Guns in hot cars

Despite being of the cold, mountainous regions where real men come from,
Over half my life has been stationed or deployed where it can be even colder or way, way hotter.

I have not had issues with ammo or firearms in extremely hot, like hot enough to explode windows on occasion in a parked vehicles hot.
Some members here have probably experienced that as well.

In very hot, super humid environments, I have had stuff corrode faster than normal but still function fine.


I have similar questions about polymers long term.
I have seen cars with the same parts and same conditions end up fine, but others have meaty, sticky plastic parts, and others have normal, and others have dry, and crumbling.

Like literally the same models next to each other in a junkyard for 40 years.

My oldest polymer gun is a G19 I bought about 27 years ago.
In 20 more years will it be the same, sticky mushy, or dry crumbly?

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Originally Posted by ramairthree

Despite being of the cold, mountainous regions where real men come from,
Over half my life has been stationed or deployed where it can be even colder or way, way hotter.

I have not had issues with ammo or firearms in extremely hot, like hot enough to explode windows on occasion in a parked vehicles hot.
Some members here have probably experienced that as well.

In very hot, super humid environments, I have had stuff corrode faster than normal but still function fine.


I have similar questions about polymers long term.
I have seen cars with the same parts and same conditions end up fine, but others have meaty, sticky plastic parts, and others have normal, and others have dry, and crumbling.

Like literally the same models next to each other in a junkyard for 40 years.

My oldest polymer gun is a G19 I bought about 27 years ago.
In 20 more years will it be the same, sticky mushy, or dry crumbly?

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If you left it in direct sunlight alot, yes. Sunlight kills polymers, eventually.

Long guns are left in Police cars loaded with no ill effect (that I’ve ever seen). Not a bad idea to replace your ammo routinely anyway.

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Originally Posted by ThirdWatcher

Long guns are left in Police cars loaded with no ill effect (that I’ve ever seen). Not a bad idea to replace your ammo routinely anyway.

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Back when we had mostly shotguns, I don’t recall those things ever coming out of the car, even for qual. I bought an old 870 from an area PD about 10 years ago. Wood was beat to shit, but I doubt it had more than 50 rounds through it judging from the inside. I’ve shot 50 year old shotgun shells, stored god knows where, with no problems, both paper and plastic.

Edit to add: If you’re really worried about ammo, the East Bloc corrosive surplus is about as long-term as you can find for rifles. They’ll be shooting 1945 vintage x54R in 2045 that I’d bet would still go bang.

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-...0229310&rt=rud

This stuff is no joke. Biggest advantage of it is you can get clear and place it on the windshield.

Another simple trick is to get stuff lower. You would be amazed at how cool something will stay if you place in on the rear floor board with a decent jacket over it.

I have kept a G19 in a kydex holster daily locked under my seat for years in SoCA with no issues. Spare Kydex left for years in covered rear SUV storage also show no issues. Spare Magpul AR mags also seem fine and ammo shot for groups and mag dumps after years were all good.

On a side note MREs kept for 2+ years in rear covered storage tasted fine too!

That said my SUV is white and I would recommend switching ammo and MREs at least yearly [emoji6]

I did read a Pat Rogers story once about NYPD ESU Mini 14s that literally banged around in their trucks metal drawers for years that affected both the weapon zero and the ammo which led me to test my stored AR ammo for groups. I would guess being well secured is a good thing for your important equipment.

Dennis.

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Originally Posted by 1_click_off

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-...0229310&rt=rud

This stuff is no joke. Biggest advantage of it is you can get clear and place it on the windshield.

Another simple trick is to get stuff lower. You would be amazed at how cool something will stay if you place in on the rear floor board with a decent jacket over it.

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Well that’s some interesting stuff. I was preparing to get rid of the mustang for a vette right before the COVID stuff...which is still the plan once things get back to normal. I’ll check out the cost of the 3m film. I think it would be worth it if I have to keep the mustang longer term due to this mess. Definitely on the list for a new car though.

Thanks for the link.

When I lived in Miami, my carry gun lived under my seat when I was going somewhere that prohibited carry. No ill effects.

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Originally Posted by JoshNC

When I lived in Miami, my carry gun lived under my seat when I was going somewhere that prohibited carry. No ill effects.

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Thanks for the reply man. I’m beginning to think I worry too much.

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Originally Posted by Dennis

I have kept a G19 in a kydex holster daily locked under my seat for years in SoCA with no issues. Spare Kydex left for years in covered rear SUV storage also show no issues. Spare Magpul AR mags also seem fine and ammo shot for groups and mag dumps after years were all good.

On a side note MREs kept for 2+ years in rear covered storage tasted fine too!

That said my SUV is white and I would recommend switching ammo and MREs at least yearly [emoji6]

I did read a Pat Rogers story once about NYPD ESU Mini 14s that literally banged around in their trucks metal drawers for years that affected both the weapon zero and the ammo which led me to test my stored AR ammo for groups. I would guess being well secured is a good thing for your important equipment.

Dennis.

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I did just test zero on a couple of truck guns yesterday. One was a few inches right at a hundred, another was an inch off to the left.

Bounced around enough to actually affect zero vs red dots have progressed from a perfect dot, to a tiny blip of stem on a cherry, to a hint of an 8, to an 8 on me over the past several years?

I plan on testing the bounced around prism and LPVS guns tomorrow and see if they are off or it’s me.