Who displays their guns in their home?

[Vic1951]

After realizing that I cannot carry 30 guns or use them all for home defense, I have kept 4 guns for home defense and 6 for carry. With the money I got from the sale of the 20 other guns I bought some guns for display. I have a man cave and set up one small table with a Ruger Vaquero on a wooden Display stand with a hardcover book with color pictures of western holsters and guns. I added a holster and a knife from the period, laid them on some wanted posters and replica law officer badges of the time and it makes for a nice display. Recently I added a nice .45 Colt Henry Big Boy rifle. That is the one with the shiny brass receiver. Also added a replica 1860 Light Calvary Sabre.

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Last week I setup a short file cabinet top with a book about Vietnam, a K-bar knife and an Army surplus holster for a 1911 like I wore in Vietnam. I bought a GI issue look alike 1911 from Colt and put some fake ivory grips on it that show the Army Insignia on one side and "Vietnam Veteran" on the other side with a map of Vietnam. No pic yet since I am still working on it. I have a wall hanging display with my medals, insignias and old Vietnamese flag. Need to hang it up soon.

The long and short of it is that I have now begun buying guns for display rather than for shooting or carrying.

Anyone else display their guns? I have no kids and live in a 55+ community so there are never kids in my house. I also do not keep unsecured ammo out for the display guns. I realize that those with kids cannot do so because even if displayed empty, a kid can get a bullet(s) and load the gun.

[zincwarrior]

I am just back on the 6 carry guns. You must clank when you walk.

[Targa]

Hey why not? I think they are pieces of art and I love looking at them, your set up is very nice. I really don't own anything worth displaying but my parents have a neat setup in their basement with a side by side coachgun as the center piece.

[Boncrayon]

Not I! Looks kewl over the fireplace, but is a beckon for visitors and friends who have loose lips. It's the same for open carry, as others know who has a firearm and they, as a criminal mind, would want to take it when nobody is home. Grandpa's antique shotgun, or a polished "gun cabinet" advertises your most precious collection. Whomever visits the home, be it repairman, neighbor, or teenage peers, it is open "game" for a visit in a home that has been cased for a break-in.

[2123]

In this day & age, it's best to keep all firearm out of sight and well secured. The days of wood and glass gun cabinets are history.

When I was a young child, my best friend's father was a hunting guide and he traveled most of the USA.

His father had lots of rifles and quite a few handguns. They had a large house with a huge basement. In that basement, he kept his rifles in a rack along a wall. All the handguns were also in a rack.

None of the firearms were locked up or secured. And, his father kept box after box of ammo on shelves nearby.

Thinking back, his father probably had a total of 50-60 firearms in that basement, all unsecured.

That was most likely back in 1964 or so. Yup......the good ole days.

[Cheapshooter]

Not real, or even moderatly valuable guns. Maybe old, broken antiques with little value.
Otherwise, if they aren't on me, or safely locked in my truck on the way to range, or field, they are in a safe, in a secured, locked safe room, and when I am away, alarmed!
Criminals, even in 55+ "secure" comunities love display guns!

Plus 30-10=a regret factor of X20!

[lefteye]

No displays in my home. Almost all are in an expensive, heavy safe in a tornado shelter concrete room in the basement. A couple of handguns and loaded magazines are in a fast-opening handgun safe in a night stand next to the bed. Also included in the handgun safe are shells for the Rem 870 Home Defense shotgun kept under the bed. I know another person who has an even more secure, nearly indestructible, concrete safe room next to his basement for a terrific collection. The door is similar to a bank safe door - appropriate considering the value.

[FNS-40]

Just had a discussion about this with a co-worker yesterday. Discussed building a hardened display case.

[Ricklin]

I frequent another forum where a poster has what is likely the best collection of Winchester .410 pump shotguns in the USA. Model 42 if memory serves.

His display is a 1950's era gunstore, complete with ANIB stocked shelves. Very cool. He also has a very high end security system.

Can't have one without the other.

[AzShooter]

I don't display my guns because I don't trust people. But that's my fault. Others should do what they are confortable with. After showing off some of my guns to a friend's friend someone broke into my house and stole one of my rifles.

This was years ago, before I bought a safe. Now, if I'm not working on one, cleaning one or heading to the range they are all in the safe.

I do like the OPs display.

[Hawg]

Not since my ex son in law stole 15 of my handguns the day he ran out on his wife and child.

[Targa]

Wow!! What an absolute piece of trash!

[Blindstitch]

Ouch. I hope you pressed charges.

Being in an apartment I don't display my guns but I have a few that I would like to. Like the budget build your own muzzleloader that was passed around my family. I have an uncle who was a metallurgist and when he had it a lot of chrome was added. Sill functional and looks great.

[osbornk]

I'm a traditional old codger that sorta lives in the past. I have my handguns locked in a small secure safe in my basement office and it looks like a traditional small safe for money and jewelry.

I keep my rifles and shotguns locked in a hand made wormy chestnut gun cabinet with a glass front. It is kept in my downstairs den (if you can call a 60' by 14' room a den) where only family and friends are invited. I keep the cabinet locked only to keep grandchildren and other kids from having access to my guns.

[Vic1951]

To clarify, I live among retired people and the only ones who come to my house have been taught by me how to shoot. I have taught all of my friends and relatives who visit me and helped them buy their guns. Most people around here have guns and no one tries to hide that. We are surrounded by farms and ranches so you can find guns in just about any home here.

The only people who would enter my house that are strangers, are repairmen, plumbers and electricians. They would have no need to walk pass my man cave and I always lock its door when strangers are here. Having lived up North I know how different it is to live in a place where everyone you know owns a gun. Quite frankly I never have friends not into guns or do not like pets. My dog costs much more than any gun I own and he is on display all the time and has no serial number. Break into a random home and your chances of it having guns are very high. Different environment than in other places I lived, where I had to disguise my guns when I loaded up the SUV to go to a shooting match.

[Morgo]

Nope, can't. Even if I could I wouldn't.

I'd be too stressed about it all being stolen I'd never leave the house.
Most of my valuable stuff that is expensive or hard to replace is locked up very securely.

[Hawg]

Ouch. I hope you pressed charges.

Couldn't prove it. The fact that they went missing the same day he ran out wasn't proof enough and none of them have ever turned up. He's doing 20 years now on other burglary charges.

[Skans]

As much as I'd like to have a room that I can display my firearms in, I don't. Like someone said, "loose lips". It's not necessarily the folks you have in your house that will try to steal your collection, but the folks they yap to that you never see. Best to lay low about what's in your arsenal.

[g.willikers]

I once had a neighbor who like to show off his collection in plain sight.
Eventually the inevitable happened and the entire cabinet got cleaned out by burglars.
These days, a nice looking collection of wall hangers can be done with realistic airguns, at a fraction of the price of firearms.
And most people won't be able to tell the difference, even your shooting pals.
Just a thought.

[ZEBRARANGER]

I like your display and I think looks great.

Wow!! What an absolute piece of trash!

Exactly why I lock my guns up, unfortunately there's a lot of trash out there.

[5whiskey]

To each their own. I personally see nothing wrong with it. I have C&R military bolt rifles hanging on my wall (HIGH!).

I used to be paranoid about thieves. I've been in law enforcement for years now and I've come to realize that 95% of burglaries happen by someone who knows you, and 75% or more happen to drug dealers or other criminals and someone is looking for their stash. So if you have a family member that is known for nefarious activities, or if you operate a criminal organization, you might be in trouble. Otherwise, go with it.

Be smart about it though. Record your serial numbers (as you should with all guns anyway), hide the display guns if any stranger has to do service work in your house, and keep only good people as friends and company. In addition, I would think about removing the firing pin or another critical part to ensure that display only guns can't be fired readily. If you are a victim of burglary, at least there's a layer of safety that may prevent the gun from harming someone else. Most gang-bangers aren't going to know how to replace the firing pin in a Henry Big Boy, nor would they likely function check it (or know how).

[RickB]

When I was a kid, in the '60s, we had a pegboard in our dining room with a rotating display of six or eight handguns. The pinfire revolver with integral knife under the barrel is the one I remember most.
We also had a gun rack in the hall.
The front of the house was lined with floor-to-ceiling windows that allowed anyone to see the display.
Maybe I'd do that if I lived in a remote area, but today, I think a walk-in gun vault would be about the only place I'd display functional firearms.

[stuckinthe60s]

out of sight, out of mind.
just me.

[Ricklin]

The aircraft are real, the rifles and pistols are not.

In their diorama displays if you looked real close you could tell the guns were replica airsoft, and not the real McCoy.

Great museum, free of charge. If you are ever in Dayton OH, don't miss the National museum of the Air Force.

[dgludwig]

There's a 1903 Springfield rifle hanging in a display case on a wall of the museum (I forget the relevancy of it in terms of historical import) that I always thought was "real".

Ricklin's advice is good. I attend the museum every year in the summer with a favorite uncle, a tail-gunner in a B-17 bomber in WWII, who spent several months in a German POW camp recovering from injuries sustained while parachuting from his plane after it was downed from flak.