rob-cubed
In need of moderation
I've seen this experiment before, but came upon some raw steel plates and figured... why not? Since I've never seen rust tests done with all my favorite solvents in addition to dedicated rust preventers, now was the time to try it.
I started out with 3 sheets of metal, cleaned them thoroughly and applied nine different compounds--each time using a clean cotton ball, and wiped gently with a paper towel. A bit more residuel was left on each plate than I'd normally leave on a gun, but not by a whole lot.
The chemicals are:
- Hoppes #9
- Ballistol
- WipeOut
- CLP
- WD-40
- PB Blaster
- 5W40 Synthetic Oil
- Silicone Spray
- Eezox
These hung in my basement for two weeks at 60% humidity and didn't develop a single bit of rust, except on the back where I'd handled them. First rule of keeping guns rust-free... fingerprints are bad. Wipe them off.
After two weeks in the basement failed to generate results, I mixed up some briny water, about the salinity of the ocean. Laid each plate flat and sprayed them evenly and *immediately* noticed flash rust on a few of the test areas.
Second rust-free rule, don't take your guns boating around saltwater. And if you sweat on them or shoot corrosive ammo which contains salt, clean it off immediately. Salt is hygroscopic and attracts humidity in the air even if it's not noticeably wet. Salt and metal most definitely are not friends.
The areas which flash-rusted first were those with the dedicated solvents: Hoppes #9, Ballistol, and WipeOut. But it was interesting to see how each compound beaded the water differently, which led to different rust patterns. Third rule of rust prevention: solvents are solvents, they do not perform the same as preventatives even if they are advertised to protect against rust.
The plates were left outside from here on out, laid flat under a sheltered porch. They were subjected to Spring temperature swings which attracted dew every morning. They rusted *really* fast with the combination of dew and the salt still remaining on the plates.
By day two nearly all the test areas were noticeably rusted except for three: CLP, Eezox, and WD-40. These three holdouts were almost entirely and equally clean of rust, although it's not as obvious in the photos. What surprised me was the silicone, PB Blaster, and 5W40 had rusted completely by the second day, I figured they would do better.
By days three and four, the CLP and WD-40 areas both started to rust noticeably.
By day seven, nothing could completely hold back against the presence of salt and dew and the CLP and WD-40 areas were just as bad as the others. The Eezox, while rusted in patches, still kept way more of the metal clean than anything else. Fourth rule of rust prevention: Eezox is as good as it is rumored to be.
This was definitely an extreme test and didn't measure the various compound's ability to resist dirt and gentle handling. So it wasn't entirely equitable to all of the products tested. While Eezox proved to be a great rust-preventer it may not excel at certain gun-related applications. WD-40 is a fairly good rust preventer but is *not* suitable for the insides of bores and chambers, where it eventually will build up into a shellac-like deposit. CLP did way better than I though it would, I feel comfortable continuing to use it in my bores before I put them away.
Hope this helped a few of you!
I started out with 3 sheets of metal, cleaned them thoroughly and applied nine different compounds--each time using a clean cotton ball, and wiped gently with a paper towel. A bit more residuel was left on each plate than I'd normally leave on a gun, but not by a whole lot.
The chemicals are:
- Hoppes #9
- Ballistol
- WipeOut
- CLP
- WD-40
- PB Blaster
- 5W40 Synthetic Oil
- Silicone Spray
- Eezox
These hung in my basement for two weeks at 60% humidity and didn't develop a single bit of rust, except on the back where I'd handled them. First rule of keeping guns rust-free... fingerprints are bad. Wipe them off.
After two weeks in the basement failed to generate results, I mixed up some briny water, about the salinity of the ocean. Laid each plate flat and sprayed them evenly and *immediately* noticed flash rust on a few of the test areas.
Second rust-free rule, don't take your guns boating around saltwater. And if you sweat on them or shoot corrosive ammo which contains salt, clean it off immediately. Salt is hygroscopic and attracts humidity in the air even if it's not noticeably wet. Salt and metal most definitely are not friends.
The areas which flash-rusted first were those with the dedicated solvents: Hoppes #9, Ballistol, and WipeOut. But it was interesting to see how each compound beaded the water differently, which led to different rust patterns. Third rule of rust prevention: solvents are solvents, they do not perform the same as preventatives even if they are advertised to protect against rust.
The plates were left outside from here on out, laid flat under a sheltered porch. They were subjected to Spring temperature swings which attracted dew every morning. They rusted *really* fast with the combination of dew and the salt still remaining on the plates.
By day two nearly all the test areas were noticeably rusted except for three: CLP, Eezox, and WD-40. These three holdouts were almost entirely and equally clean of rust, although it's not as obvious in the photos. What surprised me was the silicone, PB Blaster, and 5W40 had rusted completely by the second day, I figured they would do better.
By days three and four, the CLP and WD-40 areas both started to rust noticeably.
By day seven, nothing could completely hold back against the presence of salt and dew and the CLP and WD-40 areas were just as bad as the others. The Eezox, while rusted in patches, still kept way more of the metal clean than anything else. Fourth rule of rust prevention: Eezox is as good as it is rumored to be.
This was definitely an extreme test and didn't measure the various compound's ability to resist dirt and gentle handling. So it wasn't entirely equitable to all of the products tested. While Eezox proved to be a great rust-preventer it may not excel at certain gun-related applications. WD-40 is a fairly good rust preventer but is *not* suitable for the insides of bores and chambers, where it eventually will build up into a shellac-like deposit. CLP did way better than I though it would, I feel comfortable continuing to use it in my bores before I put them away.
Hope this helped a few of you!
