Rust help?

[Qaib Plucker]

Hello everyone. I went out hunting last weekend and it was rainy, spent the night and came home the next day but after i got home i cleaned my gun but found some rust spots on the bottom of the magazine and the edge surrounding it. i tried to clean it off with some cleaning oil and got some off but you can still see it. i was wondering how i can get rid of the rust? its a savage 116 ss. help and any help on preventing rust in the future is helpful. still new to maintaining/ cleaning guns.

[243LPR]

fine steel wool and oil/wd40.

[JackinSD]

Naval Gel works really really well at removing rust. If it is blued, it will remove that also though.

[acemisser]

I found a light gun oil and a piece of 4 0000 steel wool..rub lightly and wipe off and then
apply more oil...WD40 will gum up and is no **** good for anything.except a squeeky
hinge,lol

[jhelmuth]

Try Balistol (with 000 and 0000 steel wool).... great stuff. I've cleaned up some stanky, rusty, crappy cast offfs and had to help the owner put their jaw back into place after they saw it "cleaned up". One fella thought the rifle had been re-blued ;o)

[davemuzz]

WD-40 is crap. I wouldn't use it on anything. (MHO) Naval Gel will strip your blueing off in a heartbeat. It will take your gun right down to the steel. Do NOT use it unless you plan on re-blueing the entire firearm.

I have found the best oil to remove surface rust (as nothing removes pit's) is Kroil. Apply a liberal (heavy) coating of Kroil and let it sit overnight. After 24 hours, take a piece of clean terrycloth and begin to wipe down the firearm. (ie: remove the Kroil, and along with that you will see the rust "transfer" to the cloth.) It may take two or possibly three applications to get it to it's "best" but Kroil will do a darn good job of removing surface rust.

Just remember....nothing removes rust pits except sanding (which removes the original blueing).

Good luck and if you can, post your results. I cleaned up two T\C Contender frames and they looked almost brand new when I got done with 'em. Just surface rust on 'em but you would not have believed the difference it made.

DAve

[Nor Cal Mikie]

WD 40 is crap but it drives the moisture out!! Next time, hose it down, wipe it off and reoil with good gun oil. Fine steel wool to get the surface rust off. And your hinges won't squeak either.

[MZ5]

Never mind about all the cautions re: removing bluing, since you said you have a stainless 116. As far as preventing rust in the future, well... Ruger's stainless is easily the best non-coated, off-the-shelf stainless I've ever seen for resisting rust. Since your gun's stainless appears to want to rust just as easily as chrome-moly steel, I'd say either keep it oiled OR put a coat of Johnson's Paste Wax on all the metal and wood. You won't be able to coat fire control parts or various 'hidden' areas, though, so WD-40 is a great idea for driving water out _before_ any rust starts.

[davemuzz]

BTW.....the "WD" in "WD-40" stands for "Water Displacement." I have no idea what the "40" means. OTOH, I do know that WD-40 was not developed for use on firearms. Then, when my truck needs crankcase oil, I stop at an auto parts store and buy a quart of 5W-30 auto oil and I don't dump olive oil in the crank.

Nor do I put fish oil on a squeaky door hinge.

But....maybe that's just me.

[JackinSD]

WD-40 will become very very sticky if it is used anywhere that will get wet or dirty later. I'm with Davemuzz on this one. Use the right oil for the right job.

[ellobo]

RIG has long been the best for rust preventative use. A small amount on a pc. of cloth, wiped on. is the best I have ever used. I wipr down all my firearms with RIG after cleaning and have never had a rust problem. By the way, that 40 in WD-40 means its was the 40th misture they tried before they got it right. A friend of mine who was a naval aircraft fire control tech during Nam said that after every flight they opened the hatches to expose electronics and sprayed the entire hatch with WD-40.

El Lobo

[MrMajestic]

I have found the best oil to remove surface rust (as nothing removes pit's) is Kroil. Apply a liberal (heavy) coating of Kroil and let it sit overnight. After 24 hours, take a piece of clean terrycloth and begin to wipe down the firearm. (ie: remove the Kroil, and along with that you will see the rust "transfer" to the cloth.) It may take two or possibly three applications to get it to it's "best" but Kroil will do a darn good job of removing surface rust.

Just remember....nothing removes rust pits except sanding (which removes the original blueing).

Good luck and if you can, post your results. I cleaned up two T\C Contender frames and they looked almost brand new when I got done with 'em. Just surface rust on 'em but you would not have believed the difference it made.

DAve

I'll second this one!

[rattfink]

CLP and all purpose brush until its gone?

[rattfink]

BTW.....the "WD" in "WD-40" stands for "Water Displacement." I have no idea what the "40" means. OTOH, I do know that WD-40 was not developed for use on firearms. Then, when my truck needs crankcase oil, I stop at an auto parts store and buy a quart of 5W-30 auto oil and I don't dump olive oil in the crank.

Nor do I put fish oil on a squeaky door hinge.

But....maybe that's just me.

This. WD-40 (water displacement, formula 40) contains silicone IIRC and when it heats up it becomes gunk.

[thomae]

Slightly off topic, but related:

WD-40 is indeed the 40th iteration of a water displacing fluid (I don't remember if it was originally designed as a lubricant) that the inventor tried.

WD-40 displaces water, and unlike some lubricants such as Ballistol, does not absorb the water into an emulsion. (An emulsion is when you have suspended particles/or droplets of various substances mixed together that don't separate. When Ballistol combines with water, there are still small droplets of water in the resulting emulsion. As far as I know (and, no, I can't cite an authoritative academic source) if I left Ballistol and water on an unprotected steel or iron plate, I believe it would still rust.

However, I am not disputing or arguing with jhelmuth's assertion that Ballistol is good at removing rust.

WD-40 is very good at what it does, and that is getting rid of (displacing) water on metallic surfaces.
As others have said, it does tend to gunk up and is generally not recommended as a firearms lubricant because of that issue. Vegetable based oils, such as 3-in-1, or extra virgin olive oil, also tend to gunk up when heated.

Personally, I use WD 40 to help "dry" my rifles if I have taken them out into a wet environment for extended periods of time. (Hunting in the rain, anyone?) When I return, I pull the rifle out of the stock and use WD-40 liberally to get the water out of all those little places where it tends to be. However, I then clean all the WD-40 off the rifle and lubricate with whatever I feel is an appropriate and correct firearm lubricant.

I also second the post by MZ5 recommending the use of paste wax. Its use is a very good preservative/preventative measure.

I have also used Kroil with great success (sometimes with 0000 steel wool, or bronze wool (doesn't scratch as much)) for light surface rust removal. I have used other lubricants as well...most light oils seem to work reasonably well.

In summary:
To prevent: I recommend paste wax.
To dry: I recommend WD-40
To lubricate: I recommend an appropriate firearms lubricant that is not WD-40 or vegetable based.
To remove existing rust: I recommend Kroil (or another lubricant that works for you) and elbow grease.