SG for HD, but where

[1 SIG fan]

Ok, so if you have a 12ga in the safe in the garage/other room etc...
it's not a great HD weapon if it's not accessible. So, where can/do you guys keep SG's so they're functional... yet safe from burglers, kids, etc..?? i'd love to have one on hand, but it doesn't fit in my minivault.

[Purple K]

I keep all my guns safely locked up in the safe, except one. My 870 with a trigger lock is loaded and very accessable in my bedroom. The trigger lock is removable by an adult in a matter of seconds without a key. The trigger lock keeps it safe from any guests children (my kids are adults). Yes, it could be stolen while I'm gone, but the possible loss of a cheap shotgun is worth it to me. My home is very secure and not likely to be burglarized.

[aippi]

Everyone has a different situation. I keep an 870 by the bed, loaded, unlocked and ready. For years when the kids were home I kept my beroom door locked when not home. Now, they are gone and there is no need for this. The chance that I need imediate access to my HD is just as great as the chance it can be stolen. I have perimeter security cameras, motion sensors and 360 degree lighting. I have internal motion sensors and alarms. I have to as my gun shop is on the property and the weapons in safes in my home. I also have great neighbors and we all keep an eye on each others places.

So, I put the money in keeping them out, not on some lock on my trigger that they can simply take with the weapon and knock off latter. I saw a gun safe popped open with a home made jaws of life type device so even these are not 100% safe. Another guy came home to find his place broke into and his 10 gun Stack On safe gone.

A weapon is a tool and it is of no use if you can not get to it when needed. Each person has to decide how to make this happen, yet be safe, keep the weapon out of the hands of children and yet ready when needed. What works for me may never work for the next guy.

[BigDogatPlay]

I do something similar. 870P, full mag, with the adult removable trigger lock (no kids here). It's been kept in the master bedroom walkin closet, how I've kept it stowed is changing, but you'd have to really be looking for it to see it, even though it was "in plain sight".

[inbox485]

Ok, so if you have a 12ga in the safe in the garage/other room etc...
it's not a great HD weapon if it's not accessible. So, where can/do you guys keep SG's so they're functional... yet safe from burglers, kids, etc..?? i'd love to have one on hand, but it doesn't fit in my minivault.

Get a breach lock so you can leave it "locked" and loaded. When your home put the key in, and take it with you when you leave. You can also buy/make a rack that holds it along your mattress.

I won't debate the advantages of SG over HG, but if you're worried about HD, consider CCW around the house. Then have the SG in a room you can use as a retreat point (usually your bedroom).

Try mentally reversing roles and be the bad guy for a moment. If you are going to do a home invasion are you going to pound on the door until it falls off the hinges 5 minutes later or come blazing through the window? There is only one home security system I don't think I could blow through confidently in a matter of seconds with a slim chance of a code 3 response, and that is a trained shooter with a gun in hand the moment the invasion happened.

[OC Buckeye]

So this brings up my next question, how is the best way to store your shotgun so it is in a "ready" position for HD?

[Rob454]

Just do what I do
Take it out when youre at home and sleeping. put it in the safe when youre gone.

[Wolfhound9k]

Some people store the gun separate from their locked ammo and separate from the key that unlocks either the LifeJacket or similar breech lock. Yes, it takes longer to access the weapon but sometimes that's what you have to do. As the kids get older, hopefully they will be taught respect for the firearm and how to keep a secret from their other friends.

[Lucky Scott]

Locked up when I am gone. Out and ready when I am home.
No small children in my house. When the kids were little, I used a trigger lock, now no need.
I suggest a good handgun as a backup to the shotgun also. Just in case it jams or whatever, never hurts to have a loaded handgun in your pocket just in case.

[OC Buckeye]

Follow up...

OK, so I am going to eventually get a safe to store my shotgun as well as my handgun but in the interim I get a breech lock. Now do I keep shells in the mag tube? Is that hard on the mag spring?

[inbox485]

OK, so I am going to eventually get a safe to store my shotgun as well as my handgun but in the interim I get a breech lock. Now do I keep shells in the mag tube? Is that hard on the mag spring?

Leave the mag tube loaded to capacity. Hand cycle them once a year and check for spring tension if you don't otherwise go out to shoot. Think about how long duty shotguns stay compressed. Depending on storage conditions you might consider the ammo "range use only" after a year or two.

[chiz]

I have two of those red hooks that you can use for hanging up things like bicycles in your garage. I'm going to screw them into the wall in the closet above the door. that way it is out of sight and reach from kids and easy to get to.

[okimreloaded]

I'm getting an 870 in a few weeks and what I plan to do is build a book case that I can swing open and retrieve all kinds of goodies in the event that I need them. Right now, I sleep with my xd 40 loaded in the safe which I never lock. I forgot the combo! But the door to my room is locked at night and we haven't had any burglaries in the neighborhood. I am certain that if the safe was locked and we did have someone break in they'd just carry it out, and I know a chick who broke into her aunts by hitting it with a sledge hammer. Secret gun closet way better. OR bedbunker.

[Cokebottle]

I cringe every time I hear "safe" and "garage" used in the same sentence.
There isn't an easier place to steal a safe from, and it is exposed to the street every time you open the door.
How many people drive by while you're changing your oil?

I was told of a safe that was stolen from a garage within seconds.... the perps laid down a bed of crushed ice in front of the safe and simply slid it down to a trailer they had backed into the driveway.

[GraveTrain]

Our 590A1 sits loaded, un-chambered in an unlocked in-wall gun locker in an unlocked closet just 2 feet from our bed.

When we have guests over to the house, the locker, the closet and bedroom doors are all locked.

Someone once told me that an unloaded shotgun is an expensive baseball bat.