Cannon Firearm Safe Disappointment.

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Sks39

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Ive owned a Cannon safe for over 10 years now and love it. It has a dial, not the electrical key pad. I prefer the dial over the key pad. I know people like the ease of the key pad but I just dont like it. Its easier for anything electrical to fail than something mechanical. I guess I'm just old school. Anyway I had convinced myself its ok because if it failed, the safes with a keypad comes with a key as a back up to get in. So I went to Tractor supply and looked at the 2 Cannon models I was interested in. I was inspecting them when I noticed that the Cannons didnt come with a backup key to get in. Theres no way I would trust the key pad with no other way to get in should it fail. Am I the only one that feels uneasy about that?
 
No interest in a safe that relies on electrical components or a circuit board to enable access. My safe is analog and will stay that way.
 
When I bought my Cannon safe, I was uneasy about the electronic lock, but the delivery guy said the S&G lock is very reliable & they've only had to replace one out of hundreds sold. He was right; I've had it for 20 years & never a problem with it. Mine takes two 9V batteries but it can operate on only one. When I first got the safe I forgot about changing the batteries for 6-7 years but the lock always worked & I never heard the low battery beep. Now I change the batteries every couple of years. I don't have to reset the combination after changing batteries.
 
When I bought my Cannon safe, I was uneasy about the electronic lock, but the delivery guy said the S&G lock is very reliable & they've only had to replace one out of hundreds sold. He was right; I've had it for 20 years & never a problem with it. Mine takes two 9V batteries but it can operate on only one. When I first got the safe I forgot about changing the batteries for 6-7 years but the lock always worked & I never heard the low battery beep. Now I change the batteries every couple of years. I don't have to reset the combination after changing batteries.
Does yours have the key back up?
 
My brother has a 15 year old Cannon with electronic lock. It has no key. My dad has an 20 year old Oxbow, which was made by Cannon. It has an electronic lock and no key. I have a electronic lock Browning. It has no key. I have had it over 10 years and open it multiple times a day. Never had a problem.

I have been safe shopping for the past week. I have not seen a key on electronic lock safe for any brand I have looked at.
 
My brother has a 15 year old Cannon with electronic lock. It has no key. My dad has an 20 year old Oxbow, which was made by Cannon. It has an electronic lock and no key. I have a electronic lock Browning. It has no key. I have had it over 10 years and open it multiple times a day. Never had a problem.

I have been safe shopping for the past week. I have not seen a key on electronic lock safe for any brand I have looked at.
My friends has one so I guess I just assumed that all keypad safes had them, I stand corrected.
 
I would have no issue with a electronic lock since nothing I'd need quick access to would be in it. I do have a quick access lock box that has an electronic lock but it does have a key backup.
 
Well, ....... the very first time the United States gets hit with an appreciable Electromagnetic Pulse, guess what? All of you guys with keyless electronic door locks on your gun safes are going to be using bows and arrows for, at least, the first few days or until after you finally figure out how to get back into your gun safes!

(Hint: Either an acetylene blow torch — which might cause all sorts of other problems with your guns and ammunition — and/or, at least, two guys with a couple of large crowbars, several steel wedges, a sledgehammer, a carbide-tipped metal cutting saw, and several hours to kill.) :p
 
2 hours and at least 2 guys to open a RSC ? I doubt it. A drill and sawzall would take one dude just a few minutes to open most any of them.
 
+1 for dials
My fear with keypads is what happens if there is a fire? The safe is fire rated, but that plastic keypad will be toast. Plus, if you use it with any regularity, the numbers used in the combo get worn more than the others, then it doesn't take to long to guess the code. I've done this with call boxes getting into gated communities to make deliveries. I know they're pretty good nowadays, I just prefer an actual dial.
Just my 2 cents
 
I doubt if a dial will still turn after a good house fire.

One thing I like about a keypad is the ease of changing combinations, which is something you could do to prevent possible keypad wear if it were a problem. My pad has been uses hundreds if not thousands of times and has no wear.
 
Ive owned a Cannon safe for over 10 years now and love it. It has a dial, not the electrical key pad. I prefer the dial over the key pad. I know people like the ease of the key pad but I just dont like it. Its easier for anything electrical to fail than something mechanical. I guess I'm just old school. Anyway I had convinced myself its ok because if it failed, the safes with a keypad comes with a key as a back up to get in. So I went to Tractor supply and looked at the 2 Cannon models I was interested in. I was inspecting them when I noticed that the Cannons didnt come with a backup key to get in. Theres no way I would trust the key pad with no other way to get in should it fail. Am I the only one that feels uneasy about that?
unless its an Abloy lock, I would not trust a keyed model. I broke into way to many locks over the years when doing construction, and the site supervisors were stuck in traffic, and couldent unlock the door. Keyed locks are not too hard to pick, even for a lazy amateur. Much easier to drill. That said, I had an electonic lock fail on me, and that sucked. Dials are definetely the best method. I know they're slow, and you need light. I would not be open to a electronic unless I knew there was a unlimited unlock warranty (I don't believe anyone offer this), or I didn't have an immediate need for anything in there.
 
I also want to address the EMP theory. Many say a big EMP will destroy elocks, and while I doubt that true, short of it being directly over your head, for a man made EMP, the real risk is major solar flares. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm They do happen, and a big enough one would worry me. But it will do far more damage to infrastructure, but still, when the lights come back on, you may or may not have issue
 
All good points on the issue. Thanks fot all the input and different point of views. As for myself I think I'm going to stick with the dial if at all possible.
 
No interest in a safe that relies on electrical components or a circuit board to enable access. My safe is analog and will stay that way.
Same here. Anytime you see someone post about being locked out of their safe, its always an electronic key pad.
 
the real risk is major solar flares. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm They do happen,

And sometimes they ALMOST do happen... Most folks haven't heard of the near miss from a major CME that:

"...tore through Earth orbit on July 23, 2012. Fortunately Earth wasn't there. Instead, the storm cloud hit the STEREO-A spacecraft."

That one is estimated to be about two times more powerful than the 1989 event in the link above and on par with the Carrington event which did hit earth in 1859.
 
Fella's;

Hmmm, apparently Glock Doc knows something I don't, and I'm a retired professional locksmith. I've also got an electronic lock on my safe. And, I'm not worried about it, solar flares or EMP's not withstanding. But, I'm just a rural guy out in the middle of nowhere. But, I did do a little research before I got my set-up, found out about Faraday cages & things like that.

900F
 
Ive owned a Cannon safe for over 10 years now and love it. It has a dial, not the electrical key pad. I prefer the dial over the key pad. I know people like the ease of the key pad but I just dont like it. Its easier for anything electrical to fail than something mechanical. I guess I'm just old school. Anyway I had convinced myself its ok because if it failed, the safes with a keypad comes with a key as a back up to get in. So I went to Tractor supply and looked at the 2 Cannon models I was interested in. I was inspecting them when I noticed that the Cannons didnt come with a backup key to get in. Theres no way I would trust the key pad with no other way to get in should it fail. Am I the only one that feels uneasy about that?

My safe has a keypad and no backup key. If the lock fails for any reason, the safe is basically worth its weight in scrap metal at that point. But it's no big deal, as 15 minutes with an angle grinder will get your stuff out.
 
Same here. Anytime you see someone post about being locked out of their safe, its always an electronic key pad.
They were both Mosler safes, not RSCs, but I have been locked out of two safes with mechanical dial locks. Both times one of the numbers in the combination shifted a couple places as a result of mechanical wear. Having been given the combo and an hour to try variations, a locksmith was able to open them and reset the combos. Safe internals are often made of brass and thus are susceptible to wear... Nothing is fail safe. Use whatever you're most comfortable with.
 
Fella's; (sic)

Hmmm, apparently Glock Doc knows something I don't, and I'm a retired professional locksmith. I've also got an electronic lock on my safe. And, (sic) I'm not worried about it, solar flares or EMP's not withstanding. (Ed.)(I’ll bet you meant to write ‘withstanding’ — Yes!) But, (sic) I'm just a rural guy out in the middle of nowhere. But, (sic) I did do a little research before I got my set-up, (sic) found out about Faraday cages & things like that.

900F

:eek: Wow, that reply is really very poorly written! (Looks like the government’s nefarious plans to, once and for all, ‘dumb down’ America are finally coming to fruition!)

Look, 'Glock Doc' is definitely not a retired locksmith; but I do live out in the middle of nowhere; and you're, probably, right! I suspect that I do, indeed, know about a lot of things that you do not. (It’s just that I’m usually too polite to deliberately attempt to embarrass anyone — Usually.)

Unless, in addition to being a retired locksmith, you also hold several college degrees and a Master’s in something really cool and complicated in the same way that I do. Maybe, huh? (Which would, I admit, put the two of us on a more even academic footing; but, not to worry! This doesn't make you a bad person, OK. (Only someone with a loose mouth and an apparent penchant for starting dumb internet gun forum arguments!) ;)

After doing a quick Google search, it looks like today’s gun safes are nowhere near as strong or pry resistant as the older safes of, say, 20 or 30 years ago. Back when I bought my gun safe it took a lot more effort to get into one than it does with many of today's mass produced 'economy line' gun safes.

When I got my safe I was told that, more than anything else, I needed to securely bolt it down in order to prevent the safe from being easily tipped over and, then, worked on with pry bars, wedges, and chisels while it was lying flat on its back.

I was also shown a video of two guys working on a supine safe; and, while I admit that I don't remember how long it took them to defeat the door’s locking mechanism, I do remember that they had to really work hard, and for an extended amount of time, before they finally managed to get inside of that heavier (older model) safe.

However this is, apparently, no longer true; and today’s ‘big box store’ gun safes are much more easily breached than yesterday’s older, thicker, and heavier safes like the one I have. THIS is an interesting video. It casts a spotlight on just how flimsy many of these new discount store gun safes actually are. (Which appears to be pretty darn flimsy!)

Another thing: Anyone who intends to mount his new electronically locked gun safe inside of a Faraday cage is, as far as I’m concerned, going just a little bit 'off the deep end'. I know a lot of people who own gun safes with electronic locks on them; but absolutely no one I know keeps his electronically locked safe inside of a Faraday cage — That’s just plain nutz; but, hey, it takes all kinds — Yes! :)
 
2 hours and at least 2 guys to open a RSC ? I doubt it. A drill and sawzall would take one dude just a few minutes to open most any of them.


6 minutes and 43 seconds including the the time to take the battery from the drill and put it in the sawsall is what it took me to open the back of a tall/wide. Afterward i found I could have saved the drill time by hitting the power box with a hammer.
 
Glock Doctor;

The video is "Security On Sale", the elapsed time is one minute & 42 seconds, and they wasted some time doing it. There's also a difference between true safes and RSC's, if you use search on this very site, you too can find out the difference. No, you don't have to put the unit in a Faraday cage. Really, you don't.

Have a nice day, 900F
 
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