Weapons Storage Concerns
by Ted A. Sames

Last night, we had dinner with a former deputy and co-worker. After dinner, he took out his gun collection and began to show me what he had acquired for many years. He took out each handgun and rifle and each one had its barrel plugged with a mixture of wax and paper, wrapped in newspaper and then encased in a vinyl case. Each weapon he used as a deputy and each heirloom his father gave him were encrusted with rust. The guns were stored like this for about 1 year. One little-used pre-1964 Winchester 94 was so rusted that the lever would not operate fully. What a shame!

When storing weapons: Lube well with mil-spec lubricant (not WD-40) and allow air circulation around the weapons. Only encase a weapon when transporting it to the range. Clean and lube each weapon after firing at the range. While in storage, wipe down the weapon with an oily rag inside and out…it takes only 2 minutes per weapon. Never—ever…NEVER plug barrels even if your grandfather told you to do it that way. Did I mention not to use WD-40? The question came up: Never wash your rifle or pistol in the shower like you were told in the Marine Corps. You can actually ruin a fine weapon from over-zealous cleaning…esp with stainless steel bore brushes. Armalite has an excellent article on that subject in their Tech Tips:

http://www.armalite.com/images/Tech%20Notes%5CTech%20Note%2029,%20Rifle%20Cleaning,%2099.04.pdf

https://firearmusernetwork.com/moron-cleaning-guns-maintain/

https://firearmusernetwork.com/cleaning-guns/

Don’t lube your cartridges with WD-40 like your grandfather showed you…as my father showed me to do. Some Japanese and English machineguns required this…you don’t own a Japanese machinegun so don’t do it. My dad used a Japanese MG in World War II because theirs were better than ours but that’s another story.

I was so upset that my stomach cramped up and finally went to bed at 4 AM.

I have attached a Weapons Maintenance Sheet for your review.