QUESTION - how best to store a rifle?

[Ian M]

When rifles are stored vertically should they be placed muzzle UP or muzzle DOWN in a gunsafe or storage location. Muzzle DOWN will prevent solvent from seeping into the receiver area - are there any negatives to storing muzzle DOWN?

 

[10X]

hello Ian.

I have always stored my rifles but up.there is good reason for this..oil and solvent cant run out onto the stock..when you open the safe it is easy to give each rifle a little bit of oil down the barrel (especialy the ones that dont get used alot)..it also takes the weight/pressure of wooden stocks.

just make sure u have some good padding on the floor.and stand them in a manner that they are as close to vertical as possible. for this I have fitted out my safe with a rack.


thats been my experience .hope it helps

 

[Ian M]

10x,
Since I started storing my rifles muzzle down I always note a bit of solvent and/or oil seeping down into to the cloth I put under the muzzle - you are correct about seepage as otherwise that solvent would probably soak into the action area and bedding.

I got interested in this when I saw some McMillan stocks that had become "solvent-soaked" and the bedding area had gone punky. I assume that this was caused by improper storage and also spilled solvent during cleaning.

Understand that the current favored bedding compound "Marine Tex" (not sure of spelling) is not as effected by solvents as older compounds.

 

[Darryl Cassel]

Hello

Always store muzzle down or at least slanted downward if the rifle is layed on a table.

I had a friend who stored his Remington 721 "stock" down and the oil ran down into the chamber area and hardened into a ring around the chamber.
When a case was fired in it, the ring was left on the case and looked like a seperation mark.
He sent the gun to Remington and they said it had been rechambered and that was a chamber mark and they would.nt do anything about it. The rifle was a 300 H& H and was NEVER Rechambered.
He brought it over to my house and we started to clean, soak and brush the chamber area. With overnight soakings we were able to remove the hardened buildup.

The chamber is fine and there are no more marks on the fired cases.
Just some food for thought, Always store muzzle DOWN.

DC

 

[Goofycat]

Absolutely muzzle down. The cleaning solvents are sometimes not completely removed after cleaning. Over time, they will flow downward. If you store the rifle butt-down, you risk causing damage to the stock, whether it is made of wood or a composite. If you are concerned about the solvent's damaging the cloth interior of your soft-cover (or even hard-cover) gun storage bag, just put a rag at the tip of the muzzle securing it with a baggy and a rubber band. If you have a problem storing the gun muzzle-down because you want to stagger your rifles in your gun case, make sure you put some sort of cloth in the chamber to soak up any excess solvent before it gets where it shouldn't get.

If you are using the Wipe-out foam solvent, introduce it into the barrel from the chamber end and let it foam out the muzzle, rather than vice-versa. There is a YouTube clip on using Wipe-out. If you have a wooden stock, do NOT oil it, or you may risk mushing the stock with oil, causing the action/barrel to move. It may not happen right away, but why take the chance?

 

[BillLarson]

Muzzle down.

 

[OldElkHunter1961]

Another vote for muzzle down on an old folded up terry cloth towel. Not only keeps solvent/lubricant out of the stock but also the magazine well and most importantly the fire control group and bolt.

 

[FEENIX]

OMG, 20+ years old thread.

 

[xsn10s]

I cover all the bases and have rifles stored muzzle up and down, some even sideways . I think the main is don't store them with a cartridge in the chamber. And periodically oil them.