Ever see a moldy gun?

[timspawn]

Yuck!

[dubber123]

Yes, I have. A Marlin 1894C that was left in a faux wool lined gun case for about 10 years in the rafters of a tin equipment building. Luckily the metal was surprising unscathed, and the bore perfect. The wood needed refinishing.

[osteodoc08]

Did you take it in on trade or let it go?

[JSnover]

I've seen that and worse. If the mold is cleaned off the gun will be fine. Leave it on long enough and it will start to rust.

[Beagle333]

I had a BH in a tacklebox that I forgot and it molded. Amazingly, it wasn't rusted, just molded. A good scrubbing and all was well.

[timspawn]

Did you take it in on trade or let it go?

I bought it. I'm going to clean it up tomorrow.

[MtGun44]

I think the mold is eating the oil, not the metal.

Bill

[Bzcraig]

It is a terrible waste of time and talent to remove all that metal fatiguing mold. Please send to me for proper dismantling! :kidding:

[725]

Believe it or not, when I inspected some of my squad at roll call. To some a gun is nothing more than a ham sandwich and treat them with the same care. Wet leather and a weekend in the closet can go all sorts of stuff.

[ascast]

you guys carry an emergency ham saniinch on your belt ! thats it too funny

gotta go roll on the floor

[fast ronnie]

Aren't gun cases lovely? I just replaced a barrel on a .270 that was lest in a gun case for about 10 years. The barrel was rusted shut. Don't store guns in cases. Another friend opened his case at the range and had water literally dripping of the gun from condensation.

[country gent]

Another problem with cases is improperly tanned leather in the cases that cause aid corrosion. Friend had a lovely hand tooled leather scabard only problem was if you put a rifle in it it rusred from the tanning process used. Im also suspecting some of our new oils are animal or vegtable based. This issue was more prevalant when rendered fats and or fish oils were used as gun / insterment oils.

[timspawn]

I'm not sure of the best way to attack this. Hoppe's or hot soapy water and a scrub brush?

[Green Monster]

Hot soapy water(dawn soap) risne often and oil everything from top to bottom. Its going to be a full detail strip and scrub.

[Pb Burner]

Had one similar, Security Six left in a leather holster in console of a truck with a leaky windshield. Cleaned up fairly well considering what it looked like when found.
I would love to see some "after" photos.

[country gent]

Most cleaning soulutions for mold have a light bleach content also. I would try a small area with bleach water ( to insure it dosnt further damage surface) then clen with bleach water to kill the mold spores of . then something akin top dish soap and water then dry oil and watch for regrowth.

[nagantguy]

Yep seen it last wit tears project I posted about a 1940s 94 30-30 left in a case on a basement floor for who knows how long, 20 years was the guess by the next of kin I bought it from. The case had decayed into the stock, mold everywhere but the barrel and action were packed with grease. Nice shiny bore! Wood and metal cleaned up fine, was my first attempt at pcing a gun, turned out nice. A bath in Boling bleach water 3 to one mix 1 bleach to 3 water killed the mold and lifted most of the case fibers from the stock.

[bgw45]

If it wouldn't rust I'd just call it patina.

[roverboy]

I don't think I've ever seen one that was moldy. My uncle bought one once that wasn't moldy but, was stuck in a soft zippered case. The soft case had been wet for a while, and the gun(Springfield 1911A1 .45 ACP)was stuck in the case. He said he completely turned the case inside out, when he pulled the gun out. The gun looked pretty bad too.

[Ragnarok]

That's a Chiappa style 1911-22...made of 'Chiappalloy'....some sort of die-cast zinc...probably corrosion

[Jtarm]

At least there's no mushrooms growing out of it.

[Djones]

My Dad and I opened up one of his safes last spring. The safe WAS sitting directly on the concrete in an non conditioned (no heat or A/C) garage. Every single gun had a greenish mold covering the entire gun from top to bottom, wood and metal. It was very scary!

We washed them all down with soapy water and re-oiled them. Then we quickly proceeded to put some boards under the safe to allow air to move between the safe and the concrete.

I think the safe actually was pulling moisture out of the concrete. I have seen similar things happen with air conditioned electrical cabinets wicking moisture out of the warm concrete.

He has a goldenrod in there now too to keep the safe from being cooler than the concrete.

[Multigunner]

Cast zinc based alloys like zamac can be subject to "Zinc Pest". Its a common problem for collectors of die cast toys.

If its just mold you can clean mold off just about anything with balistol mixed with water.