[Lupinus]

whats your take on gun cabinet's?

The gun safe is of course much more secure, both from security and if you spend the bucks fire, but gun cabinet's are nice if you want to display your guns.

What's your take? Waste of money? Wouldn't trust one? Good for display?

[Byron Quick]

I used to have one when I only had a few firearms. Nowadays, I have many more than a 'few.' They represent a serious amount of money and I keep them in a safe.

Even if I only had a few, I would probably still go with a safe. I wouldn't want to be responsible for a murderer killing someone with my firearm when I could have easily prevented it.

I'll buy a vault door and put on a spare bedroom after hardening one of these days. Then I'll display my firearms in the vault room.

[Vex]

A gun cabinet is a very classy, yet semi secure, way of displaying several firearms. Perhaps if you wanted to be able to show them to your friends, but not have it at hand for children to play with? Most of the cabinets keep another drawer is is a bit more secure for ammo and the like. The only problem is the potential for a burglar to bogart your weapons. If you have a good security system at your house that is monitored by a 3rd party, then you'll most likely be good to go. B&E alarms are a priority to police departments, because there's the potential for someone to be residing at the location at any time.

A gun safe is obviously more secure, especially if you get one of the 12 gun, 400 pound "Fort Knox" box. Lots of storage, usually a very complex combination, sometimes a keypad (and the new thing is biometric security such as fingerprints), very difficult to move if you have the safe full of guns and ammo, and they can be secured to the floor with gigantic bolts or to another object with the usage of a metal cable and a good padlock. Just don't rely on it for quick access to weapons, don't forget the combination, don't lose the key, and don't expect them to be inexpensive.

[Firehand]

Bad thing about the big, 'real' safes is that you may have to reinforce the floor to support the damn things, especially in an older house.

[PlayboyPenguin]

Bad thing about the big, 'real' safes is that you may have to reinforce the floor to support the damn things, especially in an older house.
My house is brand new which I think is even worse. I would have trusted my 1906 all solid wood house to hold it but my new plywood flooring one does not instill me with confidence. I chose to install mine in the utility room out in the garage. This way I was able to lag bolt it into 6" of concrete. I bought a 14 gun Sentry safe from Lowes for $380. No standard burglar is going to get into this thing. As for fire ratings, I am not concerned with that. if my guns are destroyed by fire I am insured and that means I get to buy more guns. I just want to keep them out of the hands of someone who might misuse them.:)

[Hawkmoon]

I bought a 14 gun Sentry safe from Lowes for $380.
Lowes sells gun safes? Was this bought from a store, or on-line? All I've seen at my local Lowes are those little 0.8 c.f. and 1.2 c.f. "keep your valuable papers safe" type safes.

[PlayboyPenguin]

Lowes sells gun safes? Was this bought from a store, or on-line? All I've seen at my local Lowes are those little 0.8 c.f. and 1.2 c.f. "keep your valuable papers safe" type safes.
I bought it at one of our local stores. I was suprised to see it. They said they just got them in that day.

[carnaby]

I'd like to get a new safe, but I don't have any room in the house. Would it be unwise to keep it in the garage? I live in Seattle where it rains a lot, but my garage is dry. I'm not sure about moisture in the air. It's cold in there in the winter.

[PlayboyPenguin]

I'd like to get a new safe, but I don't have any room in the house. Would it be unwise to keep it in the garage? I live in Seattle where it rains a lot, but my garage is dry. I'm not sure about moisture in the air. It's cold in there in the winter.

I am in Vancouver, WA and mine is in the garage. I have no moisture issues but I am going to put in a goldenrod just in case.

[f4t9r]

Because of the cost (guns) and the ever rising theft rate and teenage kids in and out of our house , I prefer the safe. I do like the looks of the cabnet and showing off the guns. I will not use one and my buddy that did use one had all his guns stolen. People know they can get fast money out of guns and the cabnet is just too inviting.

[ReadyontheRight]

As fun as it would be to stimulate conversation, I prefer not to display my guns anywhere but the range.

Safe for home. Trigger locks for transport.

[a1abdj]

I bought a 14 gun Sentry safe from Lowes for $380. No standard burglar is going to get into this thing.

Right....yours was the one sprinkled with the magic pixie dust before it left the factory. :D

The vast majority of gun safes on the market can be opened in under 5 minutes with a sledge, axe, or pry bar. Period. End of story. 12 gauge steel is 12 gauge steel (1/10"). It's not rocket science, and the steel doesn't become any stronger simply because it was formed into a safe instead of a mail box.

[PlayboyPenguin]

Right....yours was the one sprinkled with the magic pixie dust before it left the factory. :D

The vast majority of gun safes on the market can be opened in under 5 minutes with a sledge, axe, or pry bar. Period. End of story. 12 gauge steel is 12 gauge steel (1/10"). It's not rocket science, and the steel doesn't become any stronger simply because it was formed into a safe instead of a mail box.
Yeah, and we all know how often the average meth-head burglar comes loaded with these items for a break in...maybe I should just leave them layin out and save myself some money.:rolleyes:
I guess I shouldn't even bother locking my doors to my home since a rock can take out a window or a good clean kick can take down a door.

[Rembrandt]

I think all gun owners are proud of their collections....but lets get real. Who in their right mind would display a valuable coin collection, diamonds, jewelry, money, or whatever in a home display case for everyone to see? Add to that the fact that some states will hold you liable if someone gets hurt because your guns were not secured. Nope....the days of Gandpa's gun hanging over the fireplace or in the corner are gone. Safes are the only way to store firearms.

[Husker1911]

With my input, the stores I've worked in refused to sell display cabinets. If you don't have a safe/vault, why would you gather all your valuable firearms into one place? One could make the case that it's negligent to store guns in a cabinet. If I didn't have a vault, I'd store a few guns under the bed, a few in the back of the clothes closet, a few here, a few there. At least make a crook work for his ill-gotten loot!

[carnaby]

yeah, when I go on vacation, I store my firearms in strange places, since I don't have a safe. If there are any crooks reading this, then I really mean to say that I store all my guns out in the open. Actually I don't have any guns, but I have a nice blender in the kitchen cupboard that you're welcome to steal.

[Husker1911]

I keep a bottle of cheap whiskey on top of my vault. Hey, breaking into it's thirsty work, and I don't want my local crank head getting thirsty. I figure it could further cloud his mind and perhaps lead to slowing the work involved!

[a1abdj]

Yeah, and we all know how often the average meth-head burglar comes loaded with these items for a break in...maybe I should just leave them layin out and save myself some money.

Most people have these items in their home. These are normally found in a garage or workshop area. I have seen many safes (probably over 50 the last few years) attacked by "meth heads". Some were successful, others weren't. Many of these were attacked with items found at that location. How many have you seen?

I guess I shouldn't even bother locking my doors to my home since a rock can take out a window or a good clean kick can take down a door.


The difference is, everybody admits a kick can take down a door. I don't hear people saying "Yeah...nobody can kick this door down", the same way people say "Nobody is going to get in this safe".

People tend have reasonable expectations of windows and doors. People tend to throw all common sense out the window when it comes to safes, especially gun safes.

It's rare to have professional bank robbers these days, but I haven't seen a bank yet using a "nobody is going to walk off with one of these", "the police will be here before they can get in", "this will stop most thieves" gun safes.

[Husker1911]

It's true. All any safe does is buy you time. How much time relates directly to the quality of the safe. None are foolproof, or unbreakable.