Gun Safes

[litman252]

I did some searching on here and I came up with a lot of nothing. It seems that everything most of us can afford does not do much good to keep the bad guys out of the safes or they burn quite fast.

My question is, What safe is a good one for less than ~$1200?????
I want as big as possible ( quite naturally ) needs to hold at least 20 long guns and 10 handguns. I think 1/2 of the safes are way to small to hold the amount of guns they are rated for. Don't really care if ammunition is in same safe since I feel OK having that under a masterlock.

Another ?????-
Can you put a safe in a detached garage, bolted to the floor with a humidity control device in it and not worry too much?? My stairs to the basement are from Hell, in door and turn left down 3 stairs turn right down 4 stairs turn left. I don't have a lot of options other than the build it in the basement type and not sure on there ratings.

I am aware of this sight, http://www.brownsafe.com/crackingsafes.html but need to know what companies to look at.
Thanks much

 

[Valkman]

About 7 years ago I got a Liberty safe for about $1k. It was the granite finish, held plenty of guns and weighed 600 pounds. Put a Golden Rod in it and bolt it down and it'd be fine. I had mine for 6 years before I got a bigger safe.

I think it was something like THIS, a 25 cf model.

 

[CB900F]

Litman252;

Can't answer your question on worry directly. However, lets take a look at your requirements.

Twenty long guns, I'm going to presume that there is some growing room in this number. So, to make my point, I'm going to figure you've now got 12 long guns. I'm also going to be conservative & figure that the average price for your long guns & glass in hand is $500.00. I'm also going to 'charge' you 7 pistols at $400.00. We now have a value of $8,800.00 in your $1200.00 container. By the time you put your camera & a coupla other things in there, I'm going to round it out at $10K.

My argument is that if you've got $8,800 in guns, and more coming, you can afford $3,000.00 for a safe - you just don't want to. It is true that you bought the guns in much smaller chunks of money than the safe is going to run you, but the bank will finance the safe for far smaller payments still.

You take a look at the loss/cost ratio & decide on your own worry factor.

900F

 

[litman252]

CB,
Why you looking over my shoulder??? 12 guns is correct.
Can I get a safe, with a loan payment, that will meet my requirements for $3000???
I am guessing your going to tell me to look at brown safes..........
I'll look into that Valkman.
Thanks much.
Tony

 

[killermarmot]

cannon safe, stack on (or something like that) and sentry all have 3 dead bolt with 5 locking bolt, 45 min fire safes with digital codes, removable shelves, etc etc for around 800 tehy are pretty decent. if you don't need fire proofing then you can get 13 gun safes for like 500 from sentry and they're good. Bolt it to the ground and you should be good except for the most dedicated of thieves and if they're THAT dedicated not much besides a few thousand dollars worth of safe is gunna keep em out.

 

[Highland Ranger]

Do a search on "residential security container" here on THR - lots of information.

 

[gino]

Okay, noone has mentioned one of the biggest problems with buying a safe, and that's shipping. Due to VERY high shipping costs, most of us are going to HAVE to buy our safe from someone relatively local. In my area, the major safe dealer stocks Cannon and Ft. Knox. I could order some different brand, but shipping costs are going to add up to too darn much.

One pretty good choice is if there is a Sam's Club around you, they stock a pretty good safe made by Granite and selling under the Winchester name. Not a bad safe for $699...

 

[CB900F]

Litman252 & All;

No. I don't want you to go to Brown Safes. I want you to consider buying one from me. I use Brown as an independent confirmation to my posts, since I don't carry that brand.

Due to the recent price raises because of steel going through the roof, I may not be able to get one to you at $3,000.00 But I can sure get close. A lot will depend upon where you are. What I'll do is have a drop ship done from the factory to your curb. Most delivery will put it in your garage for no, or little, extra as long as your driveway isn't / uphill.

If you want it in the house, or down in the basement, ANY vertical movement is going to cost something in the low hundreds of dollars. Our stairwalker cost us over $4500.00. But it will handle 3000 lbs.

I'd be glad to send a brochure to anybody who wants one. It will not have pricing in it as each safe is essentially a custom build. You tell me what you want & I'll quote. Keep in mind that custom build means any dimension within reason, including corner cut-outs for building supports, etc.

As an example on pricing: Dial or keypad? If dial, with or without spyproof ring? What handle? 5 spoke, 3 spoke, or L?

If you are serious & want a brochure, please PM me.

900F

 

[sturmruger]

Litman252 I see that you live in WI. I live up by Hudson and I have an answer to your problem. Go down to Fleet Farm and take a look at their Cannon safe line. I have been saving up for a safe for the last couple months. The advantage to needing to save up is it has given me chance to do allot of research on what safes are the best. The nice thing about Cannon Safes is that they have a fantastic warranty. If you ever have a catastrophe(fire, theft, or misc) Cannon will actually send out a safe tech to your house! I haven't found anyone else that is willing to send someone to your house.


I am not 100% sure this is the model that Fleet Farm is selling, but it is very close. You can check out the Cannon Website here. The model I am looking a is the C23 it costs $639.00 at Fleet Farm. I did ask if they can get larger safes in. They said that they can order a larger safe if this safe isn't big enough.

 

[CB900F]

Sturm;

The Cannon is not a safe, it is an RSC. They send a tech person to your home; whoopy-ding. If there is a fire in the same room as the Cannon, the odds of your contents surviving without damage are right in there with snowballs in hell.

But, do buy what you think is best. Don't complain if you get what you pay for.

900F

 

[BluesBear]

CB900F, what is your opinion of the Champion's Crown Series?

 

[JPinAZ]

Check the classfieds as well. I picked up a big gun vault (around 50 cubic feet I believe, I haven't measured) for $450 plus a few hundred rounds of .45.

 

[MaceWindu]

Safe

A safe is one item you really don't want to skimp on. Almost all of my firearms are custom from long-guns to hand-guns and I made up my mind that if I have about $15 - 20K worth of firearms I should drop a hefty amount of $$ to protect them.

One of the best times to buy one is when you get that fat tax refund check, put it aside and do some research. I had a custom made safe built to my specs:

6.5 ft x 4.5ft x 3 ft, 1200 lbs dry, 18 bolts, Day lock and locking combination dial, lighting system, de-humidifier, custom lining, Bank Vault type handle (3 prong)

Heavy (Plus the bottom is loaded with ammo), thick and covered in the garage so that Joe Schmoe will not know what it is on sight, in addition it has a great fire rating.

The entire price was $1900 delivered, he gave me a sweet deal.....


MaceWindu

 

[sturmruger]

CB900F thanks for the heads up. What exactly does RSC mean?? What is the difference to a good safe? They specify that they have a specific amount of fire protection are you saying that they are fudging the numbers??

 

[Highland Ranger]

Don't want to answer for the master but RSC = Residential Security Container.

Difference in terminology is meant to delineate the fact that for the most part, even the big heavy (for us) safes most folks have at home aren't real safes by professional standards.

Real Safes are fire rated with reasonable ratings and also rated by ANSI or someone else regarding theft deterence (how long it takes someone with hand tools to get in the safe.

If you do a search on residential security container, I think you'll find all those specs somewhere here on THR and if not maybe try on the TFL site.

I guess the over-riding statement here is do you want to pay significant amounts of money for a safe which really will not protect the contents from a real fire and whose door can be opened in ten minutes with hand tools (let alone the top and sides which typically are not rated as highly as the door.)

So rather than knocking yourself out and kidding your self at the same time, get good insurance and a cheap stack on gun cabinet and hide it well or go the full monty and buy a real safe. Not an RSC.

Or if you buy one for the modest increase in casual theft protection it provides or because it matches your decor, do so knowing what you are buying.

 

[sturmruger]

I think I will probably go with the RSC. I am not planning on placing my RSC where it is easy to distinguish. I am planning on hiding it or blending it in to its surroundings. I am more concerned about fire then theft. Even the fire is a small concern considering I live within 6 blocks of a fire station. I am starting to understand the major differences between a RSC and an actual safe.

I work in the wireless business and we have lots of industry terms that we throw around. Most people call their phone a "cell phone" when in reality it is actually "PCS phone", or a "Wireless phone". People misidentifying there phone is kind of a pet peeve of mine. I can see where people always calling there Gun storage a “safe†could be irritating as well. Thanks for the education.

 

[RustyHammer]

MaceWindu -- who did you get to build it for you?

 

[ChickenHawk]

Here's a great write-up on a manufacturers site about how safes are rated.

http://www.maximumsecurity.com/askmax2.htm

I thought it was in interesting read.

Cheers,
ChickenHawk

 

[litman252]

I thank all of you for your sugestions.
What about a diffrent approach???? I am thinking of making a "safe" room in my basement. I'm thinking about expanded metal between 2 layers of drywall, solid door with some custom anti-pry door devices. (Sounds like a three year old describing the NASA program )
I relaize the fire protection is gone, but I can build a door that will stop the average thief with hand tools for more than 15 min. and it could hold all my reloading stuff, and much more.
Tony

 

[0007]

You might take a look at the "Sportsman Steel" line. What nobody will tell you is that no safe will keep out someone who really wants to get into it. (My best time into a Mosler with an S&G 8500 series lock safe was 2 1/2 hours.) Safes will keep out the comman sneak thief or crackhead B&E and as such are a good investment for anyone with enough valuables to be concerned. The Sportsmans line has good weight and fire resistance for a reasonable price, and the factory will often work with the buyer on the shipping. The 72X42X26 will hold an awful lot of rifles and related gear.

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

0007 is correct. Given enough force & time, any security can be breached. After all, we got into the national treasury vaults in Iraq, didn't we?

However, what most of us are interested in is practical security. In my opinion, a container with 10 to 16 guage sheet metal sides simply does not provide reasonable security. Plate steel does.

That same sheet metal backed with gypsum wall board does not protect against thermal attack either to my mind. Thermal attack is either a deliberate break-in attempt with a torch, or a house fire. Doesn't really matter what the heat source is. In any case, sheet rock is a good flame barrier, but does not have the sheer mass to be a good heat sink. In other words; How good is your insurance policy, you're gonna need it. Our safes use a proprietary mixture of concrete & other stuff as the insulation. Which makes our smallest 5 foot tall unit weigh about 1100 lbs.
Also makes it hard for bubba & his refridgerator cart to tip it & haul it off.

Highland, thanks for saving me some typing - ya done good. However, in an RSC, the sides, top & bottom, are not rated at all. Now doesn't that make you feel good?

900F