Mar 23, 2012

Gun storage

Like most of us, the gun safe has gotten ... cluttered. This is number three, actually; the first "safe" was one of the Sentry sheet-steel cabinets, designed for ten guns (and I don't know what ten they used to determine that), eventually stuffed beyond capacity. I think I had twelve long guns in it at one point; retrieving anything but the first one inside the door was a fond remembrance of Tetris.

Shortly after acquiring my second pistol, I knew they weren't going to fit in the big cabinet for long, and picked up a small safe from Walmart. Nothing fancy, just enough to keep prying fingers away. That also filled up rather quickly.

We bought a house in '09, and in the summer of '10 I bought a gun safe. A real gun safe. Size-of-a-fridge, etc. It's not full, by any stretch, but it's cluttered. Things we've acquired over the intervening couple years, important paperwork, family silver, that sort of thing. On top of that, my pistol collection has grown.

When I had the small safe with a couple pistols, I got a gray steel Versatile Rack for them. Perfectly functional and still in use. Perhaps not the most efficient usage of space, but it works. Unfortunately, the handgun collection has exceeded four, and the remainder were left lying on their sides wherever I could find shelf space.

I stopped down to Tractor Supply yesterday for a few things and noticed they had the Cannon Door Panel Pistol Kit in stock for $50. I grabbed one and put it in.

Perfection. Took a bit of fiddling to get the heights right so the holsters can be full and the door can close without banging into shelves, but once I got that right it works a trick. No more (er ... fewer) guns lying on shelves at random.

As a side note, even with a GoldenRod and other protective measures in place, these ARE cloth sleeves the guns ride in. I would NOT keep a blued treasure in there. Stick to stainless/anodized/tenifered/melonited finishes.

1 comment:

Guffaw in AZ said...

I hope and pray your safe(s) are all bolted into the concrete and the wall!
My 800# Fort Knox was not, and was taken with it's contents. (Hey, it was 800#!) (fortunately, none have ever surfaced, nor have any of the credit cards, documents, etc. - thank God for Fort Knox quality!)
Secure your vaults, people!