Firearm Moving and Storage

[Muss Muggins]

Having read everything thus far, there's not a good answer to this problem. Given the size of the collection, the distance of the move, the reluctance to have the guns in your short term rental (this is a key sticking point), and your lack of true friends that you would trust with this collection (I'm just going by your reluctance to ask somebody), my best solution is indoor, climate controlled, 24 hour staffed storage, either where you're at or where you're going. Either store 'em now, and move 'em when your house is done, or move 'em, store 'em closer, and move 'em again when your house is done. I would do the latter, just in case I wanted or needed one in the interim . . .

It's gonna be expensive, and a pain in the rear, but if it was easy, everybody would be doing it . . .

 

[Andyd]

I moved from South Florida to Northern Texas and stayed four months in my sons house with a 1,050 lb safe, before moving the safe and my guns to the newly purchased home 40 miles away. I had the safe and guns in a trailer and slept just a few hours in the truck with my Doberman watching over us on the 1,150 mile long haul.

Moving a 1,000 lb safe with four strong guys isn't very hard if you do not have a lot of stairs to navigate. We did it with three guys and a special four-wheel-dolly, the 1,000 lb dolly from Harbour Freight collapsed right away. The experience - how easy and fast it was - led me to firmly believe in bolting safes down - regardless of weight.

I chose to move with the guns and handle it by myself, with my son and a trusted friend to minimize the theft risk and because of the value of my collection, that, while not excessively large in numbers, is quite valuable ( to me).

 

[LoadedRound]

Maybe someone like these guys?

High Value Products – TTi Logistics | The Uncommon Carrier

 

[df06]

I moved across country six months ago.
Removed all my guns 75-100 and left at my original house, with wife.
Loaded safes and taxidermy on a rental truck and drove to destination.
Installed safes in new house.
Flew home
Loaded all guns in my truck and wife’s Tahoe.
Drove part way to destination and stayed at relatives house far in the country
Drove to destination next day and transferred guns to safes.

 

[PALADIN85020]

We moved from El Paso back to Arizona in 1995. Luckily, one of my good friends in El Paso was (and is) a gun collector, and he had a room converted to a walk-in safe complete with a bank safe door. He volunteered to keep my collection there until we found a new home in Arizona.

When we found our home and prepared a similar setup in the home, a friend in Arizona with a truck volunteered to go to El Paso with me and put all the guns in his truck; padded with blankets and sheets. We threw a tarp over all of them in the truck and prayed we didn't get stopped for any traffic violation. Would have been a lot of 'splaning to do, for sure.

Sure pays to have good friends!

John

 

[dmar]

High Value Products – TTi Logistics | The Uncommon Carrier

Nice find, I’ll give them a call, thanks!

 

[dmar]

Having read everything thus far, there's not a good answer to this problem. Given the size of the collection, the distance of the move, the reluctance to have the guns in your short term rental (this is a key sticking point), and your lack of true friends that you would trust with this collection (I'm just going by your reluctance to ask somebody), my best solution is indoor, climate controlled, 24 hour staffed storage, either where you're at or where you're going. Either store 'em now, and move 'em when your house is done, or move 'em, store 'em closer, and move 'em again when your house is done. I would do the latter, just in case I wanted or needed one in the interim . . .

It's gonna be expensive, and a pain in the rear, but if it was easy, everybody would be doing it . . .

Thanks Muss, that’s pretty much where I’m at with things. I do have a good friend there that I trust. He’s a great guy, gun guy, former neighbor, and we used to spend a lot of time on our Harley’s, I just don’t like imposing on people... That said, given the options, I think I’ll run it past him, and have a backup plan for a storage facility.

Thanks to the folks here, I’ve got some good information and a few good leads to look into... Still open to more ideas fellas, thanks again to everyone!

 

[Gaffer]

My last move was a company move and they would not pay for the guns and other ammo etc. I moved all the guns and equipment myself, including a gun safe. 4 hour drive and using a friend I installed the new safe in the empty house and bolted it in place, filled it with my guns and worried for the several weeks until the rest was moved. As it turned out all went well. Of course I did not tell anyone what I was doing and had to trust that no one would break into an empty home. Scary times!

 

[sigp220.45]

I’ve moved my guns and ammo from Illinois to California to North Dakota to Texas to Louisiana to Montana to Idaho to New Mexico to Colorado. Those were all government moves but I never let the movers deal with the guns. (And they wouldn’t take ammo). The last move was about 40 long guns and 50 handguns, and at least 10,000 rounds of assorted ammo.

In each case I hauled the stuff in a U-Haul trailer, found a secure storage unit at the destination end, and then toted them to the new house after closing.

I’ve never lost a gun or a single round of ammo.

 

[Bullet Bob]

This thread has about convinced me to sell most of my junk.

 

[paplinker]

Thanks Muss, that’s pretty much where I’m at with things. I do have a good friend there that I trust. He’s a great guy, gun guy, former neighbor, and we used to spend a lot of time on our Harley’s, I just don’t like imposing on people... That said, given the options, I think I’ll run it past him, and have a backup plan for a storage facility.

Thanks to the folks here, I’ve got some good information and a few good leads to look into... Still open to more ideas fellas, thanks again to everyone!

That's one of the great things about real friends. They will be there if you really need them. I bet he would be honored to help a friend and fellow gun guy.

 

[Doug M.]

The first issue to consider in this is need to know. Unless someone ABSOLUTELY AS A MATTER OF LAW needs to know, they should not. Think of it like the teams who move nuke weapon stuff around the country - their first line of defense is secrecy and related to that is not drawing attention to themselves and their convoys.

Self-storage places vary in quality, so you need to do some research on on the places available to you. I expect that having your guns stored in big, heavy, bulky hard to enter or move containers is a good step.

 

[Watchdog]

I’m reluctant to go into detail, but there’s a lot, more than a trunk full... I’ve got a full size pickup and could make more than one trip. I could also rent a box truck, but again, prefer the idea of subbing it out.

If your arms collection is as large as you say it is, I would not trust total strangers to move it, no matter how highly recommended they might be. Bonded, insured, and blah blah blah...just no. The ammo, maybe, but even that's doubtful.

I simply would not want strangers knowing where such a large shipment of firearms was going, even if the final destination was some sort of storage locker somewhere.

Move them yourself.

 

[LLOYD17]

Multiple PCS moves from one side of the country to the other and back with stops in between and I’ve moved my guns and ammo myself every time. Not as many as you have but I’ve moved them in my own vehicle, a UHaul trailer and a box truck. Invest in quality locks, layer your security by having them in locked storage within the vehicle and attached to the vehicle if able. I’ve also stored my collection while on deployment in a storage unit in the safe. Not without stress but it worked out fine.

 

[Muss Muggins]

Pretty sure everyone is missing the point that the OP needs a temporary storage spot for his guns. They’re not going from point A to point B. They’re going from A to A1 or B1, then finally to B, because he doesn’t want them at point C . . .

 

[Kanewpadle]

I would drive the seven hours and rent a house first. Then pack up your existing house into a rental truck and make the drive again. Back the truck up to the garage and unload.

Here’s why. Many moving and storage companies do not allow storage of firearms. And they won’t be insured. And I would never store high priced items in a nation chain storage facility. As a locksmith I have helped customers that had their stuff stolen at these facilities. Their padlock was removed, stuff stolen, and a random padlock installed locking them out. Of course the storage people say they didn’t see anything and neither did the cameras.

And when you rent the truck, don’t stop over night if you don’t need too. Many rental trucks here are stolen when stopped for the night. Hopefully your rental is a newer model with a transponder (chip) key. Not much chance of stealing it then.

 

[dmar]

I would drive the seven hours and rent a house first. Then pack up your existing house into a rental truck and make the drive again. Back the truck up to the garage and unload.

Here’s why. Many moving and storage companies do not allow storage of firearms. And they won’t be insured. And I would never store high priced items in a nation chain storage facility. As a locksmith I have helped customers that had their stuff stolen at these facilities. Their padlock was removed, stuff stolen, and a random padlock installed locking them out. Of course the storage people say they didn’t see anything and neither did the cameras.

And when you rent the truck, don’t stop over night if you don’t need too. Many rental trucks here are stolen when stopped for the night. Hopefully your rental is a newer model with a transponder (chip) key. Not much chance of stealing it then.

My worst fears acknowledged through first hand experience. This gives me some more to chew on.

BTW, I’ve always appreciated your posts, lots of good advice over the years...

 

[Laketime]

I’m reluctant to go into detail, but there’s a lot, more than a trunk full... I’ve got a full size pickup and could make more than one trip. I could also rent a box truck, but again, prefer the idea of subbing it out.

If you are reluctant to reveal how many weapons you have here with friends.what will you do when you have to disclose that info to the moving company for their insurance:

 

[dmar]

If you are reluctant to reveal how many weapons you have here with friends.what will you do when you have to disclose that info to the moving company for their insurance:

Well, it’s kind of like me not disclosing how much money I make when I’m out hanging around with my friends, but share that information with my CPA when he’s doing my tax return...

 

[Harbinger_of_lead]

Lots of ways things could go wrong here. For example, don't put them in a trailer and use a cheap (or none) lock on the tongue and stay overnight somewhere. I know 2 people, and have heard of a number of others, in the last 6 months who have had trailers stolen from a parking lot because they used cheap locks and/or didn't park in a way the trailer couldn't be swung to another hitch. Seemed like common sense to me but figured it'd mention it here.

I wonder if someone at a gun store near where you're moving would be able to store them, or maybe point you in the right direction?

Looking forward to hearing how this works out as I'm sure others will benefit from the information.

MW

Excellent point. I recommend watching videos on youtube from "the lock picking lawyer" very informative about crappy locks.