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Action corrosion

Come on, really Pandas are some of the most competitive guns in Benchrest. If this gun sits in the garage here in Florida, I have no sympathy at all. Maybe the neighbors dog is peeing on it as he makes his rounds looking for a handout. If the owner doesn't care enough to keep this gun out of the elements, and on the east coast of Florida not in climate control is the elements, he has no business owning a rifle at all let alone one this nice. I loaded a few rounds for my brothers 308, 700 ADL and cleaned the bore. Got a pretty good bunch of rust out of the barrel. He keeps it in the attic, when it shoot a nice group he put it right back in the attic. I will never touch it again. Why should this be a problem for Kelby???
 
Come on, really Pandas are some of the most competitive guns in Benchrest. If this gun sits in the garage here in Florida, I have no sympathy at all. Maybe the neighbors dog is peeing on it as he makes his rounds looking for a handout. If the owner doesn't care enough to keep this gun out of the elements, and on the east coast of Florida not in climate control is the elements, he has no business owning a rifle at all let alone one this nice. I loaded a few rounds for my brothers 308, 700 ADL and cleaned the bore. Got a pretty good bunch of rust out of the barrel. He keeps it in the attic, when it shoot a nice group he put it right back in the attic. I will never touch it again. Why should this be a problem for Kelby???
It might also be as simple as the Sweaty Paws, no maintenance problem.
 
It isn't a problem for Kelby's. But that is where I would spend my money for whatever clean up that is possible. No better place to go than the manufacturer. I'm not going to call this guy names or run him in the ground like a lot of you will do, because all of us have some sort of faults or another. My rifles never leave the range without wet patches down them. When they get home they go into my reloading room on the cleaning table and on the assembly bench if needed and cleaned. Put away in a acclimated safe place for the next use. It's not your money he's spending.
 
Your absolutely right Donald. They would be the right people to do any repairs. Kracken, no I shot for several years with friends at a range north of Okeechobee, with Jon Newman, he was a member here, till he passed some years ago. He had several pandas and we shot them (i shot them a lot till the guys found me a Hall) on the hottest of summer days. Usually they got put away as is with the time slot for cleaning being used for adult beverages. They were cleaned that night or the next day. NEVER seen one look that bad. You are right not my money , but zero sympathy for one treated like that.
 
My Dad taught me where to find sympathy, he said look between sex and syphilis in the dictionary.
Is this man looking for sympathy or just some guiding help?
 
Based on the photos, I don't see corrosion on the outside of the action body. Would it not be corroded as well, given the outside storage technique in the same elements?

Is the bolt one that has the black nitride? If so, perhaps this is chemical exchange, (wear-off), from the coating since your advising he does not use any barrier lubricants.

Suspiciously (again, from the pictures) it is centered around the bolt passage-way only.
No black nitride.
 
He called Kelbly's today and they stated that they no longer polish or repair actions damaged like his, but gave him a name of an individual who they recommend. Subsequently he called this individual and was told that he could polish the action for $100 with a one week turnaround. That seems like a very reasonable option.

My friend does pay attention to cleaning his barrel, but this was only after months of harrassing him that he needed to do it himself and learn how (he was taking it to a local gunsmith for cleaning). He even has a borescope and checks after every cleaning. I showed him how to clean the action using the borescope action cleaning tool, which he says he uses, and I've told him about cleaning the bolt (and showed him), but he still hasn't been doing this.

I was honestly shocked when I saw his action; I never really thought that he would not consider proper storage in this environment. He is not a new shooter, but is pretty new to rifle shooting and reloading.
 
Thought about it last night, if no corrosion on the exterior of the action then this could have been moisture between the bolt and the raceway, assuming it was stored with a closed bolt.
I've seen all too well what Florida humidity and atmosphere does to even aluminum accordian hurricane shutters.
 
Based on the photos, I don't see corrosion on the outside of the action body. Would it not be corroded as well, given the outside storage technique in the same elements?

Is the bolt one that has the black nitride? If so, perhaps this is chemical exchange, (wear-off), from the coating since your advising he does not use any barrier lubricants.

Suspiciously (again, from the pictures) it is centered around the bolt passage-way only.
Nitride or Melonite is not a coating.
 
Maybe Kelby or other mfg needs to build a FL version for all the people moving to FL? A 316L or another corrosion “proof” metal.
 
I have a shooting buddy (new older rifle shooter) who brought his rifle by after a local match where he did not perform well. In looking at the rifle I noticed that the bolt was difficult to open, and upon inspection of the action and bolt I found a significant amount of corrosion. This rifle is about 2 years old and was bought new from Kelblys after a 9 month wait. I have never seen this degree of corrosion on any action, and I have strongly suggested to my friend that he call Kelblys and discuss the issue with them. He does use a PMA bore guide, but otherwise I don't know much about his cleaning procedure other than he uses Thoroflush and Thoroclean. He says the never cleans the action or puts anything on the bolt (such as grease on the bolt lugs or a light coating of oil on the bolt).

I have strongly suggested that he send the action back to Kelbly to get it polished if possible, but I am a bit perplexed how this much corrosion developed.

View attachment 1475931View attachment 1475932View attachment 1475933View attachment 1475934View attachment 1475935
Kelby's is a good outfit to deal with. I would bet money that the action didn't look like that when he bought the rifle. Is it an aluminum action? Was Thoroclean ever tested for corrosion on aluminum? I would get a piece of aluminum, clean the surface with a fine abrasive and expose the Al for several days to Thoroclean and see if it corrodes. Sounds like the cleaning agents are the only reasonable cause of corrosion. Kelby has sold thousands of actions without a complaint. Switch to a different cleaner immediately. Sounds like he is a casual shooter that paid for a great rifle. I couldn't find a MSDS to see what chemicals are in Thoroclean.

Added later:
Looks like the only corrosion is in the area the bolt travels? The area most likely to be exposed to chemicals. When they developed Thoroclean did they assume all actions where steel or titaniun? They forgot to test for corrosion on Al.
 
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