record your guns!

[rondog]

We all know it's a good idea to keep a record of your guns in case of theft or natural disasters, so I made up this Excel file. It's pretty simple, just save this Master copy on your hard drive, then open it up and rename it for each of your guns, like "Ruger 10/22". Then you just fill in the blanks with the info, and paste digital photos in the rest of the spreadsheet. There's four pages, three and a half pages are for photos.

Create a folder on your PC called Gun Records, or whatever you want to call it, and save this Master file and all your individual gun files in it. Then you can copy that folder to a CD, a thumb drive, an external drive, etc. The more places you keep a copy, the better. Just remember where they are and keep them secure. And whenever you update the master folder with a new gun, remember to update the copies as well.

Here you go. I had to ZIP it because we can't attach Excel files directly. You should be able to tweak this however you wish.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Thank you for sharing that. I saved it and will use it immediately.

 

[Potatohead]

thats awesome dude. thanks. remember to "back up" or put on a zip/thumb/jump drive

 

[orionengnr]

We all know it's a good idea to keep a record of your guns

Yet again, opinion stated as fact.

"We all" know no such thing.

What I do know is that I have no desire to provide any potential miscreant (whether a local break-in or computer thief or governmental entity) with a shopping list.

Better yet, my insurance company does not require serial numbers...they don't even ask for them.

 

[rondog]

Yet again, opinion stated as fact.

"We all" know no such thing.

What I do know is that I have no desire to provide any potential miscreant (whether a local break-in or computer thief or governmental entity) with a shopping list.

Better yet, my insurance company does not require serial numbers...they don't even ask for them.

Don't want to use it? Then don't use it. But there's no reason to be nasty or snarky.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Thanks for the reminder I got to update some photos and data with my collection.

 

[threefeathers]

Thank you, I have a register book and will supplement it with this.

 

[Odd Job]

No harm in keeping a spreadsheet and photos of your guns. You can always encrypt the files...

 

[Reloadron]

Thanks for sharing that. Useful tool for many members. This may sound like a dumb question but will this run for people who do not have MS Excel installed? Meaning can they write to the Excel Workbook?

Ron

 

[Torian]

I can agree it would be very helpful in the event you need to make a claim for stolen firearms. I recently had a discussion with my insurer (USAA) about firearm coverage. They require descriptions and serial # of all firearms, with photos recommended, and will not cover the theft of ANY ammo.

That last part kind of rubbed me the wrong way, given the high cost of ammo these days, and the amount that many serious gun owners keep stockpiled.

 

[ridgerunner1965]

what id did was a bit more low tech. i made a list of all guns with serial numbers, condition,approx value and any flaws or identifying marks.on paper.made 4 copies. gave one to my brother and my son and they put them in ther safes.put one in my safe and another hidden in the outbuildings.

if you think your insurance is going to pay off in case of loss of your guns then you had better check your policy. most will pay but have a low limit like maybe 1000$ worth.pays to chek.

 

[Shadow 7D]

Actually, if you have the original receipt, attach it to the gun entry (you can do this in MS access) and better yet, consider getting the list sent to your insurance, yeah I know, more people knowing, BUT it's an off site pretty secure storage in case something happens.

Many insurance co. have an online 'inventory' capablity for high value items.

 

[wickedsprint]

I cut and paste the serial numbers to an email every time the list is updated.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

Yet again, opinion stated as fact.

"We all" know no such thing.

What I do know is that I have no desire to provide any potential miscreant (whether a local break-in or computer thief or governmental entity) with a shopping list.

Better yet, my insurance company does not require serial numbers...they don't even ask for them.
orionengnr is offline Report Post

Oh brother So put the records in PVC pipe and bury it. Like you did your guns.

 

[firesky101]

wickedsprint has the right idea. There is free online storage available to all of you, just email the file to yourself and you will be able to access it anywhere.

 

[Thermactor]

The chart should have a place to fill in on details about the boat, its registration number, date of the accident, and the value of the loss.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

Yet again, opinion stated as fact.

"We all" know no such thing.

What I do know is that I have no desire to provide any potential miscreant (whether a local break-in or computer thief or governmental entity) with a shopping list.

Better yet, my insurance company does not require serial numbers...they don't even ask for them.

Let's keep this in perspective, shall we?

Methinks if one can keep one's firearms safe from theft or the government, then one can keep a tiny piece of paper or a tiny file safe from the same.

Especially since there are so many more ways to easily hide and protect such a tiny piece of paper or file than a big, bulky gun.

 

[BearGriz]

I keep mine as a google doc.

Of course that means the NSA probably knows what guns I have.

But I can access it from any computer (including my phone) that has the Internet. If my house burns down or my computer hard drive dies, I don't lose the information.

Plus you can have google drive sync with your phones and computers (just like Dropbox) so it stores an offline copy on each specified device. Then you don't need the Internet to access it. It just uses the Internet to sync and rectify the files if you update it from any device.

 

[JSH1]

Great advice. I was just thinking last week that I should write down the serial numbers of my guns in case they are lost in a fire or stolen. I want to be able to report the serial number to the police so if it turns up later they will know it was stolen.

It is also a good idea to keep an inventory of everything in your house. It is a big task but in the case of a total loss, the insurance company will only cover what your can remember to claim. A good first step is to go through your house with a digital camera and take pictures of every room and the contents of every drawer, cabinet, and closet.

 

[itsa pain]

I have recorded my guns blasting off lol

 

[herrwalther]

A little bit more confusing than the spreadsheet I already have but has some good points to incorporate into mine. I'll just use yours since mine is 2 years out of date anyway.

 

[alsaqr]

All the guns i've owned in the past 20 years are in an Excel file along with serial numbers, make of scope, date disposed of, etc. i have a photo album of my antique Winchester collection and my more valuable modern guns.

 

[OilyPablo]

I use this:

http://www.atf.gov/files/publications/download/p/atf-p-3312-8.pdf

Simple and works for me. From back when the ATF was "friendly"........hahahahaha

I just print a new blank page when needed. I keep a copy elsewhere AND in the safe.....I have quite a few pages now.

 

[Trent]

I still use A&D spreadsheet. When I closed down my gun shop I ran a "final" copy off.

A few months later I found myself still using it... to take inventory and plan "what can I sell to get the next wonderthunderstick"

Now it's been 4 years, and I'm still tracking my 'inventory' with it.

I also use spreadsheets for reloading data (for rifle, not pistol)

 

[Safetychain]

I'm not really worried about NSA but it did made me think about their capability to read e-mails.

"Thanks for sharing that. Useful tool for many members. This may sound like a dumb question but will this run for people who do not have MS Excel installed? Meaning can they write to the Excel Workbook?"

Google "Open Office". It is free and just about as capable as MS Office Suite. I downloaded the Record Sheet Master and opened it fine in Open Office Calc. I've kept my own spreadsheet in Open Office.

My only thought, the way I did mine, is to have one spreadsheet for all the guns instead of a bunch of files, one for each gun. Mine has each gun on its own line where the cell with the pic has to be picked which brings up the full sized picture. You do have some data fields that I will be adding to my spreadsheet. And yours does look significantly more professional. Putting a gun per line with large pics does make printing it out with pictures impossible, or at least I haven't figured a way to do it yet. Thanks for providing your work!!!

Also I picked up a 120 gig SB drive for under $20 on a Christmas sale that holds all records with plenty to spare.