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Built in/hidden gun cabinets.

22K views 26 replies 15 participants last post by  IL_Shooter 
#1 ·
In accordance with local law, I normally keep my firearms in a cabinet so they're not easily accessed.

It occurred to me that it might be better if I hid the cabinet, and all the ammo I currently have; so in the event that my house is burglarized while I am not around, it would be unlikely that anyone would find my guns.

I know there's better ways to do this, but I'm on a budget and working with what I already had.

I started with an unassuming unfinished wall in the basement:


The wall is load bearing, 2x6 construction, so anything done to it will have to be solid. That's not a bad thing.

And on the other side:


There's a old/unfinished closet, eventually I will be finishing it into something more useful. For now it will work well for me, since it has a joggle in the area that I want to put my cabinets, so removing the joggle will hide the extra wall thickness.

As of the end of yesterday:


The cabinets are inexpensive stackon ones. I already had one, hence the slight difference between them. I picked up another one, since it would work out decently well to put two in the space I had. They're bolted from the inside into the framing around them.


And that's it for now... I'll update more when I get more done.
 
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#2 ·
Thanks for sharing. It is a very good start. Nicely done! There are so many options available that will give you coverage and access at the same time. Pick wisely. Chose one that will blend in with the environment. Because you chose the basement for mounting your cabinet pick something that is typically found in a basement (Utility panels, paneling, fake air vents, wall shelving etc).
 
#3 ·
Thats pretty good, but the key to it all will be how well you are able to camoflage it into the room. a wall covering of tongue and groove boards that are prefinished with the gun safe section back mounted on plywood and hinged with hidden hinges and magnetic catches should work pretty good.

I Built mine about 5 years ago and used raised panels like the rest of the room. The key part was to blend in the door edges and hinge seam. so what i did was at the latch side i made the rail or upright trim piece slide in a short 1/2 track. when it slides closed it covers and locks in place the edge of the raised panel edge of the door. When i slide it over to the right it uncovers the edge of the panel and i can stick the tip of my finger in the crack and pull the magnetic latch over and open it up.
 
#5 ·
I doubt there would be any hope anyways. I think most real world testing of fire proof consumer-grade safes has found that they don't hold up worth anything, unless the fire was a near non-event. The whole house is built with well dried SPF, so if it ever goes it will go quick.


I plan to hide it with a pegboard and a small workbench... We'll see exactly how it works out, but I'll try to make it so it all hinges easily for quick, but not obvious, access.

I also plan to leave an access to the dead space above the cabinets, which should be useful as an additional place to store things in a non-obvious manner.
 
#9 ·
Actually I've been eyeing up a dead space in one of the unfinished areas in the basement. Luckily the foundation isn't a simple rectangle so I could wall off one of the irregular parts and make the new wall would line up with an existing wall to fool the eye. I can access this one area through drywall in the finished part of the basement. A (movable) built-in bookcase would be just the thing to provide hidden access.

It'd be big enough for firearms, ammo and long term food storage. I doubt the wife would let me do it before re-doing the bathroom though. :D:
 
#16 ·
fireproofing adding burn time

most firesafes use multiple layers of firecore sheetrock cut into nesting layers you can add to the insulation of the safes on the outside by adding several layers tightly mounted around them on the stairs side you can use fire caulk or setting type joint compound to bond them together it will also make them much harder to get to from the back where they are weak anyway with 3 or more layers you will have a definately not hollow sounding void if tapped

i will try to find my pictures but i actually built up ciderblock around my safes in the basement they are lagged to the floor as well then the door is 4 layers of sheetrock in a steel frame kinda heavy but i put 4 heavy duty hinges to let it move smoothly
 
#19 ·
How far I got as of tonight:


Sorry the picture kinda sucks...

It's mostly all framed up in the back. Some things got a little odd, and I had to use some simpson brackets. I also had to do some reinforcing of the floor above, so it wound up taking a lot longer than I had planned. My 'cabinets' above the gun cabinets are mostly there, I even threw 2 coats of paint on the parts that are done.

I was recycling a lot of material, so it's not as pretty as it could be ;)

Tomorrow I'll hopefully put the 1/4" ply on the backside, that was there before, and tidy up the rest of the framing stuff for the closet itself. Then I'll do a little more painting, cut up some ply for the front, and paint that. I think I'll caulk the seams of the upper cabinets, to discourage insect activity.

There won't be any fire proofing going on... I need to get this together enough, that I don't really have to worry about it, by tomorrow. On Monday I have another project that is far more urgent.
 
#22 ·
Where I'm at as of tonight:


Note to self, buy more paint rollers. Painting all of that with a brush sucked.

For the guy that wanted me to put the cover back on the breaker panel, it's on there.

I got everything done that I wanted, other than I didn't caulk the joints inside the upper cabinets (or perhaps 'cubby holes' would be more appropriate).

I'm out of time for right now... But maybe in a couple days I'll get back on it, and build something to hide everything :thumb:
 
#25 ·
The best one of these I've seen was actually my grandfather's. He took a walk-in closet, divided it in half, and sealed off the back side with fire resistant fiber board, possibly reinforcing it with steel but I'm not sure. He brought in some kind of custom door like what you see on gun safes, but you could walk through it, and it was low key so it didn't look like a door. He then installed a pipe just like any other closets and hung coats in front of it. You could open the closet door and not suspect a thing. You had to separate the coats to get to the door, realize it was a custom safe, then get in.

Once in, you wouldn't believe what he had. At any given time he would have at least 3 fully automatic Uzi's among other things like several rare German Nazi pistols, and at least 20 1911's. Of course he owned a large gun store as well as a high profile security service that employed 60 ex-military armed guards as well as being an FBI trainer so it was his job to have cool crap.
 
#26 ·
When you add a secret door to your hide away make sure it swings into the secret room, not out. When it open outward you have visible hinges like in the GIF on page 1 plus you will get scrapes rubs wall bumps that will show over time, especially on carpet. The idea is to make it invisible.
 
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