[yoshi]

I live on the coast, in New England, where in the spring it is very foggy. I also go on boats during the boating season, sometimes for extended periods, but I only recently got my CCW so I never carried aboard before.

What are some considerations to keep in mind regarding boating; salt water, corrosion resistance, getting wet - and what can I do to protect my firearm (besides leaving it home)

 

[P95Carry]

Good reason to carry stainless - and even that if exposed to salt water does IMO want some TLC after. My 226 ST tho stainless has steel levers and sight blocks and those rust if I am not careful in summer, with sweat.

A good external protector is something like RIG grease, or Boeshield - which leaves something akin to a wax film. Sure want to keep the innards dry!

I think in this situation I'd be looking to keep one gun specifically for on board use at sea - and make it a reliable beater - one that is not precious. Keep a good gun for landlubber duty :wink:

 

['75scout]

One brand to consider is GLOCK. The tenifer coating on the barrel and slide make it very resistant to salt water conditions.

 

[P95Carry]

Hah - typical non Glock owner, forgot that altogether. :stups: :egg:

Of course yes, pretty resistant gun compared with many.

 

['75scout]

On top of that GLOCK slides are powder coated. I'm not sure of the coating on all or the other metal parts though. But through all of the torture tests done on GLOCKs I've heard nothing about the internal metal parts rusting in any way so maybe those parts are also coated in tenifer.

Tenifer is clear and If you have wear marks on your GLOCK where the black coating is gone that does not mean that the tenifer have worn off and is vulnerable to rust.

 

[acparmed]

There are a great number of rust resistant finishes for firearms out there today.

Any hard chrome finish

Birdsong's Black-T (used on navy submarines)

Parkerizing

Body Coate

Just to name a few.

I've had experience with several of them and the Black T is a great gun finish. It will withstand several thousand hours of exposure to salt spray and not corrode the metal under it. Metaloy Industries Makes an excellent hard chrome finish. That's what all my guns will be finished with in the future.

Robar's NP3 is another great finish.

Cost for an entire gun is in the $100 to $150 range.

 

[rocky]

consider retention too. I use a lanyard on my gun , when kayaking or boating. I would hate to drop my gun in the water.

 

[BCurry1]

Yoshi, Get a Glock.

 

[yoshi]

I appreciate all the input. I have been looking at getting a Glock since my friend bought a Glock 20C (a fine piece). Maybe I'll just have to do that. Is this Tenifer finish on the Glocks the one that uses Cyanide, and thus only made outside the US and unique to Glock? or are there other guns that use Tenifer.

Also if you sail outside of territorial waters is there a legal hiccup?

 

[Rob72]

2 answers: Tenifer (unless it has changed) is still EPA non-approved. There are a couple of compaines that will do nitride finishing-Tenifer with a different formulary- here in the US, for about $250/whole gun-aftermarket, no US manufacturers use it. The best thing you could do to your Glock would be a Teflon coat over the Tenifer/parkerizing. I've done 3 this way, and it is superb. (DIY in the oven, for $42, including a new firing pin channel liner)

Travel in the open water is a crap shoot- arms are essentially illegal everywhere but US coastal waters. You might also run into trouble, depending on where you dock- NJ, for example. I don't know if the ports/bay rules are different than the municipalities, but something to check into. Personally, I would not travel by boat unarmed. PRA(Personal Risk Assessment), though.

Edit to add: www.glockmeister.com sells Glock parts, and Capital City Firearms ( http://www.ccfa.com/ ) is/will be selling aluminum, stainless and titamiun Glock frames @ +/- $299. If I were getting a new Glock, I'd order a stainless frame, and a complete top-end from Glockmeister. You're still in the $450-500 range of a poly-framed model. Purely a plug-n-play affair.

 

[Rocnerd]

If you want to get a dedicated boat gun look at a shotgun. Both Remington and Mossberg make Nickel coated guns for just this purpose.

 

[BigEd63]

........Is this Tenifer finish on the Glocks the one that uses Cyanide, and thus only made outside the US .....

I don't know about the Tenifer process but I do know that Cyanide is not what's keeping it out of USA production use.

Where I work Cyanide is used in the chrome plating process.

 

['75scout]

GLOCKs don't need an aluminum frame nor do they need an extra coating over the tenifer and powder coating. GLOCKs are extremely resistant to the elements.

 

[Bud White]

If you havent bought a gun then glock for that kind of stuff even if it isnt your daily carry gun and just a boating gun

Other wise Stainless is your friend and wax it with car wax

 

[srfl]

I'd do a Glock too in a pistol (or even a Steyr since they are also Tennifer coated) and in a shotgun, a Mossberg Mariner.

 

[Rob72]

[QUOTE='75scout]GLOCKs don't need an aluminum frame nor do they need an extra coating over the tenifer and powder coating. GLOCKs are extremely resistant to the elements.[/QUOTE]

True, however Tenifer is not "impervious" to salt water. Teflon is a definite step-up(carry in the Houston/Galveston areas). The metal frames (if they are up to the protos at SHOT) will improve the trigger by removing the inherent frame-flex in the trigger package. A SS frame makes a much better club, when run dry. Not much room to retreat on a boat, and if you drop a reload, you don't exactly have a parking lot to bellyflop on to recover it- I'd rather whack someone's forehead with 12oz., than 4. I've played with (and carried) Glocks quite a bit, they are (IMVHO) the finest combat-grade pistols available. However, there is room for improvement.:wink:

 

[BigEd63]

True, however Tenifer is not "impervious" to salt water. Teflon is a definite step-up(carry in the Houston/Galveston areas). The metal frames (if they are up to the protos at SHOT) will improve the trigger by removing the inherent frame-flex in the trigger package. A SS frame makes a much better club, when run dry. Not much room to retreat on a boat, and if you drop a reload, you don't exactly have a parking lot to bellyflop on to recover it- I'd rather whack someone's forehead with 12oz., than 4. I've played with (and carried) Glocks quite a bit, they are (IMVHO) the finest combat-grade pistols available. However, there is room for improvement.:wink:

I agree and with the comment about the triggers in particular. That was the main reason I switched from Glocks to Sigs. I could never get 2 pistols of the exact same model to have consistantly the same pull.
Now this thing about after market metal frames has me interested...I can already imagine a couple of builds using the stainless frame and long slides in 9mm and another set up for .357Sig.:banana:

 

['75scout]

Yes the metal frames seem to be good. But why not just buy a SIG then, it would be cheaper. Plus the Polymer frame helps to absorb recoil by flexing.