Bolt that gun safe down!

[Owen Sparks]

A buddy is moving and managed to get his large gun safe out into the driveway BY HIMSELF. This thing probably weighed over 1,000 pounds plus it was full of guns. All he used was a long pry bar and several golf balls. He managed to lift the thing a few inches and roll some of the balls under it. They acted like little wheels between the safe and the cement floor. He just inched it along like they did building the pyrimids. I have used the same technique myself to move a 3,500 pound printing press only I used short pieces of 2" steel pipes as rollers. So bolt your safe to the wall or floor as one man can move it if he knows how.

 

[tnieto2004]

Are golf balls really that strong? That is awesome. I'll remember that next time I need to move something like that.

 

[offthepaper]

Are golf balls really that strong?

A couple of years ago I was hit in the chest with one while playing. Felt pretty damn hard. Never thought of using them for that though.

 

[chris in va]

Oh, they're plenty strong enough. Think about the impact force they are designed to take, even if it is just a fraction of a second.

 

[a1abdj]

Golf balls are very dangerous to use, as they can roll in any direction (usually down hill). If you have even a slight slope, and aren't on top of it, you can loose control and run your safe into something that it shouldn't.

If you have to roll them on something, use steel pipe.

I just saw a photo the other day that another safe company owner had taken. It was a gun safe sitting upside down in somebody's family room.

Even though it was bolted, it was done poorly. The theives used the safe as leverage and broke it loose. I'm assuming they were trying to "cartwheel" it out of the house.

 

[SASS#23149]

A muscular man with a large hand truck can move realllly big objects.
Heck,my medium sized vault can be moved by my 25.00 Home Depot hand truck,no problem.

bolt 'em in,guys.

 

[Owen Sparks]

Two men with simple levers and pipes can move any reasonable sized gun safe provided they know the proper technique. The safest "safe" is something like the phoney water heater full of guns in the basement that no thief would notice.

 

[jakemccoy]

Real men typically use 000 buck for that task.

Just kidding, that's pretty awesome. He's got a lot of patience and perseverance.

 

[Blacksmoke]

Any safe, including burglary safes weighing 2,000, 3,000 or more pounds can be hauled away by burglars. A neighbor of mine owned a bar and left a long weekends receipts overnight in a safe. The burglars simply wrapped chain around it, passed it through the windo to a truck and drive off with it dragging it through a stud frame wall into the parking lot and down the street. This is in a rural village of 300 people, not from midtown Manhattan where, one hopes, attention of the police would be attracted by the safe plowing the street.

So, bolt the safe down. I have used 3/4 and 7/8 inch all-thread and epoxy (Simpson Strong Tie) dowled into the concrete slab.

The Gun safe is merely an inconvenience for the casual burglar. A serious theif can defeat just about anything given enough time. We can get creative about how to disable thieves without violating the "Trap Gun" laws in most states.

 

[solareclipse]

It probably weighted half that.

That is one of the reasons i haven't purchased one. Whati am i going to bolt it down to? The carpet or the wood beams? Pry bar and its unbolted... unless you build it into the concrete slab with steel rods its pretty much only good for keeping undetermined and hurried people out.

But 99% of the uses people buy them for is to keep guns away from children and visitors, and they work great for that.

I was looking at a property a while back and since it was a foreclosure it was empty obviously. Well some guys backed up a truck next to the garage and just hauled off all appliances and whatever else they could. Even got the fireplace out (***). Gun safe would have made it out along too if there was one there

 

[f4t9r]

The big thing for me is that someone can not just walk in and in a matter of seconds carry my guns off that were in the closet or under the bed. Get a safe and bolt it down. Someone with enough time and effort can get it but its not going to be easy.

 

[moooose102]

i agree, a safe is a deterrant, that is all. any theif, with enough smarts and time can disable or find a way to get anything he wants from your home. he may have to destroy the home to do it. but that will not bother him. unless your home just happens to be fort knox!

 

[Bullet Bob]

I'm wondering why you would move a safe with the guns still in it, unless they're locked in somehow and can't bang around on each other.

I take the opposite view from the bolting to the floor opinion. A good safe will deter the average crackhead. A professional can take anything, given enough time, and I'd prefer he didn't tear up my floor while doing so.

 

[Sniper X]

I'm glad i live up in the mountains where not only do people in their right mind NEVER go to steal anything, but would never know if I was home or not because there is always a couple cars in the driveway and I drive at least a different one every other day so no one would be able to pattern me. Also, my 110lb Aussie Wolf hybrid would scare Jesus off if he showed up when I wasn't home.

My neibor is retired and watches EVERYTHING as well. But I do have my safe bolted down!

 

[mbt2001]

Over insure what is in your safe / house and sleep soundly when away.

 

[EHCRain10]

is it wise to bolt the top of the safe to the wall that it is up against to prevent the safe itself from being used as a lever?

 

[hankdatank1362]

is it wise to bolt the top of the safe to the wall that it is up against to prevent the safe itself from being used as a lever?

I did. Just standard studs, so it won't prevent prying, but it'll keep out the rookies.

 

[Zeede]

Unless later on I decide to have a custom home designed, it's not feasible for me to bolt my safe to the foundation. I just have it to keep kids out, and it's perfectly fine for that.

Cameron

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Good reminder. 3 of my 4 are bolted down. But the one that isN'T is actually the main large safe which holds the most valuable guns by far. Just never got "a round tuit" yet. Got to do that, bigtime... amazing he didn't kill himself trying to move that much weight with golf balls by himself. My measly empty 300 lb safe was not easy at all to move on those little plastic furniture sliders by myself

 

[4v50 Gary]

Definitely bolt that puppy down. A few steel rods and it can walk away. Heck, one theft involved using a tractor or catepillar to haul it away from the gun club.

 

[BCC]

My safe is in the entertaiment room upstairs. There is no window in the room large enough to push the safe out. It's big and heavy.

If they want to get past the alarms, get past the dogs, lug the safe out of the room, down the hall, down two levels of stairs and from the middle of the house to outside......so be it.

It would really piss me off that my guns would end up on the illegal market.

At least it is insured, but not bolted down.

BCC

 

[OcelotZ3]

I was thinking of this a few weeks ago.

I have a wood floor. What about running the bolts all the way through the floor to under the house, and using very large washers (possibly multiples) on both sides? That would prevent prying from moving the safe, although it would transmit cold from the crawlspace into the safe...

 

[foghornl]

somebody (actually, several somebodies) COULD get mine out, but it would take a while..

In the basement, expoxied back, bottom and 1 side to the basement corner walls/floor, 'cinder blocks' epoxied to the other side and top, and the walls.

 

[Guns and more]

I wouldn't try the golf ball thing on a wood floor.
The company that delivered my safe had sliders, wood strips about 4' long with rubber on one side and teflon on the other. They had maybe a dozen of these, dropped them on the floor teflon side up and, zip, in she went. Cool. However, at the doorway, they had to remove my door, remove the safe handle, and they had 1/4" clearance. I don't think a thief can repeat that and I don't advertise my contents.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

I have a wood floor. What about running the bolts all the way through the floor to under the house, and using very large washers (possibly multiples) on both sides?

That's precisely what I did. A bit messy in the crawl space under the house, but this is a good time of year to get in there and mess with it.