Most of my firearms are staged and stored in my home or vehicle.
I’d like to store a rifle or shotgun in my garage, but I’m not sure if this will cause the gun to degrade over time. I live in Atlanta where the summers are really humid and muggy. Is it ok to store an AR-15 or 12g. Shotgun in my garage in this environment?
People had firearms in humid places before Mr Carrier brought us air conditioning. Humidity affects wood. For the rest I’d use this.
Great post. Imagine you’ll get quite a few responses.
“Space Cadet” here, but remember and write down, in code, which if any are loaded, which if any are racked/chambered, inform a trusted loved-one, in case they have access or should you become incapacitated.
Clean and inspect often.
On these pages, I hear a lot about, cleaning, oiling. In your case, maybe consider balance of container which limits dust getting thru.
When in storage, I use a lot of those mini bags of anti humidity (Silica Desiccant), rotate em out at least yearly, can buy, but I find em free in most over the counter pill jars, and after I purchase new shoes (in the box). Beware of nesting insects when in storage, if in rural areas,
I’ve been using a third layer of treatment, wax/protectant; but I personally only wipe it on “all” external parts, wood & steel. I’ll try to copy a sample here. Jar lasts a very long time, my jar’s still 75% full. Always close lid fast, tight; I zip lock bag my jar so not dry out, pop in a tiny anti humid bag in the zip lock bag.
As they say, leather will attract and build moisture, rust onto a firearm. Once I accidentally left a stainless in a leather holster for a month. I then noticed a brown liquid building on 4 spots, but all I had to do, was wipe it off with a rag. It was the wax which created a shield/barrier, as the build up could not stick to the steel frame.
Stored another “loaded (copper)”, in a non-leather case; Inspected it after a month, it was clean, but the shell casings (brass), had grown green patina. So I cleaned the ammo, and a quick cleaning of the “arm”.
I use XL sized patches to apply – to minimize lint.
Renaissance Wax Rust Preventative and Gun Stock Polish
I would not be afraid to store an AR in a garage in Atlanta so long as it was cleaned and well lubed/protected prior to being put there. It will be fine. I’d worry more about the security of a garage.
I live in So FL, so there is humidity, and some amount of salt in the air(10-15 mi from the ocean). Some electronic items I left in the garage, went dead after about a year. Some plastic items degraded and started to crumble. I cannot tell if humidity did the damage, or humidity+salt.
Eight years in Hawaii, I’ve seen salt and humidity disintegrate a car in less than 8 years!
Make a monthly schedule of cleaning and lubrication. Always know what conditions every staged weapon is in. So I don’t screwup all handguns, condition 1 all rifles condition 2. No matter what location they’re in.
I don’t advocate keeping any weapons in the car unattended. All around the house, no problem!
My wife asked me why I don’t have a dehumidifier on our gun safe, seems one of her friend has one. We live in Utah where humidity isn’t a real factor, her friend lives in Louisiana where humidity matters. I do have desiccant packs in my storages areas but more for a feel good than actual effectiveness.
A “golden rod” isn’t a dehumidifier. It’s simply a heater.
Been using one of these for several months now. Basically a desiccant with a heater for drying it out. Desiccant pack “recharges” in under two hours. I keeps the humidity in my safe around 25-30% compared to ambient humidity in the room (which I try to keep below 50%).
Same here in Northern AZ. Our problem is not enough humidity. Can’t walk around the house without building up a static charge and zapping everything you touch. At least until the monsoon season kicks late June - early September.