You don't mention what you use to protect the rifle. What you use, makes a big difference. For instance I was instant messaged by a person that had rust concerns and stated they protected the rifle with T/C #13 bore cleaner, but their rifle still rusted. I explained to them, that was not protecting the metal from rusting. So make sure that what you are using to protect the metal, stop or protects the metal against rust. Not simply cleans the barrel.

Some people use bore butter. Bore butter works only if you know how you're applying it. Do Bore Butter wrong, and you have a rusted rifle.

Another thing you have to be careful of when storing your rifle is humidity. Some areas of the country have a humidity problem. For them, there are things you can purchase to store the rifle in like a silicone sock, or put humidty prevention items in thegun cabinet that will help protect them from the humidity.

So, after you have cleaned the rifle, take a quality gun oil and swab the barrel with that oil on a patch. When you are sure the inside of the rifle is coated well, then hold the rifle in a non metal area like the stock. Using that same oil saturated patch wipe down the outside of the rifle taking care to hit all areas and remove all finger prints, etc. The rifle should then be ready to be stored. Keep your humidity in mind where you store the rifle, and you should be fine.