Gun Safes

[gino_aki]

A closet and a vault door, several sheets of 1/4" steel, bolt the corners together in the closet, install a top and bottom. use two layers of steel with a layer or two of drywall between. Leave the closet door intact in front of the vault door.

Jim

That's a great idea, but not an option with the current house. We don't expect to be here too long so we're renting a place and I can't make any changes. Also, there isn't a closet where I'd like to put it, so I'm pretty much stuck with a safe one way or the other. When we get to someplace we'll be a while I'll likely build a false wall in the back of a closet and put the safe behind it....with steel and some drywall for added protection. They won't steal what they don't find! I'd probably leave my small safe somewhere visible with a few inexpensive guns in it as bait. R,

With the firing pins shortened so as to make them unfireable.

[RCNet]

I really like my American Security BF series safe. It's well put together and has a higher fire rating than the comparable safes I looked at when I did my shopping.

http://www.amsecusa.com/

[halogrinder]

i have a 14 gun sentry safe. my BIL does safe installation and sales, and chuckled when i told him what safe i have

those are NOT safes... they are secure lockers. they DO NOT protect your junk, rather give you a fake sense of security. he has some safes that have been broken into in the corner. its amazing. there is a safe in the corner that has 8 gauge side walls..... pretty thick for a normal safe you normally see @ a major store. a 10lb sledge and a firemans axe comepletely ripped the side open.

i got a 1" thick wall safe from him that came from a pawn shop. the only thing getting inside it is a torch or cold saw. no way this is going to be pryed, or moved away. it wasnt furnished inside, just bare metal. no issues, some carpet and a little elbow grease and it wil be finished off nicely. all the good nice and expensive stuff goes in that, projects and "meh" stuff goes in the sentry safe.....which i use as an ammo safe now.

his motto and i like it:

buy once, cry once.

[G-ManBart]

With the firing pins shortened so as to make them unfireable.

Nice touch! R,

[G-ManBart]

I really like my American Security BF series safe. It's well put together and has a higher fire rating than the comparable safes I looked at when I did my shopping.

http://www.amsecusa.com/

I have looked at Amsec as well. They seem to make a good safe and their fire rating looks good. I've been struggling with the whole fire rating thing because not all the companies use the same testing company so it often winds up being apples-to-oranges. I guess with the better brands it's not as much an issue, but still it would be nice to compare directly.

That's one of the reasons I want to talk to someone in the industry and see what they recommend, without using dollars as the determining factor. I'll bit the bullet to pay a little more if it's really worth it and plan on going two sizes bigger than I really need right now in the hopes that it'll last a long time. R,

[uscbigdawg]

Bart - On the Invincible safes, Vinny got a call from one of his clients in Florida (I think) that has one of them. The guys broke in to the house and spent 4 hours (the cops determined this by the lookout guy's pile of cigarettes) trying to cut through the safe. In the end, they got through, but they didn't get everything that was in it. The hole was only like 8" square.

Rich

[kevinj308]

http://www.6mmbr.com/gunsafes.html

Here's a good article about safes, might help out with the fire rating questions.

Wanted to add my vote for the Zanotti, may not have the fire protection you're looking for but its nice to be able to move it by yourself. I have their largest model and the door weighs 175lbs. I can move it by myself with a little creative blocking and a hand truck.

Kevin

[vernbo]

Did you know if you drive off the island west on Van Horn over to rt. 23 at Dundee there

is a Cabela’s with lots of safes.

I get over there when I visit my brother he lives in Taylor.

[G-ManBart]

Did you know if you drive off the island west on Van Horn over to rt. 23 at Dundee there

is a Cabela’s with lots of safes.

I get over there when I visit my brother he lives in Taylor.

I did know there was a Cabelas in the general area. I planned on heading over there to take a look as well. It's been a long time since I've had any sort of major stores within normal driving distance!

[G-ManBart]

I figured I'd follow up with this since so many folks gave great advice. I was really interested in the Invicible line, but finding one to look at locally was an issue and I didn't get far enough to sort through pricing, which I suspect wasn't inexpensive.

After doing a bunch of research and looking at a decent number of safes I went with a Liberty National Security Magnum 50 in black cherry. A dealer up in Flint had it (he had at least one of most models of Liberty and a few others) and now I just have to schedule delivery. They also had a sale that dropped the price a nice amount from listed retail or if you order online. It'll be somewhat in an area most folks won't notice on first glance, so if someone breaks in when we're out of town (no dogs left in the house) they may see my small decoy safe and never even get to where the big safe is....hopefully. I know it won't be like having a vault built into the house and a professional thief will be able to defeat it, but within the limits of the current house it's about as good as I can expect and it'll definitely stop the smash and grab thiefs. The next place will likely have a false wall/room etc.

Here's a link to the details on it:

http://www.libertysafe.com/safe_magnum.php

Edit to add: I did check out the safes at Cabelas and their better models are all Liberty safes....I didn't care for some of the graphics so I went with a standard Liberty...and the prices weren't really any better (although it seemed like they had cheaper delivery options).

Edited September 19, 2009 by G-ManBart

[AR Gunner]

I hope the Liberty fits your needs. I like mine a lot.