I'm a little confused, but correct me, it sounds like your issue is where to STORE your guns in between vacating your old house, and moving into your new one, right? So there is no overlap of days during the move?

If so, I would NOT store your guns in a car or truck. I would at least rent a small storage unit, and move the rifles (each with a gun sock) there encased in wardrobe boxes, multiple rifles per box.

No, there should be no storage, as it's currently planned. Move out of old house and into new house same day, with an hour or so stopover at the title company to sign dual closings in between.

The issue is how to most easily/conveniently move 50+ guns from one house to the next, with minimal damage to the guns in the process. So far, layering them with blankets/towels in my car seems to be the simplest solution, and reportedly works fine according to a few members here.

I do like the idea of the long storage totes. (If I can find them locally... Little Rock is like a 6 hour round trip.) Those would make loading/unloading a little more convenient, since you're carrying multiple rifles at once. But I'd be concerned about whether the cheap plastic could withstand the weight of multiple rifles. And you'd still end up having to do something like wrap them in blankets/towels for protection.


So in this scenario, it wouldn't make much sense to load 50+ guns at old house, drive to a storage unit, unload 50+ guns, drive to closing, drive back to storage unit, reload 50+ guns, drive to new house and unload 50+ guns, all within the span of a few hours.


Things like putting them in a trailer parked in a friend's garage (or similar) are only a distant Plan B, for the off chance that something goes wonky with closing arrangements, and there ends up being a day or two delay in between the two closings.

For a trip that short, I wouldn't spend the money on a bunch of special packing material. Just load them up in the bed of the truck using gun cases, blankets, towels, etc. to protect them from banging around. Load and unload once.

These totes look like they might fit the bill...

Available locally. Reasonably priced. Long enough for many (but not all) of my rifles. Wheeled. And I can fit two of them in my cargo area side by side.

I wonder how it would handle the weight of multiple rifles.

I might grab one and give it a test run. Even if it doesn't work, I can use it for something else, like storing smoker pellets.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/COMMA...ching-Lid/1000421927

When I moved my Uncle's 35 or so long guns out of his house when he died, I did it with blankets and layers like you describe. It worked fine for me.

We are building a new home and will move in sometime next fall. I want to put my house on the market next spring and if it sells before the new house is ready just rent a house for a few months. I really don’t want to try selling a house in the winter.

But now I’m wondering what the heck I’m going to do with my guns! Crap, you’ve ruined my plan.

To your question blankets in my vehicle would be my choice.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
These totes look like they might fit the bill...

Available locally. Reasonably priced. Long enough for many (but not all) of my rifles. Wheeled. And I can fit two of them in my cargo area side by side.

I wonder how it would handle the weight of multiple rifles.

I might grab one and give it a test run. Even if it doesn't work, I can use it for something else, like storing smoker pellets.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/COMMA...ching-Lid/1000421927

This is basically what I did when we moved 5 years ago, and moved around the same number of mostly historical rifles. We had about 2 weeks of lag between occupying the new house and having to vacate the old house which helped. We also had a 4yo which complicated things. I secured the storage room in the new house with a handle/keypad lock, then emptied the safes in the old house. I used furniture blankets to roll/cushion the rifles in 4 60 gallon rolling bins I got off amazon. I took the bins 2 at a time (all I could fit in our suv) secured them in the new room, went back and got the others, rinse/repeat.

I needed four to fit all the rifles due to varying lengths and removed the bolts from the c/r stuff to make them fit better. I still needed 4 to store everything. This kept everything secure enough for me until the safes were moved. The bins I got could also be secured with cord lock but I never felt the need to do that. I sold 2 of the bins at the next yard sale for what I paid for them and kept 2 for camping equipment storage.

Is there a local safe company, perhaps they can move the safes out a day or two early, hold them at their storage facility and then bring them over after the movers are done at your new home.

Fixes the who sees the safes situation and they may have a solution for the firearms as well.

The nice thing about the storage box options like the one for the Christmas tree parts is that once you transfer the guns back to the safe you can reuse the boxes for other storage items.

I figured that I would build some plywood crates for my future move. I can’t see anything short of a Pelican or Storm case being strong enough to transport multiple rifles.

I have moved before like this. I won’t get into logistics...that is more on you because of the circumstances. Get some padded gun sleeves so they don’t get banged up. For pistols, hit up the thrift stores and find iPad or laptop soft cases. The transport is up to you.

Me, I kept the guns with me...personally.

In the trunk and backseat, wrapped in blankets, like any good redneck.

Obviously.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
No, there should be no storage, as it's currently planned. Move out of old house and into new house same day, with an hour or so stopover at the title company to sign dual closings in between.

I think I'd be tempted to rent a van and pack all the gear into it wrapped in moving blankets, then ask a friend to spend part of the day with me (sitting in the van during the closing process).

More out of curiosity than anything, why can't they just move 'as-is'. Sounds from the dynamics you can easily supervise. Other than the issue of having to remove everything to unbolt my safes, I certainly wouldn't have any heartburn of them moving loaded. But If I was unloading them I would just stack the stuff with some sort of piles with probably moving blankets between layers...