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View Poll Results: How do you store your rifles?
Muzzle up 87 87.00%
Muzzle down 13 13.00%
Voters: 100. You may not vote on this poll

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Old August 24, 2013, 05:31 PM   #1
overthere
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How do you store your rifles, muzzle down or up?

For those of you who store your rifles in a cabinet, safe, or similar, do you store your rifles with the muzzle up or down?

I always assumed muzzle up was best but recently read a hunter's education course online which stated that rifles should be stored muzzle down to prevent oils and solvents from collecting in the action or being absorbed by the stock.
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Old August 24, 2013, 05:47 PM   #2
Chuck Dye
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The racks in my safe make muzzle up nearly mandatory in the forward row, muzzle down more or less unworkable in the back rows. The muzzle down argument you offer presumes a rather wet gun, not something I put into my safe. Dust collecting in the bore, the other argument I have heard for muzzle down, seems a non-issue in a closed box, and is negated, anyway, by the patch down the bore when a gun is brought to shoot.
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Old August 24, 2013, 05:55 PM   #3
L2R
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how about C?

I do both
A and B.

No other way to get 16 rifles in a 16 gun safe.

I gave it some thought but I can't see it doing any harm one way or the other.
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Old August 24, 2013, 05:57 PM   #4
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Muzzle down. Keeps the excess barrel oil from migrating into the action.
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Old August 24, 2013, 06:27 PM   #5
jmr40
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Muzzle up most of the time, but you can squeeze more guns in there if you alternate.

Keeping excess oil from draining into wood is a good idea in theory. A better idea in my opinion is not to use excess oil. All of my serious guns have synthetic stocks so I'm not that worried. Some of my wood stocked guns are 50-120 years old and none have been damaged by excess oil yet.
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Old August 24, 2013, 06:29 PM   #6
g.willikers
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Hmm.
Muzzle up, so excess oil from the barrel will further lubricate the action??
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Old August 24, 2013, 06:32 PM   #7
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Some up, some down. Only way to max the space in the safe. No rooms for another safe.
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Old August 24, 2013, 07:18 PM   #8
Pahoo
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Do as they say, not what I do ???

I had to list "Muzzle-up" but have read some of the same information you are referring to and they say; Muzzle-Down". Won't argue with it as it makes sense but there no easy way to convert my safe, to do so. Live and learn !!

Be Safe !!!
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Old August 24, 2013, 07:46 PM   #9
Scorch
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Muzzle up. Oil in the stock is a non-issue, I don't put that much oil on my rifles or shotguns. Muzzle down you can ding the crown, and if you do have too much oil in the action, it will gum up somewhere in the barrel. No, thanks!.
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Old August 24, 2013, 07:53 PM   #10
jimbob86
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Muzzle down, as I usually put the guns away "wet" overnight after shooting.

Wet patch, brush, dry patches, wet patch, put away muzzle down, over night. Repeat until patches stop coming out blue.

You be amazed how much copper comes out of a "clean" barrel that has soaked overnight.
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Old August 24, 2013, 09:26 PM   #11
steveNChunter
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If the worst thing you have to worry about is storing your rifle muzzle up or down... you're doing pretty good

I store mine muzzle up for no other reason than they fit in my safe better that way and aren't as apt to fall over. I don't use excess oil and I surely don't leave any remnants of solvents anywhere after I clean. If they are in a safe or other enclosed area dust is a non-issue.

Store your rifles whichever direction pleases you and don't lose any sleep over it.
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Old August 25, 2013, 01:38 AM   #12
Geezerbiker
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My safe it made to store them muzzle up but there's a few shelves in the top so some are in on their side.

I can't afford to fill the safe right now and I really could get more in there. It's supposed to hold 42 long guns but It's beginning to get crowded at around 30...

Tony
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Old August 25, 2013, 08:17 AM   #13
Lt. Skrumpledonk Ret
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My rifle never leaves my hands
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Old August 25, 2013, 09:02 AM   #14
Louca
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Quote:
Muzzle down. Keeps the excess barrel oil from migrating into the action.
Quote:
Muzzle up, so excess oil from the barrel will further lubricate the action??
No problem there, just make sure you don't have excessive oil. It's not that hard to do.

Quote:
Muzzle up. Oil in the stock is a non-issue, I don't put that much oil on my rifles or shotguns.
I agree with Scorch.
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Old August 25, 2013, 09:36 AM   #15
Art Eatman
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Both ways. Never saw where it makes any difference. My rifles don't suffer from excess oil or solvent. Thin film, at most.
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Old August 25, 2013, 10:18 AM   #16
AllenJ
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I can't vote because I store both ways also. It is manditory in my case though as I'm exceeding the recommended storage limit of my safe
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Old August 25, 2013, 01:30 PM   #17
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After cleaning my rifle (or shotgun for that matter), I usually place the firearm muzzle down in a safe place for a few days or so before I return it to the safe, where it sits muzzle up. This practice allows any excess solvent or lubricant to drain from the action/barrel prior to storage.
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Old August 25, 2013, 01:52 PM   #18
Coach Z
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How do you store your rifles, muzzle down or up?

I've recently changed my armory so that I'm storing my long guns horizontally on the wall but I have set them up with just a small pitch muzzle down so that any excess oil runs out the barrel rather then into the action. Right or wrong? Not sure just made sense to me.

Last edited by Coach Z; August 27, 2013 at 07:53 PM. Reason: No posting after rum, tragic spelling
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Old August 25, 2013, 02:31 PM   #19
Toney
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I was storing mine up and down to fit better, but wont the carpet dry the muzzle up and promote rust?

I put all mine up after the steel butplate on my ranch hand developed some rust after setting on the carpet in my safe....

I had to take out a few to get them all to fit....
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Old August 25, 2013, 02:59 PM   #20
chiefr
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I can remember the punishment and humiliation given to a Private that left his rifle stored with the muzzle down.
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Old August 27, 2013, 07:04 AM   #21
Qtiphky
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UP

I store mine muzzle up because that was the way the safe was designed. Right or wrong? Who knows. However, muzzle down would make me nervous about dinging the crown and affecting accuracy. I get it, they are cold hard steel, but crazier things have happened.
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Old August 27, 2013, 02:05 PM   #22
FrankenMauser
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Both.

The first group of long guns has to go in muzzle-up. The next group goes in muzzle-down.

I need a bigger safe (two more would be best).


Oil causing damage to wood stocks is not a concern. My firearms get a very light film, and only where they need it. And with the average humidity level below 20%, rust is not a concern during storage. (Last week, the weather guys around here were making a big deal about a humidity spike to an "incredibly high" 33%. )

And solvents...
If you aren't cleaning the solvents off after you use them, you may as well stop what you're doing. The whole point of cleaning solvents is to soften fouling and contaminants, for easier removal. If someone is failing to do anything about that removal step... their whole process is a waste of time.
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Old August 27, 2013, 03:07 PM   #23
dgludwig
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On occasion, even if inadvertently, lubricants/solvents can "drool" into the difficult to access innards of a mechanism while being applied, even sparingly. Cleaning the stuff off with a rag is mandatory, of course, but sometimes, short of completely disassembling the gun, only gravity can get it all out.
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Old August 27, 2013, 03:25 PM   #24
zukiphile
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Scorch
...Muzzle down you can ding the crown,...
That is my anxiety, ruining accuracy by damaging the crown. A barrel with a flash suppressor is a different matter entirely.
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Old August 27, 2013, 03:39 PM   #25
jimbob86
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Quote:
...Muzzle down you can ding the crown,...
What's the bottom of your safe lined with? Pea Gravel? Store all your loose caltrops down there?

Every safe I've ever seen has a padded liner of one sort or another .....
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