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December 14, 2009
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I recently purchased a pre 64 Model 70 Alaskan in .338WM. The rifle has a factory fitted solid red rubber buttplate. I am concerned that in long term storage in my gun safe that the buttplate with be damaged if the rifle is left resting on the buttplate. Is this a valid concern and should I find a way to store the gun without putting its weight on the buttplate while the gun is is resting vertically on a solid surface.
November 1, 2013
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Ventilated pads crush down badly, but even the solid ones eventually take a “set.” Stand it on the muzzle in a soft case.
December 14, 2009
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Thanks, I never store a gun for long periods in a case due to moisture but the muzzle suggestion is perhaps a good one.
November 1, 2013
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Dave Kenney said
Thanks, I never store a gun for long periods in a case due to moisture…
Not a problem in a heated space–have done it that way for 40+ yrs.
Found this question 7 years after it was first posted, as I have just purchased a rifle that had a rubber butt-plate, and none of my others do. I also have stored rifles for many decades now, and always have a tube dehumidifier plugged in. They don’t draw much power and keep the safe at a constant temp. No rust issues ever. Be sure to get the US made units, made right in Hendersonville, NC since day one, they last forever. As a side note, I would love to know how manufacturers make a claim that their safe will hold X number of firearms. The must pad that number with how many pistols they can hold, as the only way I have ever gotten close with rifles was to store rifles butt down, muzzle down in an alternate pattern.
January 20, 2023
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Clarence was right that even the solid pads will eventually take a set. I lessen the risk by storing the gun in a soft Bore-Store, the flap of which is quite soft and padded. The pad rests on the flap, which cushions it from direct contact with the wooden safe floor and distributes the weight of the gun across the entire surface of the pad rather than at the heel or toe.
Another solution is to insert a large drawing pin into the recoil pad until it reaches the wooden butt, so that the weight of the gun is borne by the head of the pin, not the pad. I believe Brownell’s once sold recoil pads with this feature built in. The pin was, of course, removed and left handy in the safe when the gun was taken from the safe to use.
I’ve always used an original GoldenRod to keep the relative humidity of the safe’s interior lower than the ambient room air.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
October 14, 2024
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I now make a habit of storing all my long arms on their muzzle. None of my firearms have recoil pads, but I think it’s a good idea to prevent oil from migrating down into the wood at the receiver/ buttstock.
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