Pelican 1740 with Multiple Gun Storage Inside?

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Originally Posted by hatidua

Put a good lock on a closet door and a floor-mounted light bulb (which will take care of the humidity). While I own nearly a dozen Pelican cases, they are only justifiable if you are planning on the case dropping on the ground on a regular basis or if your guns are being handled by airline baggage people. It's your money, but buying a Pelican for in-home storage seems like 3rd or 4th best option....maybe not even that high on the list.

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The reason I was thinking cases is because I don't own enough guns to fill a closet. The biggest complaint my wife has with our current home is that we don't have enough closets, so me attempting to commandeer an entire closet won't go over well. And yes, I could just store linens and other stuff in there too, but I'm positive that family/company would have enough evidence to prove I'm insane when they find out I lock up my linens.

And this is the appeal of pelican cases (or other similar type cases) that can be sealed, locked and stored anywhere (perhaps even at the base of a closet). Putting an eye bolt into a stud and running a cable lock through it to the locked cases is sufficient to ensure they don't grow legs too easily.

eta: I considered a large job site box to store all firearms and all my ammo, which should be sufficiently heavy that it wouldn't walk off without a forklift, and frankly, who brings a forklift when they burglar someones home? [Dunno] The reason I avoided that is that they are still large/heavy/awkward to move by oneself although easier than a safe.

Okay, so I've spent a few days toying around with various arrangements and here is what I have come up with. In a Pelican 1740 case, I can fit 4 rifles (maximum length 39") and 4 pistols.

I have two packs of 40g desiccant, which is good for up to 10,368 cubic inches. The total volume of AIR (excluding volume taken up by guns and excluding volume taken up by foam - closed cell foam doesn't trap air) is 817 cubic inches. Therefore, the amount of desiccant that I have compared to what I need is roughly 12.69 times larger. This should be more than sufficient to take care of humidity inside the case. The closed cell polyethylene foam will not absorb moisture so I only have to worry about humidity in the air when I close the case. The left most desiccant pack has holes drilled to have access to the pistols, with a groove cut in the support rib between the two. The right most desiccant pack is primarily for the entire case since it can't easily access the pistols. But that's thinking that the desiccant packs care where they get their air from.

The following were animated gifs showing the different layers, but when I tried uploading them they wouldn't work, so I've just included the two different views: top down and cross cut.

The rifles for size comparison of the case are as follows (top rifle in picture is rifle 1, 2nd from top is 2...)

1 - AR15 SPR - 18" Barrel, 15" Troy Alpha Handguard, MagPul UBR (collapsed), 1-4x Optic
2 - AR15 M4 - 16" Barrel (rifle length gas port because I didn't feel like drafting a new barrel), JP Rifles 11" Handguard, no optic, standard M4 stock
3 - Remington 870 Shotgun...ish. Didn't draft this one, found it online and can't find a standard stock.
4 - Empty for Savage Mark II-FV whenever I get around to actually drafting it

Pistol 1 - Colt 1911
Pistol 2 - Glock 22 Modified to be dimensions of Glock 23
Pistol 3 - Glock 26

Anyways, for you rifle case experts, I would love to hear your feedback on this layout, whether it is too crammed or perfect. All layers of foam have 1" between the rifle and the case, and 1" between parts. All foam layers are 2" thick, except for the bottom layer (1.75") and the lid (1.5") if I recall correctly.

The pictures are all looking down from the top of the case, and each subsequent picture is removing the top most layer of foam. The first picture is the lid foam. The second picture is what the case would look like when I open it. Was going to put the pistols in the 4th rifle slot, but realized I had lots of unused space under the rifle handguards. Still haven't decided if I'll stretch the rifle cavity the full width of the case or not (under rifle slot 4).

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These next photos are looking at the case from the front, showing a cross cut through the rifle slots (roughly in the middle).

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+1

awesome thread :)

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Originally Posted by BuffCyclist

eta: I considered a large job site box to store all firearms and all my ammo, which should be sufficiently heavy that it wouldn't walk off without a forklift, and frankly, who brings a forklift when they burglar someones home? [Dunno] The reason I avoided that is that they are still large/heavy/awkward to move by oneself although easier than a safe.

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I just bought a 48 inch Rigid job box from Home Depot just for this purpose. I live in a 2nd floor condo with it's own entrance so there is only one way in and one way out. I plan on cutting some foam blocks to create a storage system similar to a crate of Mosins.. I'm thinking of a layer of rifles, space along the front or back for ammo cans and then space on top to lay my soft sided gun bags. The box has a shelf as well that will work for my handguns. I plan on running a few heavy lag bolts through the back side into the wall behind it. i don't see this thing walking away too easily. After looking at the stack on cabinets this should be way more secure for less money.

Replicating the 3N3 Gunpod dividers in the original post would not be hard if maximizing space is the goal (I think they did a pretty decent job of it but there is still a fair bit of negative space going on). In the past, with large Pelican cases, I've either used the padded velcro dividers that they can be ordered with, or had them custom made by a woman in NM, I will try to get the details for the OP on her. Foam (closed or open cell) is really the last resort as neither are a perfect solution to anything.

The upside of padded velcro dividers is that when guns enter/leave the collection, the interior can be adjusted to reflect those population shifts.

As with gun safes (or any storage space...suitcases included), no matter how big you get it, it will fill. As such, I'd avoid leaving too much foam or dividers of any type between firearms as it is only taking up space. (and do whatever you can to avoid the use of open-cell foam in a humid environment).

I'll dig through my archives to find the contact details for the woman that made my custom dividers/

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Originally Posted by def90

I just bought a 48 inch Rigid job box from Home Depot just for this purpose. I live in a 2nd floor condo with it's own entrance so there is only one way in and one way out. I plan on cutting some foam blocks to create a storage system similar to a crate of Mosins.. I'm thinking of a layer of rifles, space along the front or back for ammo cans and then space on top to lay my soft sided gun bags. The box has a shelf as well that will work for my handguns. I plan on running a few heavy lag bolts through the back side into the wall behind it. i don't see this thing walking away too easily. After looking at the stack on cabinets this should be way more secure for less money.

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Thanks for the input, I know the rigid job box would be cheaper than a pelican, but it is quite a bit larger than a pelican (showed one to my wife when we were at Lowes yesterday and she agreed it was too large).

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Originally Posted by hatidua

Replicating the 3N3 Gunpod dividers in the original post would not be hard if maximizing space is the goal (I think they did a pretty decent job of it but there is still a fair bit of negative space going on). In the past, with large Pelican cases, I've either used the padded velcro dividers that they can be ordered with, or had them custom made by a woman in NM, I will try to get the details for the OP on her. Foam (closed or open cell) is really the last resort as neither are a perfect solution to anything.

The upside of padded velcro dividers is that when guns enter/leave the collection, the interior can be adjusted to reflect those population shifts.

As with gun safes (or any storage space...suitcases included), no matter how big you get it, it will fill. As such, I'd avoid leaving too much foam or dividers of any type between firearms as it is only taking up space. (and do whatever you can to avoid the use of open-cell foam in a humid environment).

I'll dig through my archives to find the contact details for the woman that made my custom dividers/

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Those dividers of the 3N3 are appealing. I can't tell if there is wood supporting underneath, it definitely looks like there is wood on the ends. I know foam isn't an ideal solution, I could get soft cases to store each firearm in and might get by with more firearms in the case but if anything I see me getting more pistols in the future than rifles.

Regarding the padded velcro dividers, the point of making the rifle slots more universal is that I can fit other firearms in them should the collection change in the future. Two slots will be 2.25" wide and two will be 2.0" wide which I think covers quite a range of rifles/shotguns. Anything nicer (my Rem 700 5R for instance) are too big to fit in the case lengthwise, so that gets its own case anyways.

And yes, the only way I'm going with the pelican is getting closed cell foam. Not only does this mean it wont trap moisture, it also will be more rigid so I can leave the walls between the firearms a little thinner and still have protection between them. I might add another 0.25" to each slot and then if they're too big, I can just put the rifles in a gun sock to further pad it.

I found a few rigid interiors that can be customized for pelican cases, but none so far that fit the 1740 model (they're all for the more square 1500-1600 cases). Perhaps I'll look further down this path and see if anything really fits the bill.

Thanks everyone, its a huge work in progress but I really want to find something that is perfect for what I want and looks somewhat decent when finished.

Well, after a long wait for the foam to be delivered and having some time to cut it, I had some time last night and this morning to cut the foam.

From my experience, cutting straight lines is harder than I thought it would be, even with clamping a 1"x2" piece of wood along the cut line. The interior of the pelican cases do not have the dimensions they say. Holding the knife vertical seemed to be part of the problem. The bottom of the case is roughly 0.25-0.5" narrower than the top and the top of the case is about 0.125-0.25" wider than the specs. Sure, it averages out but when you use that dimension to cut the foam its a pain in the butt. Bamboo shish kebob skewers work PERFECTLY to stiffen up the 0.5" thick walls between the rifles. I may still add more, so they're spaced 3" apart. They also help to adhere the top 3 layers together so I can pick them all up out of the case at once to get to the pistols.

The final product yields:

Pelican 1740 - 4 Rifles, 4 Pistols, 2x 40g desiccant packs.

Pelican 1750 - 1 Rifle and space for more accessories in the future, 1x 40g desiccant pack.

All in all, I'm extremely happy with how both cases turned out. Cutting the Pelican 1750 was MUCH easier because I had a rifle stencil I could trace with the knife.

And now the part everyone's been waiting for, PICTURES!!!

Pelican 1740:


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Pelican 1750:

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Nice job!