Inexpensive long gun safe?

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scythefwd

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Guys,
I am looking for reviews and suggestions for a 8-10 rifle safe in the 400 -500 dollar price range. I like Liberty and Sentry, but I haven't found a stackon safe (only steel cabinets) to look at.

My requirements are ..

1. I must not be able to get into it in less than 30 minutes with tools lying around the house (I have a sawzall and I can cut hardened steel so a simple steel cabinet is out).

2. Must support my current collection (about 5 rifles and a few hand guns).

3. Fireproof is nice, the more the better.

4. quality is king, electronic locks are wanted (with external battery access preferred and low bat warnings)

5. I must be able to open in less than a minute.

What can you guys direct me to?
 
"1. I must not be able to get into it in less than 30 minutes with tools lying around the house (I have a sawzall and I can cut hardened steel so a simple steel cabinet is out)."

IMO this eliminates any option that may exist. With a sawzall and 30 minutes, I can open anything on the market, even in the several thousand dollar range. With a partner saw(gas powered circular saw) I am confident that nothing avail. to you or I will keep me out for 30 minutes.
 
I use to cut holes through thick blocks of wood and open walls with the sawzall.. I just wonder how a flmisy 10 gauge safe can really resist such a powerful tool. Just my 2 cents.
 
Well, the Lincoln-20 by Liberty has served me well.

I need another, but, being severely-underemployed, not like to buy anything soon to test the stuff-abilty of the present safe.

Almost better to plan for two, then buy one.

The Stak-Ons are ok, for locked ammo or accessory storage, but are really only toolless-teenager-proof. You can improve them though, with a pull-pin screamer alarm--velcro the alarm to the door, and use a stout magnet to run a bit of flat chain or wire from pin to side wall. leave enough slack so that you can deactivate the pull cord.

Best solution is a dedicated closet, as you can beef up one of those rather nicely and not have it be obvious. Then, you can use locking metal racks within that. Done a couple of those, not too bad (if as bad as any other remodeling job <sigh>).
 
4Freedom,
Wood and walls are not high carbon steel. Then again, neither are the cheapo gun cabinets. A sawzall, in general, can be expected to go through 12 GA steel (not high carbon) at a rate of about a foot a minute. High carbon steel will just break the teeth off of the blade if you try to go that fast. A good 14 tpi blade will need changing out, but you can do about 4 inches a minute through hardened steel. I used to do telecom installs and our hardened steel distribution boxes would take a bit of work to get through.

Throttlejockey,
Do you honestly think you can get to the arms in less than 30 minutes using a sawzall? First you would have to drill to get a starting hole or start at a corner. Then you will have at least linear 60 inches of steel to get through, assuming you are only cutting a 15 x 15 inch square hole to pull stuff out through.

What are the fireproof safes using as insulation?

If the safe is configured correctly, there will be high carbon steel behind the lock to keep you from just cutting out the locking mech (without tungston carbide bits of a large size, atleast 3/4 inches so a sawzall blade can get through). Also, a pistion should be extending down just in case so gravity keeps it in place if the lock mech. is cut out.
 
Forget the sawzall already ! Try the maul/pry bar routine.

Why all the bickering over how fast a sawzall is and what kind of teeth are best to cut thru 60" (lineally) of carbon steel ????????

Hasn't anyone watched the YouTube video on the finer points of breaking into a gun safe yet? Two morons tip the safe over onto it's back and use common pry bars and a maul. They're into the safe and off with it's contents in under 9 minutes.
 
Minn,
Gotta link? The only ones I can find aren't the big gun safes, and they still had to tip it to get a good swing, which can't be done when it is bolted to the floor.
 
found the video you were talking about. There are several problems with the method used there. There has to be room to tip the safe. The room I am putting it in is 25 inches wide (so you would have to remove it from the room to get the leverage to pry open the door). As a couple of the posters on the video stated, there is more than just one aspect of physical security. The safe is only the first aspect. Bolting it to the floor is the second, building the room around it to make it impossible to tip over except onto its face is a third. I will actually have to move the safe in the room in the same orientation that it will end up in because there won't be enough room to rotate the safe once it is in :)
 
my god, why does the hole have to be 4 sided? and why over a foot? you must have some pretty big guns! as I said, use a partner saw and have the whole thing cut into keychains in 10 minutes!
 
throttle,
Simple, A rifle can only be tilted so far in a safe that is only 21 inches wide, so it will have to go through the hole at a slight angle. You could make it smaller, but the hole would have to be at least 4 inches high to get the scoped stuff out through it IF you could get the rifle level. I don't have a partner saw so I don't worry bout them :)
 
For what its worth, I took a $90 Stack-On 10-gun cabinet and reinforced it in critical places with epoxied-in carbon-steel bars (9/16 x 9/16") and drill blank rods. Epoxy itself is expensive, tho. I used 3M Scotch-Weld 1838-L, which is thin (runny) enough to flow by gravity to essentially cast the steel into corners, etc. Epoxy is an art, and I admit it am doing this more as a hobby project than as serious security. Of course, such a cabinet has to be bolted to two walls and the floor also, and, with all that, I am only trying to deter opportunistic burglers, slow down dedicated robbers and make any tampering obvious....
 
The above would be my idea. Buy a older, commercial grade fridge with a lock and presto. They have a certain way of being deceptive if placed right. I own a Partner saw and those things can cut!
 
In your price range...I think you can find a decent Sentry safe. I was looking at one at Home Depot...14 gun for $400. They had four of them and they sat from the fall through February. I was waiting for them to be put on sale with the sping/summer coming...but I went in yesterday and the tool manager said they just decided to store them for next year :mad:

I found the Sentry to be heavier and better built than a Stack-On safe that was comparable in price at Dicks.
 
In your price range...I think you can find a decent Sentry safe. I was looking at one at Home Depot...14 gun for $400.

I found the Sentry to be heavier and better built than a Stack-On safe that was comparable in price at Dicks.
Click to expand...

+1. I bought one of those Sentry 14 gun safes (only they were about $300) at Walmart a couple years ago. Extremely pleased with it.

Don
 
Don't lock 'em up, hide 'em.

Gun safes are like big packages that say open me before xmas I have guns inside.
 
They make 30 minute rated safes. They use 1" A36 steel plate walls, and doors with 1" of A36 plate laminated to an additional 1/2" of maganese steel.

You can also buy them in composite form, where the safe is thin steel wrapped around high PSI "concrete".

Neither is "cheap", but you will get 30 minutes of protection.

Anybody who thinks that an average gun safe (1/10" steel sheet) is going to keep anybody out for more than a few minutes is kidding themself.
 
Insurance

Get a picture of each one on a disk camera. Make sure you have a serial number and a bill of sale or receipt for each one, turn the photo disk, serial numbers and reciepts into the insurance company you have homeowners with.
 
Most homeowners policies will require a rider for anything more than a few firearms (that are worth anything). Most have a limit on a single firearm (often something like $1000), with maybe $2500 total for all firearms.

So, with the current prices on ARs, it wouldn't even cover replacing one of those.
 
Get a good quality safe. Most importantly hide it and bolt it down.
 
"throttle,
Simple, A rifle can only be tilted so far in a safe that is only 21 inches wide, so it will have to go through the hole at a slight angle."

Oh, I was under the impression that I could cut a hole in the top!
 
Throttle,
You could, but you still have to get past the shelf. Probably just mdf, and your partner saw would make a short deal of the door anyways.
 
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