Probably the bug spit in the shellac.

 

Moisture - Use a dehumidifier

Pahtu.

 

This, hope there is no rust forming under the woodline

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong...my understanding with mold is you can wipe off the stuff you can see, but you have to kill the roots. I've used white vinegar on mold that was on the inletting of the stock. I'm not sure if it would harm the finish of some stocks.

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I think you would be safe with white vinegar on a gun stock finish. But i have never used it (had a reason to)

 

Also, use a dehumidifier as others have said.

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dehumid, and can clean with ballistol.

 

Bleach. Wipe on, then wipe again with a damp cloth to get it off the surface. And you need dehumidifying or AC in your basement or mold will be the least of your worries. For starters disassemble all your guns and wipe all the metal with a rag with some RIG or Penn Reel grease* wiped into it. Then fix the environment.

* I suggest Penn only because its cheap and effective. Messier than RIG.

 

Caution: don't go NEAR anything metal with bleach. Bleach is a strong oxidizer. Even the essence of bleach will create rust. Vinegar also speeds up the rusting process.

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If it's on the outside, check under the woodline. I've seen it pretty bad there before before it ever shows in more visible places.

 

I have a basement that's probably damp enough to warrant a dehumidifier. I've had the white moldy spots, but only on Com Bloc milsurps with beat up furniture: Yugo M76, various beat up AK stocks from all over the world, and RC Mauser.

I wiped them down with a cloth damp with counter top cleaner, and let them air out. I moved the safe away from the cold outer wall, and put a layer of plywood w/ vapor barrier under it. The mildew didn't come back after that, so I think something worked. It doesn't hurt to make sure all your gutters and downspouts are working right and not pooling any water next to the house, either.

I have not had any problems with rust, except for a homebuilt Khyber AK that oozes brown sludge from between all the riveted seams.

There are plenty of fungi that live in damp areas, and eat wood or grease. Add some dead skin cells and you've got a regular petri dish. ew.

 

Vinegar will also remove bluing...............big time. Don't get it near metal. Wash the stocks with Dawn anti bacterial. I have used vinegar to remove mold in air conditioners and bleach will work also. Another thing is swimming pool chemical. Designed to kill mold. Anything that will kill moss will also kill mold. There is also a product called wet n forget. It is for exterior use on houses. Simply spray it on and let it go. Works on siding, shingles, etc.

 

M39 round receiver I bought had a nice colony of white mold on the muzzle end of the barrel and on top of the barrel shank - Thought I would find rust, but not a bit. Wiped it down with hoppes followed by oil. Just fine, months later. The rifle was packaged for a while before it was shipped and the mold formed while the rifle was in the box.

Pahtu.

 

JJK308 has the knowledge on this and corrosion subjects down ...you young studs need to read what he stated and pay attention to it. Would save you a ton of grief and if you really want to take care of your weapons, find the link to his exhaustive test with products to combat rust on fire arms. Perhaps he'll post that link but its buried in archives if he does not.

If that were my basement, I'd RIG all metal on fire arms and put a golden rod in safe for starters. If that did not do the trick, a de humidifier in basement is needed. RIG prevents rust but mold is a entirely different enemy .

Yes...beneath the woodline is something you should take immediate action on.

 

Bottom line is that you must remove the humidity from the environment if you are to keep guns down there. I have two dehumidifiers in the basement that run full time during the summer months. They require twice a day emptying. In the winter up here there is no humidity and the dehumidifiers shut down. Until you get the humidity out, you will have recurring problems with mold and, likely, rust.

 

I take it no one here likes ballistol much?

 

That's what I used to remove white mold & never came back

 

By all means don't wipe down with salt water, ha! In upper mid west we had a pretty high humidity summer and I worry about that even though only once in the last almost 30yrs did I have any problems. It was first noted as mold on my leather jackets which I never wear and were in closets. White mold. When I checked bores on a few M91s I was horrified to find rust starting. What I found was it was only in some M91s I had never shot and am pretty sure missed out of the preventative oil/rust preventative I use. Or they got there bores cleaned up and I forgot to give them a tx. My known tx barrels had no problems. The point I am making from my experiences is where there is mold, rust might very well be close at hand. If you have mold you better address the humidity and do a check on your hardware. I even found some light rust starting on a few pcs on my reloading bench which doesn't see much use these days. I normally do not have any kind of humidity or water problems. Even metal in my crawl space does not rust. It was outside humidity that caused my issues that summer. I have since fixed my air conditioner and despite the heat and humidity this last summer I had no problems at all. Another point is even in Wi you can have issues. Not sure how people in the Gulf or coastal regions cope. SE states included. Mold like the OP talks about to me is a huge concern and much more than an inconvenience. Mold is a huge warning sign of bad things on the verge of happening or beginning to happen already. At least in my experience.

For the mold on my slings and jackets that I found I just wiped them down with a house hold cleaner and it went away and has stayed away in my case. But hopefully I addressed not only the humidity problem in the house where air isn't moving much but also my comfort which is also very much worth the money spent. Think it cost me around $500 to fix my long dormant AC but I never regretted spending that money for multiple reasons, mostly comfort for me and extra insurance on my collection of metal things. Finding rust in a rifle barrel is like waking up and finding yet another election went south. Regards, John.

 

NO salt water!!! Ask any Browning collector about "salt wood" or Google "Browning Salt Wood." Bad, bad, bad.

 

I noticed some spots of white mold on a few of my guns erly this summer, a friend of mine also mentioned that he found the same thing. Neither of us have ever had that problem before. I simply sprayed one of the guns with a very light coat od WD-40 and wiped it well. The mold spots disappeared instantly as the WD-40 made contact. I only tried WD-40 because it isn't good for much of anything else, but with mold I immediately assumed moisture and since WD-40 is a water displacement agent, (that's what it was formulated for and how it got it's name). It worked so quickly and seemingly well for me that I mentioned it to John and he was satisfied with his results too. It's not a penetrating oul nor a lubricating oil but it does displace moisture and apparently leaves a bit of a moisture barrier. I've known many people who have been using WD-40 on their guns for years and they don't seem to have problems with mold or rust. It doesn't seem to negatively affect the finish on metal or wood, it's cheap, free of strong unpleasant odor and seemingly harmless to human skin.

WD-40 may actually have a practical use after all.

(I also tapped into the duct work to distribute air conditioned air into my basement to help with the humidity problem).

 

Some of my Krags occasionally sprout green mold where they've been handled. I use thyme oil on the stocks, thymol is a very strong antifungal.

 

I've found this white mould like stuff on all of the surfaces, wood, metal and leather. Wipes off easily, then I wipe the metal with bore solvent and oil it. Wood and leather wipe and Ballistol. Yeah, I know Ballistol is smelly, but it works and will not harm wood, leather or metal.

 

Short version: low humidity and lack of condensation is your friend.


Long-winded version:

Bacteria and fungi don't grow in the absence of a wet or humid environment, so dehumidifying, and preventing condensation (temperature swings in a humid environment) is key to preventing active microbial growth. It's impossible to sterilize your gun safe, basement, etc., because fungi and their microscopic spores (2-5 micrometers in diameter) are everywhere in the environment. Depending on your region and storage location, it can be difficult to get the RH low enough to completely eliminate growth. Given a fixed capacity dehumidifier, the smaller the volume of your gun safe/closet/room, the better for effective dehumidifying. Depending on which of the ~100,000 species of mold you have, they can be growing on the stock finish, especially on vegetable oils (lipids), like linseed or tung oils; the wood (carbohydrates); or on leather (protein).

Thymol in thyme oil is fungistatic, as mentioned. The isobutanol in Ballistol and the alkalinity is inhibitory to the majority of microbes and the mineral oil (light petroleum oil) it leaves behind is a moisture barrier (most fungi won’t enjoy the mineral oil either). If the fungal hyphae (the thin 2-3 micrometer diameter branched tubes) have penetrated the surface of the leather or wood it’ll be difficult (impossible) to completely remove them. Wipe or scrub off the bulk of the fungus and prevent further growth by keeping humidity low.

I’d avoid applying diluted bleach (1 part to 20 water) to the gun metal or wood itself unless the problem is particularly severe on the wood and you are going to rinse thoroughly with clean water and dry quickly and thoroughly afterwards. It just doesn’t sound great for wood unless used as a last resort for a severe problem of already damaged wood or leather. Bleach decomposes by two principal reactions that both leave behind salt (sodium chloride), so I wouldn’t recommend it around metal at all, not to mention it is an oxidizer (iron plus oxidizer equals rust). Fungi aren’t going to decompose the metal anyhow. To get the bulk of the fungi off badly contaminated gun metal (e.g., from dense growth on the adjacent damp stock) I’d use a hot detergent solution (which will kill and remove the fungi), a hot water rinse, a quick application of water displacing solvent like WD40 or RemOil, before final application of a higher viscosity oil or grease.

I might use dilute bleach (1:20) in a well ventilated room to kill fungi on walls and floors in a badly contaminated situation. Detergent is effective and safer (may take a bit more scrubbing) in most situations. If the fungal contamination is sitting a few feet from, or even in the next room over from your guns, it's just a reservoir of potential contamination (fungal spores are smaller than the dust in the air, so they're very mobile).

 

Why are you still storing guns in a humid basement?

 

Easiest solutions to any enviroment is VCI bags. I order them in 1000' rolls. Clean them as usual, drop it in the bag and it is ok for 10 years nomatter what the basement does. There are even modules for tool boxes to full safes and unlike silica, you do not have to dry it out every couple weeks. I use the bags to line tool boxes, tackle boxes, store silver or any metal that will corrode.

 

where do you buy VCI rolls ?

 

https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&k...vdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9013300&hvtargid=kwd-88628797&ref=pd_sl_322x1tsjd_b

 

There are products, commercial grade, under various names, oh like something I used for mold and mold odor the other day, VitalOxide which I sprayed full strength on some hand made wooden slotted matrix for holding cds glued into drawers, put on drawer rollers inside an old stereo cabinet that has a glass front, I bought it at a thrift store pseudo cheap, but wow, the drawers and slots were painted black and had white mold in those slots, I sprayed the stuff and now they smell great, the paint was not bleached, and nor was the pseudo el cheapo fake wood grain finish on the outside the adorns the chip board. This sort of thing would well be suited for gun stocks, it kills mold, kills bacteria, deodorizes, very very good, for hard surfaces, like wood of course, and fabric.

The stuff might run some extra monies over regular store bought stuff, and you need a real good misting sprayer that conserves the solution, but its worth it, I guess in a way, I suppose the cabinet I used it on, I mean, if it weren't hand made drawers inside, I wouldn't have wasted the solution, just an el cheapo cabinet with a glass door, but valuable firearms, valuable slings, other valuables, ....well worth it I suppose.

 

https://www.vitaloxide.com/
https://www.vitaloxide.com/docs/vos.pdf

Looks like it works very well on mold and isn't anywhere near as corrosive as bleach. Unlike bleach you wont have to wipe it off immediately with a damp cloth, so it'll prevent new growth as well as kill the existing. Even on a wet surface it'll prevent fungus growth for up to 2 months! I'll pick some up when convenient. Florida is mold/mildew/fungus central and I've got a couple AC vents where condensation causes mold growth.

PS Those of you who've read my posts know I'm not necessarily a fan of anything new and highly touted - usually the contrary. But this VitalOxide sure looks like the real mold solution. I'll get some and see how it works.

 

I buy 10" military grade (just thicker plastic) direct from Zerust. It fits scoped guns, AR style guns as well. They have several different sizes, thicknesses of plastic. I liken he rolls so I can cut to size and just tape up bottom with shipping tape. It does NOT need to be sealed in any way to work. I just tape bottom for support of the gun. Make small bags or just put in strips for handgun cases. Not a moisture absorber but a preventative VCI= vapor control inhibiter just like the little peice of paper in S&W boxes. Precut bags and ones with zip closing is a waist of money.

How much would you need? I think I pay around .36 per foot but will check if you need some.

 

Concrobium spray liquid will knock it down. Then rub in some antheletes foot cream (Tinactin or Micatin). Neither will hurt the wood. This is also effective on surplus leather holsters that can have the same problem (only much worse). Never apply Armourall to any wood or leather military surplus. It will promote the growth of the white mold and you will never get rid of it.

 

Those athletes foot creams contain water. Keep off the metal.