gun security:wood cabinet vs steel safe
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HoosierQ
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Well unless you get a real for sure safe that ways like a ton and put it someplace like a basement, you won't get a great deal of advantage frankly. We just had a series of daylight burglaries in my neighbor hood and they just walked up, ripped the front doors of the hinges, and carried everybody's stuff out to a moving van. A safe just sitting there would have gone with and they'd be able to break into it at their leisure.
Without a serious safe, you're not going to stop pros with a solid metal box any better than a wooden display case. Now with dufuss kids or whatever, you may pick up a margin of security with a metal box.
A friend of mine has a real for sure safe down in his basement. Bolted to bolts set in concrete, weighing 1000 lbs empty, and down a very curly set of narrow stairs...with no walk out. That safe is gonna be pretty safe.
Without a serious safe, you're not going to stop pros with a solid metal box any better than a wooden display case. Now with dufuss kids or whatever, you may pick up a margin of security with a metal box.
A friend of mine has a real for sure safe down in his basement. Bolted to bolts set in concrete, weighing 1000 lbs empty, and down a very curly set of narrow stairs...with no walk out. That safe is gonna be pretty safe.
BSA1
member
What are you wanting to secure it from?
Overly curious children - Fine
Burglars - No
Overly curious children - Fine
Burglars - No
High quality safe. Bolted to the concrete. Check out how little the insurance co. Is willing to pay for firearms or how much extra ins. is.
Warning, when picking out a safe, figure out the size you need and double it! Extra space for important papers, jewelry, future firearms.
Warning, when picking out a safe, figure out the size you need and double it! Extra space for important papers, jewelry, future firearms.
AlexanderA
Member
Wooden gun cabinets, with or without glass doors, are worthless as far as security goes. So-called "safes" aren't all that great either, unless they're bolted down to concrete.
Your best defense is perimeter security -- hardening your house as a whole -- and, above all, secrecy. That is, be very careful who you tell that you have guns. Also, some obvious things like living in a low-crime neighborhood, having a crack local police department that can respond in a hurry, not flashing your wealth, minimizing the time your house is unattended, etc.
BTW, having display cabinets tends to advertise your gun ownership to casual visitors, such as plumbers, cable installers, etc. This is a big no-no if you're going to observe the rule of secrecy.
Your best defense is perimeter security -- hardening your house as a whole -- and, above all, secrecy. That is, be very careful who you tell that you have guns. Also, some obvious things like living in a low-crime neighborhood, having a crack local police department that can respond in a hurry, not flashing your wealth, minimizing the time your house is unattended, etc.
BTW, having display cabinets tends to advertise your gun ownership to casual visitors, such as plumbers, cable installers, etc. This is a big no-no if you're going to observe the rule of secrecy.
Reloadron
Contributing Member
Years ago, like when I grew up, people proudly displayed their guns in open glass cases. Alas, those days are pretty much ancient history, like running across a tarmac and boarding a plane. Today we bury our prized gun possessions in a safe and it takes 3 hours to board a plane. People arrive home after dinner out and exclaim "Where did my TV go"!
You do not mention your location but unless you live in Utopia or somewhere that crime is nonexistent I suggest steel and plenty of it.
Just My Take....
Ron
RetiredUSNChief
Member
I think a finely crafted wood gun case can provide a TON of security, properly crafted and prominantely displayed in the open for all to see.
Makes for a fine addition to household furniture in my opinion. And can serve as a great bait/distraction for anybody who breaks into the house with theft in mind.
Keep in mind that when the burglar's eyes light up upon seeing said finely crafted gun case, he's not looking elsewhere for your stash of guns. Time is precious to burglars, and the more time spent on one item the less time they have for the rest of the house.
Just keep all your precious BB guns, pellet guns, air soft guns, and paintball guns in the finely crafted gun cabinet as further distraction.
Makes for a fine addition to household furniture in my opinion. And can serve as a great bait/distraction for anybody who breaks into the house with theft in mind.
Keep in mind that when the burglar's eyes light up upon seeing said finely crafted gun case, he's not looking elsewhere for your stash of guns. Time is precious to burglars, and the more time spent on one item the less time they have for the rest of the house.
Just keep all your precious BB guns, pellet guns, air soft guns, and paintball guns in the finely crafted gun cabinet as further distraction.
TonyDedo
Member
This
berettaprofessor
Member
After thAt last, berettaprofessor has popped down on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn to watch the show.
bobinoregon
Member
I'd love to walk into the room and see all my toys, aint going to happen till I manage to build my vault room though. Till I get it built expensive safes will have to do.
Sav .250
Member
You can`t have it both ways....................
Outlaw Man
Member
I suppose you could build a steel cage that would slow them down a little more than wood and glass. If you have any tools in your house ( or they brought some along) you'd better have upgraded to a safe and hope they don't bring some serious tools.
safes dont make it safe. Any safe can be either carried out or broken into provided enough time. Pliars, sledge, crow bar, screw driver and a chisel are all you need. Cleaning up storage units with my uncle we had to bust a number of safes and it was always fairly easy, the most frustrating ones we used an angle grinder on the keypad and key hole. My grandfather stores his guns in a safe but he also has most of them dissasembled and in seperate locked containers.
beatledog7
Member
An argument can be made that bolting a safe securely to the floor, wall, etc. is overrated as a security measure and might even be a negative factor.
One crucial element in a burglary is time. Another is noise. Burglars know they have limited time. Sure, they sometimes surveil and can therefore predict how long the occupant will be away, but they always work with the assumption that they could be discovered. In an urban or suburban setting, making a lot of noise causes the same discovery risk.
Let us assume that the safe is too big and heavy to be quickly removed intact from the premises without opening a wall and using special equipment. Let us further assume that it is placed in a room where there isn't enough floor space to put it on its back without taking the time to move a bunch of other heavy or fixed "furnishings."
If the safe is fixed in place, thieves can't put it on its back or carry it away whole, but they can attack it with pry bars. Because it's fixed in place, they can get leverage. If it is vulnerable to being pried open, it is not providing security against such an attack.
If the safe is free floating, attempts to pry the door will result in simply spinning the safe in place or scooting it around. Since putting it on its back will take time (the room is full of furnishings), thieves may decide that it's not worth the risk of the time it will take.
If the thieves use drills or grinders, whether the safe is fixed in place will make no difference.
One crucial element in a burglary is time. Another is noise. Burglars know they have limited time. Sure, they sometimes surveil and can therefore predict how long the occupant will be away, but they always work with the assumption that they could be discovered. In an urban or suburban setting, making a lot of noise causes the same discovery risk.
Let us assume that the safe is too big and heavy to be quickly removed intact from the premises without opening a wall and using special equipment. Let us further assume that it is placed in a room where there isn't enough floor space to put it on its back without taking the time to move a bunch of other heavy or fixed "furnishings."
If the safe is fixed in place, thieves can't put it on its back or carry it away whole, but they can attack it with pry bars. Because it's fixed in place, they can get leverage. If it is vulnerable to being pried open, it is not providing security against such an attack.
If the safe is free floating, attempts to pry the door will result in simply spinning the safe in place or scooting it around. Since putting it on its back will take time (the room is full of furnishings), thieves may decide that it's not worth the risk of the time it will take.
If the thieves use drills or grinders, whether the safe is fixed in place will make no difference.
wally
Member
The RSC buys time, the monitored alarm makes it a race, this: http://burglarbomb.com/ slows them down should they actually start moving the RSC
Its the only reason I have a cell phone (otherwise hate the things!), my alarm Emails photos to us of anyone approaching the house and calls us and the police if the perimeter is breached.
Its the only reason I have a cell phone (otherwise hate the things!), my alarm Emails photos to us of anyone approaching the house and calls us and the police if the perimeter is breached.
Zaydok Allen
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I'm thinking about having a coffee table custom designed with hidden compartments and hiden release catches. I want to hide them in plain sight, because I have a small home and nowhere for a safe. I'd want the inside reinforced with steel.
RetiredUSNChief
Member
Nice idea, and similar to many other's people have as well. Sketch it up and start the project yourself!
I've long sketched out the drawings I need for the Oak console I'm gonna build for my car. Put off making it for so long with my last car that I decided it wasn't worth the time any more. Once a car gets over 300,000 miles on it, I quit thinking about any such long-term projects. Who wants to custom build something for their car only to have to get rid of the car 6 months later because the engine finally gave up the ghost?
Silly me...I shoulda made it anyway because I ended up replacing it with the same model car, only newer, and my console would have fit the newer car.
Ah, well!
Anyway, the console will have a hidden lockable compartment built into it that would hold a pistol and be easily accessable. Out of sight, out of mind.
Wooden gun cases are the equivalent of china cabinets. They're a nice way to display you stuff without it getting dusty and without the kids getting into it, but it ain't security.
barnbwt
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Other than fire protection, there's little reason a wood cabinet couldn't conceal a "hardened" inner frame that is as good or superior to what is usually passed off as a safe. You'd have slats or decorative grating over the openings (like a pawn-shop display case) and angle iron holding the thing together. If designed and hinged intelligently, crooks would have to pry open small portions which would only give them access to individual areas, and only to smaller items.
Another way would be to have decorative grates/bars that can be easily removed for when you wish to "show off" for the visitors, but can be fixed in place otherwise and not offend your eyes.
Again, no fire protection with this method, though. At some point, this is what we can get insurance for, because it is impractical to guard against every uncertainty ourselves. If you want to show off your guns, your gonna have to assume some risk (and that is much more dependent on whom you tell about your guns than the container you keep them in
). All it takes is your neighbor's friend blabbing to his junky brother visiting over the weekend...
"I'm thinking about having a coffee table custom designed with hidden compartments and hiden release catches"
It should go great with that sofa-safe which includes the same, along with bullet-proof cushions
TCB
Another way would be to have decorative grates/bars that can be easily removed for when you wish to "show off" for the visitors, but can be fixed in place otherwise and not offend your eyes.
Again, no fire protection with this method, though. At some point, this is what we can get insurance for, because it is impractical to guard against every uncertainty ourselves. If you want to show off your guns, your gonna have to assume some risk (and that is much more dependent on whom you tell about your guns than the container you keep them in
). All it takes is your neighbor's friend blabbing to his junky brother visiting over the weekend..."I'm thinking about having a coffee table custom designed with hidden compartments and hiden release catches"
It should go great with that sofa-safe which includes the same, along with bullet-proof cushions
TCB
Jackal
Member
The best security you can have vs theft is an insurance policy. If someone wants your things and has enough time, they WILL take it.
astra600
Member
My father in law kept his guns in the standard wood and glass cabinet. Guess it never attracted the wrong peoples attention. But a friend of his had every left handed Weatherby made in the best safe money could buy, bolted to the garage floor. While on vacation the safe walked away. Good neighborhood, good neighbors. He was a hard man to work for and had heavy duty equipment at his company yard. Suspects were never caught. Never heard if he got any of the rifles back.
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