How to prevent rust on airguns?

Birchwood Casey Gunstock Wax is good for an entire rifle. It does prevent rust. I have an old rag that I keep hung up that is some combination of one time silicone and now mostly Ballistol and a touch of Rem Oil. For PBs whatever preservative, oil or other material needs to be patched out of the bore and chamber before shooting. For an air rifle I cannot see how a little Ballistol would hurt anything.

Birchwood Casey Sheath is excellent. It leaves a wax like coating. I’ve use it for 25 years without any issues.

This corrosion study of 46 different products is an interesting read.


I used to get flash rust fairly regularly. After switching to Frog Lube, that came to an end.

If you do not want to be bothered by women folks, a problem I have, they just follow me around everywhere I go , I have a solution. I have found that a touch of Ballistol behind the ears, maybe squirt some on my shirt, it is like a female repellent. Problem solved and that it does a good job of preventing rust and seems to harm nothing, it is a win, win!

3Crows said:

I have found that a touch of Ballistol behind the ears, maybe squirt some on my shirt, it is like a female repellent.

Click to expand...

And if you reach for the Ballistol bottle and find it empty, don't despair. Just mow the grass at 95F in full sun, then wring your socks out into a perfume atomizer!

Oil???

Dr. Kralenstein said:

When I see people use wd40 on a firearm I just cringe. That crap will gum up when it gets mixed with carbon/powder and heat.

Click to expand...

Oh I agree, but it will displace water if you take it swimming, personally, I'd WD40 it then electro wash THEN Try-Flow, but then that's me.

Lots of products will stop rust from forming on metal, the trick is to be sure that you keep the surfaces protected. Handling a gun will leave fingerprints that have acids and salts that promote rust.

I keep an oily (Balistol) rag in the gun cabinet and make a habit of wiping all the metal surfaces EVERY TIME I touch a gun. Even if I just move it to reach another.

Works for me - even on highly polished airguns.

Cheers!

Shinyknight said:

Ok so I went with ballistol 6oz, hear its good stuff. Also bought an golden rod heating thing. Hear this thing will keep humidity low. Also got a pack of rechargeable desiccant dehumidifier that will turn pink when it's wet. Hope this will keep my guns clean of rust or corrosion.

Click to expand...

Now you just have to worry about the rust that's on the inside

RenWax. Nothing works better on airguns. I do like CLP, though. A little dab behind the ears drives the missus wild.

You know those little silica gel pack you get when you buy an electronic product or a scope? Don't throw those away! I have about a dozen of those in my gun safe.

I live on the Gulf of Mexico in the Deep South Alabama for the past 8 years. Most humid portion of the country. I use Tri-Flow. It leaves a Teflon coating. Never had rust. Been using it for decades.

Any of the good gun oils or waxes above will help. As well as a golden rod heater.

For a safe or small closed area, silica gel beads can work. Get the newer ones, the orange/green type and buy a 5 lb jug of them. They are orange when good, and turn green when they have absorbed moisture. They can be recharged in a toaster oven when they need it. Don't fiddle around with dinky packets of silica gel, they can't possible absorb much as they only weigh a few grams at most. You will need pounds of gel. Store the open canister/jug of beads in your safe. Recharge the beads as necessary. As long as the door to the safe is closed, the beads will be able to lower the humidity inside to levels that won't support rusting. Of course, you have to periodically check on the bead color. They won't do any good if they are full of moisture!

I use silica gel to keep my filament dry for 3d printing. Learned quickly that one needed a lot more silica gel than a little packet to keep things dry. I use about 200-250 grams per spool of filament. Keeps the relative humidity quite low.

Bear-of-Grayling said:

I live on the Gulf of Mexico in the Deep South Alabama for the past 8 years. Most humid portion of the country. I use Tri-Flow. It leaves a Teflon coating. Never had rust. Been using it for decades.View attachment 489209

Click to expand...

You’re close, but not quite
Florida is #2 after Alaska.

I’m in coastal sub-tropics. The only place I have been that is more humid than south Florida is Cartagena Colombia.

I’ll give some tri flow a try.

I live in a humid area. Usually 80% humidity. I'm gonna have to second Renaissance Wax for rust prevention. I've been using it for several months and it works really well. I also tried Frog Lube which worked okay but not as good as Renaissance Wax.