A few years ago, prior to a move,I stored away the bolts from several of my bolt action rifles seperate from the guns themselves. Labeled each one as to which rifle it came from and put them in a plastic pistol case.
Today I unpacked them and, on 3 Rem 700 bolts and 1 older Ruger 77 bolt, I had serious rust under the labels. The rust is on the bright body of the bolt, the engine turned section on the Rem 700 bolts.
The bolts cleaned up fairly well with scotch brite and look OK; of course the pretty engine turning disappeared
. However, if I hold them to the light just right, I can see some shallow pitting where the worst of the rust was.
My question is whether there is any strength/safety issue here. None of the rust occured on the bolt heads in the locking lug area, so I can't think of any. But my inability to think of possible problems is what caused this mess. So, what say the experts? Any concerns other than cosmetic and resale issues?
It's a shame because each of these guns is otherwise immaculate. I love finding new things to kick myself for.
Bob