September 13, 2022 5 min read
You know a safe is the best place to keep your guns secure. With only 8.6% recovered of the $164.5 million worth of firearms stolen in 2015, security is the top priority.
However, safes have limited capacity, and your firearm collection might quickly outgrow yours. Instead of investing in a replacement or secondary safe, consider these gun safe organizer ideas that could allow you to reclaim 30% of your safe.
When deciding how to store your guns, you must differentiate between defense weapons and those that aren’t. The reason is that you will store these categories of guns differently.
Your defense weapons are the ones you will reach for if you or a family member is in danger. You need to keep your defensive weapons in easily accessible locations but still out of sight and reach of children. Any non-defense guns, on the other hand, are better off kept in a safe.
Before you store your guns in a safe, you should consider several factors:
Think about the following helpful tips when planning your gun safe organization.
You should thoroughly clean your guns before storing them in a safe. A light coating of oil on all metal surfaces and wax on wooden stocks will give them a layer of protection.
The oils and salts on your skin will create the potential for rust if left on your guns. Make sure to wipe off any surfaces you touched before storing them.
When planning your gun safe organization ideas, make sure you allow enough room. Trying to stuff as many guns as possible into the storage space can damage your guns.
The air in your gun safe should be around or below a constant 50 percent humidity. You can use a dehumidifier to keep it at that level. Check the humidity periodically, especially if you live in a humid climate.
Your safe can’t protect your guns if thieves pick it up and take it away to crack open at their leisure. If thieves could pick up your safe, bolt it down for extra security.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation has 10 rules of firearm safety, and the first three apply even when handling guns for storage. They include:
Always practice basic gun safety, even when storing them.
If you have a safe with a combination entry, keep copies of the combination in secure places away from the safe.
Keep an updated list of every item in your safe, whether it’s guns, ammunition, or other valuables. List the serial numbers and descriptions, and store this list in a secure place.
Guns need air circulation while in storage. Don’t keep them in non-breathable cases, including fabric, leather, or waterproof.
If you're ready to organize your safe, check out ten storage solutions below.
Handgun hangers attach to a shelf and allow you to hang your handguns. Since the hanger simply slides into the barrel, they provide quick access. Consider handgun mounts, too, for convenient access.
Pistol racks make great gun storage solutions. You can choose from different styles of pistol racks, depending on whether you want your guns more on display or fully enclosed.
Our Magnet Screws can attach to any Spartan Mount and hold your guns with powerful strength. They can be used with any Spartan Mount on the website, making it an easy option for maximizing the space in your safe.
You can put them on the inside of the door instead of a safe door organizer or underneath shelves, on the ceiling, or anywhere there is otherwise unused space. You can also use them to keep the barrels of your vertically stored long guns in place.
If you have a variety of guns and other items to keep in your safe, make sure you look into some gun safe shelving ideas. One popular arrangement is to have one side of the safe open for long guns while the other side has shelves for handguns, ammunition, and documents or valuables. Customize the space to your needs.
Rifle rods go into the barrels of your rifles and stand them straight up, giving you more space than if they are leaning against the walls. You can often keep many more guns in the same amount of space using gun storage solutions like this.
A way to organize your magazines is another factor to consider when looking at gun safe storage ideas. Magazine mounts can keep all of your magazines organized and readily accessible.
To maximize the space in your safe, consider a door panel organizer. A safe door organizer makes use of the space on the inside of the safe’s door and can hold either guns and magazines or other valuables or documents you wish to protect.
Safes often have shadows that can make locating what you need more difficult. Incorporating lights in your safe can solve this issue and allow you to locate what you need easily.
If you are also storing important documents, like marriage licenses or birth certificates, in your safe, adding fire protection is crucial. You can purchase a fire-resistant bag to put documents in to protect them from charring in the case of a fire.
If you’d like to be alerted if someone attempts to break into your safe, an alarm system can do just that.
This may mean adding to your current home security system by placing a sensor on your safe, or it may be a stand-alone monitoring system. Some features to look for beyond just an alert that the door opened include:
Alarm systems can be a bit pricey, so look for one that balances the features you want with a price point you can live with.
There are a lot of gun safe organizer ideas out there, so shop for options and find what works best for your firearm collection.
Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions regarding gun safe organization tips.
Keep your gun safe somewhere hidden from sight, such as a closet. However, you may wish to avoid the master bedroom closet because it’s often one of the first places thieves search.
Yes, you can purchase shelving or make it yourself.
Yes, if secured in a safe, you can store guns and ammunition together.
This depends on the size and weight of your safe. Smaller safes can be set right on the floor. Larger, heavier safes may require a stronger surface, such as concrete or a fortified floor.
The smaller the safe, the more likely a thief would steal it. Bolting it to the floor decreases that likelihood. For a large, heavy safe, it is less necessary.
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The quality of their product and customer service is at the highest level. Sparton products are awesome.
Despite description on website, does dot properly fit Ruger AI style mags. The mount is good, and works well with MDT AICS mags, just doesn't properly fit Ruger 10 round RPR magazines. I like Spartan products just couldn't find a good match for the Ruger scout mags.
Don't do reviews normally, but this mount was PERFECT for this gun. Thank you!!!!
I have several mounts and they all perform as advertised. When I inquired on a mount they didn’t have for a particular weapon, they designed and produced one! When I ordered the wrong mount, they responded immediately and exchanged it for a new one. All around great product and great service! Mark
I was looking for a good way to mount my firearms for display and found Spartan arms. Their products work great, are affordable and easy to install.
I use Spartan mountains on 90% of the guns in my gun room. I have a few rifles that Spartan does not make a holder for on those, I’m just using hooks for now.
Overall, I am very pleased and they are The best gun mounting solution on the market in my opinion
JBL charge 4 mounted on ram track in Winnie travato. easy install with two hammer head bolts. Easy install. When I received this I didn't think it would hold but it has a very snug fit Great execution and design!
Had an issue spoke to Customer service. They shipped one right out to me. I’m very pleased great customer service I will continue to use their wonderful product Thank you
New mount is great, I am thrilled with it.
My only complaint (minor) is that the pistol info should be etched so it is visible on the front of the mount when the firearm is removed. The etching is currently on the backside (facing the wall) and is not visible once installed.
Fix this and its a Grandslam by Spartan Mounts!
Great mount. Purchased for the Mossberg 940. Works great.
Mike
Easy to mount ,small,clean cut look.Great
Love the fact that my spartan mounts make my guns and rifles look like they are floating off my slatwall instead of the silhouette being distorted by a hook.
I love Spartan mounts, the only thing with this mount is if you have a side saddle for your shells, you either have to take it off or get the Universal Front mount as it won't fit in properly and will lean forward.
The help me organize my my spare magazines. They are sturdy and easy to install. I only wish you sent me more stickers. Consider a blank space on the sticker for the caliper. Very sturdy product. Send me like 6 stickers please.