The Gun Counter

Long time since this has been discussed here.

Taking into account cost, portability and security what are the favorite solutions for apt dwellers firearm storage.

The S&H is ready to enter polite society again -- coming up on 2 years since EAS from the Corps. He is leaving the garage, getting an apt and getting married this December. There's at 3 long guns going with him, one of them an AR, that are going to need secure storage. Come wedding day he gets first pic of any of the handguns in the safe too.

When on active duty, I used a couple of methods.

Bike cable through trigger guards and locked to the closet pole in the back of a closet. Bolts pulled and stored in a lock box in another room. Handgun also in lock boxes in a (hopefully) non-obvious place. Strategy was to delay a quick smash and grab as much as possible, make it awkward to move them, especially on the run, and minimize the chances of them getting an operational weapon.

When my roommate and I were both deployed for extended periods I stashed them with a friend from my unit.

Later, as the collection grew, got a Homak gun locker. Usually found a place in a closed I could screw through back into the studs, patched and camouflaged the holes when I moved out. The locker was lightweight enough to be shipped with household goods easily. Not as secure as a safe, but no issues with moving, or weight loading on floors, and again the plan was in delaying and making them move on to easier targets.

Luckily, never had a break-in so the strategy was never tested.

(I found out years later, the reason I probably never had a break-in in my first apartment in San Antonio. Coming home from the range with roommate, we were met by young couple next door that had just left and come back to get something she forgot and found their door kicked in. We locked and loaded, Roommate with BHP covering the front and me with a Mini-14 covering rear from our back porch, noticed their back door was open as well. Couple called the cops from our phone, we hid the hardware when they arrived and the apartment was cleared.

When my roommate checked out a few months after I PCSd, the staff told him that there had been a rash of break ins in that part of the complex at the time, but they stopped that day. Apparently somebody didn't care for our immediate action drill. A side benefit, the staff steered women living on their own to our section of the complex as they felt they would be safer there! )

I take it he's going to need something not too expensive, but yet portable:

Stack On Cabinet

One of the larger pelican suitcases, with some padlocks, and a cable lock attaching it to something?

Frankingun wrote:I take it he's going to need something not too expensive, but yet portable:

Stack On Cabinet

I myself use a stack on cabinet. Make sure you bolt it to floor or the wall. The lock on the cabinet can be defeated VERY quickly by anyone that knows how.

Yogimus wrote:

Frankingun wrote:I take it he's going to need something not too expensive, but yet portable:

Stack On Cabinet

I myself use a stack on cabinet. Make sure you bolt it to floor or the wall. The lock on the cabinet can be defeated VERY quickly by anyone that knows how.

To avoid sudden 2 story indoor falls in NJ I had a stack on cabinet as well, hidden in the back of a closet.

Sort of in the market for something better, but it's what I still have.

Definitely bolt it to something if you can. And/or hide it. It's basically very nearly as secure as a gym locker, but it beats nothing.

Before I got serious about safes, I had a BURG-WÄCHTER gun cabinet.

http://www.burg.biz/html/default/fnin-5chl9r.en.html

At least around here, the Ranger A 5 E model is available in home improvement stores, doesn't cost a fortune (about 200 bucks new), and offers a reasonable compromise between security, size, weight, portability and cost. It's small enough to fit in the back of any closet, light enough to be moved on a regular sack dolly by one man, but if properly secured to a hard point (preferably pushed into a corner, then fixed through the back wall and the floor), will resist opportunistic smash & grab thieves. I wouldn't fancy its chances against an angle grinder, fire axe or a long crowbar, but then we're already into the realm of organised breaking and entering...

For a bit of extra peace of mind - one of these PIR GSM modules can be mounted inside the cabinet, and programmed to text a cell phone number when the cabinet is opened:

http://www.dx.com/p/pir-mp-alert-infrar ... ite-180437

1) Turner's has a Stack-On model in their Fall Flyer that meets CA DOJ criteria for a safe, obviating the purchase of a gun lock with every handgun. $140.
2) It gets bolted to the back wall studs and floor of a suitable closet.
3) The highly motivated can also cut, glue, and paint drywall over the outside, and with some artful use of plumbing components from Homeless Depot, make the thing look like a conduit or plumbing box, rather than a hidden gun locker, which can open with a quick tug on the right panel.
4) The weapons inside get cable locked to the sheet metal carcass.
5) Anything needing to be handier fits into a locking handgun-sized box, which can be simply camouflaged inside a cut-down banker's box under the bed, or bolted to a nightstand so it doesn't walk away either.
6) If closet space is tight, for convenience and storage size, it's hard to beat mounting the same large gun locker inside the removed carcass of a former fold-out sofa bed, bolted to the framework, and covering it with a sheet of 3/4" plywood with matching upholstery fabric on the side facing up, under the seat cushion(s).

At that point the weapons are safe, difficult to steal, readily accessible for their necessary purpose, but pretty nigh untouchable by little hands.
For this fercockte state, that's about as good as it gets if you can't afford an underground Batcave.

Another +1 on the Stack-On gun locker here. Based on the number of guns you note that he'll initially have, he should have plenty of room to add ammunition to the locker for added gravity-assisted anti-thievery. Bolted down is good, bolted down and HEAVY is at least marginally better.

Yeah, cost and portability is the concern. Good inputs to consider. Not sure how many moves they'll be making with school. Hopes to get into local state school but backup plan is Long Beach or Fullerton (both have decent Mech Eng programs thanks to the historical association with SoCal aerospace industry).

Obscure it, and additional security within a locked storage like a Stackon. I wonder if a Gun-Cuff could be used inside a Stack-on cabinet, hmm. If I can find a light unit like Denis pointed out that might be a good added wedding gift from the old man.