Where do you keep record of your firearm inventory?

[Blue Thunder]

Mine are kept in an encrypted database on my iPhone with a 20 letter/number password that is backed up on the cloud. No printouts. No receipts of where I got them or from whom after the warranty runs out. My Glocks are no issue as I live 20 something miles from the Factory in Smyrna. If the password is wrong 10 times in a row, all is erased.

 

[DaisyCutter]

I keep a spreadsheet of all my property that has a serial number, guns included. I email an updated list to State Farm periodically, for my supplemental home owner's insurance policy. So I always have a copy in my "outbox".

Home owner's insurance only covers about $2000 in firearms, so I made sure to get a supplemental policy that covers what I actually have.

Ammo is considered a consumable, so it's not insurable. So ammo goes in the safe, lol.

 

[CapnMac]

I'm clearly leaner--information-wise--than quite a few of you.
I have a database reduced to a spreadsheet on the computer. Every time I have printed it out, it's obsolete before the ink is dry.

Whic is a legacy of the thing starting life as a Paradox database; it's a setailed listing. How detailed? Purchase date; who from ("XYZ Sporting goods"; "Bob at AstroHall"; etc.); how much; if there was a trade/trade in; rifle/carbine/shatgun/pistol; mfgr; model; finish; any special features; owned/not owned; if sold/traded how much; who to, if needed; and then comments. There's a cool 3d ribbon chart, too.

It's on my desktop on the D: drive. The D: drive gets backed up to C: (and vice versa) semi-regularly.

 

[Reloadron]

I keep a spreadsheet of all my property that has a serial number, guns included. I email an updated list to State Farm periodically, for my supplemental home owner's insurance policy. So I always have a copy in my "outbox".

Home owner's insurance only covers about $2000 in firearms, so I made sure to get a supplemental policy that covers what I actually have.

Ammo is considered a consumable, so it's not insurable. So ammo goes in the safe, lol.

I don't bother with the ammunition. It would take awhile to drag it all away and soon enough I need another safe. Safe space is a premium around here and the damn safe is pretty big. The only ammunition in the safe is a few loaded magazines.

Does anyone else not bother with an inventory of ammunition and not store ammo in their safe?

Ron

 

[SC Shooter]

I have a spreadsheet on my computer and on a thumb drive plus a folder in my file cabinet with the details and all documentation for each gun. A hard copy of my spreadsheet is kept in my safe.

 

[herrwalther]

Does anyone else not bother with an inventory of ammunition and not store ammo in their safe?

I inventory my ammo once a year. I keep my ammo well organized so I can see about what I have at a glance. The formal inventory is to know exactly how many rounds I have of everything. The inventory helps if I find ammo to something I have sold so I can sell/trade it for something else.

 

[DaisyCutter]

I don't bother with the ammunition.

20,000 rounds at an average price of 25 cents a round is $5,000 that I can't insure. So it goes in the safe. I can replace an FAL, but battlepacks of 7.62 NATO are irreplaceable. I spent dozens of hours cranking out 44 Mag cartridges. Retail is about 80-90 cents a pop. I'd rather lose the Super Blackhawk and keep the rounds I loaded up. The cartridges are worth more.

That's my logic.

 

[Reloadron]

20,000 rounds at an average price of 25 cents a round is $5,000 that I can't insure. So it goes in the safe. I can replace an FAL, but battlepacks of 7.62 NATO are irreplaceable. I spent dozens of hours cranking out 44 Mag cartridges. Retail is about 80-90 cents a pop. I'd rather lose the Super Blackhawk and keep the rounds I loaded up. The cartridges are worth more.

That's my logic.

I can see your point. For me storing ammunition in the safe just would not be practical. Thus my curiosity as to how many folks here store their ammunition in their gun safes.

Thanks
Ron

 

[Bobson]

There was a very lengthy, informative thread somewhat recently on the dangers of storing ammo in a safe.

 

[sirgilligan]

I use Gun Log SPC, and yes, I am the guy that wrote the Gun Log apps. I don't "harvest" anyone's data, or share it, I don't want it.



The apps can make a PDF file like the one above. It is just a made up report, not any firearm of mine, I just wanted to show it can show four photos.

The apps have only been free on a few special occasions over the years. The apps are really range logs (electronic range books) that also have your inventory, so it is used by many people as an inventory app, but that is not the purpose.

 

[cdk8]

I can see your point. For me storing ammunition in the safe just would not be practical. Thus my curiosity as to how many folks here store their ammunition in their gun safes.

Thanks
Ron

Personally I store ammo in Stack On GCB cabinets that I modify to make air tight, and then keep the humidity lower than I do in my actual safes.

 

[Screwball]

Does anyone else not bother with an inventory of ammunition and not store ammo in their safe?

First part, I like knowing how much ammo I have and of which caliber. As of today, 13,470 rounds spread across 18 calibers. Let's say I decide to drive out to Cabelas, and they have a sale on .44 Magnum. I look in AmmoBase and see I only have 40 rounds of .44 Magnum left. I can also tell that the ammo (Hornady LeverEvolution) was purchased at $1.05 per round. And if I really look, I can see pricing and where I got it from. Better way to make a decision on whether or not I want to buy.

Let's also say that Cabelas has American Eagle XM193 on sale. Say that 100 round boxes are $99... which is not realistic, but making up an example. I look in the app and see I have 1,100 rounds of that, and another 60 rounds of Federal XM193. The American Eagle was picked up at Cabelas for $42.99 a box ($0.43 per round). The Federal was $10.99 per box of 20 at MidwayUSA ($0.55 per round). Don't need it, nor should I be hosed with that pricing.

Having that info really makes better purchasing decisions in regards to ammo.

Second part, I store some ammo in my safe. It is pretty much spam cans, as I want weight in my safe to make it harder to flip (I have it bolted down, so it is just extra benefit) and protect easily removed ammo cans that hold a crap load of ammo. They also bump up shorter guns so it is a little added benefit with that.

I store the rest of my ammo in plastic ammo boxes that I've got from Cabelas over the years. Numbered so that I link ammo in AmmoBase to one of the boxes, so I can quickly grab what I need.

 

[Reloadron]

First part, I like knowing how much ammo I have and of which caliber. As of today, 13,470 rounds spread across 18 calibers. Let's say I decide to drive out to Cabelas, and they have a sale on .44 Magnum. I look in AmmoBase and see I only have 40 rounds of .44 Magnum left. I can also tell that the ammo (Hornady LeverEvolution) was purchased at $1.05 per round. And if I really look, I can see pricing and where I got it from. Better way to make a decision on whether or not I want to buy.

Let's also say that Cabelas has American Eagle XM193 on sale. Say that 100 round boxes are $99... which is not realistic, but making up an example. I look in the app and see I have 1,100 rounds of that, and another 60 rounds of Federal XM193. The American Eagle was picked up at Cabelas for $42.99 a box ($0.43 per round). The Federal was $10.99 per box of 20 at MidwayUSA ($0.55 per round). Don't need it, nor should I be hosed with that pricing.

Having that info really makes better purchasing decisions in regards to ammo.

Second part, I store some ammo in my safe. It is pretty much spam cans, as I want weight in my safe to make it harder to flip (I have it bolted down, so it is just extra benefit) and protect easily removed ammo cans that hold a crap load of ammo. They also bump up shorter guns so it is a little added benefit with that.

I store the rest of my ammo in plastic ammo boxes that I've got from Cabelas over the years. Numbered so that I link ammo in AmmoBase to one of the boxes, so I can quickly grab what I need.

My approach is similar but I am not quite as caliber specific. When I see ammunition on sale for a good price, if it's a caliber I shoot and quality brass I just buy it. Eventually I'll get to it. As to storage? I, for the most part, use metal ammunition GI cans. Currently just stacked on the floor with tags stapled to them identifying the caliber.

This summer while I have bought some ammunition I have shot quite a bit. This winter I'll load more. I have all the components I need. For me I should look at maybe getting some storage containers like StackOn stuff but for now the ammunition for the most part, in GI cans is stacked on the floor. I really need to address that.

I really don't give much thought to a round count. Pretty much at a glance I know what I have. If a specific caliber starts to get low I either buy some or load more.

Ron

 

[JohnKSa]

Part of why I keep an ammo inventory is so that I know what's old & what's new and can use it in an organized fashion. No sense in shooting stuff I bought last month when there's ammo from 20 years ago that hasn't been shot up.

 

[9mmfan]

It's all in a spreadsheet created in OpenOffice.

Saved to the hard drive, another copy on a thumb drive.

This has me thinking. Tomorrow, I will email a copy to myself.

Make, model, caliber, serial number. Other notes of interest that could identify in case of need. There may be dates of purchase included, though I don't remember off the top of my head...

 

[Penkop]

Hi Everyone,

No intention to hijack this thread, but do you guys realize how privileged you are?!

Over here in Darkest South Africa we have to do competency training for each category firearms you would want to posses (handgun, rifle, shotgun, semi auto, hand machine carbine, muzzleloader), then when you buy a gun you have to apply for a license at your local police station with a full motivation as to why you need this gun. Supported by dedicated sport shooters or dedicated hunters status etc gained from an accredited shooting club that is affiliated to a recognized shooting association.

Your application gets sent to the Central Firearm Registry for consideration, criminal background check and check if the particular firearm is legal etc. They also send out a policeman to inspect the safe you are going to lock you gun AND ammo in and if it is bolted to the wall and floor as specified by law... and if all goes well, you get your license issued to you within 6 months time...

Needless to say, this is quite a costly process... And yes, I can list all my guns by heart!

Another thing. Over here if your gun gets stolen, you the gun owner will be convicted as the criminal. A case gets opened against you to determine if you where negligent in any way.

Sorry, had to get that of my heart!

 

[ku4hx]

Started with Apple and 3 EZ Pieces (and Appleworks), moved it all to PC format and Visicalc, migrated to Lotus 1-2-3, then moved it all to Microsoft Excel and now I'm moving it all into LibreOffice Calc in LinuxMint 17.2.

I have various linked spreadsheets: Guns, Load data, Loading Inventory, Casting inventory and etc.

I'm a spreadsheet sort of guy from the good old days of the Apple 2 & 3 and later DOS, dBase III and the infamous totally blank screen run from keyboard commands.

 

[mgmorden]

Gun inventory I keep in a Google Drive spreadsheet. That basically protects it from fire or computer drive failure but placing it offsite and onto servers with lots of redundancy setup.

Ammo - I don't bother keeping log of my ammo. I don't keep large quantities of too much anyways. .22LR may be the exception. I've got about 5,000 rounds of .22LR on my ammo shelf. For everything else I have maybe a box or two of ammo. I keep a lot of components too though so I have reloading components to make quite a bit of ammo for most of my guns.

 

[JohnKSa]

No intention to hijack this thread, but do you guys realize how privileged you are?!

It's always good to get a quick sanity check and some perspective on how things are elsewhere. Thanks.

 

[Redstate]

Done! Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions... Got the inventory recorded/updated AND stored in multiple places plus electronically

Great incentive to hear from everyone... Thx

 

[Redstate]

It's always good to get a quick sanity check and some perspective on how things are elsewhere. Thanks.

Yep... Makes me even more vigilant about working to protect our 2A rights

 

[herrwalther]

No intention to hijack this thread, but do you guys realize how privileged you are?!

Not privileged. Many states are just as bad or worse about firearm ownership than how you described it in South Africa. Every single firearm I own and have owned would get me a felony sentence in my home state of New York just because of a number on a magazine. Even states that are "gun friendly" have to fight to maintain firearms in the hands of civilians. The Second Amendment of our Constitution is far from perfect, and turned into a platform issue when politicians open their mouths.

 

[Sheepdog1968]

I don't have any consolidated records. Insurance company didn't require serial numbers if stolen. Just a police report.

 

[Swing]

Excel spreadsheet list, scanned PDF version of approved NFA forms and related documents, hardcopies of both (and originals in the case of said NFA items) in a bank safe deposit box.

 

[TRX]

Pictures are almost free nowadays. Take pictures of both sides of every gun. Printing them is best. Office stores can do way better jobs than a cheap inkjet, and their prices are reasonable. A CD of pictures that the police, insurance agents, etc. can email is good too.

If there is an insurance policy that covers your guns, include a copy.

Record the serial numbers. And where you bought each gun and how much you paid for it. And the current value.

Print the list out on paper, and keep it somewhere OTHER than your gun safe. And keep another copy somewhere else. Mine is in a friend's safe deposit box. An envelope of copies of his important papers is in my fireproof box. It's the buddy system.