Cannon 64 Gun a safe on sale at Rural King

Thinking of adding another since my Liberty D-23 is bursting at the seams. Found the Cannon on sale and am considering. Anyone have any experience with the code lock? Wondering how you get in if that goes bad…

 

If that goes bad you have to get the safe opened by a locksmith. Mine went bad about 6 or 7 years ago and the cost of a locksmith coming to open the safe was simply more than I could swing at the time. My stuff just stayed locked up. I would try it a couple times a day because it acted like it wanted to work. One of my friends had the code since his guns were there riding out an ugly divorce. He was waiting for me to get home one day and was fiddling with it and got it open about the time I got inside. Cannon had already sent me new parts to replace the lock when I got it open. The safe was locked for at least 3 months. I cannot advise to buy an electronic lock.

All that said, there is a mechanical lock that will bolt right in for sale in multiple places. I bought mine from Amazon for about 75 bucks a couple years ago when it started acting funny again. Cannon would only send direct replacement parts, so I have an electronic lock sitting around but the mechanical is on the safe.

Cannon has done me right twice. No arguments at all there. They just wanted to know model, problem, and an address to send parts to. The lock is junk though, and I don’t trust it. Cannon outsources the locks from S&G and a few others. Buy a mechanical locking unit if you can. If it’s going to save you $100 bucks or more then buy the electronic lock safe and buy the replacement lock to swap into it. I had mine in and working in about an hour.

 

Yea my Liberty is mechanical and I prefer that but the price on this one seems pretty good.

 

It comes with backup keys

I got the same one last Black Friday and I love mine

 

I have a about a 10 year old Cannon and my brother has one about 20 years old with an electric lock. Neither have had problems. I also have about a 15 year old Browning with an electric lock. No problems.

 

If that’s the case then go for it. Best of both worlds. Easy electronics and manual over-ride is a good combo. I wasn’t aware that they were doing that now.

 

I have that same safe from years ago and no issues. That's a decent price in todays world for sure. I have more than 1 Canon and have been satisfied with them at their price point. I was not aware that Canon has added a key back up? Where is it located as it is not visible? One thing I have learned about the electronic locks is a fresh battery and waiting for the lock out time to reset, will fix many issues. Mechanical locks can fail as well and there are documented cases for those as well.

 

I have experience with several electronic locks, just not on full size gun safes. I don't like them. Convenient? Yes. Reliable? Not for me. I find the battery dead just when I most want to access them. Fortunately with the smaller ones you can resort to a key. I believe on the larger safes you resort to a lock smith.

I know they're the "in" thing. Local store has over a dozen large safes on display, all with the electronic lock. Me, I'll stick with old fashion S&G dial lock. Battery never goes bad. Yes, it might take a while, especially under pressure, to dial it in

 

I have a safe from rural king. It's not a cannon brand but my lock looks like the same model. Mine works great and gets opened a ton. If you remove the keypad there should be a key hole behind it for back up. My old safe was mechanical and personally id never go back. Also the locks aren't hard to change if you need to. Heck you can order them on Amazon, so it's not like if the lock goes bad the safe is trash. I would not have a safe with an electronic lock that didn't have a key back up though. I've never seen one that didn't have a key backup. Often times they hide it. I have a wall safe and the key hole is behind a name brand plate that requires you to remove two screws to access it. I've never had to use it but I made sure I knew where it was and that it worked.

 

In my local store the 64 gun Cannon safe DOES NOT come with keys. YMMV.

 

No key on our Cannons.

 

I prefer the older style with a dial, one of mine was purchased in the 70s and still working, I dial all the #s except the last for quick entry

 

If it doesn't have a key back up then that would be a hard pass IMO. The locks work well, but anything electronic should have a mechanical fail safe.

 

An angle grinder is a master key to any big box store gun safe. If I ever need to use it, I will and will just buy another safe.

 

I have a safe with electric lock, i think its a cannon. It has a cannon on the front at least. No issues since we got it with a house we bought in 2015. (Knock on wood) lol. I love the convenience of it, compared to the dials i explain below.

Our big Cobalt and medium Winchester with dial locks have been moved so many times that the dials are out of whack. Sometimes i have to do the combo 2 to 5 times and jiggle the dial back and forth over zero for them to unlock.

 

Do you have any more info on mechanical lock replacement?
I would like to replace mine as it is finicky ever once in awhile.
Rick

 

You get the style you want and change it like this.



Test function with door open first.

 

Looking at the reviews it's probably not the best quality, but at that price I think you would know that. It is only 14GA steel which is why for it's large size it only weighs 455lbs. shipping weight. Is that including a pallet?

Also, the electronic lock would not be for me, but I can understand why the price on a safe this size is tempting. As mentioned you can change that out for under $150 if you do it yourself.

I would imagine this safe at that price would have to be made in Mexico or China. I think Canon imports from both countries for the cheaper safes they sell if that makes a difference for you. Steel has gotten real expensive over the last year or so and up 200%. All safe have been going up quite a bit on price, especially the heavier gauge ones.

Regarding fire protection, I usually don't put a lot of faith in manufacturers ratings unless they are done by the certified testing facility Intertek (ETL label). At least they are being realistic with a 30 minute rating on this safe. I can't imagine it would hold up well in a fire.

All these things are what people usually consider and only you can determine which are or are not important to you when buying a gun safe. That's definitely an attractive price for it's size. Be sure and bolt it down.

https://www.ruralking.com/cannon-64-gun-30-min-fireproof-safe-rk5540-30h1ey21

 

I think people focus to much on steel thickness. You are trying to stop the typical smash and grab type robbers. And slow down the more committed type. Mount your safe in a closet or in a corner with a loaded cabinet bolted down beside it. Make them have to attack the door to gain entry. The door is usually the strongest part on any safe. If an instruder comes prepared it really doesn't matter if your safe is 14ga or 1/4". I'm a welder and work with steel often. I have a battery powered skill saw that can cut through steel plate easily. Heck you can buy a 25 dollar angle grinder at harbor freight and a few cut off wheels that will get you into most residential safes. Harbor freight sells cheap plasma cutters that will burn through 1/2 plate. Point is you are stopping the smash and grab types. Or buying time for your alarm, cameras, ect to play their part. When I see some of these safes that are 8 and 10k+. I just can't help but think for that price I would buy a vault door and build a reinforced room lol

 

Go Liberty or go home. Mine is a wrapped steel from the side to the top and down, no seams. But I heard they are not doing that anymore. Made in USA
Find a used one and change the lock. Save money.
No electronics for me.

 

Safe placement will help defend against a break in if the sides are protected by walls and the side the door opens on is next to a wall to hamper being able to use a prybar on it, and of course bolt it down.

The better the safe is constructed, and that would include steel thickness, will buy you more time. I agree that a smash and grab crack head is most likely to burglarize your home and he won't be bringing any power tools. Better supports for the locking bolts and thicker steel will make it harder to pry on with what tools he finds in your garage. If power tools are a concern, then a TL-15 rating is your starting point.

I agree that in reality you are only buying time, so buy the most you can afford if theft from a burglary is your main concern.

 

Sorry I worded that wrong . I would like to replace electronic lock with mechanical lock

 

I was going to say, that looks like the same lock as on my safe, and it came supplied with a giant skeleton key, as a backup.

 

I have two cannon safes, the wide body and a 15 gun safe. I bought both from Tractor Supply Co. on sale. Both ended up with cosmetic blems during shipping that I reported to TSC and they knocked $100 bucks off the small one and $250 off the wide body. (That adjustment paid for delivery and installation.) As the guys said these aren’t armored vaults, but they’re better than the Homak and Stack On cabinets I bought when I first started buying guns.

The wide body is packed. Even with the extra shelf I built for more handguns I ran out of room. The 15 gun safe was purpose-bought on Black Friday. Once I picked it up I got rid of the wiggle-cut wood for long gun barrels to rest in and added bracket mounts inside for metal shelf brackets and wooden shelves.

I have now made it into an all-handgun safe that fits right into a nook in my closet. I added three extra shelves to the one that came with it to hold handguns from micros to Glock 17L in size. (The safe isn’t deep enough for long-barreled revolvers unless they were put in racks sideways.)

The best part is the Snap Safe 8-gun pistol racks fit perfectly width-wise on the shelves, and one more fit on the safes floor, so there is room for 40 guns inside. I also added an Amazon led motion light with a magnet mount for the inside and I’m golden.

Both safes have electronic locks like the one the OP is looking at and both have been reliable. I change the 9V battery when I swap the backup batteries in my smoke detectors every year…better safe than sorry (No pun intended!).

Good luck finding what you want!

Stay safe.

 

I have an American Eagle (Cannon economy brand) since 2004 with no troubles.