shotgun storage

[alvins]

So i bought a new safe which isnt tall enough for my to keep my shotgun in assembled. I have a benelli supersport; it has one of those 100 dollar gell butt pads on it. maybe im over thinking this but...does it matter which end you have down? i kinda worry about the pad getting flat spotted after a long time or store it the other side down and its not as stable since the heavy end is up.


discuss:)

[mr surveyor]

can't help with the size of the safe, but as to "which way is up", I generally store my shotguns muzzle down, particularly if long term storage. Not sure if it really makes a difference on where the oil/grease/lube migrates to, but I was taught that it was easier to keep goo build-up out of the action that way.

surv

[MoJo]

Muzzle down is the way my father taught me to store rifles and shotguns. He said it kept the bore cleaning solvent from running into the action and soaking the stock. If you have a soft recoil pad on your gun longtime storage on the butt will eventually flatten it. I've seen several that were ruined by storing the gun this way.

[RPB]

Muzzle down, my brother tried muzzle up, but it's a scorpion trap that way, fills with dead bugs.

[couzin]

Obviously - if you can't store it assembled - then which way you store the barrel doesn't matter, but I would still store the magazine tube/action/buttstock tube end down (recoil pad up). Place the barrel and action assembly in separate gunsocks.

[couzin]

BTW - what gun safe did you buy that won't accommodate an assembled shotgun?

[alvins]

just an elcheapo stack-on from academy.

it will fit if i take the top shelf out but i want another shelf in their so its not goona work assembled anyway. its got 28 inch barrell its not very short.

[jeeperbryan]

I had the same problem with my safe and the long Benelli barrel. I finally took out the top shelf so it would fit properly. I have all my wood guns in gun socks to minimize scratching. When you're moving things in and out of the safe, it's pretty easy to rub your AR15s against your nice wood guns.

I keep all my guns butt down. I've never heard any good justification for storing guns muzzle down. There are guns in my family that have been stored butt down for 50 years with no issue. Also, I've never seen a gun muzzle down in any gun store I've ever been in, so not sure it's that beneficial.

On a side note, be careful with the buttpad of that Benelli. I found out the hard way that those buttpads are extremely soft gel and can get torn up pretty easily. Mine looks like a dog toy after transporting it in a crappy long gun case several times.