Right now a gun safe isn’t an option and I’ve read about the hard cases holding moisture in the foam and causing some rusting…a soft case appears to be my best option for heading to the range, but do any of you keep your AR in the soft case all the time or should I stick it in the corner of a closet when not in use? Just curious if the soft cases have the same moisture issues that the hard ones do.
I keep all mine in the safe. But i suppose it depends on your family and the area you live. I would personally not keep it in the soft case but I don’t see how it will hurt you if your checking on it, and its well oiled.
If there are no safety issues, I would just leave it uncased at home. Depending on your climate, moisture can condense on your firearm inside of the case, soft or hard, when you bring it back inside. For sure, remove it from the case when you get home, let it equalize to room temp before putting it back in to the case.
Right on. That’s what I kind of figured, but I couldn’t find any bad press on the soft cases
On a side note, nice avatar Ryno12 , I road race too.
hmm…haven’t heard that before. I have a couple of guns stored like that since the 80’s without problems.
Actually your post made me go and pull them out to check…and no rust.
Any hard cases that are sealed (basically just pelican cases) have a one way valve, kinda like on the foil seal of a coffee can, to prevent the case from becoming pressurized. In theory these valves also allow moisture to leave, in practice however, water likes the foam inside the cases. Cases without o-rings aren’t air tight, so don’t need a valve but they still have the foam.
Unless you plan on dry firing in the shower or shooting in the rain and promptly dropping it into a case and forgetting about it for awhile, moisture shouldn’t be much of an issue. Let your weapon equalize with the ambient conditions, and throw some of these into the case with the weapon if you’re really worried about moisture or if you will not be checking on the weapon for a very long time:
http://www.amazon.com/Silica-Gel-Desiccants-Packets-Dry-Packs/dp/B004FC5VT4
Good info. Thank you.
I came across the moisture issue when I was searching for case ideas. Several guys said they pulled thier AR’s out of the hard case to find rust spots.
Anytime there are significant temp/humidity differences when the firearm, or anything else for that matter, is brought in from the outside, moisture will condense. Even in a Pelican case. Think about eyeglasses fogging when raised above the dewpoint. After the moisture has been removed, longterm storage within a case, albeit less than ideal, shouldn’t pose a problem.
RtWing… always a pleasure to meet a fellow road racer!
The thing to remember with silica packets is that once they absorb all the moisture they can hold, they do not release it and become saturated and pretty much useless. Some even have pigments that change color when they reach their maximum capacity. To get them back in service, you need to bake them at a low temp in the oven to release the moisture. There is info online about it.
Edit: I’ve used these in my gun safe and camera pelican case for about 5 years: http://www.zorb-it.com/ They are an interesting take on humidity control and they seem to maintain an average 50% relative humidity in my enclosures with no maintenance.
Soft case pitted my 10/22 barrel years ago in AZ’s low humidity environment.
OP just how long do you need to store your gun for? Is this long term going away on deployment? Burying them in the back yard? Or just out around the house when not in use?
I would leave the guns out of a case but well cleaned and properly oiled. A cool, dry space and out of direct sun is your best bet. Obviously your climate has an affect on how easy/difficult good storage will be. If humidity is high, consider a fan or vent to keep air circulated. (You don’t need a breeze, just need to move stagnant air - ex. ceiling fan on low). I do not store any rifles in cases, they are out. Handguns however are all in cases. I’ve been thinking about that lately myself. I try to bring them out for air and oil when I’m tinkering around.
Pelican/hard cases hold a higher content of moisture, especially those that seal well. The moisture comes from the condensation of the temperature difference of the gun and the ambient air when the gun was enclosed in the foam (or absorbent material). The moisture stays in the foam, the foam is sitting up against the gun. The moisture works on the guns metal surface. First surface rust, then pitting. I have a Combat Commander that was stored improperly by the PO and it exhibits small pitting on the front dust cover and in front of the trigger guard. Contact points on a holster is my guess. That’s why manf say do not leave your gun stored in a holster. Based on the same principle as storing it in a case.
Consider pelican case humidors for cigars, which are the same idea as pelican cases for guns (Often they are the same, military guys would be familiar with this). Moisture content stays very high. Cigars can get too moist, evident when you smoke them. This is common knowledge for cigar/pelican case users. It has been experienced by my husband the first few weeks owning his pelican case humidor and getting it up to speed.
It’s not the case you need to worry about, it’s the type of foam padding in the case. Most hard cases have open cell foam. Open cell foam acts like a sponge and adsorbs moisture. A sponge is in fact an open cell item. Closed cell foam will not absorb moisture.
The foam in a Pelican case is open cell. Most hard cases have open cell foam. The only case I am aware of that comes with closed cell foam is the Glock hard case.
You can buy closed cell foam at most home improvement stores, and it’s not expensive. It is hard to cut to size, which is why most outfits use open cell foam - it’s easy to cut.
Whatever you use when coming from the outside to the inside, or any colder to warmer climate, open the case and let the weapon acclimate to the warmer environment to rid itself of moisture condensation. This is especially true for optics and electronics.
Finally, the valve on a Pelican case has a moisture barrier, but it is designed to equalize pressure. It is not particularly air tight.
This is intresting. Gonna run home and take mine outta my soft case.
Silicon impregnated gun socks are supposed to work well. I had one gun that stayed in a soft case with the wool like material on the inside for probably 15 years with no problems. Then I had a handgun that I kept in one of those wool like cases for a few months and had a corrosion problem. Got it cleaned up as well as I could, then put it in a silicone impregnated sock and no problems since.
For the most part, no problems with guns in soft cases. Never store any guns long time against foam. Foam lined cases are good for transporting, but no good for long term storage. Anyone who has stored a gun long time in a foam lined case knows what a messy disaster that can be.
I keep all mine in the sackups sleeves. Never had an issue that I’m aware of.
I need to include more details in my posts, I tend to gloss over things otherwise I feel like i’m trying to lecture people; Moonshot is correct. Open cell foam is essentially like a dish sponge and it provides lots of cozy places for moisture to hang out. Closed cell foam examples are styrofoam and foam packing pieces that come with TVs, etc… The cells are closed so they don’t/can’t store moisture.
I wasn’t sure if the pelican valves were water tight or not. I know the valves come in handy for things shipped via air freight…
I used to store a sig p226 in one of those grey silicone impregnated socks, but the slide started to rust in a couple spots. I moved it to a foam lined case and haven’t had any more problems since.
Meh, just pack everything in Cosmoline and you will be GTG. 
Man, I thought this thread was about PVC and cosmoline…
Looks like you already have the long term answer.
This^ or place them in a temporary closet and plug in a dehumidifier.