Regular gun maintenance - thoughts? Suggestions?

[23 Blast]

Just some things I was musing about as I was cleaning my newly-acquired Blackhawk today. How often do you clean or service your guns, even when they haven't been shot in a while? I'm pretty lazy and generally dislike cleaning my guns, although I try to make it a point to at least wipe them down with oily patches everytime it rains. Fortunately, that's not too frequent here in sunny SoCal.

However, given that it rained not too long ago, I figured that while I was cleaning my new gun, I might as well oil up the other guns while I was in my gun room. I noticed that my mossberg 500 had quite a lot of surface rust on it. Now, I don't mean pitting, just that when I was wiping down the barrel, the patch was getting that characteristic orange-brown color. My new Blackhawk had much the same.

Fortunately none of my other guns appeared to be rusty - perhaps their finish is tougher or I just happen to have oiled those a bit more than the mossberg.

Also, someone please explain to me why WD-40 is bad for guns?

[damndave]

How was the Mossberg stored? Was it in a case or a safe?

Similiar thing happened to my AK when I left it in my soft case

[23 Blast]

How was the Mossberg stored? Was it in a case or a safe?

Similiar thing happened to my AK when I left it in my soft case

The mossberg was in a safe. Since it's stored with several other guns, I oiled those too, but none of the other guns exhibited the kind of rust that was on the mossberg.

[Cokebottle]

WD40 is primarily a solvent and a water displacement liquid.
It is not primarily a lubricant.

[yzErnie]

A lot of varialbles could have come into play as to why it got rusted. The most apparent is that it did not have any oil or CLP on it. Even stainless steel guns will rust if not taken care of with some CLP or oil.

[sevensix2x51]

my mossbergs and 10/22s are about the only guns in my safe that are blued, and not parkerized, and sure enough, they tend to be the only ones that get a little rust on them. ive had them for a long time, theyve had to be in storage units, wrapped up in blankets and stuffed in crannies, and bounced around all over the state, as i made my journey into being a growed-up. now they tend to grow a little rust, even under the oil. nothing major, and a quick scrub every few months keeps it at bay. im fairly sure its just the bluing, not being as good of a barrier as parkerizing or 'phosphate finish.' personal opinion only..