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Storage in Southern States

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Henry2357

40 Cal.
Joined
Dec 17, 2016
Messages
327
Reaction score
125
Location
Colonie, NY
My wife and I are making the move south to SC. Up here in NY I really don't have to deal with too much humidity and since my BP rifles don't fit into my gun safe, I store them next to it in my "sports closet" as my wife calls it.
My question, is storage harder down there with a much longer humid period? How do you folks do it? Any input on this would be GREATLY appreciated. Joe
 
Storage can be challenging. Silicone cloth wipe helps. Keep internals and bore well oiled. I even go to extent to pull barrel and used a light grease on lower part and wax the stock, if wood, so grease won't soak in. Keep every moisture pack you find and put then in case/vault. Keep inside where HVAC keeps air quality steady. I keep all my knife blades scrubbed with wax. A plus is it keeps edge from getting corrosion degrade. Very easy clean up after use for field dressing and alcohol will remove the wax. I treat the inside of the sheaths and holsters with a mix of wax and veggie oil melted together in a thick but still sticky consistency. Apply let sit over night the wipe excess. Creates moisture barrier. Makes good patch lube and over ball sealer for revolvers too.
 
I live just outside of Houston. Run your air conditioning and/or dehumidifier. If you can get the relative humidity below 50% it greatly reduces the rust formation rate. Won't stop it, but will slow it. Do everything Bang suggested above. Put a light bulb near the floor in the closet to warm the air and keep the RH down, and keep the closet closed at all times. I found keeping my firearms in an upstairs closet seemed to slow rusting, probably because it is a couple degrees warmer upstairs and so lower humidity. I now have a gun safe and have one of those heaters inside to keep humidity down. My woodworking tools are in my garage shop, and it was a constant battle with rust until I sealed it up, insulated and put in air conditioning. You have to check more frequently in spring and fall when a/c or heat is not being used. Even with all the mechanical and electrical aids, I still check at least monthly and oil, wax or grease as needed the firearms and workshop tools.
 
My woodworking tools are in my garage shop, and it was a constant battle with rust until I sealed it up, insulated and put in air conditioning


In northern Missouri it is a pain to hold rust back. I use regular paste wax to help keep rust under control. I polish any steel on tools and weapons like a car. It keeps my saw tables from rusting. Fall and spring is the time I polish things in the shop. Once a year for weapons. I also run a dehumidifier in the wet season, which 2019 was about all year.
 
Yikes!!!!!! Up here in upstate NY nothing like that is needed.
I will heed all warnings and take all advice... thanks gents.

ps. Another thing I have to work on is transfer of my pistols out of NY. Haven’t even looked into that yet...
 
Yikes!!!!!! Up here in upstate NY nothing like that is needed.
I will heed all warnings and take all advice... thanks gents.

ps. Another thing I have to work on is transfer of my pistols out of NY. Haven’t even looked into that yet...
Moving into the USSA free zone, you can probably stow all your handguns in the trunk and drive away. Please understand I am not a lawyer and am not mentally competent and am therefore not responsible for whatever awkward situations my babbling idiocy gets you into!
 
Yikes!!!!!! Up here in upstate NY nothing like that is needed.
I will heed all warnings and take all advice... thanks gents.

ps. Another thing I have to work on is transfer of my pistols out of NY. Haven’t even looked into that yet...
South Carolina doesn't require registration of any firearm and NY doesn't care if you take all of your guns out of their state. In fact, doing so would probably make them happy (except for the tax revenue they are going to lose).
 
Henry, regarding care of your smoke poles: I've lived in Coastal SC for almost 30 years now, seven of those on a sailboat in salt water. I've kept and used just about every arm we talk about on the forums during that time. My experience is that if you clean well after shooting, oil them for storage, and check on 'em now and then, you'll be fine. Extraordinary efforts aren't really required, but diligence certainly is.

Oh, and Zonie & Treestalker are absolutely correct: Down here no one cares what you've got as long as you don't shoot anyone with it. :thumb:

And even then, not so much...
 
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Yikes!!!!!! Up here in upstate NY nothing like that is needed.
I will heed all warnings and take all advice... thanks gents.

ps. Another thing I have to work on is transfer of my pistols out of NY. Haven’t even looked into that yet...
Left Upstate NY for NC over 25 years ago. Store my guns inside the house (think climate controlled) and have no rust issues, as long as they are put away clean. Store them in a garage that is not heated/cooled throughout the year, the back porch or in a storage shed and you will have problems.

When I was leaving NYS called the county pistol permit office and asked them about leaving the NY with the handguns on my permit. They told me I should do a FFL to FFL transfer, but they could not cite any specific law. They asked for my name and suggested I set up a meeting with them. I hung up (this was before caller ID). Ultimately left NY with the guns in my vehicle on a ‘hunting trip’ and haven’t gone back to complete any transfer.....

I would not fly out of NY with your pistols nor let your mover transport them. And I imagine that King Andrew will say good riddance when you leave as long as you take your guns.

At the time I left NYS pistol permits were ‘good until revoked’, but now I understand they have to be renewed every so many years, so mine would be officially expired due to natural causes due to aging.
 
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Yes, don’t “expire” but you have to register every 5 yrs with state police. Mines a 35 yr old unrestricted permit, back then they gave you concealed carry no questions asked. Anyway, I will give them a call from work phone and see what I can find out. Thanks.
 
Yes, don’t “expire” but you have to register every 5 yrs with state police. Mines a 35 yr old unrestricted permit, back then they gave you concealed carry no questions asked. Anyway, I will give them a call from work phone and see what I can find out. Thanks.
Have talked to others on this topic. Best to just quietly leave NY, as you legally permitted to do. Otherwise you will pay the county pistol permit department whatever they charge per pistol transaction, FFL fees at both ends for each pistol, plus jump through whatever other circus hoops they can think of for you.

After I had my unrestricted NYS permit for around 15 years they changed it to ‘restricted to hunting and target shooting’ (typed on bottom of the permit) when I registered a pistol. Explanation was that was what the new judge in charge required. Varied from county to county from what I understood.
 
Have talked to others on this topic. Best to just quietly leave NY, as you legally permitted to do. Otherwise you will pay the county pistol permit department whatever they charge per pistol transaction, FFL fees at both ends for each pistol, plus jump through whatever other circus hoops they can think of for you.

After I had my unrestricted NYS permit for around 15 years they changed it to ‘restricted to hunting and target shooting’ (typed on bottom of the permit) when I registered a pistol. Explanation was that was what the new judge in charge required. Varied from county to county from what I understood.
Agreed. Just leave. They belong to and with you. The less advertising about it the better.
 
Yes, they wanted me to get the new credit card style of permit instead of my old paper one when I went back in for an amendment, it was my choice so I said NO. My luck it would have come back restricted, which she could not guarantee it would not come back that way.
 
Yes, they wanted me to get the new credit card style of permit instead of my old paper one when I went back in for an amendment, it was my choice so I said NO. My luck it would have come back restricted, which she could not guarantee it would not come back that way.
When I was in NYS once they added a restriction (which they could do anytime you had them add a gun to your permit) you had to petition before a judge to get it removed, even if at the time the restrictions weren’t being put on new permits. And if they restricted you with a ‘premises permit’ you were really screwed. Technically no legal way to get a pistol to or from your property by yourself. Pistol would have to be in the possession of someone with a ‘carry permit’ who had that pistol also registered on their permit any time it was off your ‘premises’. A legal misstep just waiting to happen.
 
Do not store anything metal in humid closed up places . Check on your tools etc twice a year.
I use 30 wt non-detergent to wipe down metal ,and polish for my furniture. If you cannot keep
a/c on then ventilate well and keep in dry places. Do not worry. Rust is easy to handle, it is
the "controllers" that you need to protect against in New York. Presently, the South is free.
There is an extra level of freedom in most Southern States for muzzleloaders in that you are
not required to use FFLs (in most States). Presently Caps and Black Powder is loosely regulated.
There are possession limits under the Federal 50 lb limit, for example Florida is 25 lbs.
 
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