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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Sweat Corrosion

Last Sunday I joined the eldest son for some fun at the range. It's a private club and we're both members. The weatherman predicted high humidity and temperatures near 90F, and he was right. I'm one of the minority in that the older I get the more heat intolerant I become. For instance I'm presently in the basement wearing sandals, shorts and a T-shirt. The temperature is a near perfect 64F according to the mercury on the wall.

My favorite carry gun is a Kimber UltraCarry. It has a stainless steel slide and a clear anodized aluminum frame. I knew I'd be sweating so Sunday I carried the Kahr PM9 instead. It also has a stainless slide but a polymer frame. I figured the polymer to be more resistant to my corrosive perspiration than the aluminum. Years ago I switched to titanium eye glass frames because the stainless frames would be corroded in about a year.

The polymer and stainless slide were just fine, but the magazine release button showed corrosion around the edges. When we get back from vacation I'll be looking for some stainless parts for the little Kahr.

2 comments:

tom said...

Can happen with "Stainless" too. Remember, it is "stain less" not "stain free".

Running the externals a bit wet with light oil or CLP tends to help in this area even if it makes some people complain that "Oooh! I touched a gun and now my hand is very slightly oily!"

Side note since you were the one that poked fun at me. Sweaty oily hands/ parts of gun hand holds in humid/rainy environment with only moderately interesting powerful pistols doesn't work so well. AND NO! I haven't pinwheeled the .458 Lott pistol (and it's one-handable with loads that fall in the Hot .45-70 range, even), but it happened once with a .30-30 pistol with slick hands and grips.

Regards,

Haji said...

That's not too bad. I live and work in the south, and I have a gun with me just about daily. I managed to get a few small rust spots on my MnP with a Mellonite-coated, stainless steel slide. I woulda thought that'd take more work than it did.