bury a rifle

[roscoe]

So occasionally you see threads on SHTF and people mention burying rifles and then digging them up to fight off the black helicopters and blue helmets. I was wondering, purely hypothetically (of course), what would you bury and how would you preserve it?

It seemed to me that, since you might (probably) never actually need the rifle, you wouldn't want to put all your money into a Steyr Scout and then bury it where a housing development was likely to go.

It occured to me that you might want two inexpensive rifles, buried seperately. I was thinking that an SKS would be hard to beat for cheap reliability. An SKS and a couple of hundred rounds would probably fit nicely in a 5 foot long piece of 10" schedule 80 PVC glued shut on both ends. An SKS also precludes concern about magazines, etc.

But, how would you preserve the rifle? You might not need it for 25 years, but then you would really need it to work. I was thinking that pouring motor oil into the barrel and action and wrapping it in oil-soaked cloth would suffice, yet not make it too difficult to clean later. Sound reasonable? Anyone actually done it (who would admit to it)?

 

[Joe Portale]

Since we are discussing this in theory and for education or entertainment purposes only, I clue you in.

You're right. I would not want to bury a expensive firearm. I want to play with it as long as possible.

The SKS is a good choice. Another choice would be a surplus Mauser. The first thing you need to do is make sure that the rifle is in good working order. Then do a detail stripping and cleaning. As you reassemble the rifle, give every part a good coat of cosmpline or other heavy petrolium based moisture repelling grease. Goober the entire outside of the rifle, wood and all in the grease. Wrap the rifle in heavy plastic bag that as much of the air as possible has been pulled out. Use the pvc pipe like you mentioned. Glue a cap on one end. Pour some rice, vermiculite or other drying agent into the tube covering the rifle. Close up the other end with a glued on cap. Go dig you hole.

If you are prepping for armagendon, you may also want to bury a cleaning kit with regular gun oil, ammo, spare parts and a good size piece of aluminum foil.

 

[Art Eatman]

Hunt up "FoodSavR" or "FoodSaver" or some such. It's a vacuum pack deal intended for preserving food. The deal comes with a variety of widths of flexible plastic "tubing" much like ziploc bags.

Heat seal an end, put in what you're gonna store, turn on the pump; then heat seal when all evacuated.

You might have to disassemble a "fat" rifle like an AR to make it fit, but a little oil on the steel is all that's needed.

The PVC is then merely a general protection. Glue one end; use a threaded fitting on the other end. Seal with silicone gasket material; easy opening.

You can bury something under the edge of your back porch, if that's where you throw the pop tops from your beer and/or soda. And old nails and suchlike...

Art

 

[Badger Arms]

Also might wanna bury some aluminum foil to block the signals to your alien implants. Hehehe.

Seriously, wads of aluminum foil burried at random throughout the yard will throw any metal detector off. The Pop-Tart wrappers break down too quickly.

I think that an excellent choice for a SHTF gun is the Russian M-44 carbines. Easy to conceal and dirt cheap. For the price of an SKS, you can bury two M-44's. Might want to consider including a revolver or other cheap, reliable handgun as well. Make sure to stash at least one weapon per able-bodied person to include teen-aged children.

 

[Zorro]

Actually has ANYONE! on the face of the Earth; say maybe IRAQ! EVER had a problem successfully hiding weapons from the UN?



NO!

Next Question!

 

[DMK]

Actually has ANYONE! on the face of the Earth; say maybe IRAQ! EVER had a problem successfully hiding weapons from the UN?

LOL!

Maybe they forgot their metal detectors when they went to Sadam's Sandbox.

 

[AK103K]

Aluminium foil might be good for hats, pipes, and of all things, food, but it wont hide a steel gun from a metal detector that only looks for ferrous metals. We use these at work to look for iron pins, etc. that they use for property corners. May want to rethink that one Oh, and dont bury them vertically, that makes them even easier to find.

 

[MAKOwner]

Every gun show I've been to has had some of those, heck I don't know what they are, rocket containers or something with rubber seals on both screw on ends, that are sold for burying rifles. Think they were dirt cheap...

I'd bury an SKS or two in each tube, vacuum sealed with that food saver thing (great minds think alike, I had just thought of that before reading the other post about it, lol) and a couple hundred rounds of ammo on stripper clips for each SKS. Throw in a moisture absorber just to be on the safe side.

 

[Badger Arms]

Aluminium foil might be good for hats, pipes, and of all things, food, but it wont hide a steel gun from a metal detector that only looks for ferrous metals.

Make that Tin Foil then. Sheez. I was under the impression that Aluminum foil would work but I've never had to try it myself. (I Know, I know, tin is not ferrous)

 

[Glock23carry]

Every gun show I've been to has had some of those, heck I don't know what they are, rocket containers or something with rubber seals on both screw on ends, that are sold for burying rifles. Think they were dirt cheap...


I believe those are 105mm main gun round containers. For the old M-60A2 tank?

 

[Rovert]

This may sound like a totally stupid question, but if you completely sealed a PVC pipe on both ends, and had dessicant in there, why would you need to gunk up the gun with cosmoline at all?

The issue, as I understand it, comes from temperature changes which cause condensation, leading to rust. But since the ground temperature is constant all year round only one foot below the surface, and the dessicant would absorb all moisture packed with the rifle, why go to the hassle of dealing with the cosmoline goop, or motor oil, or any other stuff that would have to be cleaned in a SHTF scenario, where you may not have the time to clean the gun.

 

[TERRY8mm]

I love hypothetical discourse!

PVC tube, a good .22 bolt or pump that will fire shorts.
At least 1,000 rounds each of; solids, hollow points, and CB caps.
Cleaning kit. High quality survival knife. Field surgical kit. Aspirin. 2 fifths of liquor. 2 containers of pepper. 2 containers of salt. 2 Leatherman tools. Take-down recurve bow,extra bowstrings and 1 dozen arrows. Machete. Gerber hatchet and holster. Hand powered radio. Hand powered flashlight with spare bulbs.

All items stored in double vac sealed bags. All metal items degreased and coated with RIG before sealing.

All of the above will fit easily in a 5'x8" tube, trust me I know.

I have read that in the months leading up to the Australian gun ban, you couldn't find a piece of 6 or 8" plastic pipe anywhere.

BTW, write down the directions to the stash, and tell someone in the family where it is.

 

[geekWitha.45]

Anyone ever heard of GPS cacheing?

It's a strange sport that sounds like fun. You bury a logbook /rubber stamp, etc in a tin at some obscure location, and publish the gps coords.

Perhaps a pointer or two from this sport would enhance our hypothecical discussion.

 

[dZ]

A dood on AR15.com buried an AK in a tube in the hinterlands for a test.

He returned to find the local mining company had piled 100 feet of earth on his package.

some archeologist is gonna find it in 5 or 6 hundred years

heres the classic recipe:

1. 1 PVC 6" inside diameter plastic pipe, 60" long. 1 PVC
end cap, non-threaded, to fit pipe. (Note: If you have gophers
or other burrowing animals in the vicinity of the burial site,
use ABS pipe instead of PVC. It is more resistant to damage,
but is a bit more expensive.)

2. 1 ABS screw cap 6" inside diameter, with square lug. 1
ABS end cap adapter, 6" inside diameter, with threads inside,
to fit pipe.

3. 1 weapons retrieving rod (ABS 0.5" plastic pipe) with
2 nylon cords attached, one upper, one lower.

4. 1 PVC end cap wrench.

5. 10 ultra-absorbent diapers

6. 5 lb. silica gel desiccant.

7. 2 pair nylon pantyhose

8. 8 six-bushel non-biodegradable plastic garbage bags

9. 1 roll of Teflon tape.

10. 1 small kitchen garbage bag (plastic) and 5" rubber
band.

http://www.hoboes.com/pub/Firearms/Technical Details/Weapons Caching/Cache 3

 

[Shooter 973]

Bury a Rifle?

If you think that its time to bury a rifle and some ammo, Then its time to get it out and start using it. If things are so bad that you have to start burying rifle it time to fight back with every thing you have. Just my oninion.

 

[Schuey2002]

Art,

Thanks to you,I'm off looking for a foodsaver....

Not to rain on anyones parade or anything,but wouldn't ground penetrating radar defeat any attempt to *stash* anything underground??

Also,don't "they" have satelites in near Earth orbit, that can do the same thing?!?

 

[MitchSchaft]

If I was that worried about having to bury a firearm, it wouldn't be a dinky .22 bolt action . The reason I would bury one would be incase I would need it. I can always hide a Rem. 700 in my attic or something. I would be worried about hiding a FA ak47 or an M249 SAW. Those would be the weapons I would want should I need to dig something up. Along with a few thousand rounds apiece.

 

[germanguns]

Schuey, that is why, in this hypothetical situation, you don't bury it in your backyard. Let's see these hypothetical people scan 1,000,000 acres of forest looking for an 8"x4' tube.

 

[MitchSchaft]

Yes, do not bury anywhere near your house! I wonder how long a breadcrumb trail would last...

 

[roscoe]

Shooter 973, of course you are not burying all your weapons, but you might want to bury one in case you find yourself somehow without arms just when you need them most.

And as for bolt action weapons, surplus or otherwise, it seems to me that you need a bit more firepower, especially at closer range. Semi-auto minimum for me, as all modern soldiers are so equipped.

And I would never bury an AR; I would feel like a fool for losing a $900 rifle, since we are likely to never need to dig them up again.