Organizing handguns in the safe

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redneck2

redneck2

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I was tired of seeing my handguns laying together in the safe. I had put them in unzipped cases, but it took too much room and there was always the chance they would slip out, bang together, or collect moisture

I tried this http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e283/Indianaoutdoorsman/Gunpix.jpg and it works great. Bought a wooden coat rack at the home supply store. Mounted it against the back wall. The inside behind the cloth lining is fiberboard, so I had to make a frame from 3/4" plywood.

Each wooden dowel fits into the muzzle of anything .40 cal or larger.
 
Pretty cool idea....I am hoping I have a problem of having "too many" guns someday. right now they all have their own shelf.:)
 
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I wrap each handgun in a silicone gun cloth then put them in zip-up pistol rugs and zip them closed - that's how I store mine. If the pistol rugs start taking up too much space, I'll go to some type of pistol rack.
 
I have some of those gun socks for pistols.

Also, my safe has a velcro pad on the door with holsters that stick to the pad.

I have also seen sold a little wire-rack that sits the pistols side by side standing up. There are lots of possibilities. What you have works, but I would prefer them to be covered or in a holster.
 
Well, I had them covered, but there's always a concern about something soft holding moisture

I've seen the wire racks. I guess they work OK, but the pegs can be adjusted to the width of the gun. Not so easy to see in the pix, but it is easy to adjust. Autos are skinny, the .45 LC Bisley is not so skinny. Also, the wire racks were WAY expensive for what they are. This cost less than $10.

I liked this because it's easy, cheap, and works very well. They were filling the whole shelf, now they take less than 1/2 the space and don't bang together
 
I'm really glad to live in the dry climate of Colorado. I can have gun cases and gun rugs protecting my guns in both of my safes.

The reason-a little over twenty years I came home to find the house
broken into and my (at the time only one) gun safe laying on its side
in the basement. It appears the thieving little weazels where going to
take the safe until they realized how heavy it was. The safe was scarred
up pretty badly but most of the guns inside where protected from the spill
they took except for the long guns.

Now I make sure I have all guns covered (even if its just gun socks) and
I like having the protection in case of theft or natural disaster. Not having
to worry about humidity helps and sometimes it like what Standing Wolf
stated-its almost too dry here!
 
I bought one of the Velcro-attachment thingies from Acorn - you can see it at the Liberty Safe Web site. I have 15 handguns in holsters attached to the inside of the door of my gun safe, which leaves a lot more room inside for long guns and other bits and pieces.

If anyone wants to buy one, Clark Guns & Personal Safety in Bossier City, LA (tel. 318-742-7230) has them at the most reasonable price I've found at retail. You get the drape to fit your safe door, plus five holsters. Extra holsters are (IIRC) $45 for 5.

(I should add that this won't work too well if all your handguns are very heavy. Those on my door are mostly polymer- or alloy-frame pistols and/or Airweight revolvers, so that the total weight isn't too bad. Put the same number of full-weight 1911's and K-frames on the door, and you'd probably have problems.)


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I bought a wooden rack at the gun show that the pistols set in pretty nicely
I'll try to get a pic and show you. Fits in shelf of the safe
 
I don't need anything on the shelf to hold my handguns, I just have them lined up sitting upside down on their sights. The ones with scopes or red dots are the toughest to deal with, unfortunately they multiply as my eyesight deteriorates :)

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Pretty soon I'll have to quit buying more guns or find space for another safe. Probably can hang a few more on the door with cup hooks, but its a PITA to position them so the door will still close and not interfere with the long guns.

Guess what will happen, hint: I was in Gander Mtn yesterday with a tape measure :)

--wally.

Edit: IF someone manages to tip over my safe they'll have pulled down half a wall and pulled up a good bit of floor. Should they succeed they will set off one of these little babies:
http://www.stopthecrime.com/prod-ab2000.htm :)
 

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And just WHO said rednecks weren't industrious and yet, frugal. I like the idea myself. I have a shotgun that was in a case and it collected moisture. Now I have little rust spots on my shotgun :(
 
I have the "wire" racks that hold the handguns upside down. They save me a lot of space inside the safe.
When I am home, my gun safe door is open so I can look in and enjoy the sights. I also entertain my shooting friends in my "gun" room and like to have the save open for them to see.
Not worried about having the safe knocked over, it would take an act of God to do it.

I thought about doing the thing on the safe door, but didn't really like it, and I have way too many guns for that.
When I bought these racks, I had to count my handguns for the first time.
 
Hey Soybomb, nice setup. Nothing contacting the gun that has a chance of trapping moisture. Just curious, where are the grips on that Woodsman? :)
 
The woodsman grips were off for a more thorough cleaning, its a 1937 and didn't get much cleaning for probably the last 20 years so I found some rust inside. I need to double check that I didn't put the sear spring in backwards, lube it one more time, then button it back up soon! The woodsman was 1 grandfather's gun, the other grandfather had the derringer. Neat little family history pieces.

Anyway as far as what I did, hit up the local craft shop and you'll find a bag of like 20 spools like that for $2 or so. My safe isn't fireproof so I pulled off the sheetmetal liner of the door to check for interference with the locking mechanism, predrilled some holes, then secured the spools with stainless screws. I've given the door a pretty stout shake and nothings fallen off. You pretty much have to lift the back end out first to get one off.

I've been thinking about a magnetic strip on a portion of the safe wall to put non aluminum magazines on too, but haven't haven't gotten that far yet. Think magnetic knife holder.
 
I went to Lowes and bought a kitchen pot lid holder, vinyl covered and mine holds 9 guns. Cost me $9.00 which is $1.00 per gun.

I have read in several magazines and books that storing your guns in gun rugs frequently generates water, which doesn't mix well with guns.
 
Pegboard

I don't have a picture readily available, but I mounted some pegboard on the inside of my door with a 3/4" gap between it and the door cover. I then use metal hooks that are designed for pegboard and ran a piece of rubber hose over the hook portion (something like windshield washer tubing works great). My problem, now, is that I'm running out of pegboard space.
 
A lot of my handguns have optics mounted, so the HySkor racks work well to hold the guns vertical.

liberty.jpg

Joe
 
Huh. I was thinking that this year I'd make pigeon hole racks or stalls for the handguns like those Hyskors. Seeing that someone already makes them, it'll save me the trouble of making them myself. Where did you get those Hyskors Joe?
 
hksw said:
Huh. I was thinking that this year I'd make pigeon hole racks or stalls for the handguns like those Hyskors. Seeing that someone already makes them, it'll save me the trouble of making them myself. Where did you get those Hyskors Joe?
Click to expand...
The company is actually Hyskore. Midway carries the racks. They also have a website www.hyskore.com
 
Hmmm. Thinking about the problem or too many handguns in the safe. . . .

Either

1) Strong heavy guns on the bottom, providing support for the cheezy plastic guns on top.

or

2) Newer guns on top, older guns on the bottom, forming stratigraphic layers.


:)
 
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