Smoke in gun safe!!!!!

Jabey9210

Jabey9210

Member
Two questions. A buddy's house caught fire while on vacation. The fire put itself out before it really got going but it covered every inch of his house on every floor with smoke and soot. His guns in his locked gun safe are covered in smoke and soot. My first question is do we need anything special to clean the guns with? There is no heat damage to them only smoke. Second question is will all gun safes let smoke get in? I was pretty sure I was told that they are air tight. Liberty is the brand of his safe!!!
 
IIRC when I bought my Ft Knox safe years ago, the brochure that came with it warned against storing documents in it as it was fire rated for firearms but NOT paper due to the fact that all gun safes must breathe in order to prevent condenation that would cause corrosion of the firearms. Regular safes are pretty much air tight, but not gun safes.

Regards,
hm
 
Originally Posted By: Tim NeitzkeThey are tight fitting, but not air tight, not mine anyways.

Yup, mine is not fire proof but all the ones ive seen had some type of seal that would expand with heat to make the air tight seal. even then I doubt they would completely eliminate any smoke getting in there.
 
Even "fire safes" are NOT air tight. Fire safes, for firearms at least, will have intumescent "trim" that will swell to seal the safe once it gets hot enough, but in the event, as your friend experienced, smoke may permeate the seals until the fire reaches the actual location of the safe, at which point the heat will 'seal' the safe.

Never hurts to add some weather stripping to your safe doors though to convert them to "semi-airtight". Better yet, seal them up in an exterior closet type enclosure, which is great to make them not look like a safe anyway. Hiding in plain sight.
 
Originally Posted By: VarminterrorEven "fire safes" are NOT air tight. Fire safes, for firearms at least, will have intumescent "trim" that will swell to seal the safe once it gets hot enough, but in the event, as your friend experienced, smoke may permeate the seals until the fire reaches the actual location of the safe, at which point the heat will 'seal' the safe.


That makes a lot of sense, VT. Thanks for that explanation.
 
Originally Posted By: Jack RobertsIt is important that they be cleaned and oiled quickly. Smoke can be very corrosive.

Jack

Not just important.. IMPERATIVE that they be cleaned RIGHT NOW.
My neighbors house was 75% destroyed by fire. I brought his guns to my home that morning (4AM). I started cleaning the next morning about 8AM. They were rusting already. I was able to save them. Concentrate on the metal first. The wood can wait a little while.
 
Ok thanks fellas I've already give them a good cleaning and oiled them up. I had heard before that smoke was really corrosive to metal that's why I was curious if I needed something special to clean them with!!! But what a chore it was cleaning 18 guns at one time. Talk about an all day project!!!!
 
I know an oil cAlled Eezox may be your answer to cleaning them. WD40 is actually a great cleaner but i would use a different oil for rust prevention for the long run.
 
Back
Top