Prevent Rust from Carry, Rather than Storage

[aggieben]

I'm a fairly new CHLee, and I"ve noticed that as I carry my handgun about, particularly in the hot summer weather, that I get a bit sweaty. It's not profuse, and doesn't typically come through my outer clothing, but it's enough to get the gun moist while holstered. The gun has been getting some minor rusting on the side that usually comes into contact with my undershirt, and I'm not sure what to do about it.

Finding cleaners and/or techniques to get the rust off is pretty easy: a google search turns up some of the threads on this forums, not to mention innumerable suggestions on how to deal with that. What I'd like to know from the experience of those on this form is, how can you prevent "carry-induced" rust in the first place? I tried searching a bit, but most of what I found was information about the application of very heavy oils and greases for the purpose of long-term storage. While that might work, I'd bet that (a) such a chemical would destroy my clothing and (b) would require very frequent re-application.

Is there anything I can do, or do I just need to clean/oil the gun every time I wear it?

[WildBill]

I'm a fairly new CHLee, and I"ve noticed that as I carry my handgun about, particularly in the hot summer weather, that I get a bit sweaty. It's not profuse, and doesn't typically come through my outer clothing, but it's enough to get the gun moist while holstered. The gun has been getting some minor rusting on the side that usually comes into contact with my undershirt, and I'm not sure what to do about it.

Finding cleaners and/or techniques to get the rust off is pretty easy: a google search turns up some of the threads on this forums, not to mention innumerable suggestions on how to deal with that. What I'd like to know from the experience of those on this form is, how can you prevent "carry-induced" rust in the first place? I tried searching a bit, but most of what I found was information about the application of very heavy oils and greases for the purpose of long-term storage. While that might work, I'd bet that (a) such a chemical would destroy my clothing and (b) would require very frequent re-application.

Is there anything I can do, or do I just need to clean/oil the gun every time I wear it?

You can get a holster with a sweat guard and do a daily wipedown of the handgun with a silicone cloth. It is better to prevent rust than try to remove it. You can also switch to a stainless steel gun which are more corrosion resistant than other types of steel.

Welcome to the Forum aggieben!

[PUCKER]

I am in no way an expert (and I am somewhat skeptical at folks that call themselves experts ) but what I do is use a gun/reel cloth (link below). I keep it in the zip-lock style bag that it came in, on top of my dresser. If it's been a particularly sweaty carry day then I give the carried gun a nice wipe-down.

http://www.cabelas.com/p-0059412290680a.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[PUCKER]

Look like Wildbill beat me to the "post" button!

[WildBill]

Look like Wildbill beat me to the "post" button!

That's because, I'm an expert at posting.

[gringop]

I have alien acid sweat. I have corroded blued steel, stainless steel, Melenited steel and I even had some discoloration on my old Glock Tennifer slide.

Proper oiling/wipedown and vapor barrier holsters can help slow down the corrosion but if you carry all day every day in the Texas summer and have acidic sweat, the only real solution is a coating or plating with hard chrome, Robar, Ion Bond or some other non corrosive surface. I carry Glocks because A: they are very resistant to corrosion and B: I don't care if they get funky looking.

Gringop

[MoJo]

Have your gun refinished with Duracoat. Your rust problems go away.

[shootthesheet]

Silicone cloth is what I use most. I also use one holster to carry and then remove my gun and store it in another. I wipe the gun down if it is moist at all and use the silicone cloth after every cleaning. It is not humid here so you may want to use the silicone cloth after wiping with a dry cloth every day if you live where humidity is a problem. So what works for me might not work for you.

[bdickens]

Frequent cleaning and lubrication.

[Skydivesnake]

I used to have the same problem - went away when I lined my IWB with Poor Man's Kydex (ie piece cut from a 1gal milk jug ) and started using Eezox on the slide. Actually, I think the Eezox would do it by itself - it really does give excellent corrosion resistance.

[beerplug]

I found someone asking the same question on another forum and one suggestion was to use Johson Paste Floor Wax. The person claimed he had used it on all of his guns for the last 40 years. Not sure if that is true, but I'm trying it on one of my steel blue guns. I know this has been great for proctecting table saws for many years, but not sure about the heat build up from a gun at the range.

[Pawpaw]

I used to have the same problem - went away when I lined my IWB with Poor Man's Kydex (ie piece cut from a 1gal milk jug ) and started using Eezox on the slide. Actually, I think the Eezox would do it by itself - it really does give excellent corrosion resistance.

My local gun shop sold me some Eezox, telling me it was the best thing around for lubrication & preventing rust. I did a little research and have not been able to find anyone with anything bad to say about the stuff.

I haven't been using it long enough to form any solid opinion, but so far it's living up to expectations. The only thing I didn't like is that it is so thin it's next to impossible to put just one drop anywhere from the can I bought. I ordered a smaller (.95 oz) refillable bottle with a needle dropper from eBay to solve that problem. It just arrived in today's mail.

[glbedd53]

Man, you guys are pretty nasty if you can rust stainless. Maybe the next step should be to examine what you're eatin and drinkin.

[shipwreck]

The sweat guard really helps on a holster - I won't buy one without it. I have 3 COmptac Pro Undercover IWB holsters. All have the sweat guard. It protects the slide - if you have a polymer gun, then all the metal is protected.

I carry a Berettta 92FS concealed - but I got some NP3 covered grip screws - so I not longer have an issue with rust on that.