With a continuing interest in firearms and shooting, the weapon collection at 558L was growing to significant size with nowhere to securely store it. To help deter theft, unauthorized use, or accidental damage, a vault was needed for the weapons. Since the tenants of 558L are relatively poor (being students), the nice $2000+ gun safes are not affordable, and represent double the cost of replacing the firearms themselves.
After a bit of thought and measuring, it was realized that a spare storage room (occupied only with empty boxes) could make an excellent secure storage for firearms, ammunition, and other equipment. A weekend of work, a new hammer-drill, and some expansion bolts later, 558L was equipped with secure storage.
Here are some photos and description of the "safe" and its contents. There is no effort to keep this up-to-date, nor is any of the information guaranteed accurate. Use at your own risk.
Each 640x480 thumbnail is linked to the full resolution digital image for more detailed inspection.
The vault itself is a converted truck box. The box has been mounted vertically with 4 expansion bolts into the concrete wall of the house. As the truck box has been designed to deter theft, the locking mechanism is internal and will resist anything but a concerted effort to break open the box.
All corners are continuously-welded or bent steel, so the box is also fairly resistant to attack at the joints, although a cutting torch will certainly get through. The safe is not truly fireproof, unfortunately; the interior space was needed for the weapons and could not be spared for fireproofing.
Inside the vault is a set of shelves to hold ammunition, magazines, and handguns. Rifle are stored vertically on carpeting to protect the finish from the steel of the vault. Note that if any of the weapons are loaded, they are easy to deploy once the safe is open; if the keys to the safe are always handy, the safe provides a reasonable access time for home defense. For the most paranoid readers, install a combination quick-access safe with a loaded handgun next to the bed, which will allow you to fight your way to the full safe, where you can upgrade to the shotgun(s) and such.
Shelving alongside the vault provides storage for ammunition, cleaning supplies, tools, paper targets, cases, etc.
In addition to the weapons and the vault, there is also a space for reloading ammunition. Not all calibers are reloaded, since some can be bought cheaper than can be reloaded (e.g. 9mm). However, more exotic calibers (.44 Rem. Mag.) or calibers which can benefit from the precision of handloading (.308 Win) are reloaded. Note the single-stage press, drawer set to organize tools and dies, and the wall-mounted scale. Mounting the scale on 1/4" steel plate and bolting to the wall stabilizes the scale, allowing it to remain level and quiet while the bench is shaken by the reloading press. Note also the powder measure at the side of the bench - reloading non-target loads is vastly faster with the powder measure, which is repeatable to 0.1 to 0.3 gr depending on powder type. The bench is made entirely of wood to reduce risk of static discharge (spark) near smokeless powder or primers. The hole visible behind the powder containers is the bottom of a chimney which is open to the sky; in case of explosion, gases can vent through the chimney, limiting damage to the room and house.