Question about gun storage

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?

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People had firearms in humid places before Mr Carrier brought us air conditioning. Humidity affects wood. For the rest I’d use this.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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%).

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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.

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