Makeshift Apartment Gun "Safe"

[monkeylice]

I wish to secure my guns the best that I am able. These include a good number of long guns and some handguns. Ideally I would get a proper gun safe and bolt it to the floor. However, I live in an apartment, and on the second floor, and getting a safe inside and secured is not feasible. Also, I would rather not spend upwards of $1,000 on a safe that might not not be ideal for wherever I move to someday.

My possible solution is to get a cheapish gun cabinet and bolt it to the interior wall between my hall closet and bedroom using 2x4s spanned across at least one stud on both sides. The front of the cabinet would have 2 1/4" steel bars that hinge across the front and then padlock. What I'm envisioning works something like this:



I was originally thinking about using steel plate instead of 2x4s, at least on the closet side. It seems like kind of overkill, tho. I figure this would be tough enough to remove from the wall and loud enough to try to open that thieves would be discouraged from tampering with it.

What do you think? Any glaring design flaws? Suggestions? Experiences?

Thanks

[SocomM4]

The steel wrap sounds cool. I just got a stack on 10gun cabinet from Walmart.com for 103.00 shipped , and I bolted it to the wall studs on 2 sides and that thing isnt budging. But yeah I like the idea of at Least one steel arm to wrap around and padlock . I need to make some shelves inside tho, it comes with one small shelf and it's too small. It's a 10 gun cabinet, but my AR an MRE a 2 liter bottle of water and 1k ammo fills up the bottom. For my needs, wider and deeper would have been better than tall.

[tlillard23]

100 for a metal cabinet
300 for a "safe" from costco/home depot/lowes
if you can't move a 300-500lb "safe" by yourself, you are doing it wrong

Get teh "safe"

[monkeylice]

SocomM4: A 10-gun cabinet is what I'm looking at, I think it will fit my stuff but like you said, not enough shelves.

tlillard23: I haven't seen any $300 safes that can fit any long guns, let alone 5-10 of them. Plus I don't want to blow money on a cheap safe that barely fits the guns I have now. Eventually I'll have a house where I can install a nice safe. And getting a 300-500 safe up my narrow rickety wooden staircase doesn't much appeal to me.

[gunsmoke50]

Look into a Dakota interlocking xp, I'm quite happy with mine. Modular, breaks down into parts that are less than 200 lbs.

[gunsmoke50]

Sorry, that's interlock xp. Damn cell phone!

[m98]

Maybe go get some steel mesh from the hardware store to reinforce the outer shell of the cabinet.

[monkeylice]

Ahhh I didn't realize there was already a safe forum (kinda), I guess this should be moved there.

[dieselpower]

If you are willing to pay for drywall repair when you move out, the best solution is to not have a "safe" but a "out of sight out of mind".... Your "safe" is really just a "LOOK HERE GUNS INSIDE!, Just break me open."

There is enough space between studs to hold a rifle secure in-between the walls. You just have to make sure the seam to the access panel isn't visible. When I made mine, I made sure to never store anything in the closet that would draw attention into the closet. Coats and beach towels on the shelf, that was it. Anyone looking into the closet had full view to see..."nothing worth squat in here."

[monkeylice]

I like the idea of integrating the safe into the wall, but I'm not going to do that in an apartment. The idea here is to do something inexpensive and impermanent. When I move into a real house and I have the funds to develop a proper gun collection I will invest in a proper safe that is suitable for the house.

I know that a cabinet is not as good as a safe, even with steel bars padlocked across it, but I live in an apartment building wherein you can hear stomachs growling three doors down. Thieves aren't going to have much time to try to break the cabinet or remove it before they will draw undue attention. And thieves that can pick a couple of disc padlocks and clean my cabinet out without being detected probably have better things to do than rob my ****ty apartment.

Also, I am a controls technician. I can easily rig up a siren that is not easily disabled or a silent phone alarm or something. Hell, I could hook it up to a 5-farad capacitor bank and have myself a thief barbeque if I wanted.

[dieselpower]

I like the idea of integrating the safe into the wall, but I'm not going to do that in an apartment. The idea here is to do something inexpensive and impermanent. When I move into a real house and I have the funds to develop a proper gun collection I will invest in a proper safe that is suitable for the house.

I know that a cabinet is not as good as a safe, even with steel bars padlocked across it, but I live in an apartment building wherein you can hear stomachs growling three doors down. Thieves aren't going to have much time to try to break the cabinet or remove it before they will draw undue attention. And thieves that can pick a couple of disc padlocks and clean my cabinet out without being detected probably have better things to do than rob my ****ty apartment.

Also, I am a controls technician. I can easily rig up a siren that is not easily disabled or a silent phone alarm or something. Hell, I could hook it up to a 5-farad capacitor bank and have myself a thief barbeque if I wanted.

...as I said. All you do is remove the drywall at an indiscreet location inside a closet and the rifles fit inside the void between the walls. There is no cabinet or safe inside... the firearms are simply just, "out of sight, out of mind."

I can guarantee they are safer in an unknown void in the wall, than in a "fake safe" that everyone looking at it knows what it is....and what it holds. Takes less than 2 minutes to break into one of those cheap gun safes from Turners or Homedepot, or Walmart....

[eagle eye]

Jobox

How about one of this

http://www.toolup.com/jobox_635990_jobsite-brown-36-chest.aspx

[2shotjoe]

You know that someone from another apartment in the same building can get inside through the attic? My old apartment was like that on the 2nd floor. 1st floor safer.

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[negolien]

Most apartments have an opening to get into the attic try stuffing your extra weapons up there locked to the studs with your required locks /shrug.

[monkeylice]

...as I said. All you do is remove the drywall at an indiscreet location inside a closet and the rifles fit inside the void between the walls. There is no cabinet or safe inside... the firearms are simply just, "out of sight, out of mind."

I can guarantee they are safer in an unknown void in the wall, than in a "fake safe" that everyone looking at it knows what it is....and what it holds. Takes less than 2 minutes to break into one of those cheap gun safes from Turners or Homedepot, or Walmart....

I appreciate what you're saying, but opening one of the walls here just isn't practical. This is a small place, and all the likely walls for your suggestion are either wet walls, full of wiring, or shared with neighbors. Plus, I don't want to put that much work into repairing the wall when I leave.

You know that someone from another apartment in the same building can get inside through the attic? My old apartment was like that on the 2nd floor. 1st floor safer.

Most apartments have an opening to get into the attic try stuffing your extra weapons up there locked to the studs with your required locks /shrug.

I live on the second floor, which is the top, and above my ceiling is only a few inches of open space before the roof. There's no attic to speak of, not even a crawlspace.

How about one of this

http://www.toolup.com/jobox_635990_j...-36-chest.aspx

This is an awesome idea. I have been eyeing some of the old job boxes laying around the yard at my work. I think I'm gonna see if I can get my boss to donate one to me and then touch it up. If I can figure out a way to get it into my place I think it'll be perfect for now.