We’ve all heard the story, told by some friend or friend-of-a-friend: One day, cleaning out some storage closet in Great-Grandpa’s basement, some lucky devil unearthed a long-forgotten shotgun case. Like Howard Carter in Tutankhamen’s tomb, said lucky devil opened the case to reveal a priceless and perfectly preserved gesture of London’s Best.
It’s a classic fairy tale, and one all shotgunners dream might befall them. Yet realistically, were a gun to spend years if not decades squirreled away in a case or confined to a closet in a damp basement, the treasure revealed likely would not be one of gleaming metal and lustrous walnut but rather one showcasing the hallmarks of inadequate storage and the ravages of time: rust, pitting, crazing under the wood finish, mildew and all manner of other issues seen and unseen.
Over the course of a lifetime, guns will go through periods of non-use. Often such fallow periods will last only the few months between the season’s last day and the following opener. At other time, guns will intentionally be taken out of commission and put away for longer periods—such as until a grandchild comes of age or the market matures to enhance an investment. But guns, which are in many ways comprised of natural materials, are in essence living pieces of art. They can degrade as time passes, and they are at the mercy of their environments. For this reason, preparation for storage and regular monitoring are keys to the long-term health of guns at rest. Moreover, unique considerations must be made to ensure the safe storage of a gun that will sit for weeks or months versus one that will sit for years. Following is an overview of proper practices from author and gunsmith Del Whitman.
Regardless of the storage plan or intention for a shotgun, it is vital that routine care be maintained leading up to that storage period. Regular cleaning, conditioning of wood and so on will help ensure that a gun at rest does not harbor or perpetuate any underlying issues (e.g., oil soaking). Before storing, one must complete a thorough cleaning. (For a detailed description of proper cleaning, see “A Comprehensive Cleaning Process,” July/August ’24.) Make sure that bores are thoroughly scrubbed with clean brushes and swabbed with dry patches, and apply a very light coat of rust-preventative oil to the bores via an oiled patch. Pull the choke tubes, clean the threads on the tubes and in the muzzles, and lightly grease both before re-fitting. Apply a light coat of restorative liquid wax (such as Howard Feed-N-Wax, LemOil or some other natural wax) to the stock and forend. Apply a thin coat of light rust preventative to the metal surfaces, and make sure that any excess is removed. Pay careful attention to cleaning away any corrosive or hygroscopic substances that may be on surface wood or metal. Blood, for example, which is rich in iron molecules, will readily attract water to surface metal, and seemingly innocuous droplets of soda left on blacked or blued metal will corrode the finish rapidly. Leave surfaces clean, dry and protected in preparation for storage.
Perhaps most important is that you take this last thorough cleaning as a time to assess the entire gun for damage and proper function. It is vital that any issues be recognized at the start of the off-season. If professional repairs are necessary, don’t delay in getting the gun to a gunsmith. Most gunsmiths do not work quickly and should be given plenty of time to complete the job while the gun is not needed.
Once the gun is cleaned and the surfaces prepared, the most important consideration for “short-term storage” is the environment in which the gun is to be stored. First and foremost, consider safety. Guns should be stored in a locked room, safe, closet or cabinet—ideally away from ammunition. Guns should never be stored loaded. They also should not be stored in cases, trunks and so on, as case materials can absorb and hold moisture against the gun’s metal and wood finishes, causing damage. In the event that a gun must be stored for any period outside of a locked room or safe, trigger locks or the ingenious Nosparo chamber locks are a must.
With safety attended to, one must assess and monitor the humidity and temperature of the storage environment. An ideal environment maintains humidity in the 30- to 50-percent range and temperatures between 50° F and 70° F. The more critical factor, however, is consistency and air flow. Pockets of moisture can sit in confined spaces next to an exterior wall or against a wall containing plumbing. Moreover, exposure to direct sunlight through a window or other aperture can cause directed heat or UV damage. Consistent environmental humidity and temperature should be maintained and can be augmented with small space heaters, dehumidifiers, desiccant units and so on and monitored with simple, battery-operated Bluetooth hygrometer/thermometer units. These inexpensive devices are remarkably handy and can be set to trigger an alarm when suboptimal temperature or humidity levels are approached.
There is much said about the orientation of guns in storage—particularly whether they should be stored muzzle-up or -down. If restraint has been used in applying oil, there should be no concern of oil running out of the action and soaking the stock wood. Therefore, guns can be stored muzzle-up. If one prefers to store guns muzzle-down, be sure that the muzzle rests on a surface that will not collect ambient moisture and pit or corrode the muzzles. Use a pad of synthetic felt or something similar as a rest. Finally, it is generally advised to use snap caps to release spring pressure on the hammers when guns are stored. Just remember that certain guns (including most of those with Southgate-style ejectors) that are disassembled without the ejectors cocked will prove very difficult to reassemble without manual cocking. This can be quite unsettling to the gun owner and require a trip to the gunsmith. Before disassembling a gun, make sure that the ejector hammers are cocked by opening and closing the gun.
When preparing a gun for “long-term storage” of many months or years, similar considerations apply. That said, typically a more advanced strip-and-clean will be required. This process will reduce the gun to its base parts, at which time each component can be applied with a more advanced rust preventative. Items like LPS2 may be sufficient for internal moving parts, but an LPS3, which is essentially a lubricant with a solvent carrier, may be a better choice for surface metals. LPS3 contains a solvent that evaporates once applied, leaving behind a slightly heavier coat of rust preventative almost like a wax that will provide stable metal protection for years. Standard liquid-wax products can be applied as a wood conditioner.
From a storage standpoint, many of the same rules apply for short- and long-term storage. However, if a gun is being stored long-term, it should be placed in an area where no harm can befall it. Make certain it cannot be landed on, tipped over or touched by any foreign object. Keep it in a low-traffic area. At the same time, however, the gun should not be tucked away and forgotten. Guns in long-term storage still require checking on, and the old “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” adage can be problematic if routine check-ins are not made.
When prepping guns for curated storage, consider including a maintenance log. While properly treated metals can sit untouched for decades, natural facets of the gun such as wood and leather or rubber pads require routine maintenance. All guns should have a scheduled check and maintenance, at which time wood finish is restored with a liquid wax, leather pads are treated with a fine-wax shoe polish, and rubber pads are touched up with an Armor All–type of synthetic conditioner. A six-month maintenance cadence should be sufficient for most guns, provided the storage environment is stable.
Otherwise, during long-term storage the major consideration is that any handling, shooting and so on must be documented and attended to before the gun is put back into storage. Even a single handling can leave sweaty, salty fingerprints on a gun barrel that, with time, can etch themselves permanently into the finish. A gun that is taken out occasionally for a single, ceremonial fired shot cannot be put back into storage without a repeat of the thorough preparation process. Bits of powder residue or debris can prove devastating if they are given weeks and months to work away on metal. Logging and reviewing any activity will ensure that a proper maintenance cycle is maintained.
It is our sincere hope that one day, while digging in Great-Grandpa’s basement closet, you will be lucky enough to uncover a gun case that holds an exquisite example of the gunmaker’s art. And if you do, it is also our hope that Great-Grandpa was a real stickler, with a penchant for record-keeping and a fondness for digital hygrometer/thermometers. We hope that he stored the gun away from other objects and that the case somehow never contacted surface wood or metal. Guns, after all, demand our responsible care and respect—when in use and when at rest. They can indeed last many lifetimes, but only when cared for properly and stored with preservation in mind.
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