Long term storage

B

Bill Barrett

New member
I have several handguns I wish to put away for about 5 years while I am in NY. I will buy others to shoot here, but these are handguns bought at private sale or several years ago I will store out of state. To make them acceptable here I would have to take them to an FFL where they are stored, Pay an FFL fee and have them shipped to an FFL here and pay another fee. All told about $75 per handgun.

How should I prepare them for storage? I have an old locking steel footlocker (WWII era medical supplies storage footlocker) I will secure them in. They will live with a relative.
 
Good ole' cosmoline will work. But I might opt for some of the more modern methods like the silica paks offered by Brownells. www.brownells.com. They have some that have to be attended to about every 6 months but between that and a good coat of oil I believe your guns would never know you left. George
 
What I have done in the past for long term stoarage of hand guns (mostly 1911s), I cleaned them well and made sure there were no fingerprints on the metal, lubed them up and placed them in clean white socks. I then sprayed the socks with G-86 (I think) gun oil and placed them in .50 cal ammo cans. (2 1911's fit well in one layer in the can) I then tossed in several, a good handfull, of the rust prevenative chips that can be found at Midway's and Brownell's sites as well as a silica gel pack or two. The .50 cans I have all have the rubber seal around the can lid so the can is well sealed. No rust yet on any of the 1911's stored that way for me.

YMMV, NWEI, NVIAS, VWP, CCBS, LS/MFT and TttttAF.
 
A friend of mine was sent to Saudi Aribia for 5 years. He put on a pair of clean cotton gloves, and coated his guns with CLP Breakfree. The gloves prevented leaving fingerprints.
He then sealed them in vapor paper bags. I think he got them from Brownell's. Bianchi Holster Co. also sold these. The envelope gives off a rust preventing vapor that pretty well precludes any rust or corrosion, and are rated for 10 years????.

These vapor barrier bags are how the military does storage these days.
 
I'd also remove the grips and store them separately, especially if they're wood. One thing about desiccant, if the container is truly sealed, it should be good for years, and not require periodic service.
 
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