{"id":1907,"date":"2025-11-11T08:52:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T08:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tactical-dailynews.com\/?p=1907"},"modified":"2025-11-11T08:52:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T08:52:32","slug":"get-organized-storing-your-gun-gear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tactical-dailynews.com\/?p=1907","title":{"rendered":"Get Organized: Storing Your Gun Gear"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Not just ammo or reloading components: If you have a supply of parts and accessories, label that bin as well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

If you can\u2019t find it, you might as well not even have it. Here we look at how to organize your gun gear.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

How many of you have heard of Marie Kondo? Don\u2019t be bashful; it won\u2019t create deductions on your man-card to admit it. She is an organizing genius who can make life easier. Unfortunately, it also makes your living environment simpler. Her idea of an ideal environment is pretty much bare walls and two to three of each item you need, all tucked in drawers out of sight. Getting her \u201cspark of joy\u201d doesn\u2019t always mesh well with our \u201clots of firearms and ammunition\u201d acquisition lifestyle. But being organized does.<\/p>\n

When I started this life of living with firearms, the mavens suggested organization with cans, glass jars and cigar boxes. Looking back, that was my first encounter with \u201clife wasn\u2019t so good in the \u2018good old days\u2019 epiphany.\u201d Basically, they sucked. So, what to do? How can you be better organized with the Marie Kondo \u201cthrow it out\u201d approach? Here\u2019s a few tips.<\/p>\n

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Stacks of containers with labels means you can identify the contents without having to open them. Which is good.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Get a Label Maker<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I have one on hand that has served me well now for more than a couple of decades. It is an ancient Brother P-Touch label maker. It is so old it takes six AA batteries to run. It has no Bluetooth, or WiFi capabilities. There\u2019s no USB port. All it does is print what I type, which is just fine by me. I use it to label storage boxes, loose-leaf binders and the boxes various firearms arrive in. Why? Because it is neater than handwritten labels, and I can color-code them.<\/p>\n

A quick jump forward here. Back when I started getting real organization on my system, my two brothers had access to my ammunition supply. (Yes, we had it all worked out; they weren\u2019t just sponging it.) I used color-coded labels to indicate what their choices were. Green stickers meant \u201cUse what you want, let me know.\u201d That way I could load up more, and they could replace the components. Blue was \u201cTalk to me before you use this\u201d because I had specialized loads that they might not find themselves happy using. And Red was \u201cDon\u2019t touch.\u201d Those were either irreplaceable or saved for emergencies.<\/p>\n

Now you may not have brothers who want ammo, but you might want to mark your ammo (or the bins they are in) with more than just \u201c9mm\u201d for example. OK, you have a label maker, now what?<\/p>\n

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Two containers, one legacy and one more modern. All data is on there, and each has its own 3\u00d75 card inside.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I was starting this organizing thing, there was a Big Lots store down the street from the gun shop. I found that the various shoebox-sized bins and others were perfect for storing my reloaded ammo. Cast bullets came in 4x4x4 cardboard boxes, but those boxes were not good for storing loaded ammo. They got tattered, they didn\u2019t stack well, and once they got grubby, they couldn\u2019t be cleaned. But the plastic boxes with locking lids solved all those problems.<\/p>\n

So now each load, or brass supply, gets a label on the bin into which it goes. The label can be as simple as \u201c9mm\u201d or it can be more involved. For example, the bins (bigger, for the most part) of 9mm brass that is range pickups and my own brass saved after a range trip, are simply marked \u201c9mm.\u201d I know what they are, one quick peek into the bin tells me what is in there, so that\u2019s all I need. But other bins, usually smaller ones, will be marked with caliber, source and uses, such as \u201c.32 H&R Starline new.\u201d This reminds me that the brass in there, however bright and shiny it is, is new, from Starline, and I don\u2019t want to be using it to load up practice ammo. It is for load testing and such. The mixed-brass 9mm is just commodity practice brass, but the Starline is special.<\/p>\n

Oh, I have ammo can, for sure. I\u2019ve accumulated a bunch of them over the years, and they have their own labels as to what\u2019s in them. The oldest ones have handwritten info, using masking tape. That is, until the masking tape falls off and I have to replace them with the Brother labels. One of these years when I\u2019m snowed-in I might just brew a pot of coffee and sit down and relabel them all. But not now.<\/p>\n

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These bins date back to the 1980s, and they\u2019re color-coded so my brothers could not create problems.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Get Handy Plastic Drawers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The brass bins can be stacked, but there are things you don\u2019t want to be unstacking and re-stacking bins for. I have a reference library of firearms and more come in on a regular basis. So, I need holsters and magazines for the pistols. Oh yes, each test gun arrives with a magazine or two, but let\u2019s get real. When it comes time to spend an afternoon hammering a plate rack to test reliability, who wants to do it with the sole magazine that came in the box? So plastic drawers on shelves, labeled (there\u2019s that label maker again), so I can keep track. I often don\u2019t even use the magazines that came with the gun, unless I just don\u2019t have some on hand that fit. That way the maker (or their PR agency) gets the pistol, box and contents back.<\/p>\n

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Plastic drawers on a shelf can be your friend. Clearly, there are some legacy cardboard boxes here, but it\u2019s all labeled.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Binders<\/strong><\/h2>\n

You will have to keep track of your reloading efforts. That means noting what bullets, powders, primers and cases you used to whomp up that stellar load you now use at club matches. Writing the details on the flap of the cardboard box the bullets came in only gets you so far. (I know \u2026 been there, done that, lost the box \u2026 you know the tale.) As a friend of mine in law enforcement has been known to remark, \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t written down it didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

When you go to chronograph a load (and chronos are now so inexpensive that there is no excuse) write down the detail before you go: bullet weight, brand, powder, charge weight, primer, cases. Then, once you are at the range, note the firearm used, and write down all the details the chrono reports. Yes, write down the extreme spread and the standard deviation. You might not need them. Or even know what they mean. But if you want to know later, you won\u2019t have it if you didn\u2019t write it down.<\/p>\n

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When you chrono your ammo (and you should\u2014you must) write it down. Memory is a weak reed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All this info gets written up on pages that are in your loose-leaf binder, with a label on the spine. Call it whatever you want but label it.<\/p>\n

And while we\u2019re here, invest in some 3\u00d75 cards. Yes, dead-tree info system stock. OK, this card goes into the bin with the ammo you\u2019ve loaded. You\u2019re thinking, \u201cI load one caliber, one load, why write it down?\u201d I thought that too. I loaded in the basement of the house where I lived. I wrote the powder charge for the three loads (one .38 Special, one .357 Magnum and one .45ACP) on the wall next to the powder measure. Then, I moved. I had forgotten, in the moving, to write that info down. I phoned the new owner, \u201cOh, we were just about to paint that wall.\u201d Saved by the bell.<\/p>\n

No, write it down. And include all the details: overall length, bullet, brand, powder, weight, primer, all of it. The card goes into the bin with the ammo. You can even note on the card what the load is for: practice, competition, hunting, whatever.<\/p>\n

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For your heirs, and to avoid problems, record all the useful info about your firearms and keep it stashed in a safe place. Again: Write it down.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And all these bins and loose-leaf binders need shelves on which to stand. You can\u2019t just stack them in the corner. There are only four corners in a room, and you\u2019ll need more than that. I\u2019ll leave style, construction and placement to you, but keep this in mind: Ammo is heavy. A thousand rounds of 9mm 125-grain FMJ weighs 21 pounds. .45 ACP weighs 33 pounds. Depending on how much you load (and if you use steel ammo cans), a shelf might be required to hold 150 pounds of dead weight. Keep that in mind when considering shelves at the big-box hardware store, or the discount furniture store.<\/p>\n

OK, so far we\u2019ve covered ammunition and the accessories. What about the firearms themselves?<\/p>\n

No, I\u2019m not suggesting slapping a label on each one\u2014not that any label would survive the rigors of use and cleaning. No, this is a longer-term perspective. The simple questions are: What is it, and where does it go?<\/p>\n

When I was working at various gun shops, we\u2019d get the occasional very sad visit. The widow, or the children of a deceased gun owner (back then often a World War II vet) and what was left. \u201cOh, his golf partner said Charlie always wanted him to have the [fill in the name of an expensive rifle or shotgun] after he died.\u201d Or the \u201chelpful\u201d gun club members who were happy to buy a firearm for more than \u201cthe $100 he said he paid for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is it? Write it down. What is it worth? Look it up and write it down. Who do you want to get it once you\u2019re gone? Need I say it? Write it down. Putting it all in a will is good, but cumbersome, and if you are in the habit of wheeling and dealing, trading and buying\/selling, it\u2019s expensive to update. But if you have a loose-leaf binder with this info, then that is the guideline your executor can go by. Oh, it doesn\u2019t have the legal force of a notarized will detailing things, but it does give your widow (or widower, let\u2019s not be sexist about this, eh?) info they otherwise would not have.<\/p>\n

And in this day and age of digital photography and inexpensive printers, you can easily take a few shots of important details like serial numbers and include the printout in the loose-leaf binder. Or manila folders. Or envelopes. Just get it written down.<\/p>\n

Getting back to the start, the Marie Kondo method would likely have you pare things down to one firearm in each category you use, collect or compete with. That would, for most of us, be very boring and certainly would not create the \u201cspark of joy\u201d she wishes for us all. Sometimes we (well some of us, anyway) like being in a sparse space but trying to live there all the time means giving up the amenities we\u2019ve gotten accustomed to. Like shelves full of loaded ammo.<\/p>\n

Get the spark, but don\u2019t get crushed under the clutter. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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This is the kind of environment in which Marie Kondo developed her aesthetic. While it can be very restful, it\u2019s hardly conducive to racks of firearms and shelves of ammo. We must adapt.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Editor’s Note:<\/strong>\u00a0This article originally appeared in the December 2025 issue of\u00a0Gun Digest the Magazine<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n

More Useful Tips For Gun Owners:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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