i think that plastic against steel promotes moisture and corrosion (rust).
i welcome those more experienced to tell me i am all wet.

 

Unless one were to own a laboratory grade vacuum pump, you could not insure that you had all moisture out of the bag. If the air in your home has very low humidity, and the firearm is the same temperature as the atmosphere, you may be able to use a home type seal-a-meal and leave the firearm sealed in an environment that would prevent rust. BUT, any oil, solvent or residue of any type on the firearm must be inert to the plastic of the bag or the bag could melt due to chemical action and mar the finish or the firearm.

It may be possible to seal in a small bag of desiccant or drying agent but again, the desiccant must be inert to the finish of the firearm and to the plastic in the bag.

I suspect that the heavy plastic bag material used at hospitals to seal instruments for sterilization would be very good.

MDaly

 

I think it depends a lot on how much moisture is in the air when you vacuum seal it.
I agree that the tight plastic around especially a blued gun, would make me uncomfortable, if stored for a really long time.
I do think that ideas like this are worth talking about, as there are a lot of servicemen and women, that live in humid climates and are gun owners, and have to deploy for long periods of time overseas, and have to do something with their firearms to prevent theft and rust, while they are gone.

 

If you put a lite coat of grease on all the metal, I don't see how it would hurt.. But I am no expert on long term storage..

 

In 1995 I purchased an Enfield Rifle that had been in shortage since 1955. When the rifle came it was wrapped in a thin, crenulated type of cardboard that had been coated with a heavy layer of brown paraffin. Once this outer wax and paper shell was removed the rifle was coated on all the metal parts and the bore with heavy grease similar to cosmoline. The cosmoline had dried out in a few places but the wax encasing had done a good job of keeping the grease moist. After all the grease was cleaned off the rifle was in perfect shape. Even just black oxided surfaces – which is a minimal inorganic surface treatment for steel – showed no evidence of corrosion. The reason I mention this is that I have thought, since seeing how well this worked after 40 years of storage, that if I ever had to store a gun for a long period of time - say 2 or more years - this would be a good way to do it.

Ken

 

Before I built my vault room, I stored handguns in heavy "Zip-Lock-type" plastic bags after my available storage space required removal of the guns from "gun rugs" because of their bulk. The guns were obviously in contact with the plastic over a large portion of their surfaces. In over ten years of such storage, there were no problems. A "vacuum-pack" would remove most of the air containing moisture so I think such storage would be superior to my method. Coat the guns with your preservative of choice and store away! (After I discovered them, I put "anti-rust vapor-tabs" I got from Brownells in each bag as added protection.)

The problem I see with "vacuum-pack" storage is the time spent removing air each time the bag is opened. If the intention is decades of storage with no fondling - I mean no handling, then it seems fine to me. One of the added benefits from plastic-bag storage is protection from water damage should there be a flood or plumbing failure.

 

I have been vacuum sealing pistols since 2005 when three Cat 5 hurricanes came over us in central Florida. Mainly it started out as an idea to protect against external water damage. I recall seeing a top line safe after Andrew, securely sitting on the slab it was bolted to with no house around it. The water damage was what you could imagine. I saw a friends pristine early 1913, 1911 pistol that was totally ruined on one side from standing water from hurricane damage.

The system evolved since the first batch packed and this is what I wound up with. The pistol is oiled and cleaned and placed in a "Bore Store" a commercial gun rug which is impregnated with silicon. The next step is to make and place a cardboard sleeve over the rug. This is usually a file folder with the description of the pistol and the date stored. Once done it is placed into a home version of a Foodsaver and vacuum sealed. I can put seven pistols in a GI ammo can and with its gaskets in place I have "water-proof" storage.

Testing the process started off by using a piece of bar stock that I washed and dried and stored for thirty days without rust. I initially tried a pistol in a food saver bag without a rug and learned the sharp edges pierced the bag after a while and the vacuum was lost. That evolved into a bag within a bag but without the rug, there was the issue of the oil interaction with the plastic, nasty looking but not much else. The cardboard allows easy reading of the reference markings even after being crunched by the vacuum. Wood grips are removed and stored externally. The bags can be reused and I do check them regularly. Some have been in the same wrap since 2008 other wraps leak for no obvious reason.

I've been pleased with the process and have sealed some collectible ammo as well. IMHO it was a $100 well spent and it works well. /Ken

 

I have heard this discussion before and one thing not mentioned so far is that if there were a fire and the guns were in a safe in plastic bags...the safe would protect the guns from the fire....if designed to do so....but the plastic would melt all over the gun. For every up side...water protection...there is a down side.
You have to decide which disaster is more likely to happen to you.

 

I have heard this discussion before and one thing not mentioned so far is that if there were a fire and the guns were in a safe in plastic bags...the safe would protect the guns from the fire....if designed to do so....but the plastic would melt all over the gun. For every up side...water protection...there is a down side.You have to decide which disaster is more likely to happen to you.

Silly argument I've heard before since most pistols are shipped in plastic boxes inside polyethylene bags

 

Watch out for the cardboard you use. Some paper products are bleached with acids...learned this from my coin collecting days.

 

One of the boys at the trading post decided to see how an institutional grade vacuum pack would protect fine, delicate, high performance equipment. He bagged up an older Colt revolver (he said it was the first Colt he ever bought 2nd hand from a cop), and actually put it in his septic tank up at the lake. After a year, he retreived it and it was exactly the same as when he bagged it up.
I might not go to such a risk as an experiment. And I would probably use vapor paper in the bag, and maybe a silica gel pack like the ones in pill bottles.
I guess the point is, you can devise a bag storage process with an indefinite lifespan pretty easily.

 

He bagged up an older Colt revolver (he said it was the first Colt he ever bought 2nd hand from a cop), and actually put it in his septic tank up at the lake. After a year, he retreived it and it was exactly the same as when he bagged it up.

This is what I call being committed to testing this storage method!

 

In a septic tank???? A Colt???? Wow....gives a new meaning when someone tells me a particular gun is a POS!!!!

 

I have a 1978 6" Python that has been in a vacuum bag ( food saver ) since it was bought way back when. Stores just fine, no problems. In fact, Jerry at WSG Outfitters stores all of his guns (100's ) in vacuum bags until they sell.

 

LOL, reminds me of when I deployed from FT Jackson for Operation DESERT SHIELD. I was issued a M1911A1 that came in a heavy duty plastic bag filled with Cosmoline, about the size of a good sized throw pillow. I really would have appreciated a vaccum-sealed bag that day!

 

Brownell's has several long term storage products one is a paper warp that is placed around the firearm and then sealed into a plastic bag the other is vapor discs that are simply placed in a bag or box with the firearm and sealed. Either way the goal is to capture the moistrue that is cpatured in the bag or stroage device when it is sealed. Finally there are the greases like RIG and cosmoline.

This is the key you must be able to keep water from condensing on the metal when the temp goes DOWN.

flanman

 

Hope this might help in the "storage war". I had the responsiblity to take 187 early Colts (O.P.'s) and pre-model 10's out of cosmoline and check serial numbers . We cleaned off and out the cosmoline, and used a long term storage grease that we sprayed on , put them into military long term storage bags, sealed them, and put them back into safe. When I looked at them two years ago, before my retirement, all were in great shape. They had been in this state since 1985. The only thing we did do is take the grips off, put them in a seperate bag, and put it into the sealed bag with the revolvers, so the wood would not get grease soaked. Hope this helps. The spray grease we used was what is used for long term storage for machinery on the Gulf Coast.