The GMW Gun Hooks with Cable Gun Lock Hole and the GMW AR15 Wall Mount. Now available now on Amazon.com. BUY NOW
Whether you keep a small arsenal at home or just own a handgun for concealed carry, storing guns in high humidity has always been a challenge for gun owners. If you live in a high humidity area, learning how to keep your guns from rusting in your safe while keeping guns at home and on your person increases the personal safety of you, your family, and those around you, proper precautions should be taken to ensure that your firearms do not corrode/rust.
In this post, we show you how to keep your guns from rusting in your safe with 16 different ways of storing guns in high humidity. Rust on your gun not only looks bad but also greatly affects the performance of your firearm. These storage and cleaning tips will teach you how to store guns to prevent rust via proper gun safe rust prevention methods.
Table of Contents
Vacuum seal bags: the new age way of storing guns in high humidity
Wiping fingerprints off your gun: criminal covering tracks or rust-fearing gun owner?
Gun safe heating rod: keep your guns from rusting in your safe via hot air
Install a light bulb in your gun safe: DIY gun safe heating rod
Silica gel gun safe dehumidifiers: absorb the moisture in the air around your firearms
Silicone gun cloth: makes wiping moisture from your firearm easier
Silicone impregnated/coated gun sock: easy storage bag for storing guns in high humidity
Desiccant packs: don’t just throw them away!
Keep humidity of your entire gun room lower: the lesser known gun safe rust prevention trick
Humidifier and temperature monitor: the importance of gun safe humidity control
“Vapor paper”: wrap your guns up like fish
Rust preventing agents/oils: the old school way of storing guns in high humidity
Don’t store in foam gun cases: gun safe rust prevention 101
Keep guns out of bad weather: only if possible!
Clean gun regularly: the most important part of gun safe rust prevention
Don’t use sheep-skin lined cases: classy, but absorbs moisture easily
Vacuum seal bags: the new age way of storing guns in high humidity
Keeping firearms in vacuum seal bags has become a popular option among gun owners hoping to avoid coating their firearms in cosmoline or gun oil for long-haul storage scenarios.
With vacuum sealed bags, there are two options – 1) airtight zipper, and 2) heat sealed.
Airtight Zipper:
Gun owners can find zipper vacuum bags all over the internet today. These bags feature an airtight zipper closure to seal your firearm in the bag, along with a one-way valve to use with a vacuum hose to suck out any excess air.
Heat-Sealed:
With heat-sealed bags, you put your gun into the bag, and use a heat seal machine to seal the opening from letting in any outside moisture.
As heat seal machines are pricey, buying airtight zipper gun bags may be a better bet for you to store guns in high humidity, depending on your budget.
One thing to remember, however – for any method you choose, be sure to clean and oil your firearm as per manufacturer specifications before storing it in an airtight container.
Any excess moisture that is not removed from your gun before placing it in a vacuum sealed bag will lead to rust.
Wiping fingerprints off your gun: criminal covering tracks or rust-fearing gun owner?
We know, this sounds a bit sketchy. But it isn’t what you think. This is actually a lesser known fact – fingerprints are very big contributors to gun rust. Think about your day – throughout the day, how often do you wash your hands with soap, and how often do you touch things that other people have touched? Chairs, doorknobs, walls, food, pens, your cell phone, etc. At the end of the day, you get home, remove your concealed carry from your waist, and put your gun in your gun safe. Your fingers brush against the barrel or grip of the gun as you put the gun in, leaving fingerprints on it.
Now you’ve got your fingerprints on your guns. Right, you haven’t committed a crime, so you probably don’t need to wipe down your gun.
Wrong.
With the dirt, oil, and grime collected on your fingertips from throughout the day and the moisture on your hands, not wiping down your gun with either a microfiber cloth or a silicon impregnated gun cloth is a recipe for disaster. For blued guns, this is especially a necessity.
This being said, after getting home from the range or from work, always be sure to wipe down your gun and clean it as per manufacturer specifications. While it may be tedious, we’ve heard many stories about gun owners coming home and simply returning their guns to their safe, only to later discover fingerprint sized rust spots on their firearms.
Gun safe heating rod: keep your guns from rusting in your safe via hot air
Even with an enclosed gun safe, storing guns in high humidity is still a big challenge. Although your gun safe door will prevent a good amount of moisture from safe and corroding your guns, moisture that enters the safe while the gun safe door is open is often unavoidable. Because of this, gun owners use gun safe heating rods to cycle out moist air.
Gun safe heating rods heat up to 150 degrees Fahrenheit and use fan systems to circulate warm air around your gun safe. This is key for gun safe rust prevention, especially during the summer season when there is more moisture in the air. The hot air from the gun safe heating rod pushes out the moisture in the air as the hot air expands, preventing your guns from rusting in your safe.
If you are worried about not being able to make space in your safe for your gun safe heating rod, click here to learn more about how to organize your gun safe.
Install a light bulb in your gun safe: DIY gun safe heating rod
As a cheaper, DIY alternative to keep your guns from rusting in your safe, many gun owners simply hang light bulbs in their gun safes to serve as heat sources to drive out moist air instead of using gun safe heating rods.
However, while this is a more budget-friendly option, you run the risk of accidentally touching the hot bulb with a bare hand or breaking the bulb.
Silica gel gun safe dehumidifiers: absorb the moisture in the air around your firearms
If you are looking for a non-electric way to prevent your guns from rusting in your gun safe, one option to go for is a silica gel bead dehumidifier.
Silica gel beads absorb moisture from surrounding air and change colors when they can no longer absorb moisture. Many gun safe dehumidifiers on the market today use silica gel beads, and simply need to be recharged each time all the gel beads have absorbed the maximum amount of moisture they can absorb.
Silicone gun cloth: makes wiping moisture from your firearm easier
For general gun care while storing guns in high humidity, having a microfiber cloth or a silicone impregnated/coated cloth takes you a very long way.
Fabric impregnated or coated with silica gel can be used to more easily remove excess moisture from their firearms for storage. This is because silica gel is a desiccant, so better absorbs moisture or water from your guns.
Silicone impregnated/coated gun sock: easy storage bag for storing guns in high humidity
Similar to the concept of silicone impregnated gun cloth, silicone impregnated/coated gun socks are very useful for long term gun storage in high humidity areas. After properly cleaning and oiling your firearm as per manufacturer specifications, you place it in the gun sock for storage and pull tight the included drawstring. Since the gun sock is coated with silicone, it protects the rust-prone parts of your gun by absorbing moisture around the gun into the fabric.
Benefits of using a gun sock also include being able to “bake dry” it after long periods of use, which dries out any moisture absorbed by the silicone coating.
You know those small packets thrown haphazardly around the box of a newly bought gun? Those are desiccant packets, and they serve the same purpose as silica gel beads – to absorb moisture from the surrounding air of an enclosed area. Some brands sell larger desiccant packs specifically for firearm safes, and often in bulk.
Additionally, this is a great addition to your gun safe rust prevention arsenal if you use a gun sock. Just throw a couple desiccant packs into the gun sock with the firearm, and it will absorb any extra moisture left lingering around your firearm – perfect for storing guns in high humidity.
NOTE: desiccant packs can also be bake dried and reused – so you don’t have to keep throwing them away to buy new ones.
Keep humidity of your entire gun room lower: the lesser known gun safe rust prevention trick
As mentioned earlier, controlling the humidity level inside your gun safe is key in gun safe rust prevention. However, while using something like a gun safe heating rod inside your safe helps, controlling the humidity level of the area where you keep your gun safe is also important. If the humidity of the room is higher, the moist air seeps into your gun safe over time. To prevent this from occurring, you can use a room dehumidifier to add another defense mechanism keep your guns from rusting in your safe.
Humidifier and temperature monitor: the importance of gun safe humidity control
As you now know, storing guns in high humidity while keeping them from rusting is a task that requires a lot of control of humidity levels both inside and outside the gun safe. In order to keep track of these levels, install a humidity monitor in your gun safe.
A humidity monitor allows you to monitor the humidity inside and outside your safe to ensure levels match up with the requirements of your firearms. As a general rule, maintain a humidity level of about 50% inside your gun safe. Remember: without humidity monitoring, you run the risk of losing track of the level of humidity within your safe. This may lead to your firearms rusting/corroding.
“Vapor paper”: wrap your guns up like fish
We’re still unsure what the technical word for “vapor paper” is. Whatever it’s supposed to be called, it’s a godsend for storing guns in high humidity. Usually coming in a brown color, vapor paper is treated with chemicals called “vapor phase inhibitors”. These vapor phase inhibitors prevent the corrosive effects of atmospheric moisture.
When wrapped around your firearm in an airtight bag/area, vapor paper serves as a desiccant to protect your firearms from corrosion and keeps your guns from rusting in your safe.
Rust preventing agents/oils: the old school way of storing guns in high humidity
If you want to learn how to keep your guns from rusting in your safe the old fashioned way, try using rust preventing agents/oils. In this category, you’ve likely heard of cosmoline. Classified as a “petroleum-based rust inhibitor”, cosmoline was used all throughout WWII as America’s way to protect firearms and other metal-based military equipment from succumbing to rust from atmospheric moisture. Entire tanks were coated entirely in cosmoline to prevent them from rusting.
For gun use, you cover the metal/rust inclined areas of the firearm with cosmoline after cleaning it as per manufacturer specifications. This would coat the firearm with the oil, preventing atmospheric moisture from touching it.
Today, many gun owners have opted for less oily and easier to clean methods (vapor paper, vacuum seal bags, etc.) for storing guns in high humidity. After all – imagine cleaning gunky Vaseline-like oil off your gun. However, some gun owners still swear by cosmoline and using anti-rust oil agents to protect their guns from rust.
Don’t store in foam gun cases: gun safe rust prevention 101
I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of movies with people running around with their guns stored in foam gun cases.
While this is a badass, Matrix-esque way to lug your guns around, it’s a nightmare for storing guns in high humidity. Foam, while cushioning your firearms, has a tendency to absorb moisture. After a long day at work, you might come home and throw your concealed carry in a foam gun case. However, while you were at work, the foam in the gun case spent the whole day soaking up moisture from the air. The foam then comes in direct contact with your firearm, passing on the moisture. It also traps any moisture still on the gun within its foam walls. This leads to running the risk of having the metal parts of your gun rust from the extended contact with moisture.
Keep guns out of bad weather: only if possible!
Okay, so it isn’t possible to control the weather. But sometimes, the best solution is the easiest one – when you ask us how to keep your guns from rusting in your safe, the first thing you can do is keep your guns away from water or getting wet as much as possible.
Now – this isn’t really always feasible. When you go hunting, sometimes it rains. If you conceal carry, sudden downpours might soak your body and subsequently your firearm.
However, as much as possible, try not to get your firearms wet. Every molecule of lingering moisture left on your gun that you don’t clean off ends up being another threat of rust.
Clean gun regularly: the most important part of gun safe rust prevention
This practice should be done whether you’re storing guns in high humidity or not. We can’t stress the importance of regularly cleaning your weapons more. If you’re at the firing range, the process of firing your gun ends up attracting a lot of debris and moisture in the barrel of your gun. And even if you’re not using your weapon throughout the day, moisture in the air ends up passively coming in contact with your firearm. Cleaning and oiling your gun properly as per manufacturer specifications is an important precursor to anything you do to keep your guns from rusting in your safe.
Don’t use sheep-skin lined cases: classy, but absorbs moisture easily
Yes, we know – there’s a certain vintage look to sheep-skin lined gun cases. They’re comfortable to touch and very classy looking. However, any case lined with sheep-skin, similar to foam, is a magnet for moisture. Using sheep-skin lined cases while storing guns in high humidity greatly heightens the risk of gun rust.
Hopefully, this article has been useful in teaching you how to keep your guns from rusting in your safe and has given you some new insight on storing guns in high humidity. Having firearms at home increases your safety and the safety of your family, but if you don’t take care of your guns, they rust, and then can’t help take care of you.
Let us know what tips and tricks you like to use for storing guns in high humidity and protecting your firearms from rust in the comment section below, or email us at support@gunmagnetworld.com!
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Storing Guns in High Humidity: Keep Your Guns from Rusting in Your Safe
The GMW Gun Hooks with Cable Gun Lock Hole and the GMW AR15 Wall Mount. Now available now on Amazon.com.
BUY NOW
Whether you keep a small arsenal at home or just own a handgun for concealed carry, storing guns in high humidity has always been a challenge for gun owners. If you live in a high humidity area, learning how to keep your guns from rusting in your safe while keeping guns at home and on your person increases the personal safety of you, your family, and those around you, proper precautions should be taken to ensure that your firearms do not corrode/rust.
In this post, we show you how to keep your guns from rusting in your safe with 16 different ways of storing guns in high humidity. Rust on your gun not only looks bad but also greatly affects the performance of your firearm. These storage and cleaning tips will teach you how to store guns to prevent rust via proper gun safe rust prevention methods.
Table of Contents
Vacuum seal bags: the new age way of storing guns in high humidity
Wiping fingerprints off your gun: criminal covering tracks or rust-fearing gun owner?
Gun safe heating rod: keep your guns from rusting in your safe via hot air
Install a light bulb in your gun safe: DIY gun safe heating rod
Silica gel gun safe dehumidifiers: absorb the moisture in the air around your firearms
Silicone gun cloth: makes wiping moisture from your firearm easier
Silicone impregnated/coated gun sock: easy storage bag for storing guns in high humidity
Desiccant packs: don’t just throw them away!
Keep humidity of your entire gun room lower: the lesser known gun safe rust prevention trick
Humidifier and temperature monitor: the importance of gun safe humidity control
“Vapor paper”: wrap your guns up like fish
Rust preventing agents/oils: the old school way of storing guns in high humidity
Don’t store in foam gun cases: gun safe rust prevention 101
Keep guns out of bad weather: only if possible!
Clean gun regularly: the most important part of gun safe rust prevention
Don’t use sheep-skin lined cases: classy, but absorbs moisture easily
Vacuum seal bags: the new age way of storing guns in high humidity
Keeping firearms in vacuum seal bags has become a popular option among gun owners hoping to avoid coating their firearms in cosmoline or gun oil for long-haul storage scenarios.
With vacuum sealed bags, there are two options – 1) airtight zipper, and 2) heat sealed.
Airtight Zipper:
Gun owners can find zipper vacuum bags all over the internet today. These bags feature an airtight zipper closure to seal your firearm in the bag, along with a one-way valve to use with a vacuum hose to suck out any excess air.
Heat-Sealed:
With heat-sealed bags, you put your gun into the bag, and use a heat seal machine to seal the opening from letting in any outside moisture.
As heat seal machines are pricey, buying airtight zipper gun bags may be a better bet for you to store guns in high humidity, depending on your budget.
One thing to remember, however – for any method you choose, be sure to clean and oil your firearm as per manufacturer specifications before storing it in an airtight container.
Any excess moisture that is not removed from your gun before placing it in a vacuum sealed bag will lead to rust.
Wiping fingerprints off your gun: criminal covering tracks or rust-fearing gun owner?
We know, this sounds a bit sketchy. But it isn’t what you think. This is actually a lesser known fact – fingerprints are very big contributors to gun rust. Think about your day – throughout the day, how often do you wash your hands with soap, and how often do you touch things that other people have touched? Chairs, doorknobs, walls, food, pens, your cell phone, etc. At the end of the day, you get home, remove your concealed carry from your waist, and put your gun in your gun safe. Your fingers brush against the barrel or grip of the gun as you put the gun in, leaving fingerprints on it.
Now you’ve got your fingerprints on your guns. Right, you haven’t committed a crime, so you probably don’t need to wipe down your gun.
Wrong.
With the dirt, oil, and grime collected on your fingertips from throughout the day and the moisture on your hands, not wiping down your gun with either a microfiber cloth or a silicon impregnated gun cloth is a recipe for disaster. For blued guns, this is especially a necessity.
This being said, after getting home from the range or from work, always be sure to wipe down your gun and clean it as per manufacturer specifications. While it may be tedious, we’ve heard many stories about gun owners coming home and simply returning their guns to their safe, only to later discover fingerprint sized rust spots on their firearms.
Gun safe heating rod: keep your guns from rusting in your safe via hot air
Even with an enclosed gun safe, storing guns in high humidity is still a big challenge. Although your gun safe door will prevent a good amount of moisture from safe and corroding your guns, moisture that enters the safe while the gun safe door is open is often unavoidable. Because of this, gun owners use gun safe heating rods to cycle out moist air.
Gun safe heating rods heat up to 150 degrees Fahrenheit and use fan systems to circulate warm air around your gun safe. This is key for gun safe rust prevention, especially during the summer season when there is more moisture in the air. The hot air from the gun safe heating rod pushes out the moisture in the air as the hot air expands, preventing your guns from rusting in your safe.
If you are worried about not being able to make space in your safe for your gun safe heating rod, click here to learn more about how to organize your gun safe.
Install a light bulb in your gun safe: DIY gun safe heating rod
As a cheaper, DIY alternative to keep your guns from rusting in your safe, many gun owners simply hang light bulbs in their gun safes to serve as heat sources to drive out moist air instead of using gun safe heating rods.
However, while this is a more budget-friendly option, you run the risk of accidentally touching the hot bulb with a bare hand or breaking the bulb.
Silica gel gun safe dehumidifiers: absorb the moisture in the air around your firearms
If you are looking for a non-electric way to prevent your guns from rusting in your gun safe, one option to go for is a silica gel bead dehumidifier.
Silica gel beads absorb moisture from surrounding air and change colors when they can no longer absorb moisture. Many gun safe dehumidifiers on the market today use silica gel beads, and simply need to be recharged each time all the gel beads have absorbed the maximum amount of moisture they can absorb.
Silicone gun cloth: makes wiping moisture from your firearm easier
For general gun care while storing guns in high humidity, having a microfiber cloth or a silicone impregnated/coated cloth takes you a very long way.
Fabric impregnated or coated with silica gel can be used to more easily remove excess moisture from their firearms for storage. This is because silica gel is a desiccant, so better absorbs moisture or water from your guns.
Silicone impregnated/coated gun sock: easy storage bag for storing guns in high humidity
Similar to the concept of silicone impregnated gun cloth, silicone impregnated/coated gun socks are very useful for long term gun storage in high humidity areas. After properly cleaning and oiling your firearm as per manufacturer specifications, you place it in the gun sock for storage and pull tight the included drawstring. Since the gun sock is coated with silicone, it protects the rust-prone parts of your gun by absorbing moisture around the gun into the fabric.
Benefits of using a gun sock also include being able to “bake dry” it after long periods of use, which dries out any moisture absorbed by the silicone coating.
Desiccant packs: don’t just throw them away!
You know those small packets thrown haphazardly around the box of a newly bought gun? Those are desiccant packets, and they serve the same purpose as silica gel beads – to absorb moisture from the surrounding air of an enclosed area. Some brands sell larger desiccant packs specifically for firearm safes, and often in bulk.
Additionally, this is a great addition to your gun safe rust prevention arsenal if you use a gun sock. Just throw a couple desiccant packs into the gun sock with the firearm, and it will absorb any extra moisture left lingering around your firearm – perfect for storing guns in high humidity.
NOTE: desiccant packs can also be bake dried and reused – so you don’t have to keep throwing them away to buy new ones.
Keep humidity of your entire gun room lower: the lesser known gun safe rust prevention trick
As mentioned earlier, controlling the humidity level inside your gun safe is key in gun safe rust prevention. However, while using something like a gun safe heating rod inside your safe helps, controlling the humidity level of the area where you keep your gun safe is also important. If the humidity of the room is higher, the moist air seeps into your gun safe over time. To prevent this from occurring, you can use a room dehumidifier to add another defense mechanism keep your guns from rusting in your safe.
Humidifier and temperature monitor: the importance of gun safe humidity control
As you now know, storing guns in high humidity while keeping them from rusting is a task that requires a lot of control of humidity levels both inside and outside the gun safe. In order to keep track of these levels, install a humidity monitor in your gun safe.
A humidity monitor allows you to monitor the humidity inside and outside your safe to ensure levels match up with the requirements of your firearms. As a general rule, maintain a humidity level of about 50% inside your gun safe. Remember: without humidity monitoring, you run the risk of losing track of the level of humidity within your safe. This may lead to your firearms rusting/corroding.
“Vapor paper”: wrap your guns up like fish
We’re still unsure what the technical word for “vapor paper” is. Whatever it’s supposed to be called, it’s a godsend for storing guns in high humidity. Usually coming in a brown color, vapor paper is treated with chemicals called “vapor phase inhibitors”. These vapor phase inhibitors prevent the corrosive effects of atmospheric moisture.
When wrapped around your firearm in an airtight bag/area, vapor paper serves as a desiccant to protect your firearms from corrosion and keeps your guns from rusting in your safe.
Rust preventing agents/oils: the old school way of storing guns in high humidity
If you want to learn how to keep your guns from rusting in your safe the old fashioned way, try using rust preventing agents/oils. In this category, you’ve likely heard of cosmoline. Classified as a “petroleum-based rust inhibitor”, cosmoline was used all throughout WWII as America’s way to protect firearms and other metal-based military equipment from succumbing to rust from atmospheric moisture. Entire tanks were coated entirely in cosmoline to prevent them from rusting.
For gun use, you cover the metal/rust inclined areas of the firearm with cosmoline after cleaning it as per manufacturer specifications. This would coat the firearm with the oil, preventing atmospheric moisture from touching it.
Today, many gun owners have opted for less oily and easier to clean methods (vapor paper, vacuum seal bags, etc.) for storing guns in high humidity. After all – imagine cleaning gunky Vaseline-like oil off your gun. However, some gun owners still swear by cosmoline and using anti-rust oil agents to protect their guns from rust.
Don’t store in foam gun cases: gun safe rust prevention 101
I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of movies with people running around with their guns stored in foam gun cases.
While this is a badass, Matrix-esque way to lug your guns around, it’s a nightmare for storing guns in high humidity. Foam, while cushioning your firearms, has a tendency to absorb moisture. After a long day at work, you might come home and throw your concealed carry in a foam gun case. However, while you were at work, the foam in the gun case spent the whole day soaking up moisture from the air. The foam then comes in direct contact with your firearm, passing on the moisture. It also traps any moisture still on the gun within its foam walls. This leads to running the risk of having the metal parts of your gun rust from the extended contact with moisture.
Keep guns out of bad weather: only if possible!
Okay, so it isn’t possible to control the weather. But sometimes, the best solution is the easiest one – when you ask us how to keep your guns from rusting in your safe, the first thing you can do is keep your guns away from water or getting wet as much as possible.
Now – this isn’t really always feasible. When you go hunting, sometimes it rains. If you conceal carry, sudden downpours might soak your body and subsequently your firearm.
However, as much as possible, try not to get your firearms wet. Every molecule of lingering moisture left on your gun that you don’t clean off ends up being another threat of rust.
Clean gun regularly: the most important part of gun safe rust prevention
This practice should be done whether you’re storing guns in high humidity or not. We can’t stress the importance of regularly cleaning your weapons more. If you’re at the firing range, the process of firing your gun ends up attracting a lot of debris and moisture in the barrel of your gun. And even if you’re not using your weapon throughout the day, moisture in the air ends up passively coming in contact with your firearm. Cleaning and oiling your gun properly as per manufacturer specifications is an important precursor to anything you do to keep your guns from rusting in your safe.
Don’t use sheep-skin lined cases: classy, but absorbs moisture easily
Yes, we know – there’s a certain vintage look to sheep-skin lined gun cases. They’re comfortable to touch and very classy looking. However, any case lined with sheep-skin, similar to foam, is a magnet for moisture. Using sheep-skin lined cases while storing guns in high humidity greatly heightens the risk of gun rust.
Hopefully, this article has been useful in teaching you how to keep your guns from rusting in your safe and has given you some new insight on storing guns in high humidity. Having firearms at home increases your safety and the safety of your family, but if you don’t take care of your guns, they rust, and then can’t help take care of you.
Let us know what tips and tricks you like to use for storing guns in high humidity and protecting your firearms from rust in the comment section below, or email us at support@gunmagnetworld.com!