wwlefty

I managed to mock up a "rack" system for the drawer today.

Sounds like you picked some good guns to hang on to, two 42's and three 94's in my old safe, part of the reason for needing this new one lol. The cost of metal is high right now which makes this project a little hard to justify but in reality I suspect that most guys on here would rather build something the way they want than to save a couple of bucks. I finished up the horizontal drawer and now I'm just playing around with the configuration of the rest of the interior and planning out material and hardware for the sliding vertical racks

Well I just got this second safe and I'm building it up the way I want it right now, not sure if I can talk the wife into letting me purchase a third one already lol

Thanks, so far everything has turned out like I wanted. I wanted something a little different for the front but I wound up drilling two holes in the front piece and cutting out the material in between to make the "handle" because that's all I could do with my limited tools and ability. Perhaps I can get more intricate designs for the"vertical" drawers but unfortunately metal is very expensive right now so getting any work done by a machine shop is pretty much out of the question so I just have to do make it happen a little more"primatively" lol

I haven't updated in a little while, got the drawer test fit and tacked up. I think I'm going to put rhino liner on the inside of the drawer but I'm still thinking about a racking system to hold AR's inside the drawer so please feel free to chime in with ideas!

Well I got the bottom frame painted and the drawer slides installed on it. That gave me final dimensions for the drawer so I picked up some 16ga sheet metal this afternoon and cut out some pieces for a rough mock up. I wasn't able to get the front and back cut as I ran out of cutting wheels. I'm trying to talk my buddy into cutting a design or words or something in the front with his water jet table but he doesn't want to "take it out of production" so we'll see if I get something made into the front of the drawer or not

Hell yeah, this thing is happening, for better or worse lol! Never underestimate a "fairly" motivated individual with all the necessary tools, an adequate shop space and a 30pk of Busch light lol. I finished the frame today so just waiting on the drawer slides to show up to get exact measurements on the drawer to build it. The plan right now is to use one of the existing shelves that came with the same for a shelf on top of this frame to build the "vertical" shelves on

Hell yeah, this thing is happening, for better or worse lol! Never underestimate a "fairly" motivated individual with all the necessary tools, an adequate shop space and a 30pk of Busch light lol. I finished the frame today so just waiting on the drawer slides to show up to get exact measurements on the drawer to build it. The plan right now is to use one of the existing shelves that came with the same for a shelf on top of this frame to build the "vertical" shelves on

Man a gun room would be sweet. I changed some plans building this frame and drawer set up so I could weld it up outside the safe and then install it. One more piece of 3/4" angle across the front at the top and the frame is finished. I ordered some drawer slides today that were rated for 250 lbs. I can't wait until this baby is all finished!

Got all the necessary "tools" loaded up and the steel picked up from the machine shop. Today's build sponsored by Paul's machine and welding. Also if someone has ideas for building the horizontal drawer I'm all ears

I'm going to use 2" box tube to make vertical frame risers to attach drawer slides to. I'll then build another frame on top of that to mount a flat sheet of steel to. That should make a sturdy enough base for the vertical drawers to mount to. I'm heading to the shed now, I'll throw up some pics of my progress later today

Luckily wintertime on the farm provides me with some free time for projects so yesterday I decided to remove the existing shelves and embark on my new storage solutions endeavor and I thought you guys might like to come along for the ride lol. Anyway I put in about an hour and a half yesterday and after getting it up on the forklift (fatboy don't like to bend over lol) I got started on the frame..... I'm using the anchor holes in the base to secure the frame using 3/8" bolts but I might go to 1/2". I would love to hear feedback from you guys if you have any other ideas

Another issue I have never liked about my first safe is that guns are stored in four rows stacked from front to back and inevitably at some point I would want to get out a firearm in the back row which would require me to move 4, 5, even 6 other guns out of the way to get to it. So during my searching I came across this safe and I love this idea and decided I really wanted to implement it as well in my new safe

However in my search for storage solutions I came across a lot of things I really liked and I decided that I wanted to implement them in this safe since I'm starting from scratch. One of my first thoughts I kept coming back to was storing AR's horizontally in the job boxes. Seems like the bottom of the gun safe is not easy to access anyway and this new safe has a 36" wide opening so maybe a pull out drawer like on a toolbox would be handy. A 16" barrel AR with collapsible stock measures around 33" so I'm thinking a 12" tall drawer in the bottom might be the ticket.

I wanted to revisit this thread as I have just purchased an additional gun safe after picking up a couple of Henry rifles and realizing there really is no more room in my current safe. I got this Gettysburg safe at the local rural king. It's not a high end fit and polish safe but it's huge (42" wide by 72" tall) and has a 75min fire rating

You can see in the above photo how much space is saved on the vertical storage side of just the upper versus the two assembled AR's next to it. Again I'm not in love with this setup but it helps for now. I did find a guy two towns over selling a used knaack jobbox for $135. I figure a crisp Benjamin will buy it, I guess we'll find out Monday. Do you guys using the job boxes have any trouble with drawing moisture? I suppose a dissicant pack would take care of the moisture? It gets pretty humid here in the summer

Been a while since I have been here but I wanted to share one space saving attempt that is basically a half measure but works temporarily. I had some scrap pieces of 3/4" finished plywood and a nice dowel rod collection that I inherited from my father in-law. I used some 7/8" dowel about 2" long and countersunk into the plywood to make a base so I "stand up" my lowers and then either store the uppers horizontally or using the plastic rods uppers can store vertically.

Well I can't get photos to upload, bear with me please

Well I haven't updated in a while but I wanted to share a "temporary half measure" I came up with for the AR's to they to save a little space. I took some scrap 3/4" finished plywood and countersunk some 7/8" dowel rods (about 2" long) into the plywood spaced 2" apart. I made three of these and I can stand up the lowers and lay the uppers horizontally on the top shelf or vertically using those plastic barrel rods. I'm not in love with this but again it's a temporary fix for now.

I can promise you I have lots of respect for the old guns! I was super excited to "inherit them. It's just a matter of physics at this point; "two objects of mass can't occupy the same space at the same time." etc...Thank you all for the replies. I know that I need an additional safe but I'm trying to stretch it at this point. That job box looks like a good idea, storing the black rifles horizontally instead of vertically looks like a good space saving idea. I got some of the barrel rods the other day with the intention on using them on the AR's at this point. I have some ideas, but it's planting season so my free time is limited. I'll try to share what works and what doesn't along the way, that's what a forum is all about anyway. I guess the truth is I'm looking for the $50 band aid right now vs. the $500 cure.

this quote is worth the price of admission folks!

Around Christmas time my dad decided he wasn't going to renew his foid card which means for us IL residents its illegal to posess a firearm without one. He's very old school libertarian minded and thinks its none of the government's business if or how many firearms he has. Anyway he's getting up there in years and when he found out you had to go on a website to renew that was the final straw for him. I've got a nice large safe at my house and he decided to start sending them over to me a few at a time; "They're going to be yours someday anyway" he says. Needless to say I was excited about this, my father has a lot of cool guns including a really nice collection of Winchester model 12's. Well after a few trips of bringing guns in I'm quickly running low on storage space inside the safe. Basic configuration is half the safe has the gun racks to store the firearms veritically and the other half is shelving where I store ammo and other parts, components, etc. Specifically what I have noticed is my black guns take up 2-3 spaces in the safe versus just one space for most of the other firearms I've been bringing in. Four different AR's with a pistol grip on one end and an optic on the other and a 308AR with similar configuration take up nearly half the space. Obviously, I could add racking to the other half but I really don't want to go that route yet and I certainly don't want to spring for another safe. I don't want to remove optics from rifles for obvious reasons and it seems like a hassle to remove the pistol grips from each one to gain space. I had the thought of removing the lowers and getting some of those guide rods that go in the barrel to store them but I wasn't sure if the rods would be long enough with the lower removed from the upper to reach the top side rack. Sorry for the long winded post I was just trying to accurately explain my issue. Any advise and help would be most welcome!

that's definitely great advice, unfortunately I was taught the "whatever feels comfortable" method and to this day on occasion, I struggle with shooting with both eyes open. Thanks, I'll help him focus on that and go from there. the only reason I really brought it up is mostly for the expense of switching the safeties of about 12 guns over but I guess I'll cross that bridge when/if I come to it

In the mid 60's my father lost his right eye in a farming accident, he claims it saved his life as not long after he was drafted and turned away from service in Vietnam. However, not wanting to give up a lifelong love of firearms and hunting he switched shoulders and began shooting left handed. Flash forward 30 or so years and I come along and happen to be a full blown lefty. As I grew older my dad (a big model 12 shotgun fan) converted most of his guns to left hand safety for both of us to use more conveniently. Flash forward another thirty some years and I have a son who initially put everything In his left hand but now, at 5 years old, seems to favor his right hand. I've taught him to bat left handed in t-ball which in that sport is an advantage but in shooting sports is lefty a disadvantage? By that I mean most weapons were designed around a right handed shooter so would I be doing him a disservice if, in a few years, I taught/pushed him to shoot left handed? I don't know if there's a"right" answer here but some thoughts by those of you who shoot a lot might help...

he was really moving there....massive wheel stand must mean massive power under the hood! I was trying to see what the duramax ran but the video ends too soon....im guessing 13 something? just curious because I run my diesel also, best of 12.17@110