Chuck Schmidt served in the U.S. Navy for more than 30 years, and recently retired from his second career as a carpenter. Schmidt is an avid collector of firearms and other military collectibles such as knives and swords.
“Each year, I would take my entire collection out and wipe them down with oil,” says Schmidt. “Metal deteriorates if left unprotected and I care too much about my collection to let that happen, so I would religiously care for my firearms.”
Schmidt also volunteers for the Carver County Historical Society in Waconia, Minnesota, helping to preserve their extensive collection of firearms. One day, a friend of Schmidt’s told him about Tufoil Gun-Coat, a product of Fluoramics, Inc. Gun-Coat contains Fluoramics’ Tufoil® Technologly, a PTFE colloidal dispersion that works as a lubricating rust inhibitor.
“I was over at the Historical Society one day and noticed an 1863 military rifle on display,” says Schmidt. “I saw that it had a little rust on it, so I mentioned to the people that they should take steps to protect these firearms, otherwise the rust will continue to spread. I indicated that I could simply apply Gun-Coat to the firearms to halt any corrosion on their surfaces. They acknowledged that they did not have the expertise to handle this project, so I volunteered my services. After checking me out, and validating that Gun-Coat was appropriate for this use, they gave me the go ahead to begin my preservation work on their collection.”
The Historical Society had dozens of guns in storage, some pre-dating the civil war. Schmidt immediately began by treating all of the long guns, perhaps a hundred or more, with Tufoil Gun-Coat. “We didn’t want to restore these guns, but rather maintain them in their current state and prevent future deterioration,” says Schmidt. “Many of them were in pretty good shape, but a few were already significantly rusted.
“They had one 22-caliber rifle from around 1900, a falling block single shot, and it was just frozen up solid from rust,” says Schmidt. “The lever action, the falling block, the trigger and the hammer were all unmovable. So I applied Gun-Coat as best I could to the metal surfaces. I’ll be darned that by the end of that process all the parts were freely moving. I thought that was amazing. The Gun-Coat had soaked into the mechanisms and just freed them up.
“With most of the firearms, I would simply apply a light coat with a fine paint brush. The PTFE particles in Gun-Coat are just 3 microns in diameter, so it’s great for getting into all the minute nooks and crannies on the surface of the metal. The beauty of Gun-Coat is that it is designed for long-term storage, so I think it will be a few years before I need to make another Gun-Coat application to the museum collection. The Historical Society really likes the results.
“Now that I have seen how Gun-Coat works, I will begin using it on my own guns instead of oil. You simply put on a thin coat of Gun-Coat and wipe off any excess. What I really like about it is that the surface of the treated firearm is basically dry. Oil, on the other hand, remains oily and collects stuff like dust and grime. Not so with Gun-Coat. It’s a cool product.”
Tufoil Gun-Coat is included in Fluoramics’ Gun-Care Kit, which also contains lint-free microfiber swabs for cleaning, Lightning Grease for lubricating slides and moving parts, and HinderRUST S4.0 for corrosion control.
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