Storage in closet with humidifier in room?

[gidjin]

I just picked up my 870 today and it's looking very nice. I plan to keep it in the closet with the trigger lock and the door closed. However, lately my wife has needed the humidifier running and I'm concerned that the humidity in the closed closet will be too much. Currently it isn't in a case, and I have a gun sock shipping out from Amazon tomorrow but do I need to worry about condensation on my shotgun if it's in the closet with the door closed? It's really the only place at home to keep it for now.

TIA

[tpuig]

Wipe the paw prints off with a silicone gun rag, and the gun sock should be fine. I've had many guns in gun socks for over 30 years with no problems.
If it gets pretty humid, you could always get one of the large full length ziplock bags to keep it in as well.

As others will chime in, start thinking about a safe or a way to secure it while you're not at home.

[gidjin]

Thanks tpuig. What's the advantage of a silicone gun rag vs old cotton tshirt (with or without oil) or something? Now that you mention it I've started considering safes, and some quick access ones as part of the purpose of the gun is for HD. But we're renting now and possibly moving in the near future so I may not get a safe right away. Any tips on other ways to secure it while not at home in the mean time?

[bigguns85]

If you are renting get a gun safe right away! Apartments are broken into more than houses. In addition to that you have security issues that your landlord has acess to your apartment and if you neighbors know you have guns they can easly know when you are not home and boom no more gun fun time. It might seem overly paraniod but its better to be safe then sorry and my job is to be paraniod anyways haha.

[tpuig]

A t-shirt with gunoil or a silicone cloth will do the same thing for wiping them down. The main thing is to keep your finger prints off the gun. The acids/oils in our skin will start to rust it pretty quickly. Wipe 'em down before putting them away! The socks will help to keep moisture and dust off the guns as well. I've used both the Gun Sock brand and now the thinner sleeves from Midway, Brownell's, Sportsman's Guide, etc. The thick ones are great for protecting from dents and scratches, but take up a bit more room. For $5-10 per gun, they're kind of a no brainer.

When I was young, I just kept my guns in a closet with a locking doorknob. That was mostly to keep my housemates from playing with them since it would have been easy to defeat that. But looking back, not having a safe or method to lock them up was pretty naive. Under a bed, in a closet, behind a door, all easy places to find and won't slow anybody down walking out with it.

It's tough storing things in an apt, but a small safe in the closet is better than nothing. You can't really stop a determined thief, but maybe just slow down the dumb and unmotivated ones. For a couple hundred bucks you can get a safe to hold the shotgun (and future guns, which WILL be coming), important papers, hard drives, medicines, etc.

(You can always bolt it to a piece of plywood in the closet so it would be really hard to remove, but up against the wall would only take up another inch of space. And then add hooks to the plywood for storage and not have to worry about putting holes in the walls.)

Now that I have a house, we have two large safes, but should have started off with a small closet sized one that could have moved everywhere with me.
Later on, I could still use it in the bedroom or office and have the big safes elsewhere.

Anyway, hope this helps.

[gidjin]

Thanks guys for the tips. We actually rent a house so not quite as small or vulnerable as an apt, but i think the points still make sense. I received the allen gun sock today had good reviews on amazon, so the gun is in it now, though I didn't wipe it down after handling it. I'll have to do that too. I didn't think of small closet safes, since I've only really ever seen the big ones at the stores that have them out on display. I'll have to do some more research