If I had the space to hang then on a wall, a small fan works best to just circulate air. I live in a very dry desert area, humidity will be in the 30% range during summer.

-DallanC

DallanC wrote:

If I had the space to hang then on a wall, a small fan works best to just circulate air. I live in a very dry desert area, humidity will be in the 30% range during summer. -DallanC

Oh, that is my kinda humidity. The one thing I detest, hate with a vengeance about Brisbane is the humidity during Summer. It is so hot and humid I’m a lather of sweat day and night and stink like a mongrel horse…I hate it.

I also have to put things like Closet Camel and desiccant every month in my gun safes to prevent surface rust on my firearms. I have even tried coating metal parts in Lanoguard to help prevent rust. I even considered using heavy motor oil on the outside, but it seems to dry out and it’s a pain to remove. It’s a bit hard to pull each rifle out once a month to clean it, so I have to rely on other rust preventative measures.
Did I mention that I hate the humidity!

Elvis wrote:

A domestic,plug into wall socket dehumidifier does a great job even if only run once a week. Your "problem" of having too many is a good thing to have.

Interesting. I did a quick Google search on these things, and one thing they said is not to use them in enclosed spaces, so the idea I had of putting them in my gun safe is out of the question…BUGGER. Oh well, Closet Camels aren’t overly expensive (about $5 each at Bunnings Hardware) and I think I can afford AUD$15 a month or so.

I've had great luck so far with Ballisol.



-DallanC

30# synthetic motor oil (I use Mobile One) works here in our humidity here in Missouri. We run 70 t0 80% in the summer. Lightly saturate a cotton (T-shirt) rag and wipe them down once a month. I also have an electric dehumidifier rod and absorbent cartridge in the safe.

For the short term (and probably long if I stay happy with it), I'm giving these a try. I bought one and its pretty good, fits the guns fine and the foam is non-scratch. Then I can keep them where they can breath. Recommended on a few forums. I bought a 8 gun to try out, liked it enough I bought another 8 gun stand.



-DallanC

WOW…I’d love to be able to have just one pistol, let alone eight.

4?

I'm weak willed apparently. Went to visit the "Antique Gun" broker guys today... crazy how I kindof fell in with them. They deal in such cool history, and let me come visit and handle things. I mean they have all kinds of interesting old guns, they had a 1700's muzzle-loading french target gun... thing must have been .80 caliber, and in unbelievable condition, like right out of a museum, gold inlays, it was incredible to hold in person. I'll post a picture when they get around to cataloging it. I don't even want to know what they are going to price it at lol

But...

Another gun I've always wanted is a old percussion pistol, I'd come close a couple of times to buying reproductions over the years but never did. These guys had two 1860 Colt Army's there. Both produced early in the Civil war era, most certainly assigned to Union Soldiers immediately after production. The north had such a demand for firearms at the time they got most everything coming out of Colt and sent it all to the army.

One had been cleaned and had a very visible "Naval' scene stamped in the cylinder. The other was untouched, in original yet fantastic condition for a 163 year old gun. Its scene is able to be made out, just surface patina makes it a bit harder to see (in this picture it looks like scratches, but most of that is the lines of the sails of the naval ships) ...the obvious solution would be to get both but "she who must be obeyed" was with me and she only let me pick one LOL!

The guys there all said the untouched one is the most desirable, like a "cleaned" old coin vs a coin in its original state. The cartouches on the grips were clearly visible, not so much on the cleaned one (probably sanded at some point). I ended up picking the latter and it followed me home.

We all wish we could know the history... it was created before the Battle of Gettysburg, could it have been there? Probably not, but its interesting to think about. Very important piece of Americana preserved. Its 100% functional and fireable.

-DallanC

PS: Here's what the Naval scene looks like on these old Colt Armys



-DallanC

They are simply beautiful mate. The scene on the cylinder looks amazing. History as a subject never really did much for me, but historic items are a whole different ball game. I find myself attracted to old buildings and houses in good condition, and old useful items, especially those of significance. I have two 12g shotguns…one a muzzleloader from, as best we can work out, 1841 and the other a breech loader from around 1890. Both are black powder proofed and both have Damascus barrels, so they will never be fired, certainly by me.

Maybe you could trade a couple of the pistols left by Dad for the second gun you had to leave behind. This would solve two problems…you get an amazing pistol that you liked, and wanted and reduce the number of pistols passed to you.

Looking further at the engraved cylinder, I see across the top of the cylinder it says “ENGAGED 16 MAY 184?” I can’t read the last number. I am assuming the guy who carried it had the Naval scene added, along with his Date of Enlistment in the Navy.

Mine says the same thing "ENGAGED 16 MAY 1843". A quick google of that date and a naval battle came up with"Naval Battle of "Campeche". I learned something today.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...f_Campeche

There were 3 scenes I know of that were used on early colts. The Naval from what I can see is the most common due to it being the Army model which was produced to high demand for the Union forces in the US Civil War. Oh and Colt Navy's of course also had the Naval scene.

The stage coach scene looks neat, I wonder how rare that style is, I've never seen one before.




-DallanC

Yep, we both learned something new today, um yesterday, or tomorrow, or one of those days

Of course, I should have picked up on the word ENGAGED. When two naval belligerents decide to ‘cross swords’ and start firing their big guns, it is referred to as they ‘ENGAGED’.

I like the Stagecoach scene…that is fantastic…it looks truly historic, more so than the Naval and horse mounted soldiers scenes. However, that is not to detract from them, they too look great, but I much prefer the Stagecoach scene.