storing a rifle with or without moderator on.

macfarlane

Well-Known Member
After a conversation with a couple of mates how do you store your rifles ,do you keep your moderators on or take them off,one takes them off,one keeps them on saying point of impact might shift if you take them off and dont put them on exactly the same.im not sure normally keep mine on only comes off if its got soaked and then zeros checked.just curious really.stuart
 
After a conversation with a couple of mates how do you store your rifles ,do you keep your moderators on or take them off,one takes them off,one keeps them on saying point of impact might shift if you take them off and dont put them on exactly the same.im not sure normally keep mine on only comes off if its got soaked and then zeros checked.just curious really.stuart

Stuart.

Rifle smiths all over the land will be rubbing their hands with glee. I put the moderator on after I get out of my car to start stalking. When I return to the car, I unload the rifle, then remove the moderator and put the moderator in my rucksack. The moderator acts just like a car exhaust and look how quickly they rust.

Regards JCS
 
if you dont take it off it will ruin your rifle the sulfur will eat away the barrel ,fcuk the crown and accuracy . i would rather have a shift and do a sighter shot to test but to be honest i have never had an issue if you start with it tight ,atb wayne
 
All my moderated rifles show a change in POI depending on whether the mod is on or off.

However, the mod-on POI has never changed as a result of removing and replacing the same mod.

I know this because I always remove mod when a rifle's not being used, to prevent the crown and bore corrosion which certainly will result, if not in a change of POI, then at least a loss of accuracy!

In summary, I'd suggest ALWAYS removing a mod for storage, whatever the circumstances. Spend some time at the target checking whether there's a change of POI when you've taken the mod off and put it back on again: as I say, I've never had this happen with any of mine.
 
What is the opinion when it comes to a stainless barrel with a titanium mod?

I only take mine off if it gets wet or for cleaning and then it goes back on and I haven't noticed any build up or corrosion at all.
 
take it off, and spray with WD40 or other light oil to neutralise the acid in the combustion products, leave it on and expect to soon have a handy short barreled rifle for those woodland stalks :D
 
What is the opinion when it comes to a stainless barrel with a titanium mod?

I only take mine off if it gets wet or for cleaning and then it goes back on and I haven't noticed any build up or corrosion at all.
stainless will still rot if exposed to acidic liquids, you may just be lucky that the mod isn't dripping into the barrel
 
take it off, and spray with WD40 or other light oil to neutralise the acid in the combustion products, leave it on and expect to soon have a handy short barreled rifle for those woodland stalks :D

DONT use WD40
USE 3in1 oil
 
lol well thats it off now dont see any corrosion or damage to the barrel or crown maybe im lucky,hope so.
 
i take mine off and dry them on radiator after every use, i never put oil in them whch emulsifies with vapor, collecting/storing water, increasing the possibility of corrosion. oil should only be used on the exterior of parkerised mild steel mods like the t4/t8.

works for me. my t4 is years old and no rust to be seen.

i also dry out my other mods which currently are cmm4, spartan and sl5.
 
hi all , There seems to be two problems with leaving the moderator on , the first is rust , which seems mostly to gather on the threads and is most likely caused by the products of combustion being forced into the crevices there ,drying out any oil which allows moisture to do its work .. The second problem is electrolisis , that is the minute electric currents produced when dissimilar metals are in close contact which corrodes the less noble of the metals in contact ,the most obvious is aluminium alloys and chromoly .. This will be first noticed by the appearence of minute pits on the end of the barrel and as it progreses the pits will extend further down into the barrel .. Not a good look , as a practising gunsmith I would suggest that you do not leave the moderator on for extended periods .. Rob
 
I dry everything and bring it up to room temp before it goes near my cupboard.

I have one mod for 5 rifles
it comes home, gets taken off, blown through, dried and warmed, refitted and put in the cabinet.

whichever rifle is wearing the mod is stored muzzle down and the moderator protects the muzzle when in that position.
If it has been a range trip it is stripped and wiped down inside and out, rebuilt and refitted

all the threads are oiled slightly
all crowns are wiped before refit
I never oil inside the mod

none of my barrels have damaged crowns, thread or bore pitting
 
The consensus is heavily in favour of mods-off storage.

What about the OPs question about shifting POI if the mod is taken off and refitted? If he had this problem you could see why he might be unhappy about removing the mod, dire corrosion-warnings notwithstanding.

If I had a POI-shift like that with any of my rifles, I'd be suspicious that there was a problem with the mating of the threads on rifle and mod, such that the mod wasn't going on the same each time. What do you think?
 
I dry everything and bring it up to room temp before it goes near my cupboard.

I have one mod for 5 rifles
it comes home, gets taken off, blown through, dried and warmed, refitted and put in the cabinet.

whichever rifle is wearing the mod is stored muzzle down and the moderator protects the muzzle when in that position.
If it has been a range trip it is stripped and wiped down inside and out, rebuilt and refitted

all the threads are oiled slightly
all crowns are wiped before refit
I never oil inside the mod

none of my barrels have damaged crowns, thread or bore pitting


As above with the exception of .. I store mods. seperately an only have 4 rifles.

Rgds, Buck.
 
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The consensus is heavily in favour of mods-off storage.

What about the OPs question about shifting POI if the mod is taken off and refitted? If he had this problem you could see why he might be unhappy about removing the mod, dire corrosion-warnings notwithstanding.

If I had a POI-shift like that with any of my rifles, I'd be suspicious that there was a problem with the mating of the threads on rifle and mod, such that the mod wasn't going on the same each time. What do you think?

Cant see why it should if the mod is tight, surely the bullet has left the barrel and is in free flight through the mod...
 
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