You’re a gun enthusiast and hobbyist. Every weekend or two you find yourself at an indoor range and you’ve been known to travel a couple hours to find the perfect outdoor range. As great of a hobby guns and gun collecting can be, it’s also important to make sure that you have a space where you can keep all of your weapons in a safe and secure environment A man cave gun room is what you need and these ideas will help you design that space to not only be safe and secure, but to also show your pride as a gun owner.
1) A Safe
The first thing your man cave gun room needs is a safe. Gun safety and proper storage are essential parts of being a gun owner, and this large safe will let you store up to 30 rifles, along with other types of guns. It has 1-hour fire resistance, which will protect the guns for a while. It will also keep flames away from ammunition if something catches fire. The safe has places for ammo storage, though your cave will likely have ammo boxes as well.
2) DIY Hide It
Hidden gun safes are a common enough practice, but this video shows you how to go a step beyond hiding the safe. With this project, you can hide an entire room behind a bookshelf. This is reminiscent of old movies with hidden rooms and is sure to impress anyone. It also functions as a safe room to hide in and have access to your guns if you need it. You can also hide a single safe, if you have a library in your man cave, and wish to hide some of your guns.
3) Cylinder Pencil Holder
Your man cave gun room may have nothing but guns and gun accessories, but it likely has a few other interests as well. If you have a desk in your man cave, this pencil holder will hold your writing tools and possibly some gun-cleaning tools, too. The holder is shaped like the cylinder on a revolver, with pens and other items stored in place of bullets. This is a neat way to extend a gun theme into the office area of the man cave.
4) Rifle Rods
Since you have a lot of guns to store, you will need ample gun storage; however, it is not enough to have a big safe. You need to have a well-organized safe to fit as many guns as you can. While your man cave may have room for more safes, they are expensive. It is best to fit as much as you can into each safe, while staying organized. These rifle rods increase the amount of rifles you can fit into the same space, and allow easy access to weapons.
5) Gun Cleaning Station
Storing guns properly will ensure that they are safe from theft, and will keep people from accessing them who should not. It also protects them from the elements, but they will need to be cleaned regularly. You never want to put a dirty gun back in a safe. This project gives instructions for building a gun-cleaning vise to add to your gun-cleaning station. You can also buy these in stores, but making them yourself will let you customize them for your personal armory.
6) Shotgun Shell Ashtray
Your man cave is not just a gun storage location. It is where you care for your guns and spend time alone or with trusted friends. While you are hanging out in your man cave, you will need an ashtray if you smoke. Rather than buying a generic ashtray, get this shotgun-shell themed one. This fits your man-cave theme as well as serving the practical purpose of holding cigarettes and ash while you are working or playing.
7) Bar
Your man cave may be a small closet-sized cleaning station with a small TV, but if you have a large man cave, it will include many areas for different entertainments. A bar is a classic entertainment that lets you enjoy a drink alone or with friends. If you have a bar in your man cave gun room, you will want these bullet shot glasses. The glasses each look like a bullet is moving through them, with the glass forming around the bullet like it is moving through the liquid in the glass.
8) Concealed Safe
While a gun safe can be hidden behind a bookshelf, that project is often best for concealing larger areas of rooms. This project shows you how to turn a mirror into a cabinet. Make sure to measure your safe before doing the project so you can be sure the space is the right size. Make sure you will have clearance for the safe handle, and for the safe door to swing open. The project should be done on an interior, non-load bearing wall.
9) Magazine Rack
Since organization is an important part of what your gun room does, it is essential to have proper accessories to organize your guns and ammo. If you store ammo in your gun safe, this magazine rack will help you separate out your ammo magazines, and make them accessible. This way, you do not have to worry about ammo being stored incorrectly, and you can access any ammo you need quickly by taking it from the safe.
10) Back Support
While your man cave gun room has many entertainments, you will spend a fair amount of time caring for and cleaning your guns. You will likely have a cleaning station and an area for assembling guns. When you are playing video games or watching television, you will want a soft chair to recline in, but while you are working at these stations, you will want something more ergonomic and practical. This office chair provides back support when you are working at your desk for long periods of time.
11) DIY Antique Display
While you naturally enjoy being around your gun collection and going out shooting, you will also want to recognize the history behind these amazing devices. It is likely that you possess at least one antique weapon that is worth displaying. This video shows you how to make a gun display rack that you can use to show off any guns that will not be stored in a safe. Make sure to store them safely when using this rack.
12) Thematic Coasters
Whether or not you have a bar, you will want to have drinks in your man cave. If you need to leave every time you want a drink, the man cave is not an effective retreat. That said, you do not want to deal with condensation in areas where a gun could be placed. These coasters keep condensation off tables, and they are gun-themed. The coasters and their holder combine to look like part of a 12-gauge shell casing. The bottom is non-slip, so you are unlikely to hit the coaster and cause it to slide when doing other activities.
13) Quick Access
Owning guns is often a balance between safety and accessibility, just as a gun man cave must balance the desire to display guns with the need to store them safely. You will want at least one safe in your man cave that allows quick access to a weapon for home defense. This quick access safe holds fewer guns than many safes, and it does not have damp-proof and fireproof features, but you can get to your guns in just two seconds.
14) DIY Bullet Peg Game
When you come back from the range, you likely have a collection of shell casings. Some of these can be reused or turned in, but if you are target shooting in your backyard, you may not have a good use for them. This simple and easy to make peg game lets you use some of those old bullets to make a classic game. This game is great because you can play it alone or with a friend. It is also small and takes little storage room.
15) Pistol Rack
While you likely own a lot of rifles, your pistol collection is not to be neglected. You may have a separate pistol safe, but if you need to store pistols and rifles together, this organizer will be invaluable. The organizer holds 8 guns in an easy-to-access position, in case they are needed quickly. This same organizer comes in several sizes, holding from two to twelve guns. It is resistant to rot and mildew and does not absorb water well, so it is ideal for keeping your pistols dry, too.
16) Shotgun Shell Humidor
Guns use up a lot of storage. If you also smoke cigars, you know that cigars can also take up a lot of room. If you are finding yourself pressed for cabinet space, consider this small humidor to store only the cigars you will need for a given day or two. This can be restocked from a larger humidor in another part of the house. The humidor is shaped like a shotgun shell to fit the gun room theme.
17) DIY Shotgun Shell Coat Rack
Shotgun shells are a great resource for man cave gun room decor. They fit a gun room theme, and you are likely to have plenty around, or know somebody who does. This video shows how to make a coat rack out of shotgun shells. While your man cave gun room is probably not right next to the front door, you will need a place to hang your coat or hat when you go directly there after some skeet shooting.
18) Bullet Chart
You are interested in shooting guns, history and antique guns, and maybe first-person shooter games. You likely know everything there is to know about your guns, or want to know everything you can. This chart will help you to learn and memorize bullet cartridge sizes, or show them off. It is a neat poster in that it is actual size and you can hold a real bullet up to it to compare sizes. This can be a poster in your gun maintenance area, or a gun room bar decoration.
19) Trigger Locks
If you want to put guns on display but know that you should always treat displayed guns as if they are loaded, an extra layer of protection is a good idea. These trigger locks can be put on displayed guns, or on guns in the safe. This will keep them from firing accidentally if they are jostled and mishandled by a less experienced friend when you collect them. This is a particularly good idea if you are displaying guns on a gun rack.
20) DIY Shotgun Shell Clock
When you are finished skeet shooting or hunting, do not throw away your shotgun shells. Instead, reuse them for your man cave gun room decor. Since you will need a clock to track time in your man cave, use these instructions to turn the shotgun shells into a gun-themed clock. Since you will be doing tasks that require a lot of focus at times, you will need a way to track time. This clock helps you both track time and use old shells for a neat decoration.
21) Desk Drawer Safe
While many of your guns are stored away in a larger, vault-like safe, you will want some stored near where you work. This safe is small and can fit into a typical desk drawer. If you have a desk area or bar in your man cave, you can tuck this safe away for emergencies. You can also put it in a drawer built into your gun assembly and cleaning stations, or make it its own concealed drawer.
22) Shotgun Shell Thermometer
Shotgun shell decor is a great way to decorate a man cave. It is an easy do-it-yourself project for a shotgun-lover, and is often nearly free. If you do not have the time or inclination to make your own crafts, or if you do not have shotgun shells to use, you may choose to buy decorations that follow that theme. This shotgun shell decorated thermometer lets you keep track of the temperature in your man cave. It is important to store some gun care items at a consistent temperature, and this thermometer will help while fitting the gun theme.
23) DIY Bullet Pen
If your man cave doubles as an office, you will need office supplies. Rather than buying a cheap pen at the store, take a little extra time to make your own shell casing pen. This video shows you how to turn a cheap pen and some shell casings into a shell casing pen. You can use the same size as the video, or experiment to find the right thickness for you. You can also cut the ink reservoir tube a little bit if you want a shorter pen, or if you struggle to get the length right.
24) Shotgun Shell Magnets
Your man cave gun room will have many metal storage containers to keep the guns and ammunition safe. That makes magnets the perfect way to display to do lists, checklists, shopping lists, or any other papers you need to help you keep track of and maintain your collection. These magnets look like the ends of shotgun shells, though the silver color is unusual. The shiny silver will stand out on most black safes, so they are always easy to find.
25) Bullet Tank Decoration
While shotgun shells are getting a lot of attention as gun room decor, many casing types can be used for decorations. This decoration from Amazon is a handmade tank sculpture formed from shell casings. The shell casings are hand painted bronze to make it shiny and show off the shell casings. It works as a decoration or as a paperweight. If you like to display other weaponry from history, this historic tank is the best option. You can also get a newer model tank decoration.
What are you looking for in a man cave gun room? Did we miss any ideas? Please let us know in the comments below!