flying gun safes in Tornados???

[Ari]

I've been researching buying a gun safe for the past few weeks. Getting a bit off track I started thinking about the folks in the mid-west in Tornado country, and wondered if there has ever been cases of their entire gun safe being uprooted and being relocated on someone else's property.

Kind of stupid thought and alot of aimless thinking on my part. But with the vast knowledge and experiences on this board I'm sure someone has a story of what the tornado has ripped out and flung in the air. I can only imagine what has been lost and found during the aftermath of some of these tornado's. Alot of property musical chairs.

 

[Greg L]

If it landed in your backyard could you claim "finders keepers"? If it did move I doubt that it would go very far (especially if bolted down to the floor).

Greg

 

[C.R.Sam]

Don't know bout safes but...
Friend of mine found his cast bathtub in a tree after a blow.
With an intact kid still in it.

Sam

 

[Mike Irwin]

If a tornado can pick up an entire car and move it (as it did in Maryland last year, killing two women), then a gunsafe would be no problem.

 

[Silver Bullet]

I sometimes wonder about the concrete tiles on my roof. They're not even nailed down, they just use 1x2 strips of pine to align and retain them (the tiles have a little ridge on the bottom to catch on the strips). We don't get tornadoes here, but if we did there could be a blizzard of concrete tiles flying around; most of the houses in my neighborhood have them also.

 

[cslinger]

For that matter if the tornado has enough juice to level your house to get to your bolted down safe, chances are your safe going flying is going to be pretty low on your list of priorities at the time.

Tornados scare the bejezzzuuuss out of me.

Chris

 

[Sisco]

Gun safe, mobile home, it don't matter; a tornado will toss it anywhere it wants to. Got hit several years ago, neighbors never did find their barn doors.
Wonder if a quality safe would stay closed after being tumbled and tossed?
The contents would take a beating for sure.
We're making plans for a new house. In the basement I want a room made entirely from reinforced concrete block with a concrete ceiling. Add a steel door and call it a walk-in gun safe, reloading room and tornado shelter.

 

[4v50 Gary]

I'm willing to bet a safe's door will remain closed. However, the body will probably be dinged up and the contents damaged.

 

[Dave R]

Good reason to keep that gun safe in the basement.

 

[Unisaw]

Wouldn't that be the ultimate irony if it came down on <name your favority anti-gun personality>?

 

[Mike Irwin]

"Wouldn't that be the ultimate irony if it came down on <name your favority anti-gun personality>?"

Ding Dong the witch is dead, the anti-gun Second Amendment hating witch is dead!

 

[dinosaur]

And the headline would read "Guns Attack Tornado Ravaged Neighborhood".:banghead:

 

[dave5339]

It would take a good F5 to pick up my safe, 1200#s w/o the contents and bolted to the slab. When fully loaded it weighs a bit more.

If an F5 comes and visits, the safe will be the least of my worries.

Semper Fi

 

[Hutch]

I ain't just exactly sure your average (non-F5) 'nader would pick up a safe. Just cause it weighs a bit less than the car that gets tossed around, doesn't mean it'd get tossed the same way. Reason being, the save has much less surface area for the breeze to act on. Freaky as 'nader behaviour and effects are, I wouldn't bet much on it either way. For F5's, all bets are off. F5's pull pavement off the ground!

 

[Correia]

I was in Florence Alabama when I saw my first and only (thank goodness) tornado.

I don't think it would have had much problem with a gunsafe. It put a Ford Taurus through the roof of a local supermarket.

 

[RocketMan]

I used to chase severe weather, still plan to as opportunities arise.
Picked up my interest in storm chasing when I led a SKYWARN group in Colorado.
Tornados will do to gunsafes pretty much what they want. If the safe is bolted to the floor, they might not go anywhere. Then again, they might.
With an F5 tornado, all bets are off.

 

[pax]

Don't know bout safes but...
Friend of mine found his cast bathtub in a tree after a blow.
With an intact kid still in it.

Sam, was your friend's last name "Pudgins"?

pax

It was so windy it scattered the days of the week. We didn't find Tuesday till late Sunday evening! -- Val Cheatham

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

Sisco:

We're making plans for a new house. In the basement I want a room made entirely from reinforced concrete block with a concrete ceiling. Add a steel door and call it a walk-in gun safe, reloading room and tornado shelter.

My daughter and son-in-law did just that in their new house. They haven't moved in yet. I told her they have a $5000 safe to put $300 worth of guns in.

 

[Quartus]

Tornadoes bend heavy steel I-beams like pretzels.

A safe ain' no big thang...

 

[OkieGentleman]

From personal experience, I can tell you that tornados and guns do not mix well. Mine were completely gone, but I had no worry about someone using them. My neighbor got back about 1/4 of his guns still in the cases, but the barrels were so bent as to shoot around corners. Funny thing some of the scopes were OK. I found one of his Colt revolvers after it had been laying in the mud for a week. Needless to say none of his guns were usable.

 

[Urban Warrior]

My safe dealer told me a story about a Ft. Knox Yeager that landed in a fast food parking lot during the tornado in La Plata Md. last year.

The people inside thought a car had come crashing down, but it was the safe. It landed upright, about 8" deep in the ground.

The Yeager weighs about 2000lb. .......................UW

 

[Flashpoint]

A few years back a tornado went through a pretty affluent neighborhood back in my hometown. My dad knew a couple of people that lived there who’s houses where demolished. One of the guys kept his guns in a safe; the tornado picked up his safe and transplanted it about miles away. The other guy just stashed his guns all over his house, in a closet here a closet there, a few of his guns were found all over the county, most where not found. So to answer your question, yep it sure can, but better to have them in a safe and find them altogether than to not and never see them again.

 

[TexasVet]

Hey, if they will fling a semi tractor, they will sure fling a safe.
In Oklahoma growing up, we learned that a twister will fling anything it wants, anywhere it wants, anytime it wants. All you can do is get out of the way and let it. Those storm cellars in the side yards aren't just for sitting on and eating watermelon.

 

[RustyHammer]

"Good reason to keep that gun safe in the basement."

What's a basement?