Moving a gun safe Interstate

George P said:

Maybe the military needs to use better companies then. I have had zero issues moving all those times (not military). Half the times they packed, half the times I packed. I have lost a few dishes (of no $$ consequence) but that's been it. I have some pieces of custom one-of-a-kind furniture pieces that cost more than a lot of my guns; again no issue, fully insured. These guys do not want claims as it goes against them and their job security, raises/bonuses, etc.

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Using a military mover will cut corners where ever they can. During a PCS (Permanent change of station) it is better to pay the move yourself than to let the military pay for it, in my experience.

George P said:

Why would you be traveling without your CCW?

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Not CCW, even with it, can't on carry on you interstate.

400# is not much of a safe. I would think about leaving the safe and buying a new one for your new home.

Moved 23 times in 21 yrs in the AF. Four times o'seas, twice with family. What I took o'seas; I shuffled the box contents of some things were in. O'seas wooden crates, I would not sign bill of lading until I sealed all sides by drilling the edges and sealing with my FAA Parachute Rigger seal (lead seal press similar to a notary seal. Movers weren't happy to have to wait). Still lost little things like Christmas ornaments; probably carried out in the mover trash, you'd never miss until Christmas when it's too late.

Agreed that 400 pounds isn't a big deal for movers.
Of course, in my case, that wouldn't stay 400 pounds.
Move the guns yourself. Cut down on the headache, at least. Then line the safe with your choice of padding, toss in whatever is important enough to protect but not carry yourself, or just whatever will fit.
Last time I moved, the movers charged by space more than weight. So we took everything important in the car and stuffed my safe full of all the blankets and towels.

Not CCW, even with it, can't on carry on you interstate.

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Where are you getting your information? If you'd do a little research you'll find Arizona has reciprocity with the vast majority of the US. I carry all over the place with a Texas CHL and you can too with your AZ permit. Nothing special about carrying interstate as long as you stay out of the places that don't honor your permit. Sheesh.

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/resources/ccw_reciprocity_map/az-gun-laws/

Lots of good recommendations.

I have moved a lot in my lifetime. Most movers will not load the safe onto the truck with anything inside it. This is more of a Workers Comp issue than anything else. You can load it up once it’s inside the truck though.

I always insist that my safe go onto the truck as one of the first things loaded. I then put all my guns in it with each gun inside a gun rug or soft case. I lock the safe and they are free to basically bury it in the load.

If they will not load my safe first they do not get my business. One company insisted they load the safe last. I have no idea why, but they didn’t get my business.

I actually prefer to move myself. I have a service load and unload the truck as I oversee the loading. I then drive the truck. I like it better that way.

Build a crate to hold the firearms. Put firearms in crate and fasten lid with screws. Separate crate for ammunition, lid fastened with screws. Load ammo in another vehicle or buried in truck. For overnight stay, stay close to roadway traveling. You should be good to go. Most police officers would realize the access to ammo for the firearms is not readily available, you're not 75 miles from your route of travel, and not have a problem with your firearms. have a safe trip.

Okay, my last move was in 2008 (with the USAF), so it’s been a few minutes, but I always moved my guns using movers because all my PSC’s were back and forth between CONUS and OCONUS. I also used the gov contracted movers to move and store my guns and never had an issue.

The KEY is to take photos of all valuables, have serial numbers and other specifics recorded, and get your stuff insured. The movers must be bonded to do business with the USGov, but most legitimate movers are bonded, and having a policy with a major insurer (I used USAA) helped me feel secure.

As far as movers having to “re-inventory” shipments, when it’s packed at your home and the crates are sealed, they should write the seal numbers on the paperwork you get prior to them leaving (or at least I always had it) and before they open the crates at the destination, including after a few years in storage during OCONUS assignments, I never had different seals. I believe the shippers simply verify the crate seals and not open the crates.


I used to clean, liberally lubricate, and pack my guns in unlocked airline hard cases. I never asked if I could lock the cases...I never really worried about it. Also, I did not have a gun safe during this point in my life.

The firearms serial numbers were written and inventoried on the inventory packing list and the cases were loaded into the crates.

When I left Alaska in 2001, several guns stayed packed that way for the four years I spent in Delaware, and then for the next three years when I went to Japan. I only removed them twice...once when they were delivered to me in DE (just to check them and repack them away) and then when I re-cleaned and lubed them for storage while I was in Japan. FYI, Ballistol applied liberally kept every part of the guns, from metal to wood stocks to leather slings in the same condition I’d packed them originally in Alaska in 2001 to when I shot them in TX in 2009. The soft foam in my gun cases got hard as styrofoam , but the guns were G2G...still are.


To be clear, I didn’t have any collector guns...all my guns were/are easily replaceable. But I never had any issues in 6 PCS moves.


YMMV.



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PWC said:

Not CCW, even with it, can't on carry on you interstate.

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Depends on where you travel. With my CWFL, I can carry concealed interstate through most states

Pat Riot said:

Lots of good recommendations.

I have moved a lot in my lifetime. Most movers will not load the safe onto the truck with anything inside it. This is more of a Workers Comp issue than anything else. You can load it up once it’s inside the truck though.

I always insist that my safe go onto the truck as one of the first things loaded. I then put all my guns in it with each gun inside a gun rug or soft case. I lock the safe and they are free to basically bury it in the load.

If they will not load my safe first they do not get my business. One company insisted they load the safe last. I have no idea why, but they didn’t get my business.

I actually prefer to move myself. I have a service load and unload the truck as I oversee the loading. I then drive the truck. I like it better that way.

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If it is heavy enough, it would depend on where it sits on the axles.

Option One: search out and use a Safe Moving firm. They will have trucks with hydraulic lifts and folks experienced with heavy-duty dollies and the like for moving a safe to and from without causing a lot of damage to the safe, or either domicile. They generally will not move firearms. They are likely to be expensive, especially out-of-state.

Option Two: Sorrt-of DIY.
Contact the people at PODS, and have them drop off a container at your current house. PODS come in standards sizes, 8x10x10. 8x10x12 and 8x10x16. Construction uses a floor of 4x4 with 4x4 for support columns and a skin of metal-clad fiberglass.
REnt an appliance dolly and get some strong friends and get your safe (empty) to the PODS. Than lay it down flat on its back. Use ratchet straps to spider-web the thing to the internal posts in the PODS. Not a horrible idea to put a floor rug down before putting in the safe (to keep it off the plywood floor).

Note, the rig used to load the container on the truck may tip the container to 15º in one of three axes--strap accordingly.

With the remaining volume, you can fill that with all the stuff you'd rather not leave around moving guys. Or books, framed art, etc. (Reloading benches & stuff, too). Now, the secutiry on one of these is a thing metal rolling door and a padlock you provide--it's mostly out-of-sight-out-of-mind.

PODS ships the container to just about anywhere. They bill you by the month for the container, and then, per trip.
Now, I have experience in this, I got most of a 1400sf house into a 16 container:

I used almost every inch inside (and 8 pairs of ratchet straps and two cargo nets)

Hard to see here, but the tube tv is sitting on the end of the safe. Wedged in pretty tight, and no evidence of it having moved at all, even having beeing moved three separate times. (Lots of dunnage in there, too.)

This is the delivery trolley that gets the can off the local-haul truck (and the source of most of the tipping).

My 2¢, Your mileage may vary.

Safe moving firm? SERIOUSLY? It weighs 400 pounds. I have a rolling tool chest that weighs more than that

I hate the thought of my guns banging around inside a safe, and I hate the idea of having them outside my control. Overseas would obviously be different but for a domestic move I would let the movers have the empty safe and take the guns myself. If they all fit in a 400 pound safe there can’t be that many of them.

George P said:

Safe moving firm? SERIOUSLY? It weighs 400 pounds. I have a rolling tool chest that weighs more than that

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Read the OP. This isn't just about moving a 400 pound safe and contents. It is a move to another state including a safe.

CapnMac said:

Contact the people at PODS

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I used PODS for an instate move from an apartment to a house. The rate was much cheaper than an interstate trip. What really helped is having 2 weeks to load it and 2 weeks to unload it with a 1 month total rental including transport. I loaded my safe vertically and mostly empty, in a corner of the POD and packed around it. I used the space inside the safe for blankets and bedding.

A 400# safe is not much more difficult to move than a refrigerator. If you double or triple the weight then thats a different ball game. I've moved and helped to move a few! I would move my guns, ammo, reloading supplies, lead, ect myself. I would pack the safe full of towels, blankets, pillows, ect to save space.

It sounds like the OP is using some sort of Pod type deal or that’s what I thought I read. If no one will know it’s in there just load it up then wrap up the guns and put them inside.

When I moved a few years ago I put my safe in the middle of a packed cattle trailer once it was onboard I put most of the guns back in it inside soft cases with some added padding (blankets, pillows). Safe was strapped to a compartment door so it wouldn’t move but had boxes around it so you couldn’t see it. My dad came and got it for me and put it inside his shop for a few weeks. Trailer looked like a standard load of crap (and the trailer is crappy too) so we were pretty confident no one was going to go to great length to steal it. Actually when dad came to bring it from his house to mine the back axle broke a U bolt on one side and we had Major hell getting it 10 miles from his place to mine.
My safe is 880# So far I’ve moved it twice by myself with only a dolly. One house with a basement I could feel each floor joist as I went across the house. Kinda spooky wondering if the safe and my 300+ self may end end up downstairs! Stairs and steep ramps will screw you though. I hope I’m fixing to move it for the last time ever here in a week or 2. I’m not terribly comfortable moving it into the new to us house we’re still working on before we are there to stay.

herrwalther said:

Read the OP. This isn't just about moving a 400 pound safe and contents. It is a move to another state including a safe.


I used PODS for an instate move from an apartment to a house. The rate was much cheaper than an interstate trip. What really helped is having 2 weeks to load it and 2 weeks to unload it with a 1 month total rental including transport. I loaded my safe vertically and mostly empty, in a corner of the POD and packed around it. I used the space inside the safe for blankets and bedding.

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I DID read the OP - this is being made into a mountain from a molehill; mostly by folks who have never done it before and are going on "what they read on the internet"

George P said:

this is being made into a mountain from a molehill

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Well, to be fair, while many of us in hte firearms community have a broad and wide range of mechanical skills, those skills are not uniform. We are not all uniform in age and agility, as well.

Sure, at 35, I moved a 400# safe with nothing more than a borrowed appliance dolly. By 45, "my safe" was 800#, and a bit more work. At 55, that safe took a lot more work, and folk to move about, so it was moved as little as possible through human power. By 65, I'm probably going to be a lot more inclined to just buy a safe and have it delivered to any new location I rake up (esp., since the dang thing has gotten so full).

I moved last year and the movers moved my safe. They packed a truck with everything that wasn't bolted down on the house - not a big deal.

milemaker13: If a company can "lose" a toolbox, the chance of somebody wanting to at least (try to) pry open a safe goes up exponentially.
Even with no luck breaking into it at 0300 (without a welding torch), there could be damage.

My parents left a few hundred dollars on the bed in a master bedroom, which was nabbed by a mover nosing around their condo-before they were even ready to move bedroom items.
The moving company knew that one of the guys had a police record.

600 miles is a one day drive; load up a truck if you don't want to hire movers and have at it

I had all my guns, except for my CCW, in my gunsafe, along with a few other items. It was 800-1000 lbs empty. The movers put it in the truck right up against the front wall, as they didn't want it sliding forward in an emergency stop. The rest of our house contents were packed in behind it. Everything of value that we didn't move ourselves was insured separately from the moving insurance. No damage, no losses, except I can't find a box of bullets for reloading, but they might be in a moving box I haven't gone through yet. I wasn't worried about someone breaking into it, as it took them the better part of a day to load all that stuff into the truck. It's a lot safer than hauling them in and out of a motel or leaving them in a personal vehicle.