Finally rebuilt the interior of my gun safe

[rbstern]

4th of July weekend 2012,, the main water line to my house broke, right where it enters the basement wall. And, of course, we were away for the weekend. The water rose to about half a foot in the basement. Fortunately, we have a very good insurance company and most of the damage was covered.

One of the casualties was my gun safe. The water got in via the bolt down holes, and soaked all of the interior panels. Most of my guns had synthetic stocks and were undamaged. Got just a couple of small stains on a couple of rifles with metal butt plates, but was able to polish and cold blue them to look new.

The safe needed help. In addition to the damaged panels, there was an orange hue of rust about two feet up the interior walls (the water had wicked its way up the panels). I gutted the safe, sanded off the rust and sprayed the interior with Rustoleum. That's pretty much how I left it. I just stacked my guns in it without the interior until I had time and motivation to rebuild it. And that was this week.

Got some culled drywall (damaged corners) from Home Depot for a whopping $2. 4 yards of gray felt from Hobby Lobby. I saved the old, damaged panels for this occasion, and cut the new panels to the same dimensions as the old panels. Covered the new panels with the new fabric, secured with staples. Reused the shelf hardware from the old panels. One of the nice things about this was I was able to reconfigure the safe to include more shelves than the old configuration.

It came out pretty well. I actually like the safe interior better than when the safe was new. It's little bit of a labor intensive job, but the results were well worth it.

 

[AirForce]

ahh that DOES look good. Wish I was half as good at restoring stuff

 

[Greg Meyer]

Nice restoration. Have you seen the "rods" that insert into your gun barrels and velcro to the top to organize your long guns? Here is a link to the Rifle Rods http://www.storemoreguns.com/

 

[rbstern]

Nice restoration. Have you seen the "rods" that insert into your gun barrels and velcro to the top to organize your long guns?

Thanks.

I've seen them. Certainly a good idea for a crowded safe. Makes the storage more flexible. The door organizer pockets seen on newer safes are a good shelf space-saver, too.

 

[fatrap]

Rich how do you think the "soaking" effected the fire rating?

 

[BASS AKWARDS]

Looking good. Kind of makes me want to redesign mine.

 

[rbstern]

Rich how do you think the "soaking" effected the fire rating?

Mike, I suspect the rating would be about the same. Most consumer-oriented gun safes use ordinary drywall for the fire lining. I replaced all of the damaged drywall panels with virtually identical panels of the same size. There was nothing special about the old covering material. Plain old felt, similar to what I used in the refurbishing effort.

One of the lessons learned from this: It would be relatively easy to double up the panels inside an existing safe to improve fire resistance. That's what the safes with the longer fire rating have: Doubled interior drywall panels. After a certain price point, safe manufacturers use some type of heat-resistant fiberglass cloth, but that's usually on safes that cost a couple grand or more.

 

[rbstern]

Looking good. Kind of makes me want to redesign mine.

It's a good weekend project.

 

[fatrap]

When I was moving one of my safes to my current residence it fell off the dolly and rolled several times down the hill in my front yard. I thought I'd have a mess. No damage. Lucky one of us didn't get steamrolled. That bad boy was twice as heavy as the other one. Also the rifles had been removed just in case. I move again the safe stays.

fatrap

 

[rbstern]

When I was moving one of my safes to my current residence it fell off the dolly and rolled several times down the hill in my front yard.

I can see it in my mind, in slow motion, with "Acme Safe" painted on the door, rolling down hill toward Wile E. Coyote.

 

[fatrap]

Imagine my neighbor Brian running in front of it. You did a good job on yours though. Where do you keep your long guns?

fatrap

 

[Greg Meyer]

Imagine my neighbor Brian running in front of it. You did a good job on yours though. Where do you keep your long guns?

fatrap

Ahhhhhhhhhhh Rich wishes he had a "long gun"..... LMAO )I am so bad!)

 

[rbstern]

Imagine my neighbor Brian running in front of it. You did a good job on yours though. Where do you keep your long guns?

fatrap

I added a low, door mounted shelf that will hold two carbines. There's room for a long gun to the left and right of the door frame. The safe will hold a total of five or six long guns, if you include the folded Kel Tec .223 on one of the shelves. I only keep SHTF/get-out-of-dodge guns at home. My hunting and plinking guns have migrated to my cabin. If needed, the bottom shelves come out to make room for more long guns, but not needed in my situation.

 

[rbstern]

Ahhhhhhhhhhh Rich wishes he had a "long gun"..... LMAO )I am so bad!)

In magnum caliber!