Home Firearm Storage...what do you do?

[zero7one]

With the mention in a previous thread about having a room in a house dedicated for guns, building, storing, etc, it got me thinking about the plans of building a vault in my next house instead of just storing them in a safe.

So the question rises...what do you do with your guns?

Do you have very organized wall storage?

http://rhinovault.com/weapons/weapons-expand-2-lg.jpg

Do you throw them in a connex?

http://www.seacoastmarines.com/USMC%20Iraq%20Maltais%20Gun%20Storage.jpg

Do have them lying around everywhere?

http://static.businessinsider.com/image/4d3defa1ccd1d5ce47030000/crazy-computer-den-guns-huge-computer.png

Do you have a dream room/vault?

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/images/gun-collection4.jpg

Or do you just have some sort of gun safe?

http://organizemyclosetblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/6GunSafe.png

[jdhill]

Sadly, just a safe... want a room-vault... maybe in the next house.

[zero7one]

Sadly, just a safe... want a room-vault... maybe in the next house.

That is my plan as well...for the size, it may be more cost efficient and can be built to spec. My goal would to just vault an entire room with an area to work inside....we'll see if Household 6 authorizes the purchase order request. [BD]

[Army Chief]

I'm actually in the process of executing a household move in the next couple of weeks, and have been giving a lot of thought to this very issue.

Safes and storage cabinets provide a level of security, but not necessarily ready access.

Dedicated gun rooms require more deliberate preparation and hardening, and tend to be situated away from living areas.

Concealing arms around the house for staged defense potentially leaves you vulnerable to theft if/when you are not home.

No one approach really covers all of the bases, so I suppose the best course of action is to adopt a blended approach which involves all three to some degree. Designate and prepare a room that will take time to breach, employ hard storage options inside of the room and keep some working tools where you can get to them. How to apply those specifically to one's own circumstances is probably equal parts art and science, but if you're at least asking the questions, the odds are good that you'll end up finding more than a few decent answers.

AC

[philpac33]

Most everything is in the big safe. I have a keypad GunVault bolted to my nightstand intended for my EDC but I can't remember the last time it's been in there; she likes to sleep on top, naked.

[Pandamonium]

3 Gun safes. 2 in the Garage and 1 in the house. No use of firearms for self defense in New Zealand so everything has to be locked away.

[Army Chief]

3 Gun safes. 2 in the Garage and 1 in the house. No use of firearms for self defense in New Zealand so everything has to be locked away.

An admittedly-difficult state of affairs. I dealt with much the same thing as a long-time resident of Germany. The storage requirements there are fairly rigid, and offer no real legal recourse for keeping a weapon readily-available for defensive purposes. We are indeed fortunate that, notwithstanding various restrictions in various places, for the most part this is not an issue of consequence in the United States.

AC

[mustangfreek]

That first pic is a nice setup..(drooling)..and would think a dedicated room would cost some bux to make it worthwhile,effeicent and secure.

As of right now, just a not big enough safe as of the moment, need something bigger for sure.

[Army Chief]

That first pic is a nice setup...

Looks like http://www.rhinovault.com/ was the source. They seem to have an overwhelming variety of options, but it is all industrial-grade (costly) stuff.

AC

[Front242]

Looks like the top picture uses this rack system: Combat Weapon Storage (http://www.combatweaponstorage.com/)

I have a gun safe but it's jam packed and messy since my wife discovered it's fire resistance. I think I need a vault room and have just the place for it. Seal up a window and install a vault door. Add some racks and voila! Now to figure out how to finance it...

F²4²

[rob_s]

Most construction industry folks have any idea how hard, and easy, making a room truly hardened against break-in really is. They think that things like "cinder blocks" offer any resistance whatsoever. Build a jail or a courthouse and you get to see what they do to keep determined folks in, and out, and you get a pretty good tutorial on the right way.

Once upon a time I kept a single gun, a Remington 870, outside the safe as my "go to" sacrificial gun. I arrived home one day to find the front door unlocked and after going through the house found the back door open and the shotgun gone. It occurred to me that I may well have armed my murderer, and that my coming home 20 minutes earlier could have turned a crime of opportunity (an easy break in) into a cornered thief who would in turn become my killer.

All the guns stay in the safe when I'm not home now. No other option is worth it. Statistically you are exponentially more likely to be the victim of a simple break in where they just take anything that isn't secured than you are to need all your ninja tools at 3 AM.

[Army Chief]

A valid concern, to be sure. That is why I think that anything not secured in a hardened room or safe needs to at least be concealed with some serious forethought given to the method. Not that this would truly solve the problem if you were dealing with an experienced or determined adversary, but if you have other security factors in play (alarms, hardened doors, dogs ...) which might serve to limit their access or time-available, it would surely be better than nothing. I just don't want to be the guy that gets rolled in a home invasion because I got caught in another part of the house and didn't leave myself any fallback options. Have to consider the most likely threats, whatever they might be, and go from there, I suppose.


AC

[rob_s]

"Most likely threats" is exactly right. And a much bigger concept than this thread that most gun people don't even think about. People rush off and spend 75% of their budget and 90% of their time preparing for something that has a 0.01% chance of happening, while ignoring the fact that the 0.01% chance can be reduced even further by simply not being an idiot (don't live in a crappy area,don't do drugs, don't associate with people that do drugs, don't advertise your wealth, etc.).

[Army Chief]

Concur. I'm all for having a nice plate carrier and whatnot, but if you haven't at least replaced your standard door latch plate screws with 3" versions that will anchor into the supporting frame structures, then you're kind of missing the point. The odds that someone will want to kick in a door far eclipse the odds of having to mount a last-stand from your driveway with your longarm and go-to-war kit.

AC

[MoxyDave]

Some food for thought guys - what do you do when it floods? I'm in Colorado and I've had some flooding over the past couple of days. If I weren't able to keep up and my basement had completely flooded, what would I do with my "valuables"?

I do have a backup plan to store them safely somewhere else, but it is a huge pain in the ass especially while dealing with ongoing flooding.

Just something to thing about ... especially with all the crazy weather lately ...

[Army Chief]

Some food for thought guys - what do you do when it floods? I'm in Colorado and I've had some flooding over the past couple of days. If I weren't able to keep up and my basement had completely flooded, what would I do with my "valuables"?

I do have a backup plan to store them safely somewhere else, but it is a huge pain in the ass especially while dealing with ongoing flooding.

Just something to thing about ... especially with all the crazy weather lately ...

Good point, and a very realistic contingency.

I generally try to have adequate hard case capacity for the more important contents of my safe (www.starlightcases.com), which affords limited security with locks and chains, effective waterproofing and -- critical in this instance -- ready portability for transport.

Requires an up-front investment, of course, but they pretty much last forever. Fortunately, the right cases have a decent multi-gun capacity, if you plan and cut the foam accordingly; alternatively, you can strip the foam cores and just slip your existing soft cases in for simplicity and ready access to pre-configured kit.

AC

[MoxyDave]

Great idea about watertight cases. I hadn't considered that option. I don't have a ton of space so most of my cases are stored elsewhere, but I could make room for a few ...

[Army Chief]

The only ace in the hole with hard case storage that I've found is that you can usually work the standard rifle sizes under a bed frame, which obviously tends to be unoccupied space otherwise.

AC

[Computalotapus]

I just got introduced to Gallow Tech (http://www.gallowtech.com/) by a friend who has become a dealer. I am thinking as of right now a 1023 Package (http://www.gallowtech.com/product/package-1023/) will take care of me and give a me some room to grow. And for $500 retail it isn't a bad price... just need to sweet talk my friend and get dealer pricing now.

Edit for update... $390 Shipped!

[UWone77]

I just got introduced to Gallow Tech (http://www.gallowtech.com/) by a friend who has become a dealer. I am thinking as of right now a 1023 Package (http://www.gallowtech.com/product/package-1023/) will take care of me and give a me some room to grow. And for $500 retail it isn't a bad price... just need to sweet talk my friend and get dealer pricing now.

Edit for update... $390 Shipped!

Is this just a rack? No way to secure it?

[Jerry R]

Appears to be a peg-board style mounting panel - nice choice for a safe room. Seems to be in line with the OP's last question in post #1 and reasonably priced for what you get. Some thought went into it, and probably easier than a build it yourself from Home Depot parts.

[Computalotapus]

It doesn't come with a way to lock it in. Jerry hit the nail right on the head. But if you build a walk in safe this is what I would image it to be covered in.
I want to get this for my shop area. Easy way to rack the weapons out of my way while I work or clean them.

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[UWone77]

I went ahead and bookmarked that page. Even though it doesn't lock it in, it definitely looks like an option for my garage work bench area down the road. When I'm working on a gun or two, I can temporarily keep it on the rack vs. putting it on the table or chair until I knock it over. Thanks for the link!

[Computalotapus]

I have a centrally located room in my basement. That room is pretty much the "man cave" room....pink paint and all. That is where I clean all the firearms and tinker with everything. Would be nice to be able to rack the rifles and pistols instead of sitting them on the floor.

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