Where is the best place to keep guns?

Yelena

Yelena

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So, I currently have two pistols, Makarov and IZH 35. By winter time, hope to buy Dragunov rifle, if Hubby will want to give me the best Christmas gift ever [grin]
I only have one gun vault which holds one pistol, and this is to be kept easily accessable for SHTF situations (which, hopefully, will never happen). What is the best way to keep my growing gun population safe and comfortable? How do you guys built gun closets?
Thanks for suggestions!
 
I built a closet simply because even though a large portion of my collection is made up of cheap rifles, they still need to be locked up and my wife got tired of me having 5 sheet metal safes in the bedroom.
Luckily being a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy, I don't need a lot of closet space so I put a single clothes rack in my bathroom closet and turned my original one into a walk in vault.
One thing to consider before doing so is Will it be secure enough?
This was easy for me because there is no access to the closet from behind or either side so I don't have to worry about anyone chopping through a wall to get at my guns. The main door is a heavy duty steel exterior door with 2 locks including a dead bolt and tamper proof hinges. I had the jambs reinforced and had the door mounted using the longest bolts I could get away with. Throw in a door alarm along with my standard house alarm and I'm all set.
This set up works perfectly for me because like I said, my collection has many cheap guns and they take up a lot of room. You have to first decide which direction your collection will go. If you plan on collecting military surplus rifles, a vault is something you should consider. If you decide to stick with handguns and a rifle or two, a standard safe should be all you need.
 
If I were you I'd get a Sentry gun cabinet, and secure it to the floor and walls. It will hold 8 Long guns, and a slew of pistols if you stack them between the rifles.

When you outgrow that, get another one or a good safe.
 
Thanks everyone so far![wink]

Milsurps 4 Me said:
One thing to consider before doing so is Will it be secure enough?
This was easy for me because there is no access to the closet from behind or either side so I don't have to worry about anyone chopping through a wall to get at my guns.
Click to expand...

I have ADT alarm, and the room where my guns will be kept has a motion sensor. I also have a Doberman, and will secure the windows soon, so it won't be an easy task to break into my house at all :)
I really don't know what I'm going to have in the future, since the gun addiction is uncurabe and unpredictable[smile]
 
Yelena said:
Thanks everyone so far![wink]



I have ADT alarm, and the room where my guns will be kept has a motion sensor. I also have a Doberman, and will secure the windows soon, so it won't be an easy task to break into my house at all :)
I really don't know what I'm going to have in the future, since the gun addiction is uncurabe and unpredictable[smile]
Click to expand...

Figuring what you'll wind up with is harder than figuring where to keep them.
I kept one sheet metal safe simply for holding .22 rifles because they're often cheap and can add up so quickly.
Probably a good idea to check RI laws and see what they consider safe and legal storage. If it turns out you need to keep them locked up in a safe, you can always buy a few Stack On sheet metal cabinets with 3 way lock system for pretty cheap money. Often people sell them used for as cheap as $70. Two of those bolted together will hold a good number of guns.
 
If you get a chance to go to a gun show - look at them, there is a plethora of choices. I am a person who has to touch, feel, see....and, well, I didn't taste too many...
 
Raoul Duke said:
I've been using a Sentry Safe X075 ($99) which comfortably fits a Sig 226, and several magazines with room to spare.
Click to expand...

I started with a Sentry - don't know the model off hand - got 4 guns in their "rugs", ammo and 9 mags - I might get one more gun in it...its days are numbered, and I have only been shooting for 5 months [sad2].
 
theGringo said:
I keep mine in the oven. No one would ever look there.
Click to expand...

MythBusters did an episode on that. Truly amazing the findings:
One of the myths they are testing on this episode is about people storing their guns and ammunition in the kitchen oven. Apparently these people then forget their oven is actually a little home arsenal and then preheat the oven. And then you have guns firing and bullets exploding in your kitchen while you are stirring cake batter- and no one is happy.

The results of their investigation was that lone bullets in a hot oven will explode- but they will not be able to penetrate the oven door. A loaded gun in a hot oven will fire;the bullet will be shot with sufficient momentum to penetrate the door and potentially kill you. The team brilliantly concluded that placing weaponry in your oven is a bad idea. [thinking]
 
packingungal said:
The results of their investigation was that lone bullets in a hot oven will explode- but they will not be able to penetrate the oven door. A loaded gun in a hot oven will fire;the bullet will be shot with sufficient momentum to penetrate the door and potentially kill you.
Click to expand...

Funny, that was my experience as well. [wink]
 
you can get a cheap cabinet $100, from Dicks sporting goods. And bolt it to your floor or wall.
 
there is a nice pistol safe that is a 4 digit combo which would be great to secure to your headboard out of sight for the SHTF situation when u need fast access for 1 handgun and a spare mag. Anything after that figure out how many rifles and how many hand guns you want and go with a safe that'll handle all of that plus 2 or 3 more. If that's not enough then it's time to get to Lowe's and start a fun project.
 
Whatever kind of safe or cabinet you get, you will always want more room. So get as big a one as you comfortably can. I am kicking myself for getting a small one.

BTW Yelena, the wife and I love animals and you are doing God's work. You take care of our friends who can't speak for themselves.

+1
 
Getting a safe is a real investment, but it's worth it. There's another way to look at it. You don't have to use it just for guns (I only have seven handguns). I love my Sentry and wish I actually bought a bigger one. I keep just about everything of value in it as well as important papers, deeds, insurance stuff, etc.. The wife keeps her valuables in there as well.

I picked up this one at Lowes for about $360 or so (excluding delivery, of course).

safe1.jpg
safe2.jpg
safe3.jpg


safe.jpg
 
For a cheap solution, go to Dicks and buy a Stack-On 10 gun cabinet. i currently have about two dozen guns, mostly long guns, in mine.

For a good solution that still doesn't break the bank, one of the Stack-On or Sentry safes (read: SAFE, not cabinet) in the $350 range is a good start. Sentries are a little bit heavier but the Stack-Ons in that price range are a little larger and can have electronic keypads instead of combination locks. I have a 16-gun Stack-On, it has three shelves, is built solidly, and weighs about 150 pounds or so (which was nice, as I was able to solo the move-in job and then weighed it down with some old barbell plates for another few hundred pounds)
 
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