Savage Trophy Hunter Surface Rust - It won't go away!

Have several savage trophy hunters that I bought during the clearance a couple years back. They all seem to get surface rust really easily, even the ones that haven't been fired.
They "look" fine (maybe a little bit browner than the new savage that just joined them), but the periodic wiping down with oil always reveals surface rust coming off the barrel and the action, enough to turn your typical 3x3 patch brown. And with the "rough" finish of the bluing it is like wiping a marker; it never fully goes away.

Now I have climate control where the guns are stored, which are stored in the same area as other rifles, but the savages are the only ones that get this rust.

Has anyone else experience this problem? Was it just cheap bluing?
It was great that they were cheap, got me into a number of new calibers, but if I end up having to spend $100 a rifle down the road to have them re-blued, that kind of defeats the purpose.

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Originally Posted by Spring1898

Have several savage trophy hunters that I bought during the clearance a couple years back. They all seem to get surface rust really easily, even the ones that haven't been fired.
They "look" fine (maybe a little bit browner than the new savage that just joined them), but the periodic wiping down with oil always reveals surface rust coming off the barrel and the action, enough to turn your typical 3x3 patch brown. And with the "rough" finish of the bluing it is like wiping a marker; it never fully goes away.

Now I have climate control where the guns are stored, which are stored in the same area as other rifles, but the savages are the only ones that get this rust.

Has anyone else experience this problem? Was it just cheap bluing?
It was great that they were cheap, got me into a number of new calibers, but if I end up having to spend $100 a rifle down the road to have them re-blued, that kind of defeats the purpose.

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I have a couple trophy hunters but never had rust problems with them. I monthly give them a oil wipe and a dry patch followed by a oil patch. My AC is always on if its humid out at all so my house is very dry. Have you had any kind of unusual chemical or cleaner in contact with them? I use balistol and it seems to preserve very well.

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I bought a Remington 870 took it out hunting on a misty rainy day (matte finish) came home tired leaned it up by the door and at 10 am the next day
it was a solid brown! It took me hours to get it clean. No more MATTE FINISH for me. Sold it for a loss.
I'm not that old (58) but back in the day we cleaned our guns every month or two whether they needed it or not.

My experience has been that if it ain't old it will rust. I went to stainless in all of my NEW firearms.
I'm not the smartest guy around but I think the extra surface area of the non slick surface gives more opportunity for rust.

I have several AR'S with anodized over aluminum and it's not an issue

Yes, matte finish is much more prone to surface rusting due to the roughness of the surface having thousands of little pockets that can hold moisture. High gloss blued finishes aren't as susceptible to this because the metal is highly polished with high grit buffing compounds before it is blued to get that deep, dark shiny finish.

I have also noticed that today's matte finishes don't seem to be as durable as the matte finishes of old (late 1980's - early 2000's) - especially on imported guns. On some of the extremely cheap imports, like the Stevens 301 single-shot break-action shotguns, the matte finish almost looks/feels like flat black paint and scratches almost as easily.

As for dealing with the rust and preventing it, best thing you can do is what Ted talked about and get in the routine of wiping them down regularly. I like to use the Hoppe's Lubricating Gun Oil Field Wipes or Remington Gun Wipes as I can usually do two or three guns with one wipe before needing to get a new one. How often you do it depends on the temperature/humidity where you live and observing how long it takes after a cleaning for rusting to start appearing. Here in NW Ohio I typically do mine 3-4 times a year just depending on how wet a spring/fall we have. Of course, I'm cleaning and wiping them down if/when I take them out and shoot them as well, but these days it's not uncommon for many of my guns to go 6-8 months without being taken out and hunted with or shot, and there's a couple that haven't left the safe (other than for a wipe down) in several years.

That said, unless you're cleaning/oiling your guns extremely often it's not unusual to get a little hints of brown on the patch or wipe when you go over them - even on high polish blued guns. That's just the nature of blued guns, as bluing in and of itself is a chemically induced rusting process.

One last note, it's also a great idea to keep a tube of said gun wipes in your car/truck during hunting season in case you get caught in the rain or something. This way you can wipe them down and displace the moisture right there in the field before putting it back in it's hard/soft case for the trip home.

I have also had some guns in the past that always seemed to have some rust on them. Interesting that my cheap Axis has not been one of them.

I have found that certain rust preventatives work better than others. I've used Hogdon's One Shot as a rust preventative for a while now after reading some in depth tests done by a few people and it is working well, but, the guns I have right now are not prone to surface rust either.

FYI, some gun cleaners have a brown color when they are removing dirt from the gun. I used to use Break Free CLP for gun cleaning. It was good at cleaning and would keep cleaning a gun for days after being applied to the metal. It also looked rust brown when wiped off from the grime it removed.

Degrease, primer, paint.

I use car grade rattle can primer and krylon rattle can paint.

Every gun I have that is a tool is spray painted, dipped, or powder coated.

A old farmer told me one time. “Son, that rust will be there when you die”


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Use a good penetrating and protectant oil like B-C Barricade or Breakfree CLP. No rust on my Trophy Hunter.

The good news is that rust is a natural neutral camo choice.

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I use car grade rattle can primer and krylon rattle can paint.

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Have used the Krylon flat camouflage paints for years. Stops the rust. Flat black does well on the matte finishes.

I purchased a container of Break Free - Collector Gun Wipes after deer season last year. I didn't notice it was the Collector Gun Wipes when I was at the store and until after I used a wipe. I tell you what, I wiped my Model 10 Predator down with one wipe and it is amazing. I wouldn't put it on the bolt face, but dang it makes a nice coat of protection.

Edit: Once I realized what it was, I let it rest overnight and wiped it with dry patches. I know it sounds silly that I wasn't aware of what I had purchased but I grabbed it thinking it was patches with CLP. The back of the container says it is for long term storage. It appears it will also be a great long term field protectant with no residue.

I've done the same thing numerous times with other products. Satin instead of semi-gloss or flat. Fine thread instead of coarse. Lubricant instead of cleaner. etc. etc. Glad you found something new. Is that a Safariland Break Free product?

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Originally Posted by charlie b

I've done the same thing numerous times with other products. Satin instead of semi-gloss or flat. Fine thread instead of coarse. Lubricant instead of cleaner. etc. etc. Glad you found something new. Is that a Safariland Break Free product?

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It is. That was also a surprise when I read the back of the container. Item number above the barcode is, BFI-CO-WW-1 Made in the USA.

Edit: I just remembered that I also wiped my Zeiss HD 5 down with it at the same time. It also looks great. I was doing the post hunt wipe down before putting it in the safe.