Free gun inventory spreadsheet template

A ready-made spreadsheet for your firearms, ammo, gear and magazines. It’s free, with no sign-up and no email address, and it opens in Excel, Google Sheets and Apple Numbers, on a computer or a phone.

Download

• Download the Excel workbook (.xlsx, 7 KB): one file with four tabs, Firearms, Ammo, Gear and Magazines. Every cell is already set to Text, and the type of each firearm and gear item has a drop-down list.
• Or the same four sheets as separate CSV files, for any spreadsheet program: firearms, ammo, gear and magazines.

Each sheet starts with the column names, then two guide rows starting with # that say what goes in each column, then one example row. Delete the example and add your own. Rather write it by hand? Use the free printable inventory sheets (PDF).

What to record for each gun

One row per firearm. Only make, model and type are needed to start; the rest is what makes the list worth having when something goes wrong.

Ammo

One row per product: caliber as you write it (9MM, .223), brand, bullet_type (115GR FMJ), rounds_per_box and how many boxes you have. price_per_box gives you what a round costs and what the stock is worth; notes is anything else, like where it’s stored.

Gear

Optics, lights, lasers, mounts, stocks, triggers, holsters and the rest: kind, make, model and, if it has one, serial_number. A good optic can cost as much as the gun, so it belongs on an insurance list. on_make and on_model say which gun it’s mounted on (on_serial if two match), so it’s listed with that gun if the gun goes missing. The purchase columns work as they do for firearms, and battery_every_months is how often you change the battery.

Magazines

One row per kind: make, model, caliber, capacity (the rounds it holds), count (how many you have), price_per_magazine and notes. Count them once and you’ll know what to replace if a range bag goes missing.

Opening it

Spreadsheet programs like to “help”: type 10/22 and you get a date, type .223 and you get 0.223. The fix is to format the cells as Text before you type. The workbook already is; if you start from a CSV file or add columns, do it first.

• Excel: open the workbook. For anything you add, select the columns, then Format Cells › Text.
• Google Sheets: File › Import › Upload, then pick the workbook or a CSV. For a CSV, untick Convert text to numbers, dates, and formulas. Or upload the file to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets.
• Apple Numbers: File › Open, and pick the workbook. For new columns, select them, then in the Format sidebar choose Cell › Data Format › Text.

Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers all have phone apps that open the same file, so you can check the list at the gun counter.

Keeping it safe

A spreadsheet of guns, serial numbers and what they cost is a list a burglar would like to have, and a data breach would happily hand over. A spreadsheet is plain, unencrypted data: anyone who gets the file can read it.

• Keep it off shared drives and out of email. A file sent once lives in two inboxes for good. Google Sheets keeps the list on Google’s servers, readable by anyone who gets into your Google account, so give that account a strong password and two-step verification.
• Keep a copy offline. A USB stick in a safe somewhere other than the gun safe, or a printout kept with your important papers. A list kept only next to the guns can be lost with them.
• Know what a password does. Excel’s sheet and workbook protection only stops casual edits; it doesn’t hide anything. Excel’s File › Info › Protect Workbook › Encrypt with Password does encrypt the file, as strongly as the password you choose, but a CSV saved from it isn’t encrypted, and neither is a printout.

For more on what to keep and where, see how to keep serial number records, and for how the app protects the same list, our security page.

Keeping it current

• Add a row the day you buy something, while the receipt is in your hand.
• When you sell or transfer a gun, fill in the sale columns rather than deleting the row.
• Update the ammo counts after each range trip.
• Once a year, open the safe and check the list against what’s actually there, and update the offline copy.

For the whole routine, from photos to who should know where the list is, see how to keep a firearm inventory. If the list is for an insurer, read firearm inventory for insurance.

When a spreadsheet stops being enough

A spreadsheet is fine until you’re subtracting rounds by hand after every range trip, hunting for the photo of a receipt, or trying to remember how many rounds a gun has fired since it was cleaned. Arms & Ammo Log, for Android and iPhone, does those things: the ammo count comes off by itself when you log a range trip, each firearm holds its photos and receipts, and it counts rounds for a cleaning reminder. Everything is encrypted on your phone, and the app has no internet access and no account. It’s free for up to 3 firearms and 3 calibers.

It also imports this same spreadsheet. Save each tab as a CSV file, put the files on your phone, and open the menu (☰) › Import › Import from a spreadsheet. The guide rows starting with # are skipped, so you don’t have to delete them. The spreadsheet import page explains what the app reads from each column.

See everything the app does, or all our guides.