I own several shotguns that were sold with felt lined cases. I had always been under the presumption that they should be removed from the case and kept assembled in the vault to facilitate regular wipedowns.

I have noticed that several other men I know keep their nice shotguns cased in the felt cases.

What are the opinions of the assembly here?

Alan

A safe is for storage, a case is for transport.

Best,
Ted

Then it sounds like I need to store the cases.

I have never kept any firearm in any case for any longer than I had to.

But, sometimes I get to thinking.... That's usually when the trouble starts.

Thanks for the clarification, and reassurance that what I am doing is correct.


Alan

If you do not want your guns to rust, keep them out of the case.

The natural materials in a traditional gun case are hydrophilic, ie. they absorb moisture. However they are always happy to share their burden with your gun and so rust will occur under most conditions. Only exception is under conditions of very low humidity where there simply is no water to share!
I learnt this lesson the hard way, leaving my first new bought gun in a case over night before an early start. On arrival at the venue, I took out the gun to find the barrels had turned a delightful, light shade of rust. No long term damage done but I have never left a gun in its case for a moment longer than absolutely necessary since.

Not hydroscopic? Huumm- must be the difference between American / Limey wording-- In the welding trade, we have a SMAW electrode that must be kept in a warm over/dryer before use, as its flux is hydroscopic in nature- it can absorb water from the air/environment- The AWS code for it is 7018- also found in higher tensile ranges as 9018-etc. Lincoln number is LH-70.. We in the trade commonly call it "Lo-Hi"-- RWTF

Amen--My guns stay in a heated steel gun safe, until transported in my vehicle to the field- I like the Boyt cases best.Saw a Oak and Leather gun case at a local gun show this past Spring-- what was left of the label said Lang-- pretty well used, dealer was asking $300.00 Not for me--

I feel that I may be the exception because I have always kept my guns in their cases. Living as I do in the "Cheshire Gap" one of the dampest parts of the UK along with parts of Norfolk, very early on I realised that keep everything dry is the best policy. In my early days I had access to VCI anti rust paper by the roll this made things easy just put in a sheet the size of the case lid and things where fine. Then the Government required all guns to be kept in a secure metal cabinet causing a change of plan. Made the cabinet a size to take cases only rather than assembled guns principally to save space. Just in time this product became available and extremely low cost if not free.



Perfect for keeping the inside of the cabinet dry by simply having a one pound bag of the gel inside the cabinet, and just to make sure there is a small sachet of the stuff in every case with a gun.
Just a couple of rules about every tenth time I open the cabinet for a gun I Nuke the cabinet Silica Gel bag in the microwave oven until it releases all its stored water this makes the gel rather hot. After cleaning the gun the case Silica Gel bag like the one in the photograph is given the microwave oven treatment and put in the case with the gun. My gun storage conditions are as dry as a desert and never had any rust on a gun after storage.

I'll bet you meant "low-hy"

What is the term for words pronounced in the same manner, but spelled slightly different-- LH-70 is Lincoln's code for "Low-Hydrogen" code rod-- the flux is hydroscopic (moisture absorbing) in nature, so it must be kept in a dryer/oven whatever- we often used older refrigerators with 100 watt light bulbs to keep the "Lo-Hi/Lo-Hy" 7018 SMAW rods in, and our "rod jockeys" would bring us about 5 fresh sticks at a time.

With some code rods, you can re-strike and use a 2-3" stub ( as eyeball measured from the jaws of the stinger- but not so much with 7018-- when you break off the arc, the flux fuses into a hard core, which has to be broken off before you can re-strike the rod--

Doing this causes slag embrittlement in the HAZ, so we often ran the root passes with 3/32" 7018, and the fill and cap passes with 1/8" 7018. You will see the same resulting defect of slag embrittlement if you are running a MIG weld, and a gust of wind blows the shielding gas from the cup-- one of many good reasons why welding outdoors or in ??? weather conditions, hard to be a stinger and a stick of LH-70.

Weldors have their own nomenclature for the various SMAW electrodes we use in our trade-- Lincoln 6010 (5P) and Lincoln 7010 (HYP) are commonly used electrodes used for pipe welding (Schedule 80 black pipe) but we often call the HYP "Hippie" rod- or Ken, is that "Hippy", you tell me. RWTF