Reader Tyler Capobres writes:
Like many gun guys, I don’t have a spare room or a lot of extra space for all of my guns and accumulated gear. My gun closet was a mess for the longest time before I finally broke down and decided to do something about it. Part of the problem was sheer laziness and part was due to the closet’s size. I had plenty of room for clothes on one side. I kept my guns and ammo in the center, and kept the tangled mess of parts, boxes and accessories on the other side.
I just sort of worked around all of the clutter, keeping some of it in different piles on the floor, and the most-used accessories and parts hung from a shoe organizer. Yes, the system was flawed, but I made it work until things finally had to change (read: I got married and I had to find a better solution).
I moved all of my guns and related equipment to a smaller closet in the spare bedroom, along with additional totes that needed a home where they’d be out of the way. But access to the main water shutoff valve was through the crawlspace in the far left corner of the closet, so that couldn’t be blocked. With less than one third the space I used to have, it didn’t take me long to bump into the shoe organizer and start spilling accessories and parts all over the floor. Something needed to change, and drastically.
I spent a couple hours online, scouring through products offered by Home Depot and Lowe’s. I was tempted to go with inexpensive plastic shelves, but that would require me to buy multiple bins for everything, which made it less inexpensive with each bin I needed.
Eventually I thought about buying a used tool chest on wheels. I could have multiple compartments for everything, and it could be easily rolled out of the way. Sadly, most that I looked at were not only expensive, but too tall. My wife wanted enough space so any guests staying over could still hang their clothes there. I had all but given up, when I came across the perfect item: a compact Husky-brand toolbox on wheels.
It’s not a revolutionary concept by any means, but fits my needs perfectly. At $80 it was more than I wanted to spend, but it was still cheaper than most of the other alternatives.
The top has small compartments for all the random parts and accessories I had accumulated, while the middle and bottom storage compartments let me stow larger items.
I use the middle compartment for knives, manuals and optics, while the larger bottom section is for all the camera equipment — including a tripod — I use for doing YouTube reviews. I can even leave the top two compartments at home and bring just the bottom portion with me to the range, which makes filming much less of a headache.
I’ll most likely pick up another one to be used for any ammo and accessories I need on range trips.
If you’ve been holding off on cleaning up your gun closet, work area, etc., I’d highly recommend a similar solution. It’s a small investment compared to the money you’re probably put into all of your guns and equipment. I wish I’d done something like this a long time ago. If you’ve found a different solution that works for you, I’d love to hear your experience in the comments below.
Tyler Capobres has years of experience torture testing guns, knives and gear to their limit. If he’s not writing about gun projects, reviewing products or mocking anti-gun zealots on Twitter. You’ll usually find him at the range. He’s the owner of thegoodgun.com, a website dedicated to all gun and knife enthusiasts.