XD + kayak = rust

[Delija]

OK, at about noon, I wiped off whatever oil and car wax or anything that would come off the top of the slide with alcohol






Here I had dripped some water on the rear of the slide. Then of course I had to change the battery on the camera, so by the time I did that, the water had pooled a bit and dried a bit. You can see it ran to the right and just below the loaded chamber indicator, it had already started to dry a bit and left a bit of what looks like Florida tap water mineral additive .... advice for visitors....drink water here as if you were in Mexico!



Look closely and just behind the front sight in the pic below, I left a fingerprint. I couldn't leave a visible print with my finger despite what Overkill described. Later I realized maybe he meant he left the gun in the bathroom while he showered and got the gun steamed up like the mirror and THEN touched it with his clean hands. But the way I got the faintly visible print was to touch the side (outside LOL) of my nose and get a little skin oil on my finger. Just above that print I touched the slide with my fingers trying to see if something might show up later despite not being able to leave a visible print.


About 2:30 pm...the slide is dry. Below you can see the same stain from the minerals.....seemed not to stain to the right. Maybe the weight of the mineral sank it and the water ran cleaner to the right? No idea....anyone's guess is as good as mine. Probably better. There is some of the mineral looking mark to the far right as well, but less distinct. No rust though.


It seems I have run out of space in this post, so I have to continue it in a follow up post. Nothing happened when I tried to attach another picture.

[mr0w1]

Interesting. I'm not going anywhere tonight, so maybe I'll do some testing myself...

Thanks for the pics, D!

[Delija]

Ooops..blurry. My bad!
Still, clear enough for govt. work.
Here's the fingerprint after close to three hours. Looks the same. I guess my skin oil isn't very corrosive. The "invisible" prints remained invisible.



Here's what wiping the slide with my t-shirt accomplished. The mineral stain remained a little bit. But no rust. I wiped down the stain with a drop of Breakfree CLP and it looks good as new. I saw no reason to post pictures...new is new. Not a mark.


Here the t-shirt got the "oily" fingerprint off with no problem. Looks like as careful as I tried to be with the alcohol, I still got some of the crayola off the logo. Easily fixed.


So while nothing came as a surprise....I know my gun.... I remain surprised at hearing how Overkill's gun rusted in just a matter of minutes after being touched with his clean hands . I pressed my fingers fairly hard trying to get prints, but I guess my soap and washing techniques are superior to Overkill's. I'll attribute it to age and experience. I've been washing my hands longer than he has. With practice he'll eventually get it. (I did NOT wash my hands immediately before trying to leave prints).

I think that I need to re-try when I have worked up a good sweat. I thought about using salt water, but decided I didn't want to take that much of a chance. A natural salty sweat would be a more likely real-life issue, so next time I wash my car or stand over the barbeque, I'll try and remember to get some sweat on the slide and keep an eye on it. (I don't carry the XD anymore...I now carry a hard chromed Kel Tec which I don't believe can rust even if I wanted it to).

I KNOW that some of these guns can and do rust. According to some of what I've read on Glock Talk, some, hell, MOST are rusty before they leave the factory, etc.....

The only thing I can think of is what some people have suggested in the past....that the quality control in Croatia is "iffy" and some guns got treated properly and some didn't. It is apparently not the black finish or lack of it. It would seem to be the process that treats the metal under the colored finish. The front corners of my gun are worn enough that the bare metal shows a little, but no rust there either, which is how I think the process of rust prevention is supposed to work.

Like many of us, I polished my barrel hood since they all get scraped up. The "bare" metal hasn't shown a hint of rust nor have I heard people say that theirs have. I always believed the steel used for the barrels is different than that used for the slides. It seems like it is more rust resistant. I thought it might be stainless, but it is pretty strongly attracted to a magnet. Then again, my stainless SA 1911 is magnetic too. So is the barrel which I believe is a stainless barrel on that particular gun. The only metal on any of my guns that has zero magnetic properties is the stainless steel magazines that are standard on the XDs.

I haven't learned anything new or surprising from this experiment other than the posts are limited to size. Bad news for some of the cut and paste guys LOL.

I have to believe in the inconsistent QC theory. I've seen too many photos of rusted XDs. Yet I also know that when we did a poll a long while back, the majority of the owners had no rust issues at all with their XDs. Though a significant minority did have serious problems. Obviosly, the new XD45acp finish (Melonite) is going to be the ultimate solution.

Peace,
D.

[Tomcat088]

Just on another note, I wanted to mention something about the stainless steel you mentioned. There are some types of stainless steel, which are in fact fairly magnetic, and others which aren't very magnetic at all. Even in some very high grades of stainless steel, some are still attracted to magnets. I don't know all of the properties and things that affect this, but one of my friends that works with all kinds of steel has told me this, so I know it to be quite reliable. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that note out there to say that sometimes the magnet test isn't as accurate as some people say.

[saltysquid]

I had read here about heavy rusting from people shipping a dry slide in a plastic bag due to moisture forming. I can only assume that if water gets in the bag with the firearm it would be worse. I know that was really quick, but it probably doesn't take long being in the closed up hot environment.

http://www.xd-hs2000.com/duracoat.html

[jednp]

I had my xd in a foam padded case in the trunk of my vehicle for a few hours one day down in Georgia back in May and I got rust. I had been shooting my gun the past few days and have kept the gun in the trunk when I'm out of the hotel. Then one of the last days there, I left to go out doing things so I just put it in the trunk rather than leave it in the hotel room. I took it out when I got back to the hotel, and it had little rust spots appearing on the slide. A rag with CLP on it took off quite a bit of rust, as my white towel was now orange. I'm pretty good about taking care of my gun to keep rust away. In my safe I use those vapor tabs and it remains rust free. but for whatever reason, for a few hours in a trunk one day, it rusted bad.

I should also note that I had generously coated the slide and other metal parts with Armadillo prior to going on this trip and kept a dessicant pack in the case. Why it would rust on that last day but not on the days prior, is beyond me. I had actually had the gun in teh case in the trunk for longer on other days with no problems. Even wiped the slide down good when I cleaned it, being careful to not take off the armadillo. I guess armadillo just isn't good enough in a humid place unless you reapply it every few days. I'm not going to worry about it too much, only thing I can do is bring it up to SA when I send it in to get somthing fixed and see if they will redo the finish.

So, unless you have the new XD45 I'd just plan on some day having a rust issue that may or not be related to a faulty finish, but likely just due to the conditions the gun is in, even if it's just for a few days. Wipe it off with some CLP or other good protectant and call it good. Not much else you can do. My XD's slide has wear marks on it from a holster and I really don't care too much now about making sure it's perfect. At least it's not brand new, barely been shot. It's a used gun!

[vafish]

You can make all the fun you want of Glocks,

But last summer I had my Glock 36 with me on a canoe trip. I fell in the river twice in one day and got rained on for about an hour.

When I got to camp that evening I field stripped it and dried it out as best I could. 3 days later I got home and finally detail stripped it.

Not a spec of rust.

[The Tengu]

Some people will rust XD's, some people won't. It's one reason I no longer have XD's.

For instance, I sent a Bi-Tone slide to AJames to get Duracoated. I cleaned it up and oiled it with Breakfree CLP, packaged it in paper, and mailed it 3-day USPS Priority.

James got it, and it had developed rust during the 3 days it took to get to Alabama.


WTF?

[hacker15]

I sent my slide off to AJames to have Trijicon sights installed. Priority Mail, 2 days there. He installed the sights (really nice job, BTW) and returned it same way. It went in the original bag I received the pistol in (blue shipping bag). No rust anywhere on it when it went, none when it came back. I've used Collector on just about everything I own made of metal and exposed to the elements. My XD 40 service (18 months in service as a duty gun) was wiped down the day I got it and has had the product applied as the final step in cleaning after every shoot (usually once a month - sometimes several times a month). Give it a try - the stuff prevents fingerprits and works as advertised.