gun safe in car / truck

You could bolt it down. Realize it's designed to keep honest people honest. It can be hammered and pried open pretty quickly.

I forget the brand, but we have the small cabled safes in every vehicle. Bought them all at the same time, they all take the same key.

Yes. someone with bolt cutters or other tools could get into or take them... but they could probably take the whole car, too.

Other than the Post Office, the only time I've used one is when I took my wife to the surgeon, and on the fourth visit there was the "no guns" sign newly attached to the door. We won't be using that doctor any more, but it wasn't worth missing the appointment and driving 30 miles back home.

These are a good option....no cables or key locks, no batteries. Comes with two brackets so you can switch it between vehicles.

http://www.titangunvault.com/gun-safe/titan-gun-vault

Homemade Vehicle Gunsafe

I made a vehicle gunsafe from a 30 caliber military ammo box. It is far stronger than the commercial units and cost under $20, not counting the combination padlock. See photo.

celem said:

I made a vehicle gunsafe from a 30 caliber military ammo box. It is far stronger than the commercial units and cost under $20, not counting the combination padlock. See photo.

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Great Idea we have used the 50 cal ones to secure specialists tools for years.

celem said:

I made a vehicle gunsafe from a 30 caliber military ammo box. It is far stronger than the commercial units and cost under $20, not counting the combination padlock. See photo.

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Nice...Gives me some ideas.

Don't like that lock for anything I honestly want to protect, though. Probably because I can pop it open faster than you can dial the combination for it.

But then anybody who really wants it would cut the cable/chain anyway, so I suppose it's as good as anything else, considering.

RetiredUSNChief said:

Nice...Gives me some ideas.

Don't like that lock for anything I honestly want to protect, though. Probably because I can pop it open faster than you can dial the combination for it.

But then anybody who really wants it would cut the cable/chain anyway, so I suppose it's as good as anything else, considering.

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I selected that lock because Cingular used it for their cell sites so I assumed that they had done their due diligence, plus the lock seemed pretty sturdy. A quick Google shows that if you have the right tools and knowledge, the lock is easily picked, as you said. (http://youtu.be/UhNvC38C2FU)

Yes, the lock is pickable if you have the right tools and knowledge and, if you have a bolt cutter the steel cable can be cut. However, most car thefts are usually smash and grab so I doubt that the average car thief has the tools and knowledge. Besides, this box and lock are MUCH more solid than the commercial boxes. I also have one of those and I feel that a screwdriver could force it open.

celem said:

Yes, the lock is pickable if you have the right tools and knowledge and, if you have a bolt cutter the steel cable can be cut. However, most car thefts are usually smash and grab so I doubt that the average car thief has the tools and knowledge. Besides, this box and lock are MUCH more solid than the commercial boxes. I also have one of those and I feel that a screwdriver could force it open.

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I think your box is pretty good and provides reasonable security. Maybe a better lock would enhance it like you said. My opinion is that the weak link and first thing to attack is the cable. Hard to tell just by the pic, but if that's 1/8" cable like the ones used on many small boxes, it really only takes a two handed squeeze with a pair of common dikes to cut the cable and take the box. I think upgrading the cable to 3/16" would almost triple the strength.
1/4" even better.

@ celem:

Hope I didn't come across the wrong way. I DO like the setup. It would make things difficult for a smash-and-grab, which is really what people are concerned about most of the time.

I do like the fact that this type of lock requires no key and the combination can not only be set to whatever you want, it's also easy to open one handed.

I like the ammo box as well. The only thing I don't like is the cable. I know that some thieves have tools readily available.....I had a car stereo stolen while I was in the movie theater once. They cut the 8 gauge power cables to my amps and cut the sheetmetal mounts with cutters as well. If there was a better way to mount that ammo can I do think that is a great option.

bainter1212 said:

I like the ammo box as well. The only thing I don't like is the cable. I know that some thieves have tools readily available.....I had a car stereo stolen while I was in the movie theater once. They cut the 8 gauge power cables to my amps and cut the sheetmetal mounts with cutters as well. If there was a better way to mount that ammo can I do think that is a great option.

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Well, you could always bolt the ammo can to the floor of the trunk, using a steel plate on the underside of the trunk as reinforcement.

The problem with this is that you can't move the ammo can around to suit your needs if you need to load other stuff in your trunk.

Alternatively, you could have the ammo can on a lanyard as shown as a "decoy" that criminals would concentrate on in their haste and a more secure, hidden compartment that you actually use.

Here's what I tried: i had an extra pickup tailgate cable. My silverado has those old school tailgate cables sheathed in a rubberized coating. I did the ammo can safe idea as well, using the tailgate cable, and the other end of the cable has an eyelet on it. That eyelet is bolted down to my backseat hold-down bolts.
Keeping honest folks honest, but for $5 I've got a pretty secure truck safe.

FAS1 said:

...I think upgrading the cable to 3/16" would almost triple the strength.
1/4" even better.

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The cable is 3/16 steel with a plastic coating. The hardware store has thicker cable but I selected the size for better flexibility.