Creative ways for storing/hiding weapons...

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

SilentStalker

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2006
Messages
1,588
Location
Somewhere in the U.S., London, or Australia
What's up guys/gals. I have recently been contemplating a safe and whatnot for the good stuff so that I can keep everything hidden and out of sight, especially for the kiddies and such. However, after reading about safes and whatnot I am not sure that this is the best option for many reasons such as most of them are easy to break into from the sides, haul off, tip over, etc. nor do many of them have really good fire ratings unless you spend some serious money and by the time you get there you might as well look into buying a real safe. A real safe is out because the house is already built and installing it would be a major PITA. Also, most of your store bought safes IMO are like having advertisement in your home unless you somehow have them hidden away.

So, what have you guys come up with over the years. I have an idea of what I am going to do but unless I build something that is going to cover an entire wall almost, which I could do, then I will not have as much room for storing them as I would like. I really think the best option is creatively hiding them and then putting them under lock and key behind that. Only very close people, mainly family would ever know where they were at. Then on top of all of that I was thinking of getting an alarm system with video surveillance, you know a camera I could cover or turn off when I did not want the alarm company or someone else watching. Thoughts on this or any explanations of what you guys have done in the past are welcome.
 
Not sure how your house is set up but if it has a basement what about digging a hole the size of a refridgerator. Get an old fridge,lay it in the hole with doors facing up. I would probably coat the fridge in grease to make it somewhat water-moisture resistant. Or what about in the rafters or floor joist behind insulation? A friend of a friend made a trap door in his bedroom closet to hide some of his valuables.
 
There have been a number of threads about this kind of idea here, and I'm sure folks will be along shortly to share their ideas. (No one likes to share anything nearly so much as a really good secret hiding place they thought up! :))

I've seen pics posted of old refrigerators and even soda machines hollowed out and put in the garage as a "hidden-in-plain-sight" type of gun safe. Then there are the types of gun safe that get installed between the studs in an interior wall, so if you put it into the back or side walls of a closet, your clothes hang in front of it and it looks like nothing
special, even if the door's open. http://www.gunsafes.com/Closet-Vault.html

You can do similar things with a floor safe, if your floors are thick enough (and strong enough) to handle it -- and you can keep a rug over the face of the safe.

Another popular choice, though harder to do, is a bookcase hinged to the wall that can swing or roll out and has a safe behind it. You need to frame and finish a false wall to absorb the depth of the safe, of course.

There is one kind of safe that acts as a bed frame and box spring, and comes in standard bed sizes, so you just keep your matress on top of it and when the bed is made up it doesn't look like anything special: http://www.bedgunsafe.com/
 
The picture frame idea is kinda cool, and I've seen them big enough to store a rifle. But then, I'd think most thieves would be smart enough to figure it out.
 
I also forgot to mention that there is a clock you can hid your pistol in. Kind of like the picture frame idea.
 
The problem, I think, with hiding guns as opposed to locking them up, is that real thieves are so adept at finding things. Someone who has time and inclination (and skill) to break into/carry off a safe are also going to figure out your hiding spots. I thought I had some clever hiding spots until I watched one of those "catch a thief" shows and he looked in all the spots I had thought of as clever hiding spots.

At that point I decided I needed some kind of safe. Even a cheapo cabinet will deter smash n grab teenager types, and every step up from there will buy more time. Nothing will stop a determined thief who is coming after your guns specifically, so the first step is avoiding making you collection obvious to outsiders.

I went with a Sturdy safe. No fire liner, just heavy steel. Mine is fairly small, and I took the door off and put it in my house with a hand dolly. Not too bad. Bolted down and filled (with a couple .50 cans of ammo in the bottom), it would take a lot of work to get into or move. Enough I think to stop anyone not specifically coming for it.

I'm very happy with mine, but I think their prices have increased relative to their competition, so I'd look around too. If I was doing it again, I would look strongly at the safes Frank Zykan is selling under his own name.

I'm planning to do an alarm next. I agree that having a loud siren and the knowledge the police are coming would greatly increase the effectiveness of ANY strategy, safe or hiding.
 
I think some of the hesitancy to disclose of favorite ideas on hide-holes is because we'd be ...disclosing our favorite hide-holes! I'd rather keep my (very clever, double secret) spot to myself, that impress any of y'all with how very clever I am. (Did I mention what a clever spot it is? :rolleyes:)
 
I'll make the problem worse - rifle soft cases/drag bags

I have a safe I am not too happy with, but I have taken to keeping 3 or 4 rifles always in their drag bags. These are heavy canvas (nylon, really) zip-up bags with lots of ammo pockets, shoulder straps (back-pack style) and so forth. Padded and more-or-less waterproof. If I had a big enough safe, I'd keep all or most of my go-to rifles in the safe in their bags.

I like to keep rifles in their bags for a bunch of reasons. (Of course, I might leave them unzipped for while if things got wet.) But a rifle is ready to go right NOW, if its in its bag with several different kinds of ammo, magazines filled, a field cleaning kit, spare batteries (if needed), owner's paperwork, a few tools, etc. In one case I have a bipod in the bag. In two other cases I have two scopes, one on the rifle and the other stored in the bag, since they are quick-detach base types - one CQB optic and one longer range scope. It's great just to be able to grab the bag and (literally) toss it in the car or truck (as long as it doesn't land on the scope too hard). In such a bag, you can pack stuff around a rifle, on top of it and randomly mix it with other luggage and supplies. Ready to go, then gone.

What happens when you do this is, each rifle tends to acquire its own dedicated bag. A little expensive.

I have noticed that the soft cases and drag bags do not immediately scream "Here's a rifle - steal me!" This is true when they are in the vehicle, because a casual looker usually only sees one end of the bag, and it could be a backpack, gym bag, suit bag, golf bag, whatever. Same when the bag is in a closet or storage room at home - with stuff in front of it, partly blocking it, it could be a tent, a folding chair, an umbrella, whatever.

Like I say, use of these heavy bags may complicate storage a little, but they do have an aspect of hiding in plain sight. And there are the other benefits I mentioned. Never know when you might need to "bug out" or go on a "mission".
 
A buddy of mind, after seeing my house's layout, suggested one of these:

http://hiddenpassages.com/

as the entrance to my attic crawlspace... which is itself useful for storage. I can't walk upright in it (being 6'2), but I've got a lockable truck box in there that I use to store goodies in when the wife and I are out of town and don't want certain 'special' items readily available to anyone who comes looking through the place while we're gone.

If I were you, I'd put more consideration into the purpose. Hiding weapons for purposes of obscurity (i.e. to prevent children from discovering them) is going to be MUCH harder than securing them from would-be thieves (if not flat out impossible).

*shrug* whatever you decide to go with, I'm sure others (and definitely myself) would love to hear about it. :)
 
Creative ways for storing/hiding weapons???

How about the toe kicks under your kitchen cabinets. They can be removed. Then you can lay something on the floor inside like old vinyl flooring or cut down a cardboard box. Then use cabinet magnets to hold the kick in place and use a suction cup to remove it and put tape over the metal plate to reduce the grip of the magnet. I did it to my broom closet next to the fridge thats only 14" wide and a foot deep but I can get 4 pistols and lots of ammo in there but long gun are the problem. You can do the same on double cabinets but there is a support underneath them but you can cut out the middle of it and 2 AR style weapons can go in diagonally and still have lots of room left over for ammo. I also use my 60" coffee table, the sides are 6" deep and I put L brackets on both sides underneath and bent them up a bit so the guns won't slip off and covered them with old carpet. For small stuff like gold bars, coins and jewelry use a router and cut a groove in the top of any door all the way across and just drop your goodies in the slot but not to deep or you can't get the stuff out that easy. If you have a window mounted air conditioner just pull it in and drop your stuff in it in double zip lock bags and push it back in for when you go away for awhile.
 
I created hidden access to space in 2 houses we lived in then sold and in my current house. You can get pretty creative. I didnt disclose the spaces until the houses were sold at closing. It's fun to see the new owners eyes bug when you show them the little something extra they didn't know they were getting.
 
Last edited:
Hey, have 'em ready and enjoy them!

I respect the OP's intention (I did contribute above), but I again offer a slight diversion, to maybe help the OP by giving perspective.

Guns are material possessions. Very, very valuable ones, way beyond their dollar cost, but possessions nonetheless. We have them to use them, enjoy looking at/handling them and, in the special case of guns, protect ourselves and our families/property. I am less interested in hiding my guns and keeping them away from burglers than in using, enjoying and relying on them for security.

At least some of my guns are ready at hand to defend against robbers, rapists, murderers, etc. [Note, a point of definitions: Robbers rob you in person while burglers rob you when you are not present in person.]

I would suggest this. You have homeowner's insurance, right? If not, get it. Document all your guns, firearm accessories, ammo, special tools, etc. Go to Kinko's or the library and scan all the receipts to digital format (PDF is most universal). Write the serial numbers on the receipts before you scan them, if not there already. Take photos of your guns, maybe not all as one big collection, but enough different shots to give the proof that you own them. Be in the photos yourself. Let the background of the photos be clearly identified as your house/apartment, whatever. Digitize the photos. Make paper copies/print-outs of everything. Figure out a way to really store all this info, twice over, at least one place being off-site from your house. I suggest Mozy on-line back-up for the digital versions - $38/year. Write up an inventory list with serial numbers for the major pieces. Give it to your insurance agent to file, and let him/her know you have all the receipts, photos, etc. Let him/her know that any claim relating to the firearms will be at top dollar, because in addition to the original purchase cost, you have 100s of hours of customizing, tuning up, zeroing in, fitting, etc. put into your home firearm collection. Most homeowner's and renter's policies have $30K or so personal possessions rider or benefit. They may want you to increase this coverage. Do it; it's cheap.

After you do all this, you can have peace of mind. Keep some guns out where you can get to them if you need them (maybe "lightly" hidden). Your biggest problem will be keeping the kiddies away from loaded guns. I think it is fine for kids to know you have guns, see them, talk about them with you (maybe not so much at school), and handle them under your supervision. Of course, no ammo + guns combo available to the kids. You want to de-mystify guns for your kids. They are just a normal, accepted part of life. After that, you shouldn't have to worry about kids sneaking around and finding your hiding places when you're not around. They will forget about the whole issue. I have done this with my kids. One of my home defense shotguns was in plain sight for years (ammo elsewhere but handy to me). Never once had an issue.
 
Thank you. That's a sentiment I don't hear often, but one I share most wholeheartedly - de-mystifying the weapons for your children. My daughter is now 13 - and a brief 'watermelon' experiment made it clear to her how destructive these guns can be... I take her to the range occasionally, and I have told her that if I ever catch her or find out about her handling the guns without mine or my wife's express permission, she will never go to the range again.

Further... if she finds a weapon elsewhere, or she has friends over who find out about my weapons (which are not openly visible unless you're snooping through my drawers and closets!), it's clear that she is not to handle or use, or allow others to handle or use those weapons either.. same penalties apply. She's enough of a range-hound now that that's more incentive than much else for her. :)
 
SilentStalker said:
What's up guys/gals. I have recently been contemplating a safe and whatnot for the good stuff so that I can keep everything hidden and out of sight, especially for the kiddies and such. However, after reading about safes and whatnot I am not sure that this is the best option for many reasons such as most of them are easy to break into from the sides, haul off, tip over, etc. nor do many of them have really good fire ratings unless you spend some serious money and by the time you get there you might as well look into buying a real safe. A real safe is out because the house is already built and installing it would be a major PITA. Also, most of your store bought safes IMO are like having advertisement in your home unless you somehow have them hidden away.

So, what have you guys come up with over the years. I have an idea of what I am going to do but unless I build something that is going to cover an entire wall almost, which I could do, then I will not have as much room for storing them as I would like. I really think the best option is creatively hiding them and then putting them under lock and key behind that. Only very close people, mainly family would ever know where they were at. Then on top of all of that I was thinking of getting an alarm system with video surveillance, you know a camera I could cover or turn off when I did not want the alarm company or someone else watching. Thoughts on this or any explanations of what you guys have done in the past are welcome.
Click to expand...
My suggestion for the 'lock and key' portion of your security is this internal gun lock. http://www.omegagunlock.com/autopistolsvideo.htm
 
Before I got a safe, I was building a new closet anyway, so I studded one side wall up in 2x6. It took alot of work, since I am a marginal carpenter at best. But I drywalled all but that wall, which I put a sheet of paneling on from about eyeball height up, then rocked it. I then took a peice of paneling, and used liquid nails and short screws to attach it to a sheet of drywall. That gave it the strength to hold hinges. Some creatice 1/4 round work, and a 1x4 with coat hooks cover all the joints. And some hidden magnetic baby latches lock it shut. Noone yet has been able to spot it. I only use it for my airguns now, but it is still very handy to have.
 
That's a fantastic lock, in my opinion, for weapons you're storing long-term (i.e. not for intended everyday) use.. Probably the best I've seen yet.

Using something like that flies in the face of a home defense purpose, however -and I'm a little surprised that advertising for your own product is permitted here. I suppose I need to re-read the forum rules.
 
darrylhadfield said:
That's a fantastic lock, in my opinion, for weapons you're storing long-term (i.e. not for intended everyday) use.. Probably the best I've seen yet. Using something like that flies in the face of a home defense purpose
Click to expand...
Seems like a good way for long term storage but not very useful for a home defense gun. I like it much better than the cable locks that come with so many guns. Most accidental discharges and accidental shootings happen with a loaded gun, not one you need to load first. So, wouldn't an unloaded gun do the same thing? The video says "not for use on a loaded gun".
 
I'm a little surprised that advertising for your own product is permitted here
Click to expand...
It's not, but I am allowing the post to remain visible since it has accumulated useful comments.
 
After reading a lot of these posts, I still believe a good gun safe (really a GOOD RSC) is the best choice, since a dedicated thief who comes prepared to crack open a safe already KNOWS you have guns. He's going to look until he finds them. The idea in a safe is to make it difficult to get them quickly and easily, and most thieves are creatures of opportunity-- snatch and grab types. Make it so they break in, set off an alarm, and grab whatever they can sell quickly to maintain their pharmaceutical habit, and they're gone.

Most any good safe will fulfill this requirement. Did you note I mentioned having a good central station monitored alarm?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

T
  • Locked
Snapsafe?
Replies
3
Views
1K
v35
v35
5
  • Locked
How to 'hide' safe from view
Replies
8
Views
748
Dnaltrop
D
3
  • Locked
Creative ways to hide gun in car
2 3
Replies
73
Views
23K
AmazING
A
B
  • Locked
Safe or metal box
Replies
13
Views
1K
BIGGBAY90
B
OilyPablo
  • Locked
Low safe - under the indoor work bench?
Replies
7
Views
387
timd
T
Back
Top