Preventing Rust on Guns or Tools Stored Underground

Notice also the "Mono Vault" burial tube shown in the second link. (Looks like an elongated bear-proof food container.)

You could also wrap in some rust inhibitor paper before you seal into the bag.

GA....that ProTecht bag works great!

If this is a long term storage DO NOT use a plastic box! Use only metal. All plastics allow moisture to permeate the material. Look at moisture vapor transmission rates of plastics on Matweb or other materials websites. Use only metal. Then then wrap in Volatile Corrosion Inhibitor VCI Paper then the gun bag.

I consider my gun safe adequate protection, even with 3 small boys in the house, and the thought of burying my guns leaves me unsettled.

Good luck.

All plastics allow moisture to permeate the material.

Really? All of my household plumbing is PVC with water inside the pipe, under pressure. I've never seen any water on the outside of the pipes.

Sorry, moisture vapor. Not liquid water. Over time the vapor concentration inside the plastic container will reach equilibrium with the concentration outside the container. (humidity) Then condensation can occur on cooler objects. Trust me.

The water vapor that transpires through your plastic plumbing evaporates into the atmosphere. Inside the box, it can accumulate on cool surfaces.

I believe you, I just didn't know it. Makes sense though. It's probably the reason that those plastic gun storage bags are impregnated with that waxy stuff.

If the items are easily disassembled and don't need to be instantly accessible, maybe this stuff will help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmoline

I don't know if anything is truly waterproof, but are there any electrical store in your area that could help? Some NEMA boxes have gaskets and such that make them pretty safe but their small size might be a problem. Plus they cost a bundle.

You might also check with some of the geocachers in your area. We're always burying and digging up stuff; they might have some pointers. The old Army ammo containers are a favorite, but unless they're well and truly sealed they WILL leak. Maybe an army surplus store has some ideas?

Good luck, let us know how this goes. Sounds interesting.

This answer is probably pretty similar to a few others already listed:

For a rust preventative you could use Tectyl 506 (not sure if you can get that in America). Its brown, its super sticky and works amazingly. For long term storage, this will be more than sufficient, if you plan on using your rifle anytime soon though, be prepared to spend some serious time cleaning it. You can thin it down with turps about 50/50 if you need to spray it up the barrel. Then as you say, wrap it in that wax paper stuff and put in a gunbag.

As for a vessel. I would go to the hardware store, get some PVC tube of a big enough dia, and some threaded ends with caps that have an o-ring in them. Clean up the tube properly, glue the ends on properly, then lubricate the o-rings with a good quality rubber grease before fitting. Job done.

I would also get some form of moisture absorbant bag/material (eg damprid or something) and whack that in there to. And if you are really keen, you could add a fitting and valve that you could use to evacuate the air inside the cannister before closing it off, leaving you with a vacuum inside the cannister (well not a true vacuum, but you get the idea).

The only problem with this would be critters. You would have to bury it pretty deep, to avoid the possibility of borers etc putting a hole in your little vacuum sealed gun stash. I have had them chew holes in some black PVC pipe I had layed about 4" under the ground (not happy!). Or if you dont feel like digging, you could wrap it in cloth or something, soaked with some fully awesome insecticide (like termidor.....pending birth defects). Problem is, then you have the possibility of some pesky geocacher or fossiker accidently detecting your stash, if it isnt deep enough.

Now i think about it....there are a lot of variables to consider. Thats my 2 cents anyway.

Where do you live by the way?......My father passed away without first divulging the exact whereabouts of his buried gun stash, and I will need some allies (and ammunition) when this world comes to an abrupt halt. haha

Best of luck mate!

I would argue with pulling a vacuum....if there are any leaks the vacuum will pull moisture in....

I would suggest pressurising the container with dry nitogen or argon...something inert.

This will prevent any oxidisation and in the case of a leak push out rather than suck in.

Regards,
Sapper.

We used a multi-layer foil (bran was PUMA) with the innermost layer melting and tightly fusing to the next layer at near 200°C.

One layer is aluminum for diffusion barrier, one for strength some more for limiting diffusion to the aluminum layer and giving strength.

This is used for prolonged storage in tropical climates. An additional desiccant (usually silica-gel) is needed to absorb the moisture that is encapsulated at packing.

Any military stored items are packed in similar foils so there is a large scale production - search or ask a commercial crating and packing and storage company.

If you play with self made gaskets then there is vast experience from vacuum applications: Viton for rubber like performance is best in its class.

Metallic tubes sealed with wax (paraffine may be too brittle) are a quick and dirty approach if the selas are only small cross-section.

RHABE

the military has used "cosmoline" to store weapons, ect. it's my understaning that they store rifles in sealed steel drums filled with cosmoline that protects them for decades, wood stocks included.

AP1 has the best plan for the money

http://www.houseofcans.com/reconditioned-gallon-open-head-bolt-ring-p-1177-l-en.html

probably can get it done for under $100, by the time you ship

you can probably find one [barrel] hanging around town if you search

filling it up with cosomoline is probably overkill

Nowhere is a safe hiding place, chances are it will be found. Why not use a gun club or registered secure place to store it, where it will be much safer. To store it underground, will will need to ensure a dry atmosphere, impregnable to both moisture and living creatures, you will also have to keep monitoring it for alterations in condition etc not an easy task.

I have had good experience with these products: http://www.kanolabs.com/indSpec.html

I remember back in the Philippines after the 2nd world war, it was observed to be a very common practice to bury a lot of those remnants or left over automatic rifles and submachine guns, etc. at least 5 or 6 feet of mud/dirt underground. What was done was to wrap them all over with grease before putting them back in metal or wooden boxes. After about 10 years or so, those guns were retrieved and found to be fully operational, like new without any sign of rust after about 10 years or so.

Thieves and family members and friends watch you ever step.Sounds like you use these things often and need a hidden room in a dry location so you can have acess when you need to use them...I bought a security system and showed it to everyone. "look at my camera" it records everything in three places. One in the yard/drive, One in the shop and one in the house." My Stealing stopped. My friends stopped urinating in the open and most of my family are history..Under ground storage unless in a vault type enclosure will lead to corosion and rust. You can pack them in a petro. substance but sure takes the fun out of use when you have to clean and repackage..

All legally-owned firearms and ammunition in the UK are subject to inspection of premises and licence approval by the local Police. The inspection covers the security and inaccessibility of the firearms when not in use. Therefore a discussion of options with the local Police to seek advice would the correct first step.

Another option, rather than burying the items, would be to trade them in at a licenced firearms dealer.

Another option would be to permanently disable them and weigh them in at the local metals scrap dealer.

What's going on here, are you preparing for the economy and government to collapse and we all start raiding each other for resources like in the movie MADMAX?

Go with what has already been mentioned by someone else on here, about storage practices by the military. You can also just contact a gunsmith and ask them.

I grew up around guns all my life and in the 1970's gun control was really starting to come into conversation and media and often heard my Dad and Uncles say they would bury their guns packed in Grease instead of turning them over. There's been weapons caches from the Civil War, WWI and WWII of weapons still in good working condition found years later that were stored packed in grease. Grease might be messy but it's still a good preservative that will continue working even after you're long gone.

If you're not in a rush, you might want to treat the gun and tools with renwax before storing in appropriate container. That will certainly help to keep them from rusting if the containment fails in any way.

Just put them in your bomb shelter like everyone else!!

Copious amount of cosmoline (MIL-C-11796C Class 3), bag, and then place in PVC pipes and glue the end caps.

You can easily cut the end of the tube off when you need it.

It will be safe for generations.

To all my CR-4 friends here: You've given me a wealth of good information and I've managed to cram it into a nice 5 page reference document while I explore the various products and materials in detail.

In accordance with my personal criteria for assigning good answers I have assigned a good number of them to this thread.

The ideas you have all provided are applicable not only to my guns but also to other items including valuable tools and collectibles that are sensitive to corrosion and moisture damage. I forsee a period in my life when I will be away from home for protracted periods with nobody there to watch over things. It is this situation that I want to prepare for and now is the time to start working on the storage "facility".

Thanks again for all your answers and commentaries. .............. Ed Weldon

That being the revised brief, you might want to look in this area ........ and maybe consider a 'hide in plain sight' approach.

I should probably make this story OT, but I won't.