The folks at Hunter's Run sent this out today. I'm sure some of you know better techniques, but this might be helpful to some:

Here at Hunters Run Gun Shop, though we are no longer doing general gunsmithing, went through the flood like everyone else. It occurred to me that a lot of club members got their guns wet, so here are some tips to preserve your beloved firearms.

- First, get a bunch of Rem-Oil or the equivalent with a bunch of clean, dry rags and several screwdrivers with various sized tips. Also rustle up Philips and Torx wrenches. Most scope mounts and bases take a T-15 Torx if they were recently manufactured.

- Remove the stocks from the metal.

- Remove the recoil pads, which are generally held on by two screws, top and bottom, through slits in the pad. Grease your screwdriver so you don’t tear the rubber on the pad. Also unscrew the sling swivel studs so there is no metal attached to the wood.
Bolt action rifles are held together by two or sometimes three screws going the trigger guard/bottom metal and these need to be carefully unscrewed so as not to burr them. (If you do burr them tell everyone your buddy did it.)

- Take the barred action and bottom metal out of the stock and remove the bolt from the action.

- Remove the scope, rings, and mounts from the top of the receiver. Make sure you look at the orientation of everything ( take a picture with your phone) so everything goes back in the same place.

- Set the stock aside to dry completely and disassemble the action and bolt as far as you feel comfortable with. If you have any questions please call me at the shop, I will be in and out -- my place took some water, and I am dragging stuff to the curb. My guns and ammo survived dry as I set them as high as I could, I guess this is a hint to me from the Lord that it is time to get some new furniture.

- Shotguns generally have the butt attached by a through-bolt you get to by removing the recoil pad. Some have a hex head on the stock bolt as well as a screwdriver slot. It is better to use a ratchet, socket and extension to remove these rather than a flathead screwdriver. If you use a socket, check to see if the hex head is inch or metric. If the gun is not made in the US, it is probably metric. Don’t forget to look to be sure there isn’t a screw or screws holding on the trigger guard on over/unders.

- Pumps and semi-autos generally have the trigger mechanism held in by one or two push pins through the receiver. These are meant to be pushed out, it doesn’t matter right-to-left or left-to-right. If you can, remove the bolt and slide. The fore-arm on pumps needs to be removed but you need a special spanner.
I will be happy to do it if you come by the shop, but call first, as I am in and out.

A word about WD-40. It will drive water off great but if you leave it on, the carrier will evaporate and leave a gummy residue which will bind up the mechanism if it is not removed. So if you do use it ,do so on a disassembled gun and either wipe or blow it off with compressed air. DO NOT USE WD-40 ON AMMO AS IT WILL KILL THE PRIMERS.

Clean the bore and chambers as if you had fired the gun. If the gun has a tubular magazine you need to clean it too or it will rust and seize up. Clean any magazine by disassembling it and oiling.

This is a quick primer, if you have any questions call and I will do my best to help. If all else fails, you can check Youtube for tips.

N.A. Niblick