GunVault Circular lock at risk?

[CB900F]

Jfruser;

Ya gotsta hold yer tongue 'just right'.

900F

[ceetee]

I hate them with the white-hot intensity of 1,000 suns.

That's a whole lotta hate.


The one thing I hate most is the laptop I haveta use at work. I only hate it like, oh... about a hundred, hundred-fifty suns or so, though...

[Sisco]

Kyptronite is offering to replace the defective locks.
http://www.kryptonitelock.com/inetis...=urgent_update

[chink]

http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?...ws&c=2,1035941

found this on fark

[Graystar]

There are some blade key locks that are not pickable

I thought any lock with a keyhole can be picked. I mean...a key is nothing more than a custom pick, no?

I have a Sentry Steal-Safe safe for my handguns. It has a key with 4 blades, like an "X" and each is cut differently. Don't know if that's any better though. But it also has a combination so I think it's fairly secure.

http://www.gunsafestore.com/V530.htm

[CB900F]

Graystar;

The four-blade type are extremely difficult to pick. There are those that can do it, but it's not a practical matter. It's pretty expensive to pay a 'smith his hourly wage to pick one. More of a one-upsmanship thing among 'smiths.

The Medeco's are simply not pickable by the common, uncommon, or specialty thief. That pretty much includes T.V. spies too. And don't get me started on "Gone In 60 Seconds".

900F

[Azrael256]

Bike locks aren't the only problem. This trick has been around for quite awhile, and was the driving force behind Kingston changing the design of their laptop locks. Two years ago, ALL of the kids who came to this school purchased those locks for their laptops from the bookstore. Within two months, half of them had lost the key. I got to spend an inordinate amount of time defeating those locks for kids who had tethered their computers to their desks and now couldn't move them.

By the way, the newer Kingston laptop locks are easily defeated with a little raking, so stay away from them.

[DMF]

Well a guy over on sigforum tried it with his Gunvault and posted video. It took him all of 2 seconds to open it with the pen.

Here is a link to the thread: http://sigforum.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&...935&m=21310197

Go to the first thread by GlockGunslinger. The underlined here in the post is a link to the video he made.

[Andrew Rothman]

I sent GunVault a message from their web site, asking them to remedy the problem.

If you have one, I suggest you contact them as well. They need to know that this won't blow over, and that they'd better get behind their products or risk going out of business.

[borderguy]

Anybody try a Homak yet? I wasn't able to get mine open with the bic pen I used.

[CGofMP]

I too have sent a message to gunvault. I did this last week and got a message saying that the person whose email address I sent it to (using their website form) was on vacation.

I sent a new one tonight.

No responses to either.

[Sven]

Just sent GunVault email. They better react positively and quickly if they want to keep their customers.

[Mr. Mysterious]

From Stack-Ons website:

WEB SITE ANNOUNCEMENT FROM
JOHN LYNN, PRESIDENT OF STACK-ON PRODUCTS CO.

Since recent news reports indicated that Kryptonite bicycle locks - and other locks using tubular cylinders - can be compromised, we have worked with our lock supplier and engineers to conduct an analysis of our own products.

We are pleased to report that all of our gun safes and fire resistant safes are not affected by the developments concerning tubular cylinder locks. Our gun cabinets, however, do use a type of tubular lock and tests we conducted indicate that some of these locks are susceptible to being picked through certain manipulations.

All of our gun safes and gun cabinets comply with accepted industry security standards. While all of our products continue to provide a significant deterrent to theft, we want to provide an option to our gun cabinet customers who would prefer a non-tubular lock. For those customers we are offering, free-of-charge, a replacement non-tubular lock, with instructions for installation.

For 32 years, our hallmarks have been safety, security and customer satisfaction. We are committed to you, our customer, and will continue to do everything we can to provide for your storage needs. Thank you for your time. Please contact our customer service department at (800) 323-9601 or visit our website www.stack-on.com if you have any further questions.

[CGofMP]

We better see something like that from GunVault ASAP.

In truth we wanted to get a second gun vault.... won't even consider it til this issue is cleared up.

[Andrew Rothman]

Way to go, Stack-On! GunVault, are you listening?

[Partisan Ranger]

I tried to jam the end of a Bic pen in my lock on my GunVault safe and couldn't get it to budge. Am I doing something wrong?

[Trebor]

I tried to jam the end of a Bic pen in my lock on my GunVault safe and couldn't get it to budge. Am I doing something wrong?

Yes, you are probably doing something wrong. You have to dissassemble the pen and turn it into a simple plastic cube. Take off the end cap and remove the ink cartridge. Then you need to modify one end slightly to make it fit into the lock. Try some trail and error and see if you can figure it out with just that amount of instruction.

I haven't done it myself, but there are complete instructions all over the web. Check that Sig forum post out for an example.

[chink]

I didn't do it on a Gun Vault, I did it on a Kryptonite bike lock, so this might not apply, but you have the fit is a little tight so you have to really jam it in there and the plastic will bulge to the fit around then center portion of the lock

[campbellcj]

Maybe it's just me, but the Gun Vault kind of "access control" boxes are not really designed for theft prevention in the first place, right? No doubt it would suck if the locks were not decently robust but IMHO anything that can be carried-off while still locked is not truly a theft-deterrent.

This reminds me of "The Club" situations re. car steering wheel locks from years ago. Again the main design purpose of the device was to deter/delay casual joy riders, not serious professional thieves as they could simply tow the entire car away, Club and all...

[G21dude]

...but some of us use it to keep our kids away from our loaded guns.

[Andrew Rothman]

Maybe it's just me, but the Gun Vault kind of "access control" boxes are not really designed for theft prevention in the first place, right? No doubt it would suck if the locks were not decently robust but IMHO anything that can be carried-off while still locked is not truly a theft-deterrent.

The GunVaults can be bolted to a large object like a bed or dresser. Mine is.

And I know it's not the be-all-end-all of security, but that it can be opened with a Bic is just too much.

[FJC]

I bought my Gunvault for two reasons - first, to keep a loaded gun in within my study, but inaccessible to the kids. Second, when going on family vacations and staying at a hotel, I wanted a small, portable safe to lock the loaded gun in while we sleep. That way I don't have to worry about my kids getting at my pistol while I'm asleep.

Yes, I teach my kids to "stop, don't touch, leave the area, tell an adult", but all too often I hear stories of kids getting at them anyway, or teens committing suicide when there were no obvious warning signs. My oldest is just hitting puberty, and surfs the internet - the last thing I need is him hearing about the lock-picking-with-a-pen trick and deciding to try it out on my GunVault, for whatever purposes...

[Sven]

Hey GunVault, your ears burning?

[FJC]

By the way, I have the Gunvault GV1000 Standard model. No external A/C power jack - so I cannot simply disable the lock by filling it with epoxy, as I'd have no way to open the safe should the batteries fail (and the batteries are installed inside the safe).

I've now emailed them as well, including a link to this thread.

[KAR120C]

Just got back in town from a vacation. Glad to see my thread continues to grow. I too have emailed GunVault, but have not heard from them yet either. Lets all keep after them until they do the right thing. I agree that if they don't address this they are as good as out of business, and deserve to be.

As to the security of the GunVault (or similar). Obviously not as good as a true safe, but much better than the sock drawer, or being "hidden" in the closet. How many of you out there are doing that? You're dreaming if you think hiding your gun will work. Thieves and kids will still find most of them. Much better to wear the gun.

My GunVault is bolted to the floor. A determined thief can still get it, but for $100-150 it seems like reasonable protection against kids or smash and grab thieves (which is all I expected it to be), at least it was util this "pen key" revelation.