Silica Gell Dehumidifiers

[RobF]

Might not stop rust anyway because every time the door is opened you let air in.

[RichardH]

If you over do dehumidifiers you can crack your stocks.... be careful

[Peter Dunkley]

I use the silica gel in my camera bags but dont forget you can always draw moisture out of the air. Breathing would be difficult without it.
What you need to do is avoid excess moisture and I am afraid if you do have this a couple of bags of whatever is not going to cure it unless you are talking about an air tight container. Sorry.

[Black Beard]

You can get a big bag of silica gel in the pets section of discount stores (home bargains). Not sure how good it is against against atmospheric moisture.

[lensman57]

I know about VP90 sachets, but does anybody use large silica gell packs in their gun cabinets.

How many grams of the stuff would be appropriate for a 6-7 gun extra deep Brattonsound cabinet for example?

And how often would it have to removed and heated up under normal indoor conditions? Every couple of weeks?

I am sure that if you squirted a little of the Airgun oil containing VP 90 over and inside of your guns from time to time then you wouldn't need to use the gel. As for how often they need to be replenished is usually when they change colour . All of my CCDs for astrophotography use the gel or a tablet version of it, in the sensor chamber and they need to be replenished at least twice a year or when they turn to yellow from white. With a gun cabinet open to atmosphere though I am not sure of the answer.

A.G

[Arthur John Smithsplease]

I would use VP90 but I have an airsoft rifle in the cabinet, and I don't know if the vapour it gives off would probably be harmful to some of the internal parts.

As a general rule gun related maintenance products and oils are a no no for airsoft because of the seals and buckings in the hopup units. And then there is the wiring and the contacts to think about.

It may not be harmful to them but I have no way of knowing.

[Rocket launcher]

If you over do dehumidifiers you can crack your stocks.... be careful

This ^
Many a fine shotgun stock has split do to unwary owners putting a £1 crystal de-humidifier in a gun cabinet
The stock goes to dry..you fire then
crack new stock requied use vp90

Or use a heater rod it warms the air rather than drying it out
https://www.brownells.co.uk/GOLDENRO...-ACC-111002024

[lensman57]

I would use VP90 but I have an airsoft rifle in the cabinet, and I don't know if the vapour it gives off would probably be harmful to some of the internal parts.

As a general rule gun related maintenance products and oils are a no no for airsoft because of the seals and buckings in the hopup units. And then there is the wiring and the contacts to think about.

It may not be harmful to them but I have no way of knowing.

Best play safe then.

A.G

[Arthur John Smithsplease]

Funny how you can go for years without noticing something that is staring you in the face.

A dozen years or more ago, I had two Brattonsound extra deep cabinets. I sold them when I sold off all my airguns before going to live abroad. They both had metal inserts that held the foam, and so I blithely assumed my more recently purchased cabinet would be the same.

Lo and behold I have discovered on recent inspection that this is not the case. Only foam is visible. What might be behind it I have no idea but I suspect it has just been glued into place. Cost cutting exercise perhaps?

So now replacing the foam will be more difficult than I had anticipated. I emailed Brattonsound for advice well over a week ago, but have received no response.

[Halimede]

My suggestion.
Where I work we buy in raw material that comes in shipping containers that have de-humidifying bags that weigh between about a half and two kgs (you may get similar ones from a motorbike shop). As we chuck them out (and my house is damp) I bring odd ones home and put them at the bottom of my cabinets. I change them monthly and they are often damp so they do grab some water. Some of these bags contain clear round material but most contain fine limestone that looks very like cat litter and probably is.
I have never cracked a stock but my home is damp in the winter months so perhaps the stocks never get over dry. Perhaps in a modern centrally heated house excessive drying might be a problem but I doubt it.
Don't fix a gunsafe to a wet wall and then suddenly dry a gunstock because timber used to make gun stocks is already pretty dry and wood normally cracks when the moisture content changes fairly quickly as water comes out mostly through the end grain which causes internal stresses. These stresses reduce once the wood returns to a more even moisture distribution. I turn wood on a lathe and if I make something out of damp wood it first cracks (called shakes) then the cracks close as the moisture content equalises to the house.
If your guns are rusting then dry and oil them before putting them away and try drying bags. If they are not rusting then don't worry.

[air-tech]

I use silica gel in a car that is garaged for extended periods. Prior, I used to get mould growing on all contact areas - steering wheel, door grab handles, gear knob, etc despite my best efforts at cleaning these.

I probably use 500gr or so in 2 plastic ice cream tubs and have done so for a couple of years no sign of any loss of effectiveness (no mould ever again)

Bought the Silica Gel from "Eeebey" inexpensive in bulk and had heated it up prior to use, loses weight (best weigh before and after). If you record the weight at the start you can get an idea of what is going on after a while. In the oven at around 120C for 30 mins or so, so that the trapped water is boiled off.

As previous -unless the gun storage room or cabinet is properly sealed however you can expect to have to re-activate quite often.