In recent years, I have been asked incredibly often how to store air guns. I decided to make a post and a video about it. I try to give practical tips but also take a closer look at the legal side (applicable for Germany).
ATTENTION: This post and video are not legal advice!
The legal side
As an air gun shooter, you must ensure that your air gun with a F-in-pentagon mark (under 7.5J) is protected from being carried away. You can do so by locking it in a container.
This sounds very theoretical at first.
What is a container? A container can be a box, a case, a gun case, a locker, but also a safe. Note, a locked room doesn’t legally count as a locked container. Thus, it’s not enough to lock the room where you keep your air guns.
For me, old lockers, in which I have installed fixtures, have turned out to be practical and expedient. However, you can also lock your guns in closets or other cabinets.
The safest, but also the most expensive alternative, is a gun safe. Legally, it’s not required. But especially if you have children in the house and choose a safe with combination lock, you can leave the house with peace of mind, without the possibility of something happening.
If you have a firearm certificate or a hunting license and are therefore allowed to shoot air guns with more than 7.5 joules, you need a gun safe anyway. You can keep your old A or B cabinet, if you’ve had it since before 2017. If you buy a new one, it must be a 0 or 1 cabinet.
Tips for storing air guns
I still have a few tips for storing air guns for you.
First of all, try to keep the air in the sealed container as dry as possible. This is important to prevent the metal parts on the gun from corroding (rusting).
I recommend you keep the small silica gel sachets. You can often find them in the packaging when buying any products or clothes. These draw moisture from the air. I’ve been doing this for a couple of years and have been able to distribute more than 50 sachets among my various cabinets.
It is also important that you roughly clean the gun of hand sweat and perspiration before placing it in the storage container. However, if I know the gun won’t be used for a while, I always play it safe. Then I rub all the metal parts with a very thin layer of corrosion protection. It protects the gun from rust even for months. There is nothing more annoying than taking your favorite gun out of the closet after many months and then finding rust on it.
Now I recommend you take a look at the video I made on the subject:
How do you store your guns?
Do you have a safe or do you have a different storage solution?
I’m looking forward to your experiences.
I hope you’ll be back next week!
Best wishes!
Yours, Andi