Storing Guns in Camper

dakota.potts · May 16, 2017, 04:51 PM

Looks like I'll be living in a small camper in an RV park for a couple of months for a job situation. Looking at it, doesn't look like there is any way my gun cabinet is going to fit inside.

Do any of you guys have creative solutions for storing them in a small (25-30 foot) camper? Handguns won't be a problem but some of my long guns are very long. I don't anticipate problems in the area but I also want to have them secured in some way, especially since I'll be doing a lot of shooting and inevitably somebody will see me doing something gun related and figure out that I have them.

I'll be in Florida, since I've just realized state laws might be important for some states as well.

lamarw · May 16, 2017, 05:25 PM

You might look around for an indoor climate control storage unit. A good unit would be under at least double lock with a key to the storage building and a key to your padlock on the unit door. A good storage company will have cameras covering every angle.

FITASC · May 16, 2017, 06:17 PM

Definitely needs to be climate controlled. Many also have alarms besides cameras. I would keep your ccw/hd in the camper and everything else in the unit.

Mr. Hill · May 16, 2017, 07:01 PM

Yeah, campers are a prime target for burglary. Store them somewhere else except for a pistol you carry or can keep in a car trunk. That's exactly what I did when I moved and had to initially stay in a roach motel for a while until I found more permanent housing.

FrankenMauser · May 16, 2017, 07:29 PM

Climate control.
More security than a lock box in a trailer.

Guns in a trailer - especially in a trailer park - are about as safe as cash in a paper bag, on a park picnic table.

Florida is brutal on guns. Oil and protect religiously.
It may not be much worse than what you're used to in SC, but it was quite an eye opener when I moved into a house 150 yards from the Gulf ... from bone-dry Utah. Perfect example: My Super Blackhawk went from having good bluing and no 'mechanical' defects in the finish, to growing fury brown crap all over it, and showing micro pits that were not there previously. ...In just two days.

If you go for commercial storage, make sure the place has working cameras, records the feeds, and keeps the footage for at least a couple weeks.

I had a motorhome in a storage place for about a year, while I was living in an apartment and looking for the right house. One of the times that I went to check on the RV, I noticed that some one had tried (drunkenly?) to remove the VIN and inspection stickers and tags from the body (some states title the body instead of, or in addition to the chassis VIN). And it appeared as if some one had jimmied a window open and spent a few nights sleeping inside.

When I checked with the owners in the office, I found out that all of the cameras in the vehicle parking area were dummies, and that they didn't record anything from the working cameras, anyway...

dakota.potts · May 16, 2017, 09:32 PM

Luckily I'm from Florida. North Florida, anyways, but going back to Florida is actually "home" for me now that I've graduated school in SC. I'm used to how the humidity (and the salt in the air) corrodes everything.

I might be able to leave them with my family who live in the state or else leave them at the new job (they have an FFL and storage so it might be an option) but before I looked into that I was curious if there were RV specific objects or ideas.

FITASC · May 16, 2017, 09:37 PM

Moving back in the best coolest and driest time of the year! Congrats!

In my safe, kept indoors, I use a golden rod and three desiccants - so far, so good

FrankenMauser · May 17, 2017, 03:35 AM

Quote:

I might be able to leave them with my family who live in the state or else leave them at the new job (they have an FFL and storage so it might be an option) but before I looked into that I was curious if there were RV specific objects or ideas.

I'd like to offer suggestions, but I don't have much. The best I can suggest is something like a Hornady 'Rapid Safe' for whatever you feel you need the most. But the rest should be more secure.

At this point in my life, I've repaired several campers, helped neighbors with various issues in their trailers/motorhomes, and dismantled and recycled my own (aforementioned) motorhome.

They just aren't built to any standard that I consider secure enough.
Three examples of why campers/trailers/motorhomes suck:
1. When I dismantled my motorhome, I ripped the door frame out of the wall with my bare hands* - with the door shut (locked or not, it would have been the same).
2. Every trailer/camper/whatever that I have owned would have required, at the very most, about 30 seconds with an axe to make a hole big enough for an adult to get through a wall, if there had been no windows or doors for easier entry (fantasy).
3. The easiest way into my motorhome (the most secure of what I've owned): Break the window in the door, unlock the dead-bolt, and walk right in. 10 seconds, and it's a done-deal. (Quicker to go through the man-door than through one of the chassis doors in the van cab.)

*(Yes, I actually had good leather gloves on. But I was making a point.)

g.willikers · May 19, 2017, 09:11 AM

For storage, not security, it's not hard to protect guns.
We've lived in high humidity areas all our lives.
Just about anywhere east of the Mississippi is.
All I've ever done is clean and lube well, wrap in a silicone soaked cotton rag for pistols, or similarly protected soft cases for long guns.
And store them, sometimes for as long as two years.
Never had a problem.
Even the ones not in air conditioning were ok.
Guns are tougher than we imagine.

Gary L. Griffiths · May 19, 2017, 11:56 AM

To get back to the OP's original question after all the crying about how insecure campers are; there are often long spaces under a bed or couch or in a closet where you could install a long locking metal box. True, it won't give you gun safe level security, but if bolted or chained to the chassis, it would take more time to open or remove than most burglars would be willing to spend. If you're parking in an RV park, as opposed to leaving it in a storage lot, there will be neighbors around to further inhibit explorations by the criminally curious.

FrankenMauser · May 19, 2017, 12:57 PM

Quote:

If you're parking in an RV park, as opposed to leaving it in a storage lot, there will be neighbors around to further inhibit explorations by the criminally curious.

...Unless said neighbors are the criminally curious.

dakota.potts · May 19, 2017, 01:35 PM

I'll be exploring options to leave my long guns off site and keep my handguns with me. I am told our RV park has a pistol range on site. A small locking safe should do just fine for them

Bluecthomas · May 22, 2017, 02:15 AM

I'm gonna second frankens post. While moving last year my old place got robbed. By the neighbor...
Who is still on the streets 10 months later...

Thankfully there wasn't much left there. Guns and electronics where already moved. Which is doubly good since only about 10% was recovered by cops and nothing has been returned yet.

May 16, 2017, 04:51 PM	#1
dakota.potts Senior Member Join Date: February 25, 2013 Location: Keystone Heights, Florida Posts: 3,084	Storing Guns in Camper Looks like I'll be living in a small camper in an RV park for a couple of months for a job situation. Looking at it, doesn't look like there is any way my gun cabinet is going to fit inside. Do any of you guys have creative solutions for storing them in a small (25-30 foot) camper? Handguns won't be a problem but some of my long guns are very long. I don't anticipate problems in the area but I also want to have them secured in some way, especially since I'll be doing a lot of shooting and inevitably somebody will see me doing something gun related and figure out that I have them. I'll be in Florida, since I've just realized state laws might be important for some states as well. __________________ Certified Gunsmith (On Hiatus) Certified Armorer - H&K and Glock Among Others You can find my writings at my website, pottsprecision.com. Last edited by dakota.potts; May 16, 2017 at 05:04 PM.

May 16, 2017, 06:17 PM	#3
FITASC Senior Member Join Date: December 6, 2014 Posts: 6,441	Definitely needs to be climate controlled. Many also have alarms besides cameras. I would keep your ccw/hd in the camper and everything else in the unit. __________________ "I believe that people have a right to decide their own destinies; people own themselves. I also believe that, in a democracy, government exists because (and only so long as) individual citizens give it a 'temporary license to exist'—in exchange for a promise that it will behave itself. In a democracy, you own the government—it doesn't own you."- Frank Zappa

May 16, 2017, 07:01 PM	#4
Mr. Hill Senior Member Join Date: November 21, 2015 Posts: 384	Yeah, campers are a prime target for burglary. Store them somewhere else except for a pistol you carry or can keep in a car trunk. That's exactly what I did when I moved and had to initially stay in a roach motel for a while until I found more permanent housing. Last edited by Mr. Hill; May 16, 2017 at 10:03 PM. Reason: Burgers, burglar, hamburglar....

May 16, 2017, 07:29 PM	#5
FrankenMauser Senior Member Join Date: August 25, 2008 Location: In the valley above the plain Posts: 13,424	Climate control. More security than a lock box in a trailer. Guns in a trailer - especially in a trailer park - are about as safe as cash in a paper bag, on a park picnic table. Florida is brutal on guns. Oil and protect religiously. It may not be much worse than what you're used to in SC, but it was quite an eye opener when I moved into a house 150 yards from the Gulf ... from bone-dry Utah. Perfect example: My Super Blackhawk went from having good bluing and no 'mechanical' defects in the finish, to growing fury brown crap all over it, and showing micro pits that were not there previously. ...In just two days. If you go for commercial storage, make sure the place has working cameras, records the feeds, and keeps the footage for at least a couple weeks. I had a motorhome in a storage place for about a year, while I was living in an apartment and looking for the right house. One of the times that I went to check on the RV, I noticed that some one had tried (drunkenly?) to remove the VIN and inspection stickers and tags from the body (some states title the body instead of, or in addition to the chassis VIN). And it appeared as if some one had jimmied a window open and spent a few nights sleeping inside. When I checked with the owners in the office, I found out that all of the cameras in the vehicle parking area were dummies, and that they didn't record anything from the working cameras, anyway... __________________ Don't even try it. It's even worse than the internet would lead you to believe.

May 16, 2017, 09:32 PM	#6
dakota.potts Senior Member Join Date: February 25, 2013 Location: Keystone Heights, Florida Posts: 3,084	Luckily I'm from Florida. North Florida, anyways, but going back to Florida is actually "home" for me now that I've graduated school in SC. I'm used to how the humidity (and the salt in the air) corrodes everything. I might be able to leave them with my family who live in the state or else leave them at the new job (they have an FFL and storage so it might be an option) but before I looked into that I was curious if there were RV specific objects or ideas. __________________ Certified Gunsmith (On Hiatus) Certified Armorer - H&K and Glock Among Others You can find my writings at my website, pottsprecision.com.

May 16, 2017, 05:25 PM	#2
lamarw Senior Member Join Date: April 12, 2010 Location: Lake Martin, AL Posts: 3,311	You might look around for an indoor climate control storage unit. A good unit would be under at least double lock with a key to the storage building and a key to your padlock on the unit door. A good storage company will have cameras covering every angle.

May 16, 2017, 09:37 PM	#7
FITASC Senior Member Join Date: December 6, 2014 Posts: 6,441	Moving back in the best coolest and driest time of the year! Congrats! In my safe, kept indoors, I use a golden rod and three desiccants - so far, so good __________________ "I believe that people have a right to decide their own destinies; people own themselves. I also believe that, in a democracy, government exists because (and only so long as) individual citizens give it a 'temporary license to exist'—in exchange for a promise that it will behave itself. In a democracy, you own the government—it doesn't own you."- Frank Zappa

May 19, 2017, 09:11 AM	#9
g.willikers Senior Member Join Date: September 28, 2008 Posts: 10,442	For storage, not security, it's not hard to protect guns. We've lived in high humidity areas all our lives. Just about anywhere east of the Mississippi is. All I've ever done is clean and lube well, wrap in a silicone soaked cotton rag for pistols, or similarly protected soft cases for long guns. And store them, sometimes for as long as two years. Never had a problem. Even the ones not in air conditioning were ok. Guns are tougher than we imagine. __________________ Walt Kelly, alias Pogo, sez: “Don't take life so serious, son, it ain't nohow permanent.”

May 19, 2017, 11:56 AM	#10
Gary L. Griffiths Senior Member Join Date: April 7, 2000 Location: AZ, WA Posts: 1,466	To get back to the OP's original question after all the crying about how insecure campers are; there are often long spaces under a bed or couch or in a closet where you could install a long locking metal box. True, it won't give you gun safe level security, but if bolted or chained to the chassis, it would take more time to open or remove than most burglars would be willing to spend. If you're parking in an RV park, as opposed to leaving it in a storage lot, there will be neighbors around to further inhibit explorations by the criminally curious. __________________ Violence is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and valorous feeling which believes that nothing is worth violence is much worse. Those who have nothing for which they are willing to fight; nothing they care about more than their own craven apathy; are miserable creatures who have no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the valor of those better than themselves. Gary L. Griffiths (Paraphrasing John Stuart Mill)

May 19, 2017, 01:35 PM	#12
dakota.potts Senior Member Join Date: February 25, 2013 Location: Keystone Heights, Florida Posts: 3,084	I'll be exploring options to leave my long guns off site and keep my handguns with me. I am told our RV park has a pistol range on site. A small locking safe should do just fine for them __________________ Certified Gunsmith (On Hiatus) Certified Armorer - H&K and Glock Among Others You can find my writings at my website, pottsprecision.com.

May 22, 2017, 02:15 AM	#13
Bluecthomas Senior Member Join Date: April 14, 2017 Posts: 102	I'm gonna second frankens post. While moving last year my old place got robbed. By the neighbor... Who is still on the streets 10 months later... Thankfully there wasn't much left there. Guns and electronics where already moved. Which is doubly good since only about 10% was recovered by cops and nothing has been returned yet.