Common Firearm Diagnosis Gunsmiths See After Winter Storage 

This month, I would like to talk about how to store your firearms during the winter months. In my years of being a gunsmith, I see more problems with firearms that have been put away in safes and gun cabinets during the holidays than at any other time. Why is that? We all get busy. When hunting season is winding down, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s activities normally fill up many of your evenings and weekends. Between the many days of shopping, attending office parties, and family events, we rarely have time to concentrate on anything else. We think of our firearms at times and say to ourselves that we will get to them as soon as we can. Then all of a sudden, when we are almost to spring, we remember that we still have not taken the time to properly clean and store all our gear from the past hunting season. We have all done it. We start pulling out smelly camo to wash, find a few things with surface rust on them, and a moldy snack we packed ourselves, all smushed and lying at the bottom. And then, we realize we never took our rifle out of its case when we set it in the safe. As we are frantically unzipping the case, we are praying nothing has happened to our deer rifle that we have taken hunting for years. That lucky rifle that has never let us down. To our horror, it is covered in rust. Pieces of fabric from the case are sticking to the barrel. The rounds we tossed in the case with the gun have turned a green hue. What have we done? How could we have done this to the one rifle that has never let us down. The rifle that harvested Maximus, (The name of the buck hanging on the wall), the most perfect buck you have ever seen or will ever see.  

I am sure that most hunters, no matter what they hunt, can relate to the story above. We can all get busy and forget to properly store our firearms for winter. Many think that the humidity is low in the winter, so they do not need to worry about corrosion. Other gun owners think if they coat their rifles in WD40 we they stick them in the safe, that the firearm will be just fine we they get around to cleaning it in the spring. Nothing is further than the truth. I am not trying to give WD40 a bad name. It is a good product, but not the best for firearms.  

Proper Storage Best Practices 

As a gunsmith, I try to help my customers to properly store their firearms through all seasons, but especially after fall/winter hunting seasons. Your customers can do simple things to keep their firearms in good working condition. 

• Unload them (Should be a no-brainer), but I get firearms every year, with ammo, still in the magazines. Muzzleloaders are the worst. And breech plugs are a pain to break loose 

• Take the firearms out of their soft cases, hard cases, and moisture-resistant cases. Firearms that are taken from the cold to warm will condensate. Then they will rust. 

• Do a quick wipe down with a good anti-rust GUN oil. 

• Run a couple of patches through the barrel to make sure it is clean and dry.  

If you take these steps, you will keep your firearms from 90% of the damage that can be caused by not storing them correctly. And when March or April comes around and you have the time to designate to your firearms, you can do a more complete job of cleaning as well as lubricating your trusty hunting pieces. This should remind you about the other firearms you have in your safe or gun cabinet. Look at them as well. Wipe them down and inspect them. This is the time to get the upgrades you got as Christmas gifts installed. If you want a more detailed service, this is the time to drop it off with your gunsmith. Dropping your hunting rifle off a month before deer season to your gunsmith is not a good idea. That time of year is a very busy time for gunsmiths. Do not risk missing the opening day of your hunting season because you left repairing your favorite gun too late in the season. 

The Other 10%

So, what about the other ten percent of firearms? These firearms are special case pieces. If you have customers that are waterfowl hunters, hunt a lot in the snow, or have been hunting in very inclement weather, more care is needed before you store everything away and wait for the next season. Any firearm that has been in these conditions needs additional cleaning to be thoroughly taken care of. Stuffing them in the safe is a bad idea. What do I mean by “being thoroughly taken care of”? These firearms need to be taken apart as far as you are comfortable with. If you are not comfortable with a detailed takedown of the firearm, get it to a gunsmith so they can do a complete disassembly. The firearms that have been used in those harsh environments need to be gone through completely. Firing pins and springs need to be cleaned and lubricated the proper way. Magazine tubes and springs need be removed and condensation may need to be taken care of. In many cases I have removed scopes, scope rings, and bases to repair the damage. Rust will start and start eating away at your firearms and you may not even be able to see it till it is too late. You may think that there is a lot to do on a firearm, but I have seen many very expensive rifles come into my shop with rusty trigger assemblies and bolts that were packed full of rust. That rust could have started years before. At the point you start to notice it, it is probably too late, and you may need to install new parts.

Other Prevention Blogs

There are other preventative measures you can take to preserve your firearms and I have written about them in past blogs. Educate yourself and your customers.  

Semper Fi! 

Written by: David Johnson, Leatherneck Gunsmithing