Raven Recovery

[SPATHA]

I just got back from FT A.P. Hill, and I wanted to tell you how well my Raven performed. I went through 1-3in. trees with ease (while building shelters and even a lever to extract the 1SGT's hummer from a ditch). I was also able to hack through wd1 wire and trip flare springs with ease. Like I've said before it’s a fine design. I did have a problem with rust though.
The 'hill' has been pretty much under water for the last 2 weeks and my Raven has about 30 rust dots on it. I put a coat of clp on it when ever I performed weapons maintenance (once a day) but I could never seem to get all the rust off.
I'm thinking of buffing it off with some clover compound and a dremel, and then spray painting it but I wanted to know if that would make it more prone to rust in the future.

 

[Rob Simonich]

Wow, that must be some wicked conditions there! Try some 0000 steel wool and light oil. Also WD-40 and Break Free are actually pretty crappy at rust protection. I am not surprised as I am finding S30-V not all that great in corrosion resistance, similar to ATS-34 in that respect. You can always send it in for refinishing when it gets really ugly and you can do without it for a few days. Try some paste wax.

 

[SPATHA]

Thanks,
I'll use the 4/0 and some oil. I use johnsons on the 'Ma Deuce' so I'll give that a try the next time I'm out and about.

As for the conditions - during the 3 out of 15 days it didn't rain while we were there we had 5 heat casualties. On the rainy days we had 3 near misses on hypothermia. All and all between the weather and the terrain I really liked the way it sucked.

Thanks again

 

[.45acp]

SPATHA,

I had the same problem with rust on 5 day fishing trip in the Amazon Basin. When I returned home about 5 minutes with 800 grit SiC and an oiled cloth took it all off. I was pleased to note that no pitting took place. Surface rust only.


Steve