Gunsmithing Rifles went through a fire

[DeltaP]

I recently had a fire and all my rifles ended up burned. I'm going sifting through the ashes to recover everything I can. I'm thinking of just throwing everything in a container to soak in some kind of solvent until I can figure out what to do with them. Is this the best short term solution? If so what kind of solvent?
For the morbidly curious among you:
One M16, One M14, One AK74, One AWC G2, Eight AR-15, Six M1A, One Sig P220, Two suppressed camp carbines, One Remington 700 PSS .308, Several suppressors, four shotguns,Eotech sights, four laser range finders, night vision gear, IR illuminaters, several threaded barrels, 25 -30K rounds various ammunition.

When the insurance check comes in I will be shopping the for sale section.

 

[Lindy]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

Personally, I wouldn't try to do anything with a burned rifle other than scrap it. The heat treatments are likely toast, and you don't want to find that out the hard way.

And you have my sympathies, having been through that. In my case, the cause of the fire was a moron cooking meth at 0400 on a Saturday morning in the storage building I had rented space in. Here are what's left of 3 that were in there.

 

[300sniper]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

bummer. i hope everything was insured. i have read about people saying that their insurance wouldn't cover "assault rifles". turned out the insurance company's description of an "assault rifle" was a semi-automatic rifle.

considering what you had, i am assuming you made sure you were covered in advance. good luck with everything.

 

[howdydoodie]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

Sorry for your loss, I hope no one was hurt. Were they in a safe?

 

[kstraughen]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

My sympathies. keep on the ins. company to get your money asap. That was some colection of guns.

 

[USMCj]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

Sorry to hear about that!!!!! Were they not is a fire rated safe at the time of the fire?

I made sure I bought the best safe I could afford and made sure it had the highest fire rating (90 minuted) of anything in my budget at the time.

 

[bsp212]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

PM sent

 

[Hearlson]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

I wouldnt try that cause you dont know for sure how hot the fire was.You pretty much have to start over sorry about the loss.

 

[DeltaP]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: USMCj</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Sorry to hear about that!!!!! Were they not is a fire rated safe at the time of the fire?

I made sure I bought the best safe I could afford and made sure it had the highest fire rating (90 minuted) of anything in my budget at the time. </div></div>

The good stuff was in a safe at the time. Safe crackers are still trying to get the damned thing open. I'll have photos when they get it open to show how things turned out in there.

 

[USMCj]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

PLASMA CUTTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

Sorry bud, just trying to chear ya up. I bought a safe big enough to store all the things I couldnt live without, oh its a very big safe!!!, then I bought a second when I outgrew the first one. It never ends I tell ya. But hearing things like this, Im glad I spent the money on them.

I hope all of your items in the safe made it with no damage, and hope you recover from this with little loss.

But in the end, guns can be replaced so dont sweat it too much. The important thing is no one was hurt (I assume)

 

[Travis S]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

Ouch man. That does not sound good at all. My safe is full so no more long guns till I get a bigger safe. Hang your burnt guns in frames and let them be a reminder. Good luck with it.

 

[Geno C.]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

My father-in-law used to haul safes for a company out of the west someplace. I can't remember the name of the company. The guy there said to him that the fire rating is really just there to help us sleep at night. He said that your best bet is to keep a gallon milk jug of water in there and that it will melt and the water will turn into steam and buy you a little more time. That's the story anyway.

 

[howdydoit]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

I feel your pain brother. I recenly(feb 09) had a fire myself and lost a total of 11 rifles.

Its hard on everyone and the rebuilding process is slow and tedius. Good luck to you and your family. You are all in my prayers.

Howdy

all of my rifles are now in the bottom of my pond, I didnt trust them after they got hot and then water quenched. Its not worth your or your families saftey.

 

[Fret Fodder]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

I'm with the general consensus about not firing them at this point. But if there are some components that look like they can be salvaged, why not save them?

I've used this product with pretty good results. It's environmentally safe, strips to bare metal, can be reused, can be used indoors with no special ventilation requirements, and isn't flammable (oops, sorry). I've never used it on a firearm, but I have used it on a rusty-cruddy reloading press that I cleaned up and re-blued. It does what it claims.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=184160

- Fret

 

[x ring accuracy]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

FWIW,
If you have a non fire rated safe and the fire rated model has the same thickness walls you can remove the liners and put in drywall. The rating of a standard and fire rated safes that are the same model, the only difference is the drywall. Go to your local drywall supplier and buy "shaftliner or coreboard". 1" thick, cut to fit and sleep better. You must do all 6 sides for it to be effective. The stuff is cheap and it's what safe manufacturers use to "fire rate" their safes.

 

[howdydoit]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

also arent most safes only rated at 1200 deg. There are some that are rated higher but most are right around 1200.

good luck
Howdy

 

[BOLTRIPPER]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Balthasar</div><div class="ubbcode-body">My father-in-law used to haul safes for a company out of the west someplace. I can't remember the name of the company. The guy there said to him that the fire rating is really just there to help us sleep at night. He said that your best bet is to keep a gallon milk jug of water in there and that it will melt and the water will turn into steam and buy you a little more time. That's the story anyway.</div></div>


i have seen what flash rusting do to a safe full of long guns...jug of water in the safe is bad ju-ju on so many levels......plus it goofs on your feng-shwei ....

 

[x ring accuracy]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

Is feng-shwei like karma?

 

[head2h2o]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

My thoughts are with you partner. I hope that you can restore that collection.

 

[bohem]

Re: Rifles went through a fire

As I'm sure was stated by Lindy and others, they're garbage. The heat treat is gone, any alumninum has been normalized and most likely has crept and sagged.

Best of luck with the replacements of everything, I'm really sorry to hear that.