Hunting in rain - best practices? Wood stocks, blued barrels.

[Leverwalker]

Well, crazy as it is, I've never hunted in the rain. Grew up in a dry climate, chapparal and arid, and in my years of northwoods hunting, not once hit rain. Drizzle and snow, yes, but never true rain. 10 day forecast so far is showing good possibility of rain showers the first 3 days of our season. We go out whatever the conditions.

So - I don't like hunting with lens caps, but have Butler flips I'm putting on. Electrician's tape on the muzzle, plenty of paper towels back at dispersed camp (tents, no stoves, not wall tenting) along with a CLP-soaked rag. Marlin 45-70 with walnut stock and blued barrel. Don't want to completely strip down until back home, though I can field strip and pull the bolt, ejector spring, lever, and dry out the receiver and these parts pretty thoroughly.

Recommendations? My friend is a fine woodworker professionally (a luthier), and knows everything. I'd read tung oil is used by some along with Carnuba wax paste, for the stock. Not really keen on doing anything to the stock unless it really needs it prior to these rainy days afield.

The other alternative, and I don't see it as much of an alternative given I'll be woods hunting (long, unwieldy gun for this terrain) on whitetail (massively overgunned, though dead is dead), is bringing my Ruger M77 Hawkeye in .338 WM. S/S sport contour barrel, laminate stock.

 

[rclouse79]

September archery hunting has turned me into a fair-weather hunter. I did a mule deer rifle hunt this year with rain, snow and wind. My advice is to bring extra clothes and boots to leave in the truck for each day. I would also take the time to dry everything out and lubricate any metal parts when you are done. I had some hardware on my bow rust after everything got wet, which pissed me off.

 

[Leverwalker]

September archery hunting has turned me into a fair-weather hunter. I did a mule deer rifle hunt this year with rain, snow and wind. My advice is to bring extra clothes and boots to leave in the truck for each day. I would also take the time to dry everything out and lubricate any metal parts when you are done. I had some hardware on my bow rust after everything got wet, which pissed me off.

Thanks. Clothes is another thing, as we hunt in Johnson Woolen Mills stuff. Thought to put on ponchos, and am also thinking, just deal with it and get soaked. We are dispersed camping but not remote camping, so car is nearby. Even thought of finding a blow dryer and plugging it into the car to dry the rifles out, except the wood. Over the next year, getting a wall tent and a good stove, looking forward to a good old-fashioned northwoods deer camp, for this type of hunting.

 

[TaperPin]

Paste wax sheds water longer than oil so it’s great on hidden metal parts as well - just don’t cake it on and gum something up.

 

[Leverwalker]

Paste wax sheds water longer than oil so it’s great on hidden metal parts as well - just don’t cake it on and gum something up.

You mean, light coating on action, or just hard-to-reach metal surfaces?

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I always take a few single use packs of clp wipes. I was out a few months ago and had my tikka t1x with me to shoot birds with. Not rained a good bit and the air was wet in general. That blued tikka just rusted up. Those swipes took care of it. No big deal.

A few years ago I was hunting for a week with a friend who had a blued rifle and didn’t bring anything to slow down the rust. That gun was in rough shape after a week. Seems like some guns have better bluing than others. Blued tikkas seem to be about the worse of them all.

 

[rayporter]

you will learn to take care of the rifle quick in bad weather. i carry a piece of wool felt soaked in oil in a ziploc along with a piece of weed eater line to push a patch if necessary.

i have hunted with guys that did not take care of their rifle daily and they had real rust problems.

 

[Unckebob]

I bought a synthetic Winchester stock for my Featherweight in case I decide to hunt with it in bad weather.

 

[Wildhorse]

I guess I'm one of those guys that doesnt take care of his rifles daily. I grew up in south western washington and never had scope caps never taped a muzzle just carried the rifle with the muzzle down and in the evenings stood the rifle up with the bolt open spent weeks out in the rain during elk season and never had a rifle rust up on me just cleaned it once I got home. None of my guns were ever anything but blued most that would ever happen is it would get set by a fire while I was by it in the evening.

 

[RevJim]

You should be fine with the laminated stock, maybe use some Tung oil anyway. You can either send off the barreled action to be Cerakoted or Birdsong Black T coating, or use a rust preventive oil of some kind. I take the barreled action out of the stock, and wipe it down good with alcohol or a good degreaser. I like the old Outers Tri-Lube in a spray can. I soak all the metal down ( Not the trigger group, it gets Q-Tip hand coated) I let it dry overnight. I make sure I have all the inletting sealed with a good product. Put it together, re-zero and go hunt. In the evening wipe it with a rag, put it near the stove, etc. After the hunt and back home, I will take it all apart and redo the etal, searching for rust. Sometimes I've had to disassemble the scope mounts, bases and even clean out the screw holes. I use EezOx in the bore. I do put tape or a small balloon over the muzzle. Alpine makes a nifty little gun Slicker thats also very well made/effective.

 

[cowdisciple]

You could consider a neoprene scope cover instead of caps.

 

[Wapiti1]

You mean, light coating on action, or just hard-to-reach metal surfaces?

Everything. Take the rifle apart, wax the whole thing, let dry, buff. Repeat two or three times. A soft brush helps get it into nooks and crannies, and then out after it dries. Do the metal and the stock with the wax.

The only other thing that I've found that works better are Bullfrog tool wipes. Not sure what is in them, but they work really well and last a long time. But they aren't good on the wood.

One important detail. Most wood stocked rifles from the factory have no finish under the recoil pad, very little in the inletting and the sling swivels are not sealed. You should remove the pad and swivels, and seal these areas along with the inletting.

To seal, thin an outdoor poly or marine poly (like Dalys ship and shore) 50/50 with spirits and apply (oil based only, no water based). It should soak in. Apply until the wood won't take anymore, wipe off the excess and let it sit for a few days. Repeat this once more. Then reassemble. You aren't trying to build a finish on the surface. Just let it soak in, and wipe off any build up. This will seal the wood without goofing up the inletting or fit of the pad. Where the swivels are, just drip a few drops in the holes to soak in.

The ultimate is to use a thin consistency epoxy, and bed the pad, and action full length. Epoxy is the only wood finish that can be applied thick enough to be truly waterproof. All other finishes are somewhat permeable, polyurethane being the best and old school linseed being the worst, but things like wax will keep them in great shape.

Jeremy

 

[OlPappyB]

Use a good furniture beeswax to coat the rifle before hunting in the inclement weather and it will save you a lot time and elbow grease during and after the hunt. It's super easy and quick, prevents a lot of rust buildup or concerns. For the scope just get a neoprene sock or cover like the ones Leupold has.

 

[Pdzoller]

Living in Oregon, I got tired of the worry and just stopped carrying anything blued, stainless or with wood. I clean my rifles when I get home and don’t have any issues. My pretty guns only come out on nice days.

 

[Bill larson]

People been hunting in the rain for centuries....successfully with flint locks, percussion etc....
seal all wood with most stuff that seals wood... wax, shellac, silicone....metal parts get a lite coat of oil...synthetic petroleum based, wax lite coat of lacquer. Tape the muzzle....disassemble and clean in evening..... check sites in am.

• Silicone's advanced formula is enhanced with Nano-Ceramic Boron Nitride particles to waterproof, protect, lubricate, and preserve rubber, plastic, vinyl, leather, metal, and wood surfaces.

 

[Macintosh]

Do NOT use silicon on wood if you ever want to refinish it or seal it!! Its almost impossible to get off wood and will affect finish afterward even in tiny amounts.

Wapiti’s post above about sealing wood is spot on, to me any wood stock that isnt sealed EVERYWHERE simply isnt finished. Wood that absorbs water will swell significantly and can even bind internal parts in some cases. Sealing all inside surfaces of the stock goes a long way. Wax doesnt do it, it will get squeezed out of pores as the wood expands and gums up, etc—its a feel-good solution to me, not a functional solution even temporarily imo. If you can dry out by a fire every night its hardly an issue, but if you are out for a week with no real way to dry stuff it could take you out of action completely.
Good bluing wont rust further, or if it does it will be only on the surface. Just pat dry with a towel or paper towel, LIGHT coat of oil, keep bore free of obstruction or significant water, and then do a good teardown and clean when you get home. Some guns seem to rust a lot worse than others, just wipe it off as best you can and then do a good clean when you get home. This is perhaps the only legit ise for a bore snake, is to soak up the water from the bore and get a light coat of oil on it for those scuba-conditions.