Gun safe organization?

[Jeff Thomas]

Sounds foolish I suppose, but how do you folks organize a gun safe?

For example, do you store ammunition in the safe as well? In the case of a fire, does this simply raise the odds you'll destroy a collection of firearms? How about magazines? They're certainly fairly pricey these days. With magazines, for example, I'm thinking I'll put them in labeled ammo boxes. I've seen some folks put them in various plastic containers, but if there is a fire, it seems like you could end up with some good magazines potentially covered with melted plastic, no?

How about spare parts? Ammo boxes as well? Perhaps labeled envelopes to keep everything straight?

Appears that most folks put sidearms on the inside of the door. Long guns upright, of course, muzzle up. Slings seem like a pain, since they get caught up with each other, but I suppose that's just the way it is.

Some dessicant seems like a good idea, like what they sell from Cabela's.

Just looking for some practical advice about what you put in the safe besides firearms, and how you organize the related gear.

Not the most interesting or important questions I've seen, but I do appreciate your feedback.

Thanks. Regards from AZ

[fastforty]

I had to start by tossing the "9 gun" or "16 gun" (or whatever it was) interior, it just wasted way too much space. I put a board across the back wall with wood pegs for separation, where 18 rifles now stand side-by-side, taking up very little of the depth of the safe. The shorter ones stand on an open front box, yeilding additional floorspace. One fullsize shelf above, and any number of 3/4 depth shelves in front of the rifles, still allow you to tilt the long guns and remove them butt-first. It's amazing how much stuff you can store in a orderly manner.

[This message has been edited by fastforty (edited March 05, 2000).]

[loknload]

Jeff, I keep my ammo on the very bottom shelf of my safe. I figure since the safe is fireproof I don't believe there will be a problem unless there is total burn and incineration of my house. I also keep a fireproof lockbox on the next shelf up for important papers,money and other small valuables. Also keep my carry holsters in there also next shelf up. The guns start filling up after that. Thats how I arrange my safe. My safe also has a Golden Rod on the rifle side floor

Hope this helps
Happy Shooting

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We preserve our freedoms by using four boxes: soap,ballot,jury, and cartridge.
Anonymous

[Hal]

Before I bought my safe, I stored all my handguns in those plastic Doskocil cases. I just trasferred those cases to the shelves of the safe. If you don't have em, dont rush out and buy them though. With the prices of the original boxes the guns came in being anywhere from $6 to $20, just put them in their original box. The long guns are stored muzzle up with an old sock covering as much of the gun as possible. I worry as much about them knocking together as I do about rust. Maybe a bit more in fact. A few packs of dessicant and frequent checking of overall conditions, as well as the safe being in a room where temps are pretty constant helps.

Dessicnat packs are common place in containers of stuff imported from overseas. One of the guys on another forum used to go to his local home fix up store and arrange for one of the warehouse guys to collect it for him. 12 pack of brew for a box of what was destined for a landfill. Good trade. Wish I would have thought of it when I worked at one of them. I must have thrown away a ton of the stuff.

Ammo storage, in any confined area, is an explosive threat when exposed to fire. A bad thing if the house is on fire, but a good thing if the fire comes from a cutting torch I suppose. That being said, ammunition is expensive, and is significant part of my total cost of ownership. It also adds to the overall weight since it's heavy too. Your call. On a related note, be careful of any possible chemical fumes. I ate a giant bowl of stupid once (yeah, yeah I know, no comments about a steady diet ) and "stored" a tin of percussion caps in the wooden presentation case my Smith 29 came in along with the wooden target grips from said Smith. Some 15 years of fumes caused the lining of the case to transfer itself to the grips. Ugly sums it up well. This applies to any long term storage and cases also. That coating of whatever may not bother the foam in the cases now, but in years, who knows?

Another thing to consider is a "just in case" gun. One that is always loaded and stored in the safe, just in case. As in just in case someone gets tired of trying to get in the safe, and waits for you to open it for them.

On thing I don't do is store important papers or anything else that has a little $ value vs a high hassel factor to replace in the safe. Birth certificats, marriage licence and such. Xerox copies of gun manuals and parts info can fit into an envelope and take up little space. If you have access to a scanner, scanned copies of these can fit onto a couple of floppy disks.

Magazines, parts and reloading dies can all benefit from a temperture and humidity controlled enviroment. Office supply stores sell locking fire proof boxes that can hold them, and fit inside the safe

A lot comes down to long vs short term storage. I have 3 or 4 guns that get shot an awful lot, and a few that seldom get shot. Currently I am looking into some long term storage for a number of guns that I won't ever shoot again, and in all probability won't be shot for a number of years. The FW's will get pretty much short term, and the others will have to be delt with as long term.

Looking at possible legal ramifications, be careful about what goes in the safe. *For info and reference only*. That expensive auto knife for instance has no place in the safe alongside any legal guns. In Ca substitute a *banned* Sk or something, or even you and your signifacant other dressed up as Bo Peep and the Big Bad. If some dirt bag wraps a chain around the safe and drags it through the wall and down the road, it could cause some uncomfortable moments at *inventory time* when it's recovered. I'm certain that some of the LEO's could tell some real side splitters about things they have seen in this area.


I committed the cardinal sin of safes. I bought too small It gets cramped in a hurry for us mortals. Don't want to mention any names, but a certain gunny has a walk in

[K80Geoff]

Organize! You mean you're supposed to Organize them? No way... too much work.

I do store some of my guns muzzle down, mostly the doubles. This is supposed to keep the oil from the action from soaking the stock. Most used guns are in the front row, the stuff I only use occasionally goes in the back row. Handguns are stored on the shelves, and except for one S & W ready gun, ammunition is stored in my older gun cabinet. I also store some gun tools in the safe so they won't disappear as well as things like choke tubes, spare parts etc. I keep a space for a fireproof box for important papers, insurance policies, backup credit cards and backup computer discs and jewelry. Oh yeah, and I store magazines in there as well.

I also use a goldenrod, it works ( and my basement is HUMID) better than dessiciants in my neck of the woods.

Damn! thats an awful lot of stuff. Maybe I should Organize it! Nah, then I would never find anything.


Geoff Ross

[Fourdiamonds]

Customize to your needs and the most important thing I can advise is= Bolt, than Double Bolt it to the slab or joist or something damn strong. Could tell several stories of horror about thefts. Good luck!!

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From my cold dead hands.