Fort Knox Safes?

[sschudalla]

I am looking at a Fort Knox safe for purchase. They sure seem stout and to be honest, what reeled me in was how slick they look. (I saw one with our second amendment written down the length of the door!!!) I want to store 10 rifles, 2 pistols, and some personal items.

Before i shell out 2K plus, can anyone attest to their quality?

 

[Shadow 7D]

Search here for RSC
most are little better than gym wall lockers with an expensive paint job and fancy name.

Some are better, but most aren't
most of the "HEFT" of the safe comes from sheet rock wall board, which is a better than nothing, fire insulator, just realize that all your guns will be steamed (it contains a bit of humidity) by the time you get them out.

Lastly its NOT A SAFE, those start at a UL B rated, and go up from their.
it's a rated RSC, which is what you call it when it can't make B grade.

 

[heeler]

Knox makes some very good gun safes and one of the things I like most about them is they allow the customer to make upgrades such as thicker steel,double wall steel bodies,heavier plate steel in the door,more fire protection,left hand or right hand hinges as well as inside or outside hinges just to name some of the things they allow you to upgrade.
Of course there is a charge for this.
They make a good safe but the American Security BF or Sturdy Minute Man are probably better in bang for the buck terms and will generally be lower in cost...By several hundreds of dollars after the upgrades or model chosen.
All three are American made if that means anything to you.

 

[a1abdj]

Fort Knox does make a nice safe. That doesn't mean it's more secure, or that it offers any better fire protection than others, but they do tend to have nicer paint, fit, and finish than some of others. There are also a few design elements that add to the cost, but may not add to the protection.

They do offer upgrades that do add to the protection, but it has already been mentioned that it adds to the cost.

 

[darton2117]

fort knox safes

just got mine in today the deffender model 6637 and its nice well made. wanted the guardian but all your paying for are the corner bolts that aren,t really nesessary you,ll never pry the door open anyway and the high gloss finish which I didnt want went with dark granite exterior, really nice safe,

 

[Shadow 7D]

HE HE HE HE
Darton, have me 10 minutes and I'd have all your guns...

 

[darton2117]

ok shadow 7D how would ya do that me n everyone else would love to hear this, you a lock smith? or hating on fort knox?

 

[Shadow 7D]

Do you realize that it's made out of sheet metal?
a skill saw with a composite blade, or even a fire ax will open up the tin can, like a tin can
So that sturdy door, well compared to inch to inches thick REAL safes, that's a nice lock on a locker with wall board and sheet metal body, and a real nice paint job.

BTW
check out youtube, they got everything from dropping a safe from a forklift, to two guys with pry bars popping the door of a top of the line safe in less than 2 minutes.

 

[darton2117]

ahh aight attack the safe yeah cutting beating shell 10ga aint really sheet metal mostly fire safe but most cant get into one, using tools now thats another conversation haha yeah those really heavy safes you like for the storage space they offer the weight goes up alot really not practical for home installs, fort knox makes a sound dependable product

 

[a1abdj]

Just an intersting thing that I've mentioned before regarding gun safes, and many manufacturers have safes that will fail this test.

To do this test, open your safe door about half way. Assuming you're right handed, raise your right knee and place it about half way up the door near the opening edge. With your right hand, grab the top corner at the opening edge. Push with your knee, and pull with your hand, and see what the door does. Put as much effort into it as you can, as you won't hurt the safe.

What you may see if you look closely is the door flexing back and forth. Some will be a lot more obvious than others.

The moral of the story: If you can bend the door by hand, it is probably not as burglary resistant as the manufacturer led you to believe.

The Fort Knox Defender does have a 1/4" door. It should pass this test with flying colors.

 

[heeler]

Shadow 7D is mentioning something that rarely occurs in the over all majority of HOME burglaries.
It is true power tools such as carbide blade sawzalls,circular saws, etc. will breech even a well made gun safe it will also defeat with time a TL-15 safe which is much more hearty than any gun safe.
But it will be noisy and not super fast on a gun safe such as your Knox.
But it is doable.
So,with all that being said darton,if you place your Defender in a good location in the home that only leaves one side of the body showing access or even better both sides behind walls such as a closet with only the door showing,and have the door opening side up against a wall to prevent pry leveraging and finally you bolt your safe down that will give the over all majority of thieves just too much to deal with as most who break into your home should not even know you own a safe and stumble across it in the process of ransacking your fine home.
If these guys come to your home lugging power tools as Shadow rails about then they positively know you own a safe and have come ready to deal with it.

 

[Shadow 7D]

Who says they have to lug power tools
the way jim bob and billy bob do in ATM's is to just take a back how or large pickup and some chains, and rip it out

some people have even posted pick of houses with wall ripped up, because somebody who knew where the save was, simply took an ax to the wall, ran a chain, and pulled the whole thing out.

And, most tools used in a burglary are the home owners.
moral of the story, don't let people know what you have, and don't leave you stuff where it can be used against you.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

I have a fort knox titan 7241. Great safe and I will buy another one some day. I put in the extra stainless liner and the extra fire retarding option you can get for them from the factory. I highly recommend it. Just feel the door shut. My door must weight at least 1000 lbs by itself. It has hugh latching pins even on the corners.

 

[Shadow 7D]

That's nice, doesn't mean much if you can bend the pins off their 3/8th push rods or just tear them out of the door frame--which in most RSC's are just bent sheet metal.

My point is, that with a little research, some brands have nice features, other brands have nice protection, just make sure what your money is buying.

 

[darton2117]

titan safe 1879 lbs of weight man you have very good floors in your house geez take a small army to move that

 

[heeler]

I dont think it's going to be as easy as you think Shadow in regards to your post number 14.
True enough the Knox is a RSC but get real guy a Knox Titan aint going to be taffy pull to get into with a pry attack....or even a sledge hammer attack.
What we are talking about here is a 3/16th outer body with a 10 gauge inner steel wall.
Then there is the door that has a 10 gauge outer skin with a 3/8 of an inch backing of plate steel.
Uhh...Good luck with your pry bar getting in there.
Look guys,although it is true an RSC is not a true safe by definition but to make out a RSC such as the Knox Titan as just some sort of Sam's Club quality RSC is more than a stretch.
I would pay money to watch and see you pry your way into to a gun safe in this league of so called RSC's.
I am the first to admit I would look else where into another realm of safes before I would pay what the Titan is going for but again to put it in the same class as other RSC's is a bit much.
This is not the first time I have had a similiar disagreement on this site in regards to gun safes in this class.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

It weights more than that with the extra fire liner and stuff. It is right at 2200 if I remember right.

It is on the slab (bolted to it) on the ground floor. I figure it is not going anywhere.

They moved it in with golf balls of all things. Put enough of them under it and it is pretty easy to wheel around.

I looked at true safes instead of the fort knox before I did the fort Knox. To me it was a question of practicality. I use a layered security approach that is multi-faceted and while certainly not perfect, it will require a bit of effort to overcome all layers. If you get past the layers and get to the safe, then practically I would not have stopped you anyway because you are a pro. Why put the extra money in a real safe which might take a pro 20 minutes to access instead of 15?

The pro is going to get my stuff either way. I accept that. I am just trying to stop the amateur.

 

[TXdefender]

Just an intersting thing that I've mentioned before regarding gun safes, and many manufacturers have safes that will fail this test.

To do this test, open your safe door about half way. Assuming you're right handed, raise your right knee and place it about half way up the door near the opening edge. With your right hand, grab the top corner at the opening edge. Push with your knee, and pull with your hand, and see what the door does. Put as much effort into it as you can, as you won't hurt the safe.

What you may see if you look closely is the door flexing back and forth. Some will be a lot more obvious than others.

The moral of the story: If you can bend the door by hand, it is probably not as burglary resistant as the manufacturer led you to believe.

The Fort Knox Defender does have a 1/4" door. It should pass this test with flying colors.

Tried it on my big safe, can't get mine to bend :banghead: Must be that 1.5" of steel in the door

Ok sorry, I couldn't help myself. My Liberty(little safe) door does bend as mentioned above. I think Ft. Knox makes a good product but I do think they, as Liberty does, do a better job marketing. The main thing is you know what you're getting and that you're comfortable with that level of protection. I will say Ft. Knox has some fancy lookin stuff with them corner bolts and all.

 

[darton2117]

only 2200 lbs aww shucks a run down to lowes and there best hand truck I could load that puppy up in the back of my truck no prob haha

 

[VINTAGE-SLOTCARS]

Fort Knox

I have had a Fort Knox for over 27 years now. No problems at all. It holds all my pistols ,rifles and collector coins. I believe there is about 45 thousand dollars worth of items in there. The metal is thick and sturdy. I would buy another. The paint is better than some cars. Shop around and buy one slightly larger than you think you need. I bought more firearms than I planed for when I was 25.
PS. I keep a blanket over mine to protect the finish.

 

[a1abdj]

I believe there is about 45 thousand dollars worth of items in there.

Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to buy another safe and split those contents between them.

 

[Shadow 7D]

^^^^^^^^^^
Vintage,

Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to buy another safe and split those contents between them

That was said by a guy who Can, Does, would, if you paid him,
get that safe out of your house in less than 5 minutes.

 

[solidheart]

Fort Knox is one of the best!

One solid unibody steel constuction. Reinforced fire door with the thicker steel plating being the inside steel plating. Welded Studs holding their interior and fire board in place in case a fire does occur.

 

[VINTAGE-SLOTCARS]

Fort Knox

I feel pretty secure I used my "Hilti gun", to blast threaded studs into the concrete in all the corners and one in the center. The average person will not be able to move this. This is not totally perfect but better than most.

 

[sschudalla]

Thanks for the advice from all. It helps to have all different sides of the argument to discuss this. I have been looking at Ft. Knox and Liberty and I think I am going to go the Ft. Knox route. They do make a sharp looking safe and I believe it will secure all of my items for many years to come.