Chris Phelps
New member
I am looking for ideas on firearm storage. Not your 'run of the mill' gun safes or cabinets, but unique ideas. I'm getting ready to build my own, but I'm not completely decided on a layout yet.
Pic Request - Firearm Storage
- Thread starter Chris Phelps
- Start date
How are you at building furniture?
Sometimes it pays to go through museums and see what other people have done to secure valuables.
One I recall looked like a simple 4-drawer "dresser" but had some interesting features. First was that the top drawer was set about 3" down from the overhanging top. This was because a concealed release allowed you to open the top (hinged at rear via a piano hinge) and access a large 3.5" tall compartment.
Another feature was that the drawers were slightly shallow for the depth of the dresser. This was because there was a 2" deep compartment behind the top 2 drawers. If you removed the bottom drawer, you did not see the floor. This was because the entire front "trim" panel concealed a drawer with a hidden release.
I've seen a grandfather clock with a concealed side panel that would hold a 22" barreled shotgun. Great for unexpected latenight guests!
In an antique store, the woman owner had a beautiful art-deco style desk. The top right drawer looked to be a locking drawer and when unlocked and pulled, revealed a drawer... but when a small button was pushed, it locked the drawer and the front "tipped out" revealing a custom made pistol compartment. She didn't understand why there was a divider with two slots in it, until I explained they would hold a pair of pistols nicely (1911's from the look). She was "shocked".
Californians 
I've seen a round-topped cedar chest that was about 3ft wide and beautifuly made, with a false bottom. Looking at it, it has short "feet" and a hollow space underneath the chest. Tap on the bottom of the chest and it sounds firm, not hollow. Empty the chest and you can see the cedar bottom is held down by the 4 sides of the chest, no way to lift the bottom out of it. But grab the lifting handle on one side and pull down and it releases a drawer just thin enough to accomodate his wife's 20-gauge Ithaca shotgun with an 18" barrel.
Sometimes it pays to go through museums and see what other people have done to secure valuables.
One I recall looked like a simple 4-drawer "dresser" but had some interesting features. First was that the top drawer was set about 3" down from the overhanging top. This was because a concealed release allowed you to open the top (hinged at rear via a piano hinge) and access a large 3.5" tall compartment.
Another feature was that the drawers were slightly shallow for the depth of the dresser. This was because there was a 2" deep compartment behind the top 2 drawers. If you removed the bottom drawer, you did not see the floor. This was because the entire front "trim" panel concealed a drawer with a hidden release.
I've seen a grandfather clock with a concealed side panel that would hold a 22" barreled shotgun. Great for unexpected latenight guests!
In an antique store, the woman owner had a beautiful art-deco style desk. The top right drawer looked to be a locking drawer and when unlocked and pulled, revealed a drawer... but when a small button was pushed, it locked the drawer and the front "tipped out" revealing a custom made pistol compartment. She didn't understand why there was a divider with two slots in it, until I explained they would hold a pair of pistols nicely (1911's from the look). She was "shocked".
Californians I've seen a round-topped cedar chest that was about 3ft wide and beautifuly made, with a false bottom. Looking at it, it has short "feet" and a hollow space underneath the chest. Tap on the bottom of the chest and it sounds firm, not hollow. Empty the chest and you can see the cedar bottom is held down by the 4 sides of the chest, no way to lift the bottom out of it. But grab the lifting handle on one side and pull down and it releases a drawer just thin enough to accomodate his wife's 20-gauge Ithaca shotgun with an 18" barrel.
You might want to consider a gun cab inside a closet
Something like this,
http://www.stack-on.com/securityplus/gun_security/gc-8rta.html
It's not much, but it was the biggest that I could get into an upstairs bedroom. It comes with lagbolts to anchor it to the floor and wall studs. I shoutld probably move mine to inside one of the closets,
Beware, though, that its not the least bit fireproof.
I knew someone who had a heavy safe out in his garage, but this being in the so-called "rust belt", I didn't want my firearms in the garage.
Something like this,
http://www.stack-on.com/securityplus/gun_security/gc-8rta.html
It's not much, but it was the biggest that I could get into an upstairs bedroom. It comes with lagbolts to anchor it to the floor and wall studs. I shoutld probably move mine to inside one of the closets,
Beware, though, that its not the least bit fireproof.
I knew someone who had a heavy safe out in his garage, but this being in the so-called "rust belt", I didn't want my firearms in the garage.
Chris Phelps
New member
Not a big fan of stack-ons.
Allow me to clarify what I am looking for here.
I will be building some form of cabinet that looks like a rectangular box of sorts on the outside. What I am looking for is unique layouts inside the cabinet.
I am not looking for a safe. I am not looking for a safe-guard against intruders. I don't actually have closet space in the room this will be going in. (If I did, it would become a walk-in gun room.) There is no need to hide the firearms, although I am open to cool and creative ways of doing this. I liked the gun storage in 'the big hit', but I think it would look a bit odd to have a tool cabinet in my bedroom. I liked the layout of the rifles and ammo storage in that cabinet, but I didn't like the way the pistols were stored. It seems to me that one quick accidental slam, and your pistols would be falling out of it.
Allow me to clarify what I am looking for here.
I will be building some form of cabinet that looks like a rectangular box of sorts on the outside. What I am looking for is unique layouts inside the cabinet.
I am not looking for a safe. I am not looking for a safe-guard against intruders. I don't actually have closet space in the room this will be going in. (If I did, it would become a walk-in gun room.) There is no need to hide the firearms, although I am open to cool and creative ways of doing this. I liked the gun storage in 'the big hit', but I think it would look a bit odd to have a tool cabinet in my bedroom. I liked the layout of the rifles and ammo storage in that cabinet, but I didn't like the way the pistols were stored. It seems to me that one quick accidental slam, and your pistols would be falling out of it.
Hiding guns
I met a fellow shooter the other day that lost 13 pistols/rifles to neighborhood thiefs ......he contacted his insurance that covered some of the guns/pistols.....but the uncanny thing is ,it was not until a local friend (who's a policeman) looked up the s/n's and found they were not in any of the police computers ....stolen gun files....so the friend entered them for him,so he might get some back.....The insurance man told him he had one cutomer that had a huge safe removed from their house ,by burglars using a tree cutting boom truck,right out of the second story of the house .....nobody noticed..
So if someone knows you have it,they will look for it ....BB34
I met a fellow shooter the other day that lost 13 pistols/rifles to neighborhood thiefs ......he contacted his insurance that covered some of the guns/pistols.....but the uncanny thing is ,it was not until a local friend (who's a policeman) looked up the s/n's and found they were not in any of the police computers ....stolen gun files....so the friend entered them for him,so he might get some back.....The insurance man told him he had one cutomer that had a huge safe removed from their house ,by burglars using a tree cutting boom truck,right out of the second story of the house .....nobody noticed..
So if someone knows you have it,they will look for it ....BB34