[Norton]

Anyone have some comments on the Champion brand of safes? I inspected a couple tonight and they seem like quite a good value, given the price, fire and theft protection....

How do these stand up to some of the other major brands?

Here's the model I'm considering...

http://www.championsafe.com/pages/products/challenger.html

[blades67]

I think most safes built today offer about the same protection.

[Kingcreek]

I looked at the champion safes recently. Very solid- much better than my Browning fire-res safe.

[Norton]

I'm not sure what price point/protection level that I saw in the Liberty, but it was not nearly as substantial a unit as the Champion.....could be I was comparing apples and oranges, though.

I figure that $1250.00 is a relatively small purchase when you consider that even with my 3 handguns, I've already got $1300.00 tied up in them.

[CB900F]

Norton;

Please see my comments under the thread "Just Got A Safe" by Peetmoss. Champions are RSC's. 900F

[JohnBT]

The Liberty Lincoln appears to be a very similar safe. Possibly the model a step down, too, but the catalog is downstairs and I don't remember.

The Challenger, from what I just read, might have an extra relocker and better hardplate, but it still has the same thin 1/8" steel body that the mid-priced Liberty has. I'm starting to believe they're all sort of the same. The top of the line Libertys only run 3/16". I went with Liberty because I could get it delivered inside.

Just out of curiosity since I bought one already, what does a 35 cu.ft. Challenger run? I did a little searching, but couldn't find much in the way of prices. The 35 c.f. Liberty with textured paint was just short of $1700 to the east coast.

Yeah, I wanted a $5k safe, but it wasn't going to happen. At least now the crackheads will have to work a little. Maybe I'll leave a few C-notes on top the safe to encourage them to leave and go buy a couple of rocks. That way they won't scratch up the paint.

John

[rock jock]

Norton,

I bought a Chamption Challenger safe for Christmas last year based on quite a bit of research I did. I think the Chamption safes offer the best quality/price value on the market. I am very pleased with it. PM me if you want any more info.

[MikeK]

Norton;

I've had one for a couple of years. Very pleased. Did some research and it appeared to be the best value in the area. If you attend the Silverado Gun shows, Thompson's in Frederick usually has a display. That's who I bought from. Delivery into the house was $200. Always a factor. A place in Gaithersburg wanted $375 per hour including travel time.

I have the challenger 25 model 60x25x30.

[Norton]

JohnBT: The prices on the two smaller Challenger35 is around $1450 or so.....I'm thinking about the 25 at $1250.

RockJock: Glad to hear that you think it was a good choice....from what I could tell, it was a pretty good unit at that price point.

MikeK: Actually it was Thompson's I was talking to......the guy seemed pretty knowledgeable about the product and would deliver it here (80 miles from Frederick) for $225.00

[Trashman43]

I purchased a safe from Sturdy Safe in Fresno, Ca. About a month ago. Ceramic lined to withstand 2300 degrees F., extra hardplate, gold plated hardwear, standard interior. the size is 60x38x27. Cost about $1650, with shipping. Why I chose it was the 8 gauge steel its made of. Just another thought. Good luck trying to figure what may be best, took me a while. Like what was stated in one of the other posts, when you have $$$ (in my case, 5 grand), in different guns, you just might need a safe.

[SanduneCC]

My dealer told me that Champion is made by the same people (or formerly same people) that makes Liberty. Consider it a Liberty without the high price tag. :D

[Chairman Meow]

I have the Champion CH-50 and I am quite pleased with it. It is the biggest safe that would fit through a normal door in my house, but I could easily have made use of a much larger one. I had to take out door frames just to get this one in!

Whatever the capacity listed is, don't plan on keeping more than about half that amount of guns in the safe. You just can't put one in every slot, especially if you need to take them in and out very often. I have 3 double barrelled shotguns, 3 bolt actions, 1 pump gun, 3 22's, a few assorted carbines, my ar15, and a half dozen handguns in it right now. I could probably fit another 10 weapons in it if I tried, but most of them would be rather inaccessable. That would come to about 25 guns, which is half of the listed size. You can always keep the most frequently used guns up front, but this is just something you should keep in mind when choosing the size. My advice has always been to go as big as you can afford and/or fit into your house without making large holes in the walls. :D

I have installed a browning lighting system which is the cheapest one I could find, I think I got it from Cabellas. Works very well so far (about 1 year of use).

[nemesis]

Champion Safes; of Provo, Utah; was busted by La Migra for employing vast numbers (about 2/3's of their employees) of illegal immigrants. Now, they are openly discussing moving their operations to Mexico. I don't know if this is important to you but it's worth knowing.