When plastics (or rubber?) go BAD......?

[AJMD429]

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I don't know how many others have had this happen, but over the years I've had a dozen or so items, ranging from flashlights to butt pads on rifle stocks, to radios, fairly suddenly turned sticky with no apparent cure. Once it was a butt pad on a handy rifle and a gun safe, and I'm supposing there were residues of WD-40 or perhaps other cleaning solvents in the air in the gun safe, although nothing else in that safe ever did the same thing.

Most recently it was a nice little handheld radio that was just sitting on an open shelf in a room full of tools and so forth, but no unusual amount of solvents. Probably an occasional silicone cloth or WD-40 cloth wipe down of a firearm took place in the room but I doubt I even sprayed the aerosol in the room itself.

Has anybody ever experienced a similar phenomenon, and if so, have you found anything to fix the problem.?

The things that have become tacky like that have gotten pretty much so you can't handle them without gloves on and buttons stick and Lord only knows what kind of chemicals are leaching out of them at this point.

[GunnyMack]

I noticed this happened after I got an ozone air purifier. Seems like O³ does indeed ruin rubber. I no longer have the purifier and not had a problem since.

Years ago I got some Sorbathane recoil pads dirt cheap. I installed one on my 375 H&H and that pad just kind of melted over time- again I blame it on the O³ purifier.

[ole pizen slinger]

The problem lies in the fact that rubber and plastics contain plasticizers that give them flexibility. Over time, these plasticizers leach out of the products giving the surface a sticky feel. This also explains why car dashes crack. I know of no way to replace the plasticizers once they are gone.
OPS

[Tycer]

I had a buttpad go bad. Don’t remember the brand. Either Kickeze or limbsaver. It was a bad batch of pads and they replaced it.

[44shooter]

I have a rangefinder that the rubber coating turned sticky. My dad's M70 has a Duratouch coated plastic stick that turned sticky too. Winchester repeating arms replaced his stock with a non coated one. I haven't reached out the Bushnell yet. Both are products from around the turn of this century designed for enhanced grip. I haven't seen a problems with any of my handgun grips or recoil pads

[4t5]

Have a BSA airgun scope , gone sticky, glad you brought this up , scope still works but attracts all sorts of debris.

[765x53]

Have a BSA airgun scope , gone sticky, glad you brought this up , scope still works but attracts all sorts of debris.

Same here. I spent a couple of hours wiping the sticky off with a mineral spirits dampened cloth leaving the matt finished metal.
I've had recoil pads turn hard but never sticky.

[piller]

My Walther & Wesson model 99 has had to have the plastic at the back of the grip replaced. It one day just crumbled. I looked on Walther's website, and on Smith&Wesson's. They both sell the same grip panel for the same price. I plan on buying another panel and putting it away in about a year or two.

[KWK]

The problem lies in the fact that rubber and plastics contain plasticizers that give them flexibility.

That's my understanding as well.

I had a butt pad turn to gunk. It was an air rifle and was never treated with any cleaner, so I don't see cleaners as an explanation.

This seems to becoming more common with products. I don't know if the Chinese are substituting cheaper plasticizers, or if the good ones have been regulated away by the EPA.

[marlinman93]

I had this happen to my Vivitar binoculars and it irritates the heck out of me. Can't hardly use them unless I put gloves on as the sticky feel transfers to my hands when holding them.

[Ysabel Kid]

Have a BSA airgun scope , gone sticky, glad you brought this up , scope still works but attracts all sorts of debris.

Same for me. Had a BSA red dot that got so tacky I couldn't touch it without getting almost stuck!

[Ysabel Kid]

BTW, I read where baking soda and water, form a paste, then hand rub in will usually take the tacky/sticky feeling away.

[Old No7]

I believe that an annual wiping with Armor-All will help protect the rubber -- but I don't think it's worked once the tackiness has started, although someone may want to give that a try!

Old No7

[samsi]

I believe the technical term for this is reversion, and yes, I've picked up a couple old shotguns with gummy, sticky collapsed recoil pads. Maybe modern synthetics last longer, or maybe it's just the grade or quality of individual materials. I had the plastic on a cheap transistor radio melt when I handled it with insect repellent on my hands one time too, so there's always a risk of some kind of interaction of products I guess.

[cas]

I had an old pair of Rocky hunting boots, I'd retired them from hunting but still used them for shoveling snow and going to the range in the winter. Year before last I went to use them and the soles were gone. Just a black crumbled mess of what used to be a boot sole. Conversely, I have a pair of Solomon hiking boots, my "shooting shoes" that I only wore for USPSA/IDPA/3 gun, whatever. They're not that old at all. I put them on this spring and walking across the floor they sounded funny. Outside on the driveway they sounded like I was wearing cleats. They're fine in the sand at the range, but on anything else the soles got so hard and slippery that they're dangerous.



Much the way car tires don't seem to last as long as the once did, I can't help but think it's planned obsolescence.