Fire Recovery process??

[kywoodwrkr]

Does anyone have good first hand experience on how to treat rifles and pistols which have been exposed to extensive smoke and moisture due to a fire?
Have about a hundred rifles and pistols which have been damaged to varying degrees.
My thoughts were to submerge them in either kerosene or diesel fuel and clean one at a time.
Any first or second hand experience?
Thanks.
DaveP kywoodwrkr

[wills]

There was a topic on rifles submurged due to a hurricane, if i recall correctly

[James C. Snodgrass]

My only concern with soaking them in either would be if they had chemical on them. I mean did they use only water to extinguish the fire or did they use powdered chemical or foam. I can't recall if foam is caustic or not but I do recall the powder we use'd in the USN was potassium based. If that was the case I would use soap and water then oil as normal. Sorry to hear of your misfortune. James

[walltube]

Automatic transmission fluid. Worked for me.

[waksupi]

Dave, give them a good clean and scrub, inside and out, with mineral spirits. Oil them ,and then sort them out at your leisure. They will be OK

[shooter93]

We did 30 or 40 last year...part of a friends collection was in a house fire. No springs had lost their temper so it wasn't heat damage. They couldn't be gotten to for a couple days. All were washed with soap and water as soon as we got them then the metal work submersed in a tank of oil/kerosene mix. All needed refinished ofcourse....some came out like new others had pitted to deep from whatever they were soaked with putting the fire out. The stocks all but one came out like they were before. Interestingly....the internals of the barrels were all ok...no pitting, they were examined with a bore scope. Getting a bunch of fire guns actually happens fairly often...I'm sure we've done hundreds.

[Phil]

One of my best chum's had a house fire several years ago. I cleaned up all his firearms for him. None had any damage other than smoke. The smoke particulates consisted of a lot of plastics from carpets, draperies, clothing, and the like. I found the best and fastest way to clean them was with paint remover like Strip Eze, containing methylene chloride (may have forgotten how to spell that one). The scopes were also coated with residue, including the objective and ocular lenses. Now, these were all older ALL STEEL scopes. The Strip Eze worked great on the scopes also, I was concerned about damage to the coating on the lenses, but no damage occurred. Works great, no damage to anything, very fast.

Cheers,

Phil

[jschance]

OK, I guess I'll be the one to ask, Did I miss something or did you suffer a house fire?

You should contact your home insurance carrier and see what they can do to help. A friend of mine went through this last year, and they set him up with someone that did just that professionally. The insurance carrier shipped his guns to the restorer, and then shipped the restored firearms back to him. He did virtually nothing.

If your insurance carrier doesn't help, let me know and I'll get the restorer's name from my friend.

JSC

[kywoodwrkr]

I'm sorry I didn't spell out what happened.
Thursday night I signed(as ) a contract for deed on my old house in Louisville, KY where I had(still have it) carried full insurance for it and contents.
I currently, or did move to reside in a small house in the country.
Friday evening I had an extensive fire at the new residence.
Had not negotiated/bought renters insurance as I had just the night before finalized on other property.
So, I have an almost total loss of over a hundred rifles and pistols, over a hundred sets of reloading forming dies, same with bullet moulds, and ammunition and brass and etc etc.
My very low estimate in my finacial statement will be in the area of 40-50K.
There will be some items saved but I feel right now like the poor folks at Enron when they went to work and their retirement was in smoke.
Difference is at least I have an ongoing income.
And I'm alive.
Sometimes it takes a real disater before you appreciate a sunny morning, or even a gloomy morning, after all it is your morning.:-D
My mental state is fairly good. Yea, I've had a loss but I have an amazing support facility in my friends and relatives.
Don't think I will 'amass' items like I have in the past for 'future' use like I had for the last forty years or so.
Actually, won't have time remaing to accomplish that even if I were to want to.:mrgreen:
Oh, a side point.
Store ammo in USGI ammo cans.
NONE of them were ruptured when the ammo in them cooked off.
I'll try an get some pictures-if I can come up with another camera, forgot about mine being lost.
Had some 1lb tin muffins in one and it was melted in a mass-it was hot.
22's and etc were kinda unnerving to me watching the firemen enter when they were popping all over the place.
Appreciate the answers and am going to town this morning to get some of the ingredients.
As always thanks for the advice and experience information.
DaveP kywoodwrkr

[Dale53]

DaveP;
My condolences for your misfortune. You DO have the right attitude and I highly respect you.

God Bless and look to the future, not the past (easy for me to say).

All the best,
Dale53

[mike in co]

do you need dies ?
seems i owe you a set....
what would your first choice be ?
mike in co

[Dennis Eugene]

sorry to hear of your lose. I have an ext4ra set of 3oo win mag dies there your if ya want them PM me. Dennis

[garandsrus]

Dave,

Sorry to hear about your loss... Any idea how the fire started?

Your insurance company might cover a move to a new residence for some period of time, similar to the way they cover a new car for 30 days or so when you buy it before it is officially added to your policy.

John

[kywoodwrkr]

Thanks to each and every one of you for everything.
At this juncture, I am in the process of trying to gain control of the smelly mess.
After evaluating the above suggestions I am starting tomorrow to de-soot as much as I can.
Not sure what status of all the moulds is.
One thing I will be doing is down sizing(chuckle-like that wasn't taken care of:roll: for me!).
I have enough stuff for ten people. Well, did have anyway.
STG58 I know did not make it. Sure there will others.
I am rambling. However being able to do that with you all is very good for my psychological well being.
You'll never(I hope:neutral:) know how supportive(like in this type situation) just being able to log onto Castboolits can be.
Thanks all.
DaveP kywoodwrkr

[No_1]

Dave,

I know this is a tough time for you. We are keeping you in out thoughts. Speak up when you need something as we are listening. I know I have things that I can "spare" to help you on your road to recovery.

Robert

[jdhenry]

Dave,

I know this is a tough time for you. We are keeping you in out thoughts. Speak up when you need something as we are listening. I know I have things that I can "spare" to help you on your road to recovery.

Robert

I second that!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any thing to help out a fellow reloader/caster:)

[colbyjack]

my buddies gun shop burned a few years back. it was hot, stuff in the safes even got damaged. hes redid a few. he was worried bout the 1911's holding up to full power so he made them deadicated .22's. the heat will affect the hardness of the metals. just becarefull, i work in heat treat and we stress relieve welds and anneal metal at 1150 degress. im sure the fire got that hot in spots. at 1400 degrees i can take 1/2 rebar and bend it by hand once it cools, even if its been case hardned. after the anneal its dead soft. also you could call some of the gun manufactures, they may give you barells dirt cheap and replacement springs and such. i got a load of 1911 mags they were rusty as hell, i vapor blasted them and re blued they all need new springs. they are weak and rusty. after i reblued in cold blue they look new aside from some of the pits. dang fires good luck on your recovery and just becarefull. -chris

[Boz330]

Dave, had the same thing happen to me back in 80, except it was my shop. If you are a member of NRA there is some insurance there you are eligible for, not much but better than a kick in the head. Several of my guns were a total loss but some of them were salvagable, and I proofed a couple that I was worried about but no problems. Several stocks had to be replaced and a couple more reworked.
When I got to the shop, ammo was going off and I warned the fire fighters about it and they said that it wasn't a problem, it just broke open.
I really feel for you, it is a mess to clean up after and you'll be finding what you don't have for a while to come. And you will never forget that smell.
If I can help in any way, hollar.

Good Luck
Bob

[scrapcan]

Dave,

Sorry to hear about the fire. I like the others have spares of stuff I will pass along when you get to the point of knowing what you need. And don't forget about the clothes you lost. If you need anything on that front speak up also. It would not be a pretty sight to see one in his skivies cleaning guns on the curb at a local motel!

Hang in there and keep the attitude you have, and let us know what you need.

Jeremy

[jschance]

Sorry to hear about your loss. I myself have never had to deal with it, but a friend of mine’s house burnt two years ago, and my sister’s house burnt to the ground three or four years ago. In both cases the only loss of life was pets, but the loss of belongings is hard to come to grips with.
In my sister’s case, she said that the reality of the situation hit her the evening of the fire. The fire was out, everyone was safe and they had gone to the local Wal-Mart to buy personal necessities. She said she was walking down the aisle and saw a large pack of Styrofoam cups and thought to herself “I don’t need those because I just bought a pack….”and for some reason the loss of the cups was something that she could quantify and she broke down in tears there in Wal-Mart.
I’ve got your set of bullet molds from the Rent-a-Mold program safe and sound in my reloading room, so let me know where and when to send them and I’ll take care of ‘em. If you need someone to take care of the honcho’ing of the program while you get organized, I can do that too ta help ya out.

[HollandNut]

We had a total loss on May 4th 2007 .. This is an interesting thread , but the few I want to save may be beyond reasonable costs ..

My thinking is they'll cost more to repair than it wud be to replace them ..

Ky you over at woodwerking talk under same handle ??

[HORNET]

DaveP, you have my condolences on your fire. On the plus side, while you lost a lot of stuff, at least NOBODY was hurt or worse. Things can be repaired or replaced, people (or pets) are a much harder problem.

[truckjohn]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

Similar thing happened to us last year, but a much smaller magnitude.

What we learned
1. House smoke + fire putter-outer-stuff is super corrosive.
2. Any exposed ferrous metal rusts very quickly and pits.
3. A good scrub down with Soap and very hot water will start dissolve the corrosive salts.... like after shooting corrosive ammo.
4. WD40 is good at dispersing water.
5. A good scrub down with Scotch brite pads + lots of kroil knocks down most of the powdery rust
6. Your rusted and pitted guns will never un-pit.
7. Try not to work on antiques beyond simply stopping rust -- Seek a professional conservator

Good luck

John

[DLCTEX]

I lost all my reloading equipment except a few items that were loaned out in a house fire in 91. Also lost thousands of dollars worth of tools, and several thousand rounds of ammo. The next day I picked through to salvage some tools and my rockchucker press. I tossed them in a tub outside the door. The next morning they were gone. If there is anything you need, please let us help. DALE

[HollandNut]

Yeah let us know , ppl have been great to me replacing all the stuff I lost .. :drinks: