Gun Cabinet - comments?

[JTSpirit]

Years ago I displayed my rifles on a traditional wall-hanging rack. The appearance of children and California laws migrated them to a safe. I miss seeing them on display and, well, now there's too many to fit. I'm months away from retirement and have been building a new shop with an office/mancave and would really like to have them visible again, but still safe - not only from accidental mishandling but also from theft. I've spent my life as a mechancial engineer, machine designer, fabricator and machinsist so I've been dreaming of a solution.. think I might have it. Imagine this: a built-in cabinet framed with welded 1 X 2 heavy wall steel extrusion and sheathed in plate steel, with doors made of the same extrusion and windows of 1/2" polycarbonate. Wood veneers covering it so it wont look like a prison cell and an appropriate padlock. interior LED lighting,felt/velvet, ammo drawers, etc.. I can do this, wont be crazy expensive and will make my neighbors drool during card games
Ok, critique away, I can take it.

 

[Phil Coffins]

I’d let you do a trial run in my house to prove the concpet.

 

[Bob McBride]

If you did something along these lines but put an iron bar at the butts, muzzles, and a few along the middle that are carriage bolted to the studs you may be able to retard theft a bit. Mine go in the safe but I’ve been mulling a solution so I can leave them on the rack.....

 

[JTSpirit]

If you did something along these lines but put an iron bar at the butts, muzzles, and a few along the middle that are carriage bolted to the studs you may be able to retard theft a bit. Mine go in the safe but I’ve been mulling a solution so I can leave them on the rack.....

Now you're just showing off
We use this style of lock on the hangers for the planes at the airport, (my other hobby). Honestly, if they get past that, bars and chains arent going to stop them..
Master Lock

 

[Bob McBride]

Now you're just showing off
We use this style of lock on the hangers for the planes at the airport, (my other hobby). Honestly, if they get past that, bars and chains arent going to stop them..
Master Lock

Lol. Way to make me feel self conscious. Just the first pic of my rack I found in my phone.

No, there's no stopping a determined thief but we can deter the bumbling methhead who shows up with a butter knife and a pillow case.....

That said, the bars might not be the solution for me as I do keep an electric hacksaw on the floor right next to my display......

 

[user 48679]

Once upon a time, I helped a friend build a secure 10'x12' room in a corner of his basement.

We laid the two new walls using cement block with vertical rebar inside the block cutouts & the cutouts filled with concrete.

The room got it's own ceiling joints, atop which we laid 1/4" steel plates, tack welded here/there along their edges.

A safe/vault door entry was installed - and he outfitted the room as a man cave, with his guns displayed, along with his gun book library.

It ended up looking like this one:

 

[ADK Bigfoot]

A separate room. Steel door, steel frame, room sheathed in 1/2" plywood inside and out of studs, under drywall. Two separate locks with different keys. Would take a chainsaw and more to break into. Separate HVAC. Fully insulated. Floor to ceiling 2x4s with 1/2 dowels set at an slight upwards angle. Room just large enough for two or three "gentlemen" to share bourbon on the rocks and admire the collection. No windows. Has worked for me for the past twenty years. Did not appear on the plans for the house, and only one of the contractors knew the purpose of the "storage room." Security.

ADK Bigfoot

 

[FishDFly]

Also could be used as a "Safe Room", i.e., tornados.

Might get an savings on your home owners insurance for it. Does not hurt to ask.

 

[Tumbledown]

In NY, guns only have to be secured if there are kids or anyone not legally allowed (criminal record, mental health) to possess a firearm.

A safe may slow thieves down, but there are other ways, possibly more effective. An alarm system will help deter thieves from even entering the house. Remember, they can only steal what they have time to steal, and a house w/o an alarm offers plenty of time, regardless of how they are secured inside.

 

[DocCasualty]

Maybe my thinking is wrong but I’m not concerned about the safety of my unloaded MLs being outside the safe. I just don’t seen them being a danger to anyone in my home. There’s no bp that is not locked up and let’s face it, how many even know how to load one?

No laws in my locale require me to do else wise. Of the couple I have on display they might be safer from a burglary in a safe, but there are probably other more attractive items in my home. Still a big believer in locking up modern firearms, even with kids grown and out of the home.

 

[JTSpirit]

Once upon a time, I helped a friend build a secure 10'x12' room in a corner of his basement.

My bathroom is bigger than that. the office addition I'm building is 14 x 24
I dont need a safe room, there's no tornadoes in my area, I've got an awesome security system.. I just want to be lawfully compliant but still be able to enjoy my collection as we did before the democrap thought control armada turned this state into a dictatorship bent on total control and taxation. My gun collection isnt all that valuable on the market, they're all family heirlooms with a backstory that I cherish. The .22 barrel gun the grandfather I never knew gave my father on his 11th birthday so he could plink with his big brother, the Enfield Musket my army soldier son traded an 8lb bag of M&Ms for from a farmer in Afghanistan and sent to me as a birthday gift.. The genuine military issue Colt 1911 that was discovered after my gun-hating Uncle passed away... the Winchester 94 I was given on my first deer hunt....Lemat.. Walker.. Kentucky Rifle.. more..
Just isn't right to lock them away unseen in a steel box.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Imagine this: a built-in cabinet framed with welded 1 X 2 heavy wall steel extrusion and sheathed in plate steel, with doors made of the same extrusion and windows of 1/2" polycarbonate. Wood veneers covering it so it wont look like a prison cell and an appropriate padlock. interior LED lighting,felt/velvet, ammo drawers, etc.. I can do this, wont be crazy expensive and will make my neighbors drool during card games
Ok, critique away, I can take it.

AH, I see you later mentioned the lock. This is good, as I noticed in the OP that you had not, and all that hardware is for naught if the lock won't stand up to all but a knowledgeable attack.

Where will you hide the keys is also important.

Alas, in your case, the opportunistic burglar will not be successful in stealing your firearms, so it will be somebody who has seen them and that display case, if they get stolen. So not your friends over for pool or poker, but the service person who comes to do work, and who also has nefarious activities on the side, would be the only real threat.

LD

 

[SOLANCO]

Years ago I displayed my rifles on a traditional wall-hanging rack. The appearance of children and California laws migrated them to a safe. I miss seeing them on display and, well, now there's too many to fit. I'm months away from retirement and have been building a new shop with an office/mancave and would really like to have them visible again, but still safe - not only from accidental mishandling but also from theft. I've spent my life as a mechancial engineer, machine designer, fabricator and machinsist so I've been dreaming of a solution.. think I might have it. Imagine this: a built-in cabinet framed with welded 1 X 2 heavy wall steel extrusion and sheathed in plate steel, with doors made of the same extrusion and windows of 1/2" polycarbonate. Wood veneers covering it so it wont look like a prison cell and an appropriate padlock. interior LED lighting,felt/velvet, ammo drawers, etc.. I can do this, wont be crazy expensive and will make my neighbors drool during card games
Ok, critique away, I can take it.

Critique?!?!? I just want to see it!
PS-For max padlock security, build it so you can use an Abus Diskus padlock. It doesn't get any better than that.

 

[Sam squanch]

I’d just hide them and not tell anybody. The presence of even a gun safe may made criminals think its full of $$$ and nice guns. And they may come back at 2 am and make you open that safe.......

 

[SOLANCO]

A 1911 with a round chambered and the hammer down is in arms reach of my bed. Course, they might not hear the hammer being cocked with the dogs barking at them.

 

[Bob McBride]

A 1911 with a round chambered and the hammer down is in arms reach of my bed. Course, they might not hear the hammer being cocked with the dogs barking at them.

My identical security system. Showing up uninvited at 2am is a bad idea.

 

[oldwood]

Photo of that shop shows enviable organization , very nice. I use the camo approach. Have lots of places in my cluttered shop to allow ambush of intruders. After the 30 round clip is empty, can go 18th century , tomahakin , war club , death hammer will be employed to finish the mess. My pleasure to be privileged to end some fool's life of crime. G. Gorden Liddy said "no witnesses " is best. Sadly ,the way our country is going ,we had better learn to defend our own , there won't be any backup. Hone your skills , knowledge is power , and "Black Powder Matters"..............oldwood

 

[Capnball]

Years ago I displayed my rifles on a traditional wall-hanging rack. The appearance of children and California laws migrated them to a safe. I miss seeing them on display and, well, now there's too many to fit. I'm months away from retirement and have been building a new shop with an office/mancave and would really like to have them visible again, but still safe - not only from accidental mishandling but also from theft. I've spent my life as a mechancial engineer, machine designer, fabricator and machinsist so I've been dreaming of a solution.. think I might have it. Imagine this: a built-in cabinet framed with welded 1 X 2 heavy wall steel extrusion and sheathed in plate steel, with doors made of the same extrusion and windows of 1/2" polycarbonate. Wood veneers covering it so it wont look like a prison cell and an appropriate padlock. interior LED lighting,felt/velvet, ammo drawers, etc.. I can do this, wont be crazy expensive and will make my neighbors drool during card games
Ok, critique away, I can take it.

Oh I'm sure you could knock that out. I wonder if you could make a profit manufacturing them. It would have to be fabulous looking.

 

[Robby]

I don't think the government recognizes muzzleloaders as guns. Maybe things have changed. California has no business dictating how you do things on your own property, but then they don't care and NY isn't far behind.
Robby

 

[oldwood]

Federal law doesn't recognize muzzleloaders as firearms . To qualify as a manufacturer , you must make over 50 guns per year , to qualify to pay the Pittman Roberts Tax on all sporting equipment , fishing rods , archery equip. , etc............. oldwood