That doesn’t mean that we like it, however!

A recent email from a reader asked about protecting guns from rust in long-term storage. There are many approaches to the problem, most of them involving some type of coating or oil.

My preferred technique has long been wrapping the piece in a Volatile Corrosion Inhibitor (VCI) paper. VCI paper is coated with chemicals that vaporize to provide a protection layer against moisture and rust. Properly used in a sealed container (like a Zip-Loc bag), it can provide years of complete protection. The only trouble is that you have to buy the stuff in bulk, but a thousand 12×12 sheets is about the cost of a ream of good inkjet printer paper – around $25 at Amazon. (Split it with some friends!)

These days you can get ziploc bags made out of VCI material, which is great because you can protect the gun and see what’s in the bag at the same time! I’ve used these large Zcorr bags for a couple of years now and they seem to work very well. (They also make rifle-sized bags, but they’re spendy!)

-=[ Grant ]=-