i heard of a trick once to spray silicone based lube into the foam but this would be temporary or does this not even work?
Grant, what years of production are considered early?
I looked at a used M&P40c yesterday in a gunshop case-it had started to rust just like that from being in the case. It had a silver dollar size spot at the rear of the slide, to include the sights.
Why S&W insists on making the slide and barrel from SS then meloniting it versus carbon steel is strange. Doesn’t carbon steel take the process better?
I think he would get a new slide and controls.
C4
09’s or earlier were more prone to rusting than newer models.
C4
What would be a good retrofit for that brown paper? I currently store a few pistols and rifles in gun cases and so far have had no rust issues, probably from keeping them lightly oiled. But if foam is a moisture attractant what is a better way to store them?
Would wrapping them in red rosin (building ) paper be a possibility? Or not in the foam lined ox at all? If not in the pistol case then what?
I miss the days when my Dad stored his guns in a nice wood cabinet with glass doors. You could see them, and since it was in the family room take them out and inspect (OK, fondle) them whenever convenient.
Guys…no matter what steel or coating do not store ANY firearm in a foam case or leather holster. If you live in a humid climate wipe down the exterior with an OILY rag (oil with good corrosion resistance properties), and inspect them at least once a month if not bi weekly.
If you have a safe use desiccant packs or other measures to lower the humidity in the storage vessel.
Leaving a firearm in a foam case for months is asking for rust no matter what.
Agreed… that foam case is for safely taking to and returning from the range.
(those who do not carry that weapon)
For “storing” make sure to wipe them down with a silicone cloth or some light oil making sure not to touch and leave acids from your fingers on metal.
Ideally store them in a gun safe with one or two dehumidifiers.
Agreed that leaving firearms in a foam case is a bad idea. I’ve had both a pistol and a rifle show rust from being left in a foam case for just a few days (less than 2 weeks total in the case of the rifle–and it was a brand new rifle!). After that lesson, I always keep my stuff out of the cases, well coated with CorrosionX, and stored in my safe that has a Goldenrod to keep things really dry.
Although I have to say, once I started coating stuff with CorrosionX, even though I live in Seattle area where it’s very damp 9 months of the year, the rust problems went away. I even have an emergency kit with an M&P pistol in my trunk, and it stays out there for months at a time without showing rust. I do inspect it monthly and recoat lightly with CorrosionX about 3x a year.
I’m not a gun smith nor do I play one on TV. So, what does someone do to clean that up?
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I’m not a gunsmith either, but I think you have a couple of choices.
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For an M&P–or another fairly recent pistol brand with good manufacturer’s warranty–if it rusts and it shouldn’t have, then do as was recommended above and send it back to S&W. They will just replace the parts and be done with it.
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If you don’t have the warranty option, then there are a variety of ways to deal with rust depending on what kind of steel and finish you’re dealing with. Like I mentioned on steel gun barrels, one way a lot of gunsmiths recommend and I have tried, is to rub it with oil-soaked fine steel wool (say grade 000), then follow up with coats of cold bluing (for blued guns, obviously) or other appropriate finish to protect the surface.
I rusted mine to all most that point yours might be ‘‘slightly more’’ but not by much.
It was fairly easily cleaned up I field striped it and soaked all of the metal in CLP take OOO steel wool and soak the steel wool in CLP.
With light pressure scrub the parts. The rust comes off fairly easily the black melonite finish was unaffected it looked like new afterwards.
Using steel wooll on Stainless is a huge no-no. Makes corrosion cells, likely similar to what the blasting media did to cause this in the first place.
Send-it-back!!!
Interesting…
Over the yrs I have managed to surface rust rust quite a few things.
Factory SS ruger 10/22 barrel. Factory HK G3 cocking tube [ which by the way I thought was zinc coated by the looks of it] guess it was not 
I wont even try to count the blued guns but that is a given.
Never had the ruger SS barrel re-rust after I cleaned it off nor did the M&P but after those episodes I consciously made sure they were had a light film of oil.
BTW my M&P got the Light bit of rust after a light shooting session and left it in the truck after for 30 or so hrs.
Yep. I think that’s what I said as well, for MP’s and similar guns that have a warranty: it’s best to send em’ back. I was also trying to give one example of a useful technique you can do yourself to remove rust on other types of BLUED guns that are no longer under warranty (I didn’t mention stainless).
Smith has the best cs of any large company (and even better then a lot of small companies) that I’ve ever dealt with. I have sent them things that were clearly abused that I thought wore out prematurely and they have never charged me a dime and they paid shipping both ways.
Hopefully it gets taken care of. Hell send off and have it Nickel Boron.
Anyone know if Smith will replace rusting magazines?
Yes. In my case, they replaced one of the earliest mags they made that had rust on it. I just emailed them a picture, they sent a new mag.
I’ve tried the silicone spray trick, and it worked for the year that I stored in the foam case. However, I ended up throwing out the case shortly after.
I found that the open cell foam allowed the fluid to migrate throughout, and ended up with a wet sponge that made a mess of everything. The next gun I stored in there came out completely drencehed in oil. It may work, but I would never recommend anyone spray a foam lined case down with any oil and use it for storage.