun that turned red overnight. Was dove hunting on the deer lease and went out the second day and noticed the top of the receiver was red. Wiped it off with an oily rag, no harm done. Wipe it down every day after the hunt or trip to the range.
Note that a drop of blood will really do a number in a hurry, had that happen on a high end air rifle.
 
After I handle then, I wipe them down before putting them away.

Yep... it's such an automatic habit that I wipe down SS guns after I handle them.
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Same here, maybe even worse: I give a swipe of an oily rag to plastic surfaces. Good habits can be as hard as bad habits to break. :)
 
This reply is directed to Pete2:
Had the same thing happen to me and was not expected based on the supposedly robust type of finish on my gun. I came out of the woods one evening, put the gun away, then the next morning the receiver was brown.
I scrambled to find a drop of waste oil at camp and toilet paper. After that I added an oil rag to my box to take on hunting trips.
 
I like to dry fire my guns a lot with snap caps. I can go a couple of days without wiping a blue gun down. I haven't pushed it beyond that, but my hands don't seem particularly corrosive. With nickel or stainless I have nothing to worry about. Of course, whenever I shoot them I clean them and wipe them well regardless of finish.
 
An hour or two. I have magic sweat, and, apparently, alot of it. If I shove a blue gun in my waistband, in the summer, it will have surface rust in two hours or less, no matter how oiled it is.

All my stainless guns have rust under the grips even though I take the grips off, brush all the rust off and coat everything with Boeshield once a month or so.

Stainless slide? Maybe a week. If I carry my P239 in my waistband, in a holster, I will find rust inside the barrel in a couple days.

Its aggravating as hell. I rust through hard chrome.

I just assume I have a very efficient system that purges toxins out of every pore in my body.
 
Even if I don't get a chance to do a complete cleaning after a shooting session, they get wiped down before they leave the range. Also after each time I handle them for any reason. Just the way I've always done it. Blued, stainless, parkerized, painted, doesn't matter.
 
All mine get wiped down after use, regardless if it's metal, plastic or even the wood/plastic stocks. Just keeps the firearms cleaner and more a habit then anything after sixty years of shooting....................:D
 
I'm spoiled from living in very dry climates for years. Being raised in high humidity country, it was a given that any gun would be wiped down regulalrly. After living in N Az for years, then the northern Rockies, I can't remember when I wiped a gun down other than drying one after being in the rain, and oiling one that showed a couple freckles of rust after not being wiped in months of constant use. When my carry rifles are carried in the rain and snow, they get dried off with a dry paper towl or rag, or shirt sleeve, and that's often it. If they get a freckle anywhere, when I notice it, I wipe them with an oily rag. That may happen once or twice a year.

When I was living out in the hills in Az, (literally living out, not sleeping in a house and going out in the daytime) I've gone a year or more between actual cleanings with my Smith 29, it being carried daily, and shot fairly often. It was dusted off with a toothbrush every couple months, and brushed under the extractor star now and then, but that was about it. No major problems other than not much blue left, and a few rust speckles from rain and snow. No functional issues whatsoever. The freckles don't bother me that much. I regret that they happen, but not enough to change my habits.

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Wet Winchester, hunting in the rain.

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