Building a gun cabinet

[toreskha]

I'm looking at the idea of building a cabinet for long guns - either making one from scratch, or getting one of those stand-up type metal cabinets with double doors and modifying the inside with a few 2x4s and some padding to make something that could hold at least 6 shotguns or rifles. I could probably then put a new lock on to make it secure.

Has anyone else done this, and what did you use? Thanks for any advice.

[wolfhunter]

Originally Posted by toreskha

I'm looking at the idea of building a cabinet for long guns - either making one from scratch, or getting one of those stand-up type metal cabinets with double doors and modifying the inside with a few 2x4s and some padding to make something that could hold at least 6 shotguns or rifles. I could probably then put a new lock on to make it secure.

Has anyone else done this, and what did you use? Thanks for any advice.

Since WalMart has a metal 10 gun cabinet for $97 and often has the wood & glass 6 gun cabinet (with a deer etched in the glass) for $122, I'm going to suggest purchasing one instead.

[Magistrate PO]

If you are interested in a gun cabinet that does not look like a gun cabinet, consider a used soft drink machine. They can be obtained fairly cheap, remove the compresser, and the rack inside and a little work with plywood, and carpet, it will hold a lot of guns and you have a gun safe that criminal will just walk right by without noticing. It is lockable and almost invisable in plain sight. Works great for storage for the ammo stash as well and it is insulated to avoid temperature extremes. Lights still work if you want, just no drinks.

[toreskha]

Originally Posted by wolfhunter

Since WalMart has a metal 10 gun cabinet for $97 and often has the wood & glass 6 gun cabinet (with a deer etched in the glass) for $122, I'm going to suggest purchasing one instead.

I haven't seen the metal one...maybe I should look around next time. If it's worth it, I might just get that.

Originally Posted by Magistrate PO

If you are interested in a gun cabinet that does not look like a gun cabinet, consider a used soft drink machine. They can be obtained fairly cheap, remove the compresser, and the rack inside and a little work with plywood, and carpet, it will hold a lot of guns and you have a gun safe that criminal will just walk right by without noticing. It is lockable and almost invisable in plain sight. Works great for storage for the ammo stash as well and it is insulated to avoid temperature extremes. Lights still work if you want, just no drinks.

There's an interesting idea. At that rate I could just use a refrigerator. That would catch guests a little off guard if they open it looking for some food.

[wolfhunter]

[QUOTE=toreskha;47199]I haven't seen the metal one...maybe I should look around next time. If it's worth it, I might just get that.

I've seen Snap On brand and another, similar non-brand.

[tattedupboy]

Originally Posted by Magistrate PO

If you are interested in a gun cabinet that does not look like a gun cabinet, consider a used soft drink machine. They can be obtained fairly cheap, remove the compresser, and the rack inside and a little work with plywood, and carpet, it will hold a lot of guns and you have a gun safe that criminal will just walk right by without noticing. It is lockable and almost invisable in plain sight. Works great for storage for the ammo stash as well and it is insulated to avoid temperature extremes. Lights still work if you want, just no drinks.

Excellent idea!

[harvey13118]

20 years ago I would have agreed a nice cabinet so your guns are visible. Today NO-WAY! Get a good safe. A good safe is less money than a varmint grade rifle with a quality optic.

I got a basic 50 gun, 1200 lb, Timber Ridge at Gander Mtn (before they got stupid with pricing) for $1500. A Nightforce or Leupold scope will set you back $1400.

I lost several rifles and shotguns in our fire Jan 91. A couple were passed to me by my dad.

The safe is fire rated and no one is going to move it with out help. It's the cheapest insurance you can have. Plus you'll have room for photo CD's of your important stuff and other software.

They have smaller ones you can bolt to the floor also.

I consider all the weapons and accessories as investments and a scum bag would never treat them as well as I do. So if taken I would lose a lot of value. I only have 1 gun I've never shot. All the rest are used often.

[toreskha]

Originally Posted by harvey13118

20 years ago I would have agreed a nice cabinet so your guns are visible. Today NO-WAY! Get a good safe. A good safe is less money than a varmint grade rifle with a quality optic.

I got a basic 50 gun, 1200 lb, Timber Ridge at Gander Mtn (before they got stupid with pricing) for $1500. A Nightforce or Leupold scope will set you back $1400.

A big heavy safe is one way to go about it. Actually, the wood and glass cabinets are not really my thing anyway, so don't worry about that.

I was thinking more along the lines of a nondescript-looking metal cabinet - either from Walmart, or an ex-storage cabinet - anchored to the floor or the wall. The local school district sells those things surplus for about $20 apiece, and they're usually in good shape.

I don't have a truckload of money tied up in this sort of thing yet - my main concern is in providing a practical place to put relatively inexpensive long guns. As my resources grow, I'll invest in a gigantic gun safe.

[HK4U]

I would opt for the safe idea as mentioned above. Even if you do not have a lot of guns or a lot of money you could still get something. I got a small Sentry safe from Home Depot about a year ago. It holds about 8 long guns easy with places for handguns also. It was normally over 300 bucks but they had it on sale for a little under 300. It is about 500 lbs before adding the guns and it can be bolted to the floor. It even gives some fire protection. Could be the best 300 dollars I ever spent.

[ksiff1]

One idea is a CEDAR CHEST - These can be made to hold several guns across the top plus hunting clothes, etc.. below. You can set it at the foot of your bed & lock it and it does not look like it would be a gun cabnet.
I am not a fan of wood & glass cabnets myself although I do keep my long guns in two; both gave or handed down to me (I couldn't refuse & not use Pawpaw's gun cabnet). But if your going to have one there is something that can be done to HELP secure your long guns.

Make sure your cabnet has a bottom section with doors that LOCK & DOES NOT have glass in the doors:
1- get a "dog cable" - about 15' thin coated cable looped on each end
(tape the metal clamps holding the loop w/ electical tape to prevent scratching any guns)
2- drill a hole & insert an I-bolt behind the center post where the 2 glass doors meet about 1 1/2 - 2 inches from the post.
a- position the I-bolt so it is not in the way of any guns. You may need to place a washer & nut on the I-bolt to provide some clearance - be sure your I-bolt is long enough to extend into the bottom section.
b- once the I-bolt is in place & checked for clearance, put a flat washer, lock nut or lock washer & nut on the I-bolt through the bottom section of the gun cabnet.
3- Once you have your guns in the cabnet - feed one end of the cable through the trigger gaurd of each gun until the cable is through all your guns, bring each end of the cable to the I-bolt & lock all 3 together with a small master lock.
Once you see that the I-bolt is not in the way, the nut can be permantly fixed by mixing some JB Weld or liquid metal, applying some to the threads & putting the nut back on.
When your ready to remove a gun simply feed the end closest to that gun until you can remove it from the cabnet.
You can also use the cable without the I-bolt - just locking all the guns together, in most cabnets all the guns cannot be removed at once which is still better than your guns just sitting behind glass. All this is just a deterent - hopefully a thief would see it as too much trouble. A good Gun Safe to protect against theft & fire is the best way to protect your guns.