Safe Dilemmas

[Aragorn243]

Not much gong on here today but I've been in and out of the safes a couple times already. I have two. The big one is maximized for firearm storage. The other one is my first and better one. I never maximized it for anything. I have all my civilian rifles in there and the majority of these have scopes on them which are not conducive for maximum storage.

There are a few in there I could probably sell if I could bear to get rid of anything. My interests for civilian firearms in now minimal. In theory I could keep my essentials for hunting and get rid of the rest but then some of those have sentimental value.

Anyone ever have success cutting the racks out of half the safe and leaving them in the other half? Thinking I could probably get most if not all the scoped guns on the remaining racks and pack the other side to maximize it. Or are there ways to pack scoped rifles I'm not thinking of?

Still won't solve my problem of getting all the guns in safes but it would improve my situation a bit. I'm now putting them on the ceiling of a second room.

The wife says no to a third safe and I have no idea where I would put it anyway.

I'm not super worried about theft, it's fire that concerns me the most. Both safes have some significant fire ratings and I have both in a one story section in a corner with only a crawl space below them, one is on concrete, and a shed type roof over them. So they aren't likely to be in a hot spot for long.

[Aragorn243]

I made the decision to go for it this morning. Emptied out my small safe, cut the rack section out of the left side and repacked it. Turned into a mini disaster trying to put things back but I did manage to get four more rifles in the safes and think I can probably get two more in the larger safe. Everything went back in eventually also except some holsters and magazines which I opted to leave out.

I'd really like to get another safe, but the wife has been adamant this will not happen. My hunting rifles, etc take up over half the smaller safe, scopes take up a lot of room.

[Low & Slow]

I've got everything under lock and key, but digging back more than four rifles deep means jig saw puzzle time when re-stuffing. Given up on holster and ammo space in any of the safes long ago.

[Aragorn243]

I keep some of the pistols in their holsters. I know a lot of people don't recommend that, but I haven't had any issues with it so far and it's been years for some and I check them frequently. I could get a lot more space if I put them in socks and kept the holsters out but considering some of the holsters are worth a couple hundred themselves, seems worthwhile to keep them in the safe as well. The ones I took out were full rigs with all the straps and they just became a pain to keep in there.

The next thing that will come out is the boxes for the pistols. I have half a dozen pistols in their original retail boxes which do take up a lot of space, and a few more in plastic cases.

I was careful reorganizing. I have a couple collector pieces that went in first, then the rifles I no longer use till I got to the loaners for the kids and finally my main guns are right in the front. Savage 99 in 243, a mossberg 835 in 12 gauge, and a pair of Savage bolt action 17 HMR's that replaced my 22's for squirrel hunting several years ago.

[muffett.2008]

You could try stacking one up one down.

[Aragorn243]

Already doing that. Took most of the bolts out also and have them in a bin on the shelf.

[browningautorifle]

Took most of the bolts out also and have them in a bin on the shelf.

I have NO idea how many rifles have come along for sale..."Missing bolt"... Usually because they were separate when disposing of the firearms and no one thought about it. One was a thumb trigger Winchester .22...auctioneer stated "Just get a gunsmith to make you one", "Let's start the bidding!"... I always left mine in, thought even if they were stolen, the perp would probably rather have them operable and I don't need the bolt to reflect on.

[Sapper740]

Sounds like a good problem to have Aragorn! My modern firearms that the street thugs would like to get their hands on are in a safe but I like to display my milsurps. There are no less than five cameras and two locks between a thief and my Lee Enfields....three locks if you count the safe for the ARs. The wireless cameras alert me via my phone when they detect motion and others are hardwired to a hidden DVR so that it can't be scrambled.

[30Three]

So here's a thought.
If you are limited to two safes by the missus; then you need to swap the smaller safe for a bigger one.
You get the space you need, and you still only have two safes, so she can't complain! (well not too much!)

[ssgross]

Convert a closet? It's on my list of todo's to frame out a secure closet in the unfinished area my basement. I was thinking of making an out swing Murphy-style door, but will probably just end up making a flush-fit door and hinges similar to a safe door. Which reminds me - why are the vault doors sooooo expensive? $1749 on sale for the smallest ones? For half that price you could get a safe, cut the front off of it and bolt it into a door frame.