oh no! RUST!

[NcongruNt]

So after 3 days of carrying my new LCP, I got RUST!

I've been working outside in the heat for the past 3 days with my LCP in my 5.11 Holster shirt under my left arm. I pulled it out after getting home today to find that there was rust on the back end of the barrel (exposed through the ejection port) as well as all along the right side of the top of the slide. OUCH! Here are a couple of photos of the damage:




So to try and get rid of the rust before more damage occurred, I disassembled the pistol and took a CLP-soaked Scotch-Brite to the affected areas to get rid of the rust without doing too much to the finish. Unfortunately, there is a little pitting visible on the barrel, but the rust itself seems to be gone. Once I have this pistol broken in properly, I'll be treating it with Microlon Gun Juice which should help keep rust away. Here are the after pictures:




Lesson learned. From now on, the LCP gets cleaned and oiled after any day when it may have been exposed to sweat.

[Mike1951]

Just a suggestion, but Jack Fuselier in Livingston has been doing slide plating on the Kel-Tec's for years.

He does have a relationship with Keltec Owners Group, KTOG, and so the prices might not be the same for others.

But what has been good for the P-32's and P-3AT's should be good for the LCP's.

http://www.gunsmith.fuselier.com/

http://www.gunsmith.fuselier.com/slideoffer.html

BTW, I've neglected my blued Kel-Tec's for years. There is nothing I can do to them to make them rust.

[dukalmighty]

I had the same problem with a RIA 45 ,I now wear only holsters that have a body shield to keep my guns away from my sweaty body,saltwater will cause a gun to rust extremely quick especially in all the nooks and crannys you don't see

[Lumberjack98]

In the future use Blue Wonder to remove the rust. Just put it on and let it sit for a few minutes and then wipe you. No need to use anything abrasive.

[Plato]

This is one of the many reason I went Glock

I used to carry a Colt Officer's ACP IWB, but almost every day I'd see signs of rust -my conversion to Glock came when I did the same carry routine with my Glock 27. I would literally have to wipe down the Glock at the end of the day with drops of sweat all over the slide, but no signs of rust at all. Frankly, this is what a daily carry gun needs to be able to do for me -if I must go through a detailed regimen to care for my daily carry pistol, then I will soon be tempted to leave it at home

[Keith B]

I have always removed rust with a good dousing of WD-40, let set for a few minutes, spray the area again and lightly polish wet area with some 0000 steel wool. For those of you that are Kroil fans, it works as well.

It has never damaged blued or stainless finish on anything I have used it on and cleans additional crud off very well. After the rust is removed (hopefully no pitting under it) then I spray gun scrubber on to clean off the penetrating oil, wipe any residue off, then follow up with a good coat of quality gun oil for protection.

[WildBill]

I have always removed rust with a good dousing of WD-40, let set for a few minutes, spray the area again and lightly polish wet area with some 0000 steel wool. For those of you that are Kroil fans, it works as well.

It has never damaged blued or stainless finish on anything I have used it on and cleans additional crud off very well. After the rust is removed (hopefully no pitting under it) then I spray gun scrubber on to clean off the penetrating oil, wipe any residue off, then follow up with a good coat of quality gun oil for protection.

I just wanted to add that steel wool rusts extremely fast [overnight] so make sure you clean all of the steel wool particles off the gun.

[dave_in_austin]

In my younger days, we were told to never use steel wool on stainless steel as the steel wool will leave microscopic particles of itself in any existing surface irregularities and the carbon from the soft steel in the wool can migrate into the crystal structure of the stainless thereby chemically altering it resulting in further corrosion and pitting.

[Mike1951]

I've never had any problems using 0000 steel wool with Blue Armadillo Blue wonder. Afterwards, I use brake cleaner in lieu of the gun scrubber mentioned above.

I suspect this may be what cleans the steel wool residue from the metal.

[carlson1]

I have two LCP's. My wife carries one in her purse and I carry the other in a Desantis holster as a BUG. The rust thing is not good news.

[jbirds1210]

Scratch this gun off my list. I would destroy it in two weeks with sweat. I once had a "stainless" Sig slide that would rust just as bad.

Jason

[Keith B]

I've never had any problems using 0000 steel wool with Blue Armadillo Blue wonder. Afterwards, I use brake cleaner in lieu of the gun scrubber mentioned above.

I suspect this may be what cleans the steel wool residue from the metal.

Brake cleaner works well for cleaning the metal parts. Just be very careful on poly-framed guns as it can soften or melt the polymer.

[dave_in_austin]

I have two LCP's. My wife carries one in her purse and I carry the other in a Desantis holster as a BUG. The rust thing is not good news.

Is the barrel on these just unfinished steel? Would a cold bluing treatment help?

[Keith B]

Per the specs, it just states 'steel', so apparently not stainless. Even bluing will not prevent it from rusting, but would probably help some.

I can't believe Ruger would make something for concealed carry that would be that susceptible to perspiration. I have always thought they had higher standards for their firearms than that.

[carlson1]

Tripp will charge $115 for a Chrome job. If you can get it there in the next few weeks. I don't know that I want sink anymore money into mine.