M14 Forum

washington

I live near the ocean where the humidity is in the 80's in the morning and 60's in the afternoon/evening. I have an eight gun safe. I fire them at least monthly. I have had no problems in the two years living here. What do you think? Do I need a desiccant?

Earthquake

I would have some no matter where you live, I got lucky the company I used to work for used a lot of glass beads for blasting brass and aluminum, in each 5 gal bucket there was a 1/2 pound bag of desiccant, I grabbed about 20 of them and put them in my safes, I live in Las Vegas NV where the humidity rarely gets above 15% but I do use a swamp cooler part of the year so the inside humidity goes up a bit. Look on line there used to be a thing called "Goldenrod" for dehumidifying the in side of a safe and I heard they worked well. You could just buy a 1000 packs of beef jerky and take the little packs of desiccant and spread them all over the in side of your safe, I bet it would make the inside smell good [HMMMM jerky, Best Homer Simpson impersonation]

Casey

perazziboy

+1 on goldenrod, best one on the market and cheap insurance against moisture.

M14E2

Unless the container/gun safe is air-tight when closed , the only thing dessicants will do is draw moisture/humidity INTO the safe. A GoldenRod , or 15 watt light bulb inside the safe is yer best bet. I'm in PA , and it get 90% or better humidity during the summer months. I use Sock-Ups for all my guns , liberally soaked with food grade silicone spray , and a Golden Rod in each of my safes. Never had a speck of rust.

NE450N02

I have used a Golden Rod for 20 years or so. never any rust.

I have a new safe, I have been using it for 4 years with one of those dehumiderfiers that when the little beads turn pink you plug it in and when they turn blue it is "recharged", and youn put it back into the safe.

So far again no rust.

I also always wipe my guns down with either RIG, BreakFree, Or Prolix.

washington

Thanks guys. I'll check out the Goldenrod. Socks are a good idea too, I worry about the salt in the air.

Sweets

You definately want something. I've lived in arctic housing that had a relative humidity of about 2% when the heat was on and metal still rusted because, I'm told, metal of any size acts as a heat sink and condenses moisture. A gun safe is particularly risky for that sort of thing. I'm not in such cold climate anymore, but I still use a couple pounds of the blue-crystals dessicant sold in hobby stores for drying flowers (cheap in bulk), and also a light bulb-- being a tightwad except for flashy stuff, I passed on a Goldenrod unit and just paid a couple of bucks for a metal cage worklight fitting that I bolted onto the end of a plugless extension cord. I use a CFC bulb too, the green choice or something. It generates heat enough to help dry out the safe and, I think more importantly, keeps the air moving inside.

Dave P

"I have had no problems in the two years living here" ... so you must be doing something right.

My safe is 1/4 mile from the Atlantic. No desicants; windows closed, AC on, no problems. Tools in garage rust in a couple of days.

geeck

+1 on the Golden Rod, been using one for 20+ years in SE Louisiana, the home of below sea level living and haven't had a problem.

The silicone gun sock is a great idea too, if you buy them in the multi-pack, they can be had for around $3.50 each. I started using them to help keep the scratches down in a crowded safe. They seem to help with the rust too.


Midway has them on sale until the end of Sept.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...mber=939460228



http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...ber=1138614184 not a bad price at $16.99 on sale until the end of Sept.

washington

Thanks again. I think I'll go with the multi-pack.