Gun Shed/ Gun workshop building?

I just no longer clean the guns inside. I have gotten into the habit of cleaning at the range now ever since a friend used to brag about cleaning his guns in his garage with the door up and then someone robbed him and specifically stole his gun safes.

Biggest problem is ventilation. check out Harbor freight tools for some high performance fans.

Everything else gets done on the desk. Kinda a nice reminder to get the paperwork done before fun.

it can be done. A good friend of mine did that. Then he took it a step further. put up insulatin all inside the shed. Flourecent lights. it was nice. air conditioning. wiring for plug ins. Even put a small refridgerator in it. It was the perfect shed.

I was wondering if any highroaders have done something like this?

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I have a "Morgan" building with AC.
Only problem is I have more junk than building.

I bought an 18 X 24 foot metal building. I had it insulated, lots of electrical plugs, lights, and installed an air conditioner/heater (like in some motel rooms). Built a bench along one long walls and lots of shelves, get one bigger than you think you need, they fill up fast.

I'd take some pics if mine were clean and it wasn't going to rain like the dickens tomorrow. I have a 8x12 shed with an 8x8 lean-to on the side. I added a full length work shelf that is high enough to not have to bend over to clean my guns. It has one window and door, so I can put a fan in the window and get good ventilation. I have dual overhead florescent lighting. It's doable, and cheaper if you go to Lowes or HomeDepot and get one of the shed kits.

Most important things to remember
1. AC
2. Lots of outlets
3. Insulation
4. Small refrigerator.

as long as you do that everything else will come together.

For those of us that can't afford an airconditioned building I'd sugjest a strong window fan.

M2,

I think we have a Morgan dealer in town, do you have any external pics, or what model did you get and how much was it?

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You can't see it too good behind the tractor and tree but it's 10 X 16 ft.
I think they call it a "office" building. It comes wired, door locks, insulated, wood paneled and ceiling light. The wall is built for easy installation of a window AC. I had them build in only one window.
I've had it for over ten years. It cost a little under $5,000 then. I have no idea the cost now. They are expensive but really fine buildings.

Or....you could just put a window unit in the existing garage.

I have a nice little 12x20 workshed that the previous owner built. Double walls and insulated.

I cut a hole in one wall and installed a "window shaker" a/c unit for summer heat and have a nice kerosene heater for winter cold. Right now I use a nice box fan in one window as a vent fan if I need to draw air out.

I also ran a 30amp line out to the shop with 4 circuits from it so I have fluorescent lights and plenty of outlets for just about anything I want to run.

It's SWEEEEEET!

But then again when we were house hunting I did tell my wife I'd agree to just about anything as long as I got my workshop!

I use 'window unit' in the generic sense, but they do make stand-alone a/c units nowadays that don't require a window. You could mount it overhead or just stick it in a corner.

I built myself a 12x16' shed with a partition in it....the partition was to give myself a "dirty" side and a "clean" side where the dirty side had my lawn tractor, gas, lawn equipment, etc... pretty much the side where I didn't want my 2 and 4 year olds going through. The clean side has a bench on it and I'm going to put a storage bench in there (specifically for my boys' outside toys).

If you build your own, I highly suggest getting a book from Home Depot or Lowes that shows some of the details (i.e. how the corner studs go up). I bought a black and decker book when I started and a lot of little things were explained. Since my shed, I've also built an elevated play house for my boys (on stilts about 5' in the air). So it's not too hard.

well, IF you do something like this, IF I WERE YOU, i would invest in some type of security system for it. most of those are really not intended for high security. at minimum, i would put contact see through paper on all the windows, make certain the doors could be locked fron the inside except one, which i would install a double dead bolt lock, and, again, at minimum, a baby monitor. the baby monitor would let you hear someone breaking in at night (probably the most likely time) assuming you are home. i have one in my garage, with the reciever on my nightstand next to the bed. you can hear everything with it. you also may have to check with your zoning ordances. of course, dont tell them what it is for, just tell them it will be a "hobby shed". thats all they need to know.

Make sure everything is bolted down way beyond code requirements. I envision one of those Super F-Maximum tornados (the kind that suck the pavement right off the ground) sending the whole shed, gun safes and all, straight to Oz.

What about adding on to the house or garage? Can you "bump out" a wall even 8 feet?


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Here's a thought

You could build it yourself and save a pretty good amount of money or.... do what I did. I designed mine and had the kids at the high school build it for $100. A lot of high high schools do this as projects for their shop students. Moving it to your lot is the hardest part. If the school isn't set up to do that go to the local shed builder and they will move iut for a price. It cost me $150 but was worth the price. The best part is that you can build a much sturdier shed for less money.

What about adding on to the house or garage? Can you "bump out" a wall even 8 feet?

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When we built a barn/garage we had a 15x20 insulated shop included, with a space heater and through-the-wall A/C unit. Originally intended as a wood-working shop, it has become my guns/ammo storage/work area, including my reloading station. I get a lot of reloading done during the Kansas winters.......

Suggestion: Build a small room in your existing garage. Get one of the standalone air conditioners, and use that.

Suggestion #2: For the price of some of those sheds, you can buy an enclosed utility trailer. With an air conditioner on the roof.

Suggestion #3: Real RV. Just used.

Suggestion #4: Full sized detached garage/shop/toybox.

I have a small machine shop/workshop in my back yard.
The building has no windows, no external hardware on the "garage doors", and the only hardware on the walk-in door is the deadbolt. All the doors are visible from the kitchen, and a nearby streetlight provides adequate illumination.

I have a six foot privacy fence, but I make a point not to work on guns anywhere that is visible from the street if the doors are open. No sense in letting the local lowlifes know there might be something valuable inside.

Other than that, you need some really stout benches if you're going to have loading presses out there, at least if you form a lot of brass down from, say, .30-06 to 8.65x51 Mauser. If you plan on bullet swaging or mounting a barrel vise for action work, I'd recommend going nuts; solid core doors and angle iron, something along that line.

A friend of mine lost all his gun stuff in a fire; if you're building from scratch, it would be worth a little thought about fire resistance before you get started. My local FD will send a guy (their arson specialist; I guess he's underutilized around here) out to talk with you personally if you give them a call.

You might also want to talk to your homeowner's insurance company, to see if the outbuilding is covered under your main policy, requires a rider, or is uninsurable. This varies widely even within the same county. If the building is insured, document all your stuff photographically - digial images are almost free - burn to CD, and store the disks somewhere else, like with a relative or friend who doesn't live in the immediate area, in case of fire, flood, UFO disintegrator beams, etc.

You want LIGHT. Paint all inside walls and ceiling white, and add twice as many fixtures as you think you'll need, particularly around the walls where benches or equipment will go. I have twelve light switches in my shop; I usually wind up working at one end or the other, and can't see burning 800 watts lighting up dust bunnies 20 feet away.

Keep stuff up off the floor, six inches or so, where you can get down underneath to find the inevitable sproingy bits that make their break for freedom. Try not to put anything directly on the floor; anything that can't escape completely will hide behind or inside something else...

One idea I had, that I will probably never do, was to build a "disassembly box" sort of like a big sandblaster. I could stick an action or whatever in there, reach in with the gloves, and the inevitable ricocheting springs and itty bits that seem to vanish utterly would be contained within the box. Of course, the "stuff" has entirely filled the shop, so there's no room for such a box anyway...

Phantom, get one of those 3 buildings that you mentioned, and I'll meet your there, cleaning kit and rifles in hand!! Those are nice looking. You can't have one of the rooms inside the house? And if you need to do dremel/drilling work, you could throw a tarp down over the carpet, to protect it. At least in the meantime.

Well I am not the only one here..............

I have a "out building" its called man land. I have water and sewage out to it. I home brew my beer in it I have my wood stove in it and all my guns/reloading stuff. My house is very small and having a 2 year old made it a lot smaller. My shed cost $3k its roughly 10x28 with an attic. It has climate control for the summer months and my wood burner for the winter. It came as a rough shed like structure and I insuated wired and dry walled it. I even put in on a foundation for insurance reasons. ADT was more than happy to put a reportable system for me.