Safe Owners: Key Pad or Combination and Why?

Key Pad or Combination Lock

  • Key Pad

    Votes: 67 38.7%

  • Combination

    Votes: 106 61.3%
  • Total voters
    173
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Not to mention an EMP, they are not shielded.
Click to expand...

I know this is a concern for a lot of people here, but really, how often is someone hit with an EMP in America or anywhere in the world? And if you are hit with the only widely available EMP producer, which is a nuclear bomb, I don't think accessing your gun safe will be your biggest issue. Keep most of your guns in a good safe (if you don't have a buttload of money, then get a mechanical safe) and keep a defensive gun on your nightstand. And get a quick-access lock case for the defensive weapon during the daytime.
 
redneck2...are you being sarcastic or do you have 10 of those floating yellow barrels like that had in Jaws attached to your safe :rolleyes:.

Redneck brings up a good point, if a flood is coming and my safe is bolted down to the floor, I'm going to empty the safe before the water reaches it. A suprise EMP attack would be really rare. I'm assuming Norad would catch a high altitude missile over the US and at least we would get some warning. Actually I would empty my gunsafe and put all my important electronic devices in it and NOT lock the door. I'm hoping the safe would provide some shielding. One option is to call whoever the manufacture of your keypad safe and ask them what the procedure is if the keypad is destroyed. It might not be that complicated. If there is a suprise EMP attack, I still have access to my home defense handguns (in regular pushbutton pistol boxes.) I would not be going anywhere anyway, and I would have lots of time to kill and I have a lot of tools to play with.

I HATE combo locks. I had a little one for my office. I had problems opening it quickly in daylight when I'm not nervous. Definately takes way too long in a emergency situatuion. You can do the first 2 numbers in the combo leaving just the last one, however most theives know this trick too, it was even highlighted on "It Takes a Thief", you might as well just leave the safe open.

If your really worried about EMPs just get a key lock, and hide the key well.
 
My recently puchased RSC has a Dial Combination with a key to lock the dial. In the evening while I am home I have started unlocking the RSC and then roll back to 0 and key lock the dial in place. With that I can insert key and turn the dial to 90 and it is open. I lock spin the dial and lock it with the key when I am not at home. I keep a small flashlight and reading glasses on top of the safe (eyes aren't what they used to be) for dark entry. I don't figure I will need to get into the RSC quickly in the night because I keep a nightstand weapon handy.

I didn't consider the key pad type combination lock because I am "Old School", (actually they didn't have one in stock) but I am happy with what I have.
 
Combo for me. Many of the reasons stated above. Where's preacherman? He has posted several times about prisoners sharing a trick that is used to open a keypad with batteries.
 
I can open my keypad safe in absolute dark! A tumbler combo can be opened without seeing it too but only with far more practice.

A locksmith friend told me that regardless of the type after a fire either type will be damaged such that a LS must open it.

I worry more about natural disasters and prolonged power/utility outages and the potential for civil unrest than EMP.

For my money keypads work best. I change the battery once a year.

streakr
 
Safe Owner? I wouldn' go that far. RSC? nah. I have a little $20 Honeywell ah... safe that I use just to keep the tottler out of my SD/HD handguns. It stays...well that's for me to know.

Anyway, it has a key/keypad combo. I love the keypad for quick easy access. If the battery died or the keypad malfunctiond (EMP, fire, etc.) I have the key to open it as well.
 
Battery replacement is just routine maintenance!

Change batteries in your smoke/carbon monoxide/break-in alarms and gun safe once a year!

streakr
 
So???

Anybody really have any idea about EMP and keypads? Any theory?

Does an EMP wipe out the set combination, or physically destroy the electronics, or what?

I have a Ft. Knox Yeager. I ordered it with a combo lock, but found after they unwrapped it after spending six tense hours getting it into my basement, that it was a keypad. I elected to live with it, and it works fine, but I've always been a little nervous about depending on electronics.
 
I’m a combo guy cause that’s what was available when I bought my safe. When I have my new house built, I might upgrade to a key pad vault door though.

As for speed, I keep my regular guns in my safe. My HD guns are stored in two V-Line vaults with matching Simplex codes. I have one for my Sig in my nightstand, and another for my M1S90 in the closet.

Simplex = no power & no lights needed.

Chuck
 
The battery keypad I have has two 9 volt batteries; one for backup. When the batteries get low, the keypad has a different tone. Mine stores the combo with the batteries out.

As far as EMP, I think that if the EMP shorts out the electronic lock, it will probably take you out as well.
 
I have both and like the convienence and speed of the keypad. I keep a couple of SHTF guns in the old dial safe just in case.
 
Quick access safe

I personally like the look & design of these:

www.handgunsafe.com

They're made in California, and I view U.S.-made products as always a plus. They even make console safes for your car, and multiple other safes. There are all kinds of variants, and they're mountable anywhere.
Click to expand...

+1 on these. Built like a tank and fast to get in to.
Met the owner - super nice, pro 2A guy.
 
I think the most important thing here, as mentioned by a few, is don't put all of your eggs in one basket. Have at least one of your firearms somewhere other than the main safe.
 
EMP = anything with a chip will be fried. Very simple battery operated devices , like a flashlight, will be fine.
 
Key pad is quicker for me to get into. And I for some reason can remember a string of single numbers better than a string of double numbers.

--Bear
 
safe

I have a combination as my primary storage (Large) safe in the basement. Having 3 small children running around the house, we just bought a small safe for the bedroom. We currently keep a 226 in the bedroom safe, but the wife is getting a 3" sp101 from Gemini customs for XMAS. I am getting off track, but I can't wait to see her reaction. It is going to take some convincing that I bought the gun for her, with her in mind, for her use.

Back to the safe - It opens with either a fingerprint scan or keypad.

I like the fingerprint feature for stressful situations.

We bought it at Costco for about a hundred bucks.
 
The battery keypad I have has two 9 volt batteries; one for backup. When the batteries get low, the keypad has a different tone. Mine stores the combo with the batteries out.

As far as EMP, I think that if the EMP shorts out the electronic lock, it will probably take you out as well.
Click to expand...
Without getting into the likelihood of EMP (yes, it's highly unlikely), an EMP powerful enough to fry every electronic gadget in your house wouldn't do a thing to you.

This wasn't an EMP, but I had an LED flashlight that got fried when my wife and I poured an old beanbag full of styrofoam peanuts into a large plastic garbage bag. The static charge buildup on the receiving bag fried my flashlight, which I was holding in the same hand with which I was grasping the bag. The light just went out and was permanently dead. The charge involved was just enough to make the hair on my arm stand up. Electronics can be unbelievably sensitive to low-amperage discharges.

Which brings up another question--could you fry an electronic lock by wearing wool socks and shuffling across the floor before you open the safe? You can get some pretty hefty discharges by accident, that way...
 
This will be my next safe purchase for my handgun:

Manual Keypad - No Batteries. Fast access, no worries.
401a2.jpg

http://www.handgunsafe.com/401s.htm

Im in a bind now that I have a shotgun. I live in an apartment on the west coast and I dont plan on being out here for more than another year or two, so i dont want to be lugging around a huge safe large enough to hold my shotgun. Anyone have advice beyond a locking the action on the shotgun? Is there a gun rack lock?
 
Manual Keypad - No Batteries. Fast access, no worries.
http://www.handgunsafe.com/401s.htm
Click to expand...
+1 -- I have the seven gun front (not top) loader.
I can access it in the dark by feel -- as a matter of fact, where its located I can't see the machanism at all, I just reach in and hit the sequence. No batteries to fail at the worst possible moment gives me peace of mind. I'm thinking about buying another one for my truck and bolting it to the floor.
 
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