Gun collections - FLOODED in Louisiana

[DennisH]

As most everyone knows, SE Louisiana was hit by record rains which flooded around 90% of the homes in the South East Area of our State.

We are use to storms, but this one caught "everyone" by surprise. The storm stopped and dumped over 30" of rain in about a 50 mile radius in less than 3 days. It really wasn't a storm, just a system passing through as normal. We are calling it the "Perfect Storm" as it just stopped in it's tracks and the rain never let up. Our rivers and drainage systems could not handle that much rain water. Peoples homes who have NEVER seen water had it up the ceiling if not completely covered. In my Parish/County, it's estimate we have around 110,000 homes, 92,000 plus were flooded. Over 75% of these homes didn't have Flood Insurance. They were not in a flood zone.

COMPARISION: Katrina in 2005 only dumped 13" in the same area in 2005. Most damage from Katrina was caused by the wind and mainly affected the New Orleans area where the dams gave in.

I have been contacted by several people who's gun collections were flooded. A few had over 200 guns in their collection.

Does someone know who will restore these guns, or make recommendations. Some are collector items, the rest varies including pistols.

I don't know anyone who can handle this amount of guns, but I have never had to look until now.

The owners are willing to bring them to someone in the lower 48 to get them restored as best possible.

If you have information that can help us, please PM me or email 6brx(@)cox.net

Myself and a few other people are going to handle a few, but there's thousands to be worked on.

In advance, I appreciate any help or advice you can give us.

Dennis

 

[joshb]

The first thing the owners need to do is take the stocks off and get them cleaned and oiled ASAP, TO STOP ANY CORROSION FROM doing more damage. The stocks will have to dry for a while, then be assessed later. That should allow some time to get them to a smith.

 

[rardoin]

The first thing the owners need to do is take the stocks off and get them cleaned and oiled ASAP, TO STOP ANY CORROSION FROM doing more damage. The stocks will have to dry for a while, then be assessed later. That should allow some time to get them to a smith.

^^^^^

And spray them down immediately with a good corrosion inhibitor as soon as possible, removing stocks first like Josh said. I use CRC SP-400 corrosion inhibitor spray to pickle machine tools and tooling that are not used regularly and it is very good. I don't know of anyone in the Lafayette area that could handle the job but I will ask around....time is critical, of course.

 

[nmkid]

I know some guns are irreplaceable but, don't forget to contact your home insurance. On second thought, I don't know if your insurance would cover your guns in case of a flood. I guess it won't cover your home without flood insurance but, the guns come under personal belongings.????

 

[CTK]

There is a famous shotgun smith in Central Louisiana. I forget his name but he is very good at stock repair and restoration.

 

[DennisH]

I know some guns are irreplaceable but, don't forget to contact your home insurance. On second thought, I don't know if your insurance would cover your guns in case of a flood. I guess it won't cover your home without flood insurance but, the guns come under personal belongings.????

You need a separate rider for guns and jewelry. It's pretty expensive. There are a few other items you will also need a separate rider to have them covered. This includes theft and flood, otherwise, most have a caped clause that will cover your jewelry and guns. The cap is usually $2,500 or $5,000

OH, Insurance Companies are the ONLY ones who depreciate your weapons, collectables or otherwise. DEFINETLY check into this clause. My company depreciates arms 10% per year. The don't care that you have an original "Kentucky" rifle hanging on your wall, it's worthless to them.

As many storms I have been through, I can pretty well tell you what's covered in a storm. You must read the fine print, know your agent very well, and have supporting documentation.


Dennis

 

[DennisH]

There is a famous shotgun smith in Central Louisiana. I forget his name but he is very good at stock repair and restoration.

The only one I know is "Apache". And he doesn't know of anyone. Apache is located dead center in Louisiana.

Dennis

 

[308Cajun]

As far as guns being covered for flood under homeowner's insurance, they are not. A specific floater policy for guns probably will cover them, and also sets the value before the loss based on the latest appraisal submitted to the insurance company. Flood is NOT covered under Homeowner's. Flood Insurance will cover guns for flood, but it is also ACV (depreciated). flood coverage is very limited. If your have a lot of guns, or collectible guns, your best bet is to bite the bullet and schedule them on a floater.

PS. There's a guy named Mike Brazda (Bayou Teche Guns) in Arnaudville, LA . he has a reputation as an excellent gunsmith, but he is also usually swamped with work ( a sure sign of a good gunsmith), so he may not be able to handle this kind of volume, but he may be able to offer advice and direct you to people who can.

Good luck to all my fellow Cajuns in SE LA. We got wet, but not as wet as you guys.

Scott

 

[DennisH]

Any other suggestions?

 

[hogan]

Funny, hearing somebody call the levee a dam...

Stocks are going to be tough to dry in a controlled environ. Probably hang them in the garage or a closet, maybe use a dehumidifying rod or two, and leave them for a month or so.

Metal is not so tough. Soak everything in kerosene or diesel. Remove recent rust with 4/0 steelwool soaked in oil. Might mix the kero/diesel with some Hoppe's #9. Want to remove firingpin assy from boltrifle and clean well. Run a pistol brush inside the bolt cavity, oil the firing pin & fp spring. Clean every tiny area with Q-Tip or patch wrapped around a nylon or brass brush. Scrub the barrels with a new bore brush and oil heavily. Store bore down so oil drains. Might patch through with RIG or synthetic grease. Just remember to clean out the grease with brush and patch before firing a round.

Maybe soak your trigger with WD-40, or carburetor cleaner with tube attached. Win 70 etc triggers are obviously full exposed; much easier.

Got pistols? Strip the autos and oil clean. Revolvers of S&W will need sideplate removed. Tricky. Easy to botch the screws and maybe warp the sideplate. Oil and clean. Do not dismantle unless you got a shop manual as good as Kuhnhausen's.

Get any wood off the steel asap. Might want to be sure you have correct fitting screwdriver heads, hex keys and torx drivers. Then, you want a Inch Pound torque wrench to reassemble, at least for your rifles.

Might also check your scopes for vapor leaks and remove clean your scope rings etc.

 

[DennisH]

Funny, hearing somebody call the levee a dam...

My bad, we have had some long days lately. Interstate 12 is the damm!

Funny part is I grew up 17 blocks away for the 17th street canal, close to where the "Levee" gave!

I had to laugh about this myself.

Dennis