Old weapon put in cold storage for life (9)
I believe the answer is:
existence
'life' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'old weapon put in cold' is the wordplay.
'old' becomes 'ex' (prefix meaning former or onetime).
'weapon put' becomes 'sten' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'cold' becomes 'ice' (I've seen this before).
'sten' placed into 'ice' is 'istence'.
'ex'+'istence'='EXISTENCE'
'storage for' is the link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for existence that I've seen before include "A way of living" , "survival" , "The business of being" , "Way of life" , "State of being" .)