ShooterMcGavin
Member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2007
- Messages
- 629
Is that what I look for, a "B rating"? Should I google that or do you have specific places I can start looking?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Best locking mechanism on a gun safe?
- Thread starter ShooterMcGavin
- Start date
- Status
Tom488
Member
Wow - you must sweat buckets every morning when you go to start your car, huh?
I have electronic locks on my safes. I use good batteries (Duracell), and change them every year. The locks will give you a warning if the batteries get low, and even if they crap out, you're not locked out. Simply remove the lock face, change the batteries, and you're back in business. Some locks also have a key backup, should something catastrophic happen to the electronics (you know, like an EMP
)
ShooterMcGavin:
OK, one or possibly two handguns.
Some very well-informed folks on this board have given you a lot of good information, but I don't see a lot of it as applicable to a one/two handgun situation.
Now that we have narrowed down the "what" you wanna lock up, we need to know what sort of access (quick & loaded vs slow & unloaded), your circumstances (small kids, klepto room mates, etc.), purposes (keep from determined burglars, keep from kids, fireproof, etc.) and such.
Let me give you my circumstances, desires, and my solutions.
1. Several long guns & hand guns
2. Small children in the house
3. Small house, no room for any long gun safe
4. I want quick access to some loaded handguns for home defense and to store my carry handguns
Quick Access
For quick access to my HD & carry handguns, I have two of these:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2221464
$60.00 delivered to your local Wally World.
Lots of folks produce something similar with different features at different price points.
Essentially, a quick access locking box that has a programmable key pad and a key lock entry in case the batteries go bad or you forget your combo. I bought my first one ~3 years ago, stoked it with top-end lithium AA batts and it still works on the original batteries. It will hold two handguns comfortably, four in a pinch. I can open it in the dark. All in all, it has worked well for me.
What it is not is burglar proof. It can be bolted down, but a crow bar will separate it from your anchor. Also, it is not fire proof.
It keeps my loaded & ready to go guns from my toddlers and prying visitors. I do not expect a determined thief to be stymied if he has a crow bar.
If the electronic keypad gives you the willies, similar QA boxes with Simplex locks (the maker to go with for push-button mechanical locks) can be had:
http://www.ftknox.com/pistolboxes/
This one goes for ~$190.
I would rate it as a better quality box than the DAC above. But, it was a budget-buster when my first born was on the way. The DAC box was the best we could do at the time.
NOT SO QUICK ACCESS
The best we could do for the long guns was to replace the door knob on a closet with a dead bolt. Again, a burglar with time & a crow bar can get at the weapons. But, they are out of my kids' reach and out of the prying eyes of visitors. Unloaded handguns also reside here.
My ammo will go in padlocked metal boxes, as soon as I refinish the two metal footlockers I scavenged the other day.
----------
Any serious safe that will give a burglar fits will be a costly proposition.
Good luck.
OK, one or possibly two handguns.
Some very well-informed folks on this board have given you a lot of good information, but I don't see a lot of it as applicable to a one/two handgun situation.
Now that we have narrowed down the "what" you wanna lock up, we need to know what sort of access (quick & loaded vs slow & unloaded), your circumstances (small kids, klepto room mates, etc.), purposes (keep from determined burglars, keep from kids, fireproof, etc.) and such.
Let me give you my circumstances, desires, and my solutions.
1. Several long guns & hand guns
2. Small children in the house
3. Small house, no room for any long gun safe
4. I want quick access to some loaded handguns for home defense and to store my carry handguns
Quick Access
For quick access to my HD & carry handguns, I have two of these:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2221464
$60.00 delivered to your local Wally World.
Lots of folks produce something similar with different features at different price points.
Essentially, a quick access locking box that has a programmable key pad and a key lock entry in case the batteries go bad or you forget your combo. I bought my first one ~3 years ago, stoked it with top-end lithium AA batts and it still works on the original batteries. It will hold two handguns comfortably, four in a pinch. I can open it in the dark. All in all, it has worked well for me.
What it is not is burglar proof. It can be bolted down, but a crow bar will separate it from your anchor. Also, it is not fire proof.
It keeps my loaded & ready to go guns from my toddlers and prying visitors. I do not expect a determined thief to be stymied if he has a crow bar.
If the electronic keypad gives you the willies, similar QA boxes with Simplex locks (the maker to go with for push-button mechanical locks) can be had:
http://www.ftknox.com/pistolboxes/
This one goes for ~$190.
I would rate it as a better quality box than the DAC above. But, it was a budget-buster when my first born was on the way. The DAC box was the best we could do at the time.
NOT SO QUICK ACCESS
The best we could do for the long guns was to replace the door knob on a closet with a dead bolt. Again, a burglar with time & a crow bar can get at the weapons. But, they are out of my kids' reach and out of the prying eyes of visitors. Unloaded handguns also reside here.
My ammo will go in padlocked metal boxes, as soon as I refinish the two metal footlockers I scavenged the other day.
----------
Any serious safe that will give a burglar fits will be a costly proposition.
Good luck.
a1abdj
Member
If you drop me an e-mail or PM, I can send you some additional information. It's probably a little overkill for what you're looking for, but you can buy one for what you have budgeted.
The letter designations B, C, E, F, etc. apply to ISO Classifications. The Insurance Services Office has a "Manual of Burglary Insurance" that is used when assessing risk of loss on insurance policies.
A B rate safe will have a 1/2" steel plate door, and a 1/4" steel plate body. This is the minimum requirement for what I commonly refer to as a "real safe". In a commercial setting, a safe like this is insurable to approximately $5,000 in cash, or $50,000 in assets, give or take.
James T Thomas
Member
to catch a thief
"a1abdj" has it correct. Are you protecting valuable assets amounting to tens of thousands of dollars, or, firearms that can be replaced?
Are you keeping the firearms that you are responsible for, out of the hands of curious children, and some neighborhood teenage punks?
Or will you be attempting to prevent loss to professional thieves, who have the skill to "crack" your safe; given enough time? And not that much time either.
An inexpensive, every day box will do you for the first requirement, while all the expensive ones can do is buy you perhaps enough time to deter some but not all thieves.
"a1abdj" has it correct. Are you protecting valuable assets amounting to tens of thousands of dollars, or, firearms that can be replaced?
Are you keeping the firearms that you are responsible for, out of the hands of curious children, and some neighborhood teenage punks?
Or will you be attempting to prevent loss to professional thieves, who have the skill to "crack" your safe; given enough time? And not that much time either.
An inexpensive, every day box will do you for the first requirement, while all the expensive ones can do is buy you perhaps enough time to deter some but not all thieves.
- Status