Storage -- T/C Contender Barrels

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
I live in Alabama.
If you've ever been here , you know the humidity here is horrible.
I needed a temperature ( and humidity ) controlled environment to store my T/C Contender barrels in.
I got the idea of using a large Igloo cooler.
I secured a porcelain light socket in the bottom of the cooler and put in a 15 watt incandescent bulb.
I ran the line voltage through a light dimmer.
The dimmer allows me to get the correct amount of heat and extend the life of the bulb at the same time.
I've been doing this for about 2 years now.
Not a tiny spec. of rust on any of my barrels.
On any day of the year, when you reach in to pick up a barrel it is barely warm to the touch.

A side note - - If you're looking for a way to store bullet moulds that are prone to rusting, I highly recommend this system ! !

Ben

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S Mac

Sept. 10, 2021 Steve left us. You are missed.
Nice solution Ben. May not be big enough for future expansion though.
 

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
HA ! ! :):):)
May be a good way to keep me in my budget ?
I can always tell myself I just don't have any room for another barrel !
I've got about 12 nice barrel / scope combinations.
Hopefully those will hold me for awhile.

Ben
 
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oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
hmmm... my gun room is on outside of house. On a slab. Humidity is awful. I have to run a humidifier year round. But it keeps the rust off. Also have a heat stick and cpl desiccant cans in the safe. I set the dehumidifer at 45-50%. Worked good for a number of years. A side note - IF you buy a dehumidifier - DEF buy the ~$25 extended warranty! I am on my 3rd unit - and both replacements I used the extended warranty!
 

bullseye67

New Member
Good morning,
What an excellent idea! I just baked the desiccant packs that I keep in the drawer with my moulds. Heated cooler makes for one less thing to remember every 60 days.....
Enjoy the DAY :cool:
 

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
Good morning,
What an excellent idea! I just baked the desiccant packs that I keep in the drawer with my moulds. Heated cooler makes for one less thing to remember every 60 days.....
Enjoy the DAY :cool:

I believe you'd like it.

Ben
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
I grew up in Va and Fla, really appreciate how difficult it is in an unairconditioned house (where
I lived until I got my own home) in a humid climate to keep your guns from rusting. I learned
to keep an oily rag on the gun rack, and EVERY time the gun was picked up, even for a second,
it was wiped down with the oily rag real well before putting it back on the rack. Even then,
the finishes suffered much more than the dry climate and AC home here in KS.

Great way to keep the barrels dry and undamaged in a challenging climate.

Bill
 
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Ben

Moderator
Staff member
Bill,

I see you can easily relate.
This system is THE answer to storage of my T/C barrels.

Many thanks,
Ben
 

Paul Gauthier

Active Member
I wonder would a light bulb in my safe also dry up any humidity? In winter I have a coal stove happily burning away in my basement where my safe is so no problem then but summer is quite different.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
A light bulb would certainly raise the temperature, and that would tend to drive the moisture
away, lower the humidity.
 

M3845708Bama

Active Member
A light bulb would certainly raise the temperature, and that would tend to drive the moisture
away, lower the humidity.

Light bulb is what some of the welders use to heat a hot box to store welding rods in also. Keeps the rods from going bad due to high humidity! Serves the same purpose as the rod heaters for gun safe's.
 

GEMIHUR

Member
A large container of dessicants does wonders
Large bags obtained from bedding suppliers
8577
 
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david s

Well-Known Member
I mounted a thin piece of ply board to the back of the gun safe and use a pair of hooks to hang each separate barrel behind the standing long guns. You've got me beat on ease of access though. I basically need to unload the safe to swap barrels. On the plus side the same safe heater rod covers all mine. When I lived in Florida and the back yard was one canal in from the Intra Costal Waterway as long as pains were taken to wipe down the firearms before you stored them there was no issues, but you definitely didn't want to forget the oil rag.
 

Arlon

Member
Good idea. When I lived in Houston I kept my camera and main lenses in a warmed cooler so they wouldn't fog inside the lenses when I went outside... Live in West Texas now where we open potato chip bags as soon as we get them so they will dry out more.
 

Paul Gauthier

Active Member
"I can always tell myself I just don't have any room for another barrel !"


Ok let us know how that works out for you Ben. I said that once and next I knew I had five more.:headscratch: