How to Store Your Guns and Garden Equipments for Winter

Knowing the proper ways to store your equipment during the winter, both for your guns and gardening tools, ensures that they stay in tip-top condition when the season passes. In bad case scenarios, guns have been found rusted due to improper storage, and Riding Lawnmowers cease to function all together. Keeping your equipment the right way makes sure that you'll be able to use them the same way before you kept them.

Let’s begin! Place all the equipment you intend to store on a table. Collect them and begin preparing them for storage one by one.

Step 1

You can't simply lock your guns in a case or a cabinet and call it a day. You need prior preparations, and this applies to your garden materials as well. Prepare your cleaning materials such as a brush, rags, cottons swabs and patches, anti-rust waxes, luster cloths, and cleaning oil for your guns.

Step 2

Start with the simple garden tools-- sheers, hoes, rakes, and the like. Start wiping the grimes, dusts, and mud that had accumulated from using these tools. Simply drench a cloth of water and start wiping and drying. Make sure you wipe the blades thoroughly for tools such as machetes and garden sheers.

For your guns, start by drenching a cotton ball with a heavy dose of cleaning oil and stuff them in the barrel. Let the cotton set for a full 10 minutes. Remove the cotton; it should come out with heavily contaminated with fouling. Run an oiled rag down the barrel with a brass brush (also oiled). Keep wiping the barrel until the rag can't collect anymore dirt and gunpowder residues. When this happens, take another oiled rag and repeat. Do this until the rag removes the last of the fouling. After that, wash your brush, take another set of clean rag, and repeat the previous steps to clean out oil.

Step 3

If you have a Ride-on Lawn mower, the first thing you need to do is pour an adequate measure of fuel stabilizer in the fuel tank. Turn on the mower for a few minutes to let the stabilizer flow throughout the rest of the engine. After that, fill up the tank and it's good to go. The full tank of fuel should prevent the fuel tank from rusting and clogging, and the stabilizer's purpose is to keep the fuel fresh for the duration of your storage.

Getting back to your guns, wipe the exterior with a luster cloth, starting with the handle, the outside of the barrel, and all the way to the hard-to-reach corners such as the trigger guards. Set the gun on a flat pile of blanket.

Step 4

Remove the battery of your Ride-on mower, and clean it from top to bottom. Move around your mower while hosing down the dirt and leaves. Don't forget to clean the underside, also. Make sure the blade is free of debris. After that, wipe the mower dry. Store it in a dry area, like an enclosed garage free from any roof leakage.

For the rest of your garden tools, it is recommended to keep the wooden handles wrapped with cloth or newspaper for the duration of the storage. The cold may cause the wood to crack, and wrapping ensure it stays warm. Lock the garden tools in a dry cabinet where cold air and water can't accidentally enter, preferably in the same place where you kept the Ride-on mower.

Lock your gun in a gun case, and store the case someplace dry. Anywhere is fine, as long as it's clean, dry, and private (the last thing you'd want is gun theft).

How to Set Up Your Living Room for Proper Defense

In case your home gets under attack, and you are in haste in getting to your guns, the last thing you want is bumping and falling over your furniture and tables, breaking glass and ceramic ashtrays in the process.

Setting up your living room for proper defense is worth the workload in the long run. This means arranging your living room to maintain easy access points to your gun.

Take a good look at your living room and try to visualize a desired arrangement. Remember, you're looking for a living room arrangement in which you can easily access your guns from wherever you are in you room. At the same time, you would want to keep the gun in a secret location where visitors (whether they are invited or not) cannot accidentally 'stumble upon.'

The first thing you're going to do is to keep the center of your living room as clear as possible. Keep only your recliner chair, a set of sofa, and a table where you want to put your drinks while you watch television. Other unnecessary furniture such as regular chairs, foot rests, and antiques should be kept away from the corner, or just in another room altogether. This way, you won’t have to weave through (or stumble over) any obstacle when you're trying to reach for your weapon.

The next thing you should do is to keep an eye out for potential hiding places where your guns can be kept within reach. Here are the best places to store your guns in the living room:

1. A T.V. Cabinet - If your television screen rests on top of a small cabinet, a good place to store your guns would be in a gun case inside it, among your other belongings such as D.V.D.s and ashtrays. It’s also a good idea to keep the gun case hidden behind a stack of empty D.V.D. cases.
2. A Bookshelf - Have your favorite recliner chair sit close to a mini-library, and hide a gun case behind a stack of books. Unless an unwanted visitor comes to your home to steal books specifically, a bookshelf is the last place he’ll stumble upon. Make sure to place it as high as you can reach, behind a stack of seemingly useless books such as outdated dictionaries and newspapers to discourage invited guests as well.
3. Under your favorite recliner chair - This is a good idea if you have no kids living in your home. Otherwise, abandon this option as you would want your guns as far away from children’s reach as possible. A gun case in a dark space underneath your favorite sofa or chair is an effective hiding place for your weapon. In case when you’re seated, relaxed and watching television, then all of a sudden you hear a window break in another room. Your gun is exactly where you need it to be, and all you have to do is reach down, take the gun out of the case, and take a defensive position. You’ll be prepared for whatever invades your home.

Busting Your Gun Safe Concerns

It's one thing to own a gun – it gives you a sense of security, and holding your own gun in your hands can give you a feeling of pride and power. However, power comes with responsibility, and this applies to gun owners as well.

As a gun owner, you have a responsibility of keeping your gun safe from untrained individuals, and making sure that the only ones allowed to get a hold of your gun is you, and the people who you trust with it. In fact, in some countries, it is required by law for all gun owners to own a gun safe.

Just as a safe keeps your money safe from thieves and prying eyes, a gun safe locks your gun away for safekeeping, away from the reach of children and untrained individuals. However, just picking any metal box with a combination lock won't do. You also have to keep in mind the degree of security, and the ease of access. You have to make sure that it keeps your gun locked tight, and at the same time, easy to take out. This article is all about breaking that paradox to find the best priced gun safe.

Here are some gun safe options you can try:

Pistol Box Handgun Safes

These kinds of gun safes have the appearance of a small money safe. They're a bit heavy due to the heavy-duty metal they're made of, but they're portable enough to keep almost anywhere you want – under your desk, under your bed, and under your favorite sofa. However, the drawback of this safe is its ease of access. A simple box-shaped safe requires a key or a combination to be unlocked. This means that it's possible for you to lose the key, or someone else could memorize or crack the combination. Also, padlocks can sometimes prove to be hassle to open, especially when you're in a rush to get your pistol.

Biometric Gun Safes

There are various safes of this type. There are small sizes made for your handguns, large ones for shotguns and rifles, and cabinet-style types that are made to fit numerous handguns and rifles altogether. Just like most safes, biometric gun safes are made of heavy-duty material to ensure security and protection from shock, heavy impact, and heat. But what makes this kind of safe stand out is its dedication to security and ease-of-access. Biometric locks like handprint and fingerprint scanners remove the hassle of keeping a key (and consequences of losing it). Plus, pressing your thumb against the scanner takes lesser time than spinning the dial of a combination lock.

SpeedVault Handgun safes

When it comes to handiness, this type of handgun safe is second to none. It appears to be a modern scabbard for your pistol that you can attach under your desk. Plus, most safes of this type are made from heavy-duty material, so once it's locked, the gun won't be going anywhere. These handgun safes can also come with biometric features, so no one else can remove the gun but you. The only drawback, however, is that it doesn't keep your gun completely hidden.