hiding things so no one can find them

[brucew44guns]

Without giving away all your secrets, has anyone in their meditations thought of an ideal and dry and safe hiding place to leave valuables---that no one on earth would likely find by just quick searching? Hate the thoughts of burying stuff, so that even I can't find it, and if it's buried it is not easy to retrieve. But what ever your thoughts I'd like to hear about it. I may want to hide my old John Deere tractor or something some fine day.

[2ndovc]

Somewhere in my house is a very nice, non-import, non reworked, re-finished 1895 Nagant revolver.
Cole air returns are great for short term storage.

Been about two years now and still haven't found it!

If you hide anything. Make sure you make a treasure map that only you can understand.

jb

[Modoc ED]

The heck with that!!!! I have trouble finding stuff I put away so I can find it later. Case in point. Eight or nine months ago I bought some Chicago Screws from MidwayUSA. I put them in an old prescription bottle and put them away in a place where I would be sure to remember where they were. I had the need for a couple of them two weeks ago. I've been looking for them everyday for the last two weeks.

One tip. If you hide something in a metal ammo can, be sure to hide it next to something metal (i.e., cast iron pipe, under a metal shed) so a metal detector won't be able to find it as a stand-alone item. Of course marking the spot with a piece of yellow tape so you won't forget where you buried/hid it would be a dead give away.

[mescalero1]

Domestic violence situation here two weeks ago,
guy hid two guns in the woods.
People tried to get me to help search for them,
No way!
What are you going to do with them if you find them?

[nemhed]

An old freezer sitting inconspicuously in the corner of the basement, reinforced and converted into a safe.

[Modoc ED]

Like this. A freezer has a built in key-lock. Very effective for storing firearms and accessories.

[O.S.O.K.]

I've actually given this a lot of thought.

If you live in a house with pier and beam construction, you could construct a hidden floor "cubby" with a compartment reaching down to the ground - disguised on the outside as a pier or some sort of piping, etc. or... you could create a false wall in a closet with a gunsafe sized space behind it - put a clothes rod in front of it to make it more inconspicuous. Another idea is to create a false botton on a piece of furniture - a 4" space can hold several handguns and plenty of ammo.

Just use your imagination.

[oic0]

Who are you hiding it from and would you need quick access to it? You get a DUI or something?

Anywho, I would go with under the insulation in the attic. Who wants to get all itchy searching there? Maybe buy a large bag of silica gel in a cloth bag. Cut a seam, dump a lil bit out. Stash a couple handguns in it, sew it back up. Stick it somewhere that it looks to be doing its job... coin collection, old books, old photos, etc.. Be creative

[mescalero1]

With two shops, it is easy to hide things amongst the machinery.
People think, it's just a shop.

[Modoc ED]

Want to bury something on your property but afraid someone will find it with a metal detector?

Salt your property with steel shot. Easiest to do with a shotgun but if you live in a congested area just throw some steel shot or ball bearing over your property and push it in with a roller or your feet. It'll drive anyone using a metal detector crazy as they'l get a hit wherever they look.

[mescalero1]

Once saw two ( I believe ) Portugese AR-10's
that the owner had believed he had preserved and buried correctly.
The receivers were pitted beyond use.

[madman4570]

Get one of the big old style cabinet TV's(stick where it appears its unused, somewhere out of the way)
Take out most of the insides except fron looking at it from outside it looks normal.When you need to get at somthing,grab your cordless drill quickly remove the 4 screws on the rear backer board and your in.Just make sure the electric cord still shows coming out of TV even if its just stapled to the inside cabinet wood.Who would think to look there/excepyt you guys now!

[Old Savage]

Aw now Madman - you're not foolin' me - there is nothing in the TV.

[J Miller]

hiding things so no one can find them

I did that once. I put (hid) my common sense in a safe place so I'd not loose it. Never found it. I suppose that's why I ended up in IL.

Joe

[Otto]

Alot of people I know still have a huge cabinet full of old LP's- Guy Lombardo, Herb Alpert, Hank Snow, Blackwood Bros...

Anyway, one could add to his collection from a flea market, and make something similar to the ol' hollow book. Who the hell is going to flip through 100 or more records by Perry Como and Dean Martin expecting to find a 1911 and 4 spare magazines?

EDIT When you glue them together, prop them upright on a flat surface and stagger them slightly, so they don't look too neat and uniform compared to the others in the cabinet.

EDIT lots of large appliances such as washers, driers, cabinet-televisions have enough dead space inside to store a handgun, or maybe even a disassembled EBR. A skilled tinkerer could modify the body panels for quicker access.

Most wooded areas are littered with downed trees, rotting logs, etc. A hollowed log, with a properly sealed container inside, and the opened end partially buried and obscured by leaves and debris, would last a few years.

[madman4570]

Aw now Madman - you're not foolin' me - there is nothing in the TV.

O.S. you know me too well,friend!

[bogus bill]

After dad died I thought I would change out the old batterys he had in some defunct flashlights that he kept in his assisted liveing room. They were full of quarters! I knew a guy that found gold coins in a old house by unscrewing those big wood balls off a hollowed out stair rails.

[Sixgun]

Hiding things---the story of my life.

I hide things from my wife (in the earlier years)

I hide things from my boss. (idiot-would love to fire me)

Gotta hide other things because if other family members think you have something or too many of this-or-that, well, they want a piece of the action.

Small things can easily be hidden behind light switch covers.

Redneck? leave a junker car/truck out back and unbolt the cylinder head--lots of room to hide things in the cylinder walls--or trunk--spare tire-under seat--under dash--heater ducts.

Have a junky area around the house with lots of spider webs? Just toss it in there.

Behind dresser drawers

Mounted animals

Long guns? Buy a lot and no one will notice more

Money? Military ammo cans and stack it with 50 others

Got a basement? Cut the morter around a couple of cinder blocks, put 'em out and dig.

Safe deposit box

John Deere? or something big? Rent a storage shed--ask a buddy--Don't laugh, back in the early eighties, I HAD to hide a John Deere 20 horse with a 60" deck--I have lots of "good buddies"---cops got it anyway ------------------Sixgun

[Otto]

Redneck? leave a junker car/truck out back and unbolt the cylinder head--lots of room to hide things in the cylinder walls--or trunk--spare tire-under seat--under dash--heater ducts.

My father, like most people I know from his generation, has several old sheds and barns full of old tractors, machinery, semi-truck parts, various engine blocks and miscellaneous machinery and gadgets. Cans, crates and toolboxes filled with every imaginable screw, bolt, hinge, flange, wrench , widget...

Then, of course, there is all the old abandoned machinery sitting around the farm: balers, mounted cornpickers, old pickups...

EDIT When I was a kid, I discovered that one of the squeeky steps on the stairs leading up to the bedrooms, was squeeky because it was no longer nailed down. lift it up, and there was a little footlocker of sorts.

[awp101]

If anyone finds my marbles, can you please PM me? I misplaced them years ago...

[Rusty]

of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most.

[adirondakjack]

Better make ye a treasure map and be able to figure it out. Otherwise "putting in a safe place" and "losing" are about the same thing. I seem to forever BUY things because I can't find the one I already own after putting it "in a safe place".....

Now for PURPOSEFULLY hiding stuff, a variant of the old "revolving bookcase" of the mystery novel in real life involves a freestanding set of shelves hinged to the wall on one side, with a hidden caster or two under the other side. I knew an FFL once who seemed to "forget" to enter guns in his bound book if they were left for work and he expected the owner to pay cash for the work. (He maybe didn't wanna pay ALL his taxes???) He had a book shelf in the back room of the shop, even had some reloading books on it, that when pulled out from one side, revealed a space in the wall where the sheetrock had been removed, and 2X4 shelves nailed between the studs. The next space between studs was a vertical long gun rack... I caught him retrieving my pistol from his hidey hole when I came to get it.

[stretch]

I once lived in an apartment where there was trim around a closet door
on the inside. The top trim board could be removed (with a little
persuasion!), and there was a nice cavity behind it. 'Course, the
hidey-hole wasn't fire-proof, but nobody was gonna find my cash.

If you need to hide a few thousand bucks long-term, put them under the
drywall in the floor of your safe. (Your safe is bolted to the concrete
floor, now isn't it ? LOL!) Ya can't get at it in a hurry, but for an emergency
it's awfully safe. (Sorry - bad pun there.......)

A holster (cheap Fobus, for example) screwed under a large piece of
furniture (something hard to tip or a built-in), will provide pretty quick access, and
will confuse a metal detector if it's made with screws or other metal hardware,
or if metal objects are stored in it.

-Stretch

[adirondakjack]

Of course, if all we are concerned with is a small space like for some cash, a drain "clean out" in the garage or workshop floor works. I have one I picked up (free) designed for use with iron pipe. It is made of lead, and has a brass threaded collar and brass lid on top. It was designed to be "flamed into" an iron pipe. Kinda looks like a big capsule with a brass cap on one end. I always thought it'd be great just stuck in the ground outside the house, with the brass cap flush with the ground. Who would open it, especially if far from the "real" plumbing.

[765x53]

I once stored a gun in the attic. It rusted everywhere it touched the fiberglass insulation.

[horsesoldier03]

Lots of places. Of course I still havent found where I hid them. They dont call it HIDE AND GO SEEK for nothing!

[AJMD429]

Long guns? Buy a lot and no one will notice more

THAT'S some good advice...I like it...!

My approach is to be so messy nobody (including myself) can find anything...

[madman4570]

Scary thing even though I am kind of neat???? (neat meaning things organized, not neat(cool) person)
You can find your stuff better than I probably can!

[cowboy-32/20]

I'm STILL looking for my memory

[jhrosier]

If I want something to disappear, I give it to my wife and tell her to put it in a safe place.
Unfortunately, I have never been able to get any of the items back.

Jack

[BenT]

My father in law hid his guns in the machinery shed rafters that were about 14' up. Just had abunch of old doors across the rafters and guns were all in a row in cases. He just parked the tractor under it and climbed up on the fender to get them when he needed it.

I use the fake cold air return that swings down . Guns are on hangers screwed into the joist. Magnets hold up the tin . Just pull on one end and the other is pinned to the joist and swivels. Good luck !

[TomF]

I doubt a thief would look real hard in a little girls room or toy box. I have hidden many valuable things there.

TomF