New Safe I can finally sleep now

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sturmruger

sturmruger

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I finally took the plunge and bought a new safe or Residential Security Container to some. It is a Cannon Safe made with the Mills Fleet Farm Resolute brand name. I chose this safe for several reasons.
  1. Good price $599
  2. Great warranty lifetime
  3. easy pickup
  4. Decent size 60H X 32W X 28 Deep, and about 600 lbs
I took everyone advice on moving the safe into my basement. I just happened to have a poker game at my house last night. :D I supplied beer, and food. All I asked was that they spend 15 minutes helping me get the safe into the basement. Using a large refrigerator dolly it was actually fairly easy to get into the basement with 4 guys. I was hoping for five, but my brother conveniently showed up late. I can't even imagine how tough it is going to be to get that thing out of the basement someday!!

I have several friends that have chosen to just insure their guns. They don't have any guns that they are emotionally attached to, or can't be easily replaced. That won't work for me I own several guns that I would very upset if I lost one of which is a family heirloom that has been in my family for over 100 years. It has always worried me to have that gun in my basement with no way to lock it up.

If you are thinking about purchasing a safe to store your firearms in take the plunge!! I could have bought a nice new gun, but finally buckled down and spent the money for some piece of mind. Tonight I need to get it all bolted into the floor to insure that it doesn't ever walk off.

P.S. I won the poker game so I won enough to pay for all the beer and food. :D
 
With a RSC type of safe, you don't generally have that heavy fire protection in there (it's really a continuous sheet of drywall material) that prevents the safe from being moved around easily due to weight. So make sure it's bolted into the floor, or the wall of your foundation.
 
I got my safe this year... a BIG one... the best thing about it is now I can start saving up for NFA firearms!
 
Excellent idea getting a safe, every gunowner should have one. That being said, don't let the fact that you have a gun safe lull you into a false sense of security. The only people that a gun safe is protection against is the casual burglar or crackhead looking for money for a fix, and for protection against fire. Anyone that comes to your house prepared to either break into your safe or steal it is going to get it. Two or three determined guys and a dolly will have that safe out of your house and into the back of a truck in no time. And someone who knows how to pick locks can break a S&G Class II lock in 20-30 minutes. So don't forget to insure your stuff. When I bought my safe, I watched in fascination as ONE guy moved an 800 pound safe 60 feet in about 30 seconds WITHOUT a dolly.

Dan
 
Thanks guys for all the good points. All my guns are insured for more then it will cost me to replace them. I know that my new safe does not guarantee that my guns are 100% safe, but it is a huge step up from when they were under a bed in the basement! My biggest theft concerns are your typical stupid teenage druggy. I live in small to medium sized house that shouldn’t attract much attention from the pros. As far as fire protection goes I live exactly six blocks from the fire station. We have had two fires in my neighborhood in the last 3 months and both fires we out with in minutes of the FD arriving. I feel pretty good about the level of security I have with my new safe.
 
These things aren't just for gun owners. After getting mine, I'm trying to talk my dad into getting a small one to keep documents and valuables in, and he doesn't have guns. Keep your credit cards you're not using, extra money lying around, jewelry, etc. in there. For a few hundred dollars and the effort to bolt a small one into a basement corner, it is well worth it.
 
I'm getting ready to build a house soon.

I'm curious if anyone here has looked into the feasability of building a fireproof/safe room. Basically it would consist of a 10x10 section of the slab (no basements here, ground stays too wet), built up with cinder blocks all the way around, filled with concrete, and with a heavy steel door and frame.

Anyone done anything like this, or even researched it?
 
I bought a used safe from a company that was moving and they didn't want to transport it.. $100 for a Canon. Nice size but it had all shelves. I've taken out a most of them and jimmy'd a rack for my rifles but still aren't getting as much capacity as I think I can. Does anyone sell the interior's to these safes? I don't have the carpentry tools needed to do a proper job myself...
 
I'm getting ready to build a house soon.

I'm curious if anyone here has looked into the feasability of building a fireproof/safe room. Basically it would consist of a 10x10 section of the slab (no basements here, ground stays too wet), built up with cinder blocks all the way around, filled with concrete, and with a heavy steel door and frame.

Anyone done anything like this, or even researched it?
Click to expand...

I've heard of quite a few guys that have done this. If I ever build new, I will build in a "safe room". Most places that deal in safes also sell door/frame combinations for just that purpose. You might want to ask over on Subguns.com, a number of those guys have gone this route.
 
I'm in an apartment, and only 2 guns, but I got an ADG electronic keypad safe, which I keep right by my bed. better than just keeping them in a drawer, maintenance guys come in from time to time, you never know. 69.99 from turners.
 
Yep, it is truely amazing how relieved one feels after putting all of the loose items you don't want to lose into your safe.

I still can remember how relieved I felt the first week after I had gotten my safe and put my firearms and wife's jewelry into it.

Problem now is its too small,,, Hmmmm, I wonder why? Who's been putting all of those S&Ws snubbies, 3" K-frames and rifles in there? :scrutiny:
 
Safe/rsc

Mine is a Heritage ,1000 lbs, and has 1 pry mark at the top where a bugular had a go at her. Best firearmz related thang i ever bought. 1700.00 deliverd.
Still feel awkward win away from home very long.
I never show her to any one,and the room is rigged with several of those shotgun poppers with gas spray,and 12 ga. blanks. I even scarffed up a steel door and frame from one of the construction sites for the door way.
Any way good idea and purchase.
Dont do like me and fergit those moisture bag things and a de humidifier.
 
Fella's;

Yeah, I do this for a living. I'll match prices & protection with Brown anytime. Brown is a helluva good unit, but pricey. If you're in the L.A. basin they're close at least.

If you want to do a safe room, I also do vault doors. Buy the door & I'll give you a lot of advice on how to do the room. But unless you're buying the ticket, I can't come on over.

Research the term RSC & you're gonna see my name on a lotta posts.

900F
 
OK, Good start!

If you can, construct a cabinet around it with 2 or 3 layers of sheetrock (or more) under the surface paneling. Mud & tape each layer separately. Use a wide exterior fire door or a pair of them if you want, to help seal/conceal the safe in the event of fire or burglary.

Good luck, and you might plan ahead and make the closet big enough for two safes and your reloading bench!

;)
 
My approach to a secure safe was a bit different. I went for the basement,
too. As was pointed out, keeping anyone who knows what they're doing and wants to take the time out of a safe is a lost cause, so a friend and I designed and I welded up a safe in two sections from 12 ga steel and angle iron, each about the size of a phone booth, open on one side. One of the sections has the door, and you reach around into the other section. The sections were moved into the basement and bolted together internally with grade 5 bolts. Result- safe has to be opened, cannot be removed from the basement otherwise. Not only does it weigh almost 800 lbs empty, it won't go up the stairs. The door has concealed hinges and lock mechanism, and doesn't obviously LOOK like a safe.
This brings me to the second, and in my mind equally important part of the security strategy: keep a low profile. I don't talk about or brag on my guns, not even at the range. I try to keep it so that the only people who know are trustworthy. It's true that they might in turn yakk to somebody, but security, like a lot of other things in this world, is knowing how much point to try to grind onto a pencil. I've done a reasonable job of securing my guns, one that will also protect me from liability under the "new, improved" gun security laws.
 
Finally got myself a Stack-On last weekend. $200 for the 10-gun, 2 door unit, not as nice as those heavy duty safes w/ the 20 bar locking system, but it gives me piece of mind. Getting to be too much of a liability having no place to store my 8 rifles/shotguns & 10 handguns.
 
Rico

Shame we cannot display and brag on our wares.
I agree with what you said, less said less spread.
Good thread and posts.
 
I don't know if I would put a safe in the basement or not. On the offhand chance you flood in there, it could mean trouble. Even if it is fireproof, I wouldn't want water to take the chance of seeping in there.

I think that in a year from now when we are beginning to house hunt, I'll go into it planning on one of the closest be made into a walk-in safe. It shouldn't be too hard, and will probably be the cost of a decently large safe, but offer a lot more space. I figure if reinforced walls, a steel door, and an alarm system is good enough for the weapons of my infantry company, then it is good enough for me. Plus, by making a large closet (maybe 6x12 or 5x10, something like that) a gun safe, you get a lot of options for display, storage, and the like. If you add to your collection you add more racks, etc.

MrM
 
Yes, but you would also have to not only reinforce the walls, but also the floor and ceiling. Plus, you would have to fireproof the whole thing. They've done studies of the temperature/durations of your average house fire, and that's what safe manufacturers use when designing their safes. A safe on an upper floor would be exposed to way more heat for a longer period of time than a safe in the basement. On the other hand, if you did turn an upper floor closet into a gun safe, you could at the same time also design it to be a panic room. So I suppose if you might be susceptible to flooding, then an upper floor safe might be the way to go.
 
Fella's;

Water in the basement can get into a safe & damage your stored goods. There are some common sense things to do about it.

Make sure your basement drain is of reasonable size, 4" is common to the main sewer system if you're on city service, and free flowing. If you're on septic, try to add a drain to outside discharge, lower of course than your floor. I realize that's not always possible, in which case you're going to need a sump pump arrangement. Very few containers or safes have watertight doors - very few. Place your safe a few inches above the basement floor. This does not mean that you can't secure it, but does add difficulty to doing so. On the other hand, 4 inches above the floor may equate to over a thousand gallons of space between the floor & access to the interior of the safe. Depends on the size of your basement & the drain(s) you've got. If you live in a flood plain, then all bets are off.

900F
 
I found the advice I recieved from CB900F to be invaluable. He really knows his stuff. But beware he is painfully honest. Which is extra points from me.

All I was getting in response to my questions to the various "safe" manufacturers was a regurgitated sales pitch.
 
I bought a 14 gun fireproof SENTRY safe from wal-mart. It was like $500 if I recall correctly, which really hurt at the time, but it's eben a great investment. Of course, it's overflowing now...... :uhoh:
 
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