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Firearms Legal Protection

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  1. #1

    Last step, whats a good but realistic temp and humidity to aim for in a safe in the basement.

    I have a semi finished, decent basement, heated vents open door open etc. I watch tv down there often its not dank dungeon etc.

    What kind of temp and humidity should I aim for?

    I have both wood stock and poly stock military stuff like aks, sks, fal. Nothign super fancy wood, but I would like to preserve the originality and I hear if you get it too low humidity, take it out, and say take it out hunting and it gets humid too quick they can split?

    Is that a michigan thing I need to worry about ?

  2. #2
    MGO Member luckless's Avatar
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    I'd make sure the safe temperature stays a few degrees higher than the room. I know a LGS that kept all kinds of old guns in the basement with no problem, until the ATF inspector took it upon herself to turn on a space heater while she was down there and left it on when she was done, without saying anything to the store owner. The condensation on the cold guns was a huge problem......for the store owner. It was no problem, whatsoever, to the ATF or its inspector.

  3. #3
    I am a Forum User
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    My guns are on the main floor but I shoot for around 50% humidity in the safe, as long as humidity isn’t extremely high I don’t think about it a whole lot. I looked into ideal humidity levels a while back and from what I remember 50% was a good compromise between not drying out wood stocks and leather slings, sheaths ect while holding moisture to a fairly low level. To the extent that I control the humidity in the safes I do it with Goldenrod dehumidifiers chosen for the size of the area and humidity level in the given room. If you’re safe is in a more humid area I’d just go up a size for the humidifier and error on the side of being a little to dry.

  4. #4
    I am a Forum User
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    I have nothing to base what the ideal humidity would be, but my safe is in my basement and the humidity is anywhere from 35% (winter) to 45% (summer) and I've never had any issues with anything in my safe (20+ years) and I've got a wide variety of wood and metal finishes and new and old guns. I don't have anything to control humidity in my safe so I would assume the humidity level in my safe is the same as the ambient humidity level in the room. I do run a dehumidifier in the summer to try to keep it around 40%.

  5. #5
    I have been steady 42 and 43 percent for a few days with a golden rod on.

  6. #6
    I am a Forum User
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    My basement is semi-finished. It's cool down there, obviously, but also not dank. I don't do anything to control anything. Got all kinds of guns. Zero issues.

  7. #7
    MGO Member DEVIL DOG's Avatar
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    Extreme swings in temp & humidity are your enemy.
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  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Musta Demoni View Post
    My basement is semi-finished. It's cool down there, obviously, but also not dank. I don't do anything to control anything. Got all kinds of guns. Zero issues.
    Same here. I got a Chinese sks, and blues marlin propose in 1992 as a kid, still have em, no rush pretty much always in a basement.

    I just have more nicer things and a golden rod and plug in desicent from stack on and remington, and a hydrometer can only help.

    I would be bummed out to open the safe and see 3 really ruined nasty rusty old blued Marlins from the 60-80s.

  9. #9
    been holding steady at 42 or 43 percent humidity.

    Kinda suspicious of the rechargeable desicants. I have two of them, in one safe, and they turn color fast. I charge them back up, cook the moisture out, and then seems like a week and its changed color again.

  10. #10
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    40% is about the magic number for just about anything...

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