Sentry gun safes? good, bad, ugly?

[sevenpoint62mm]

Ok so its getting that time in life I'm starting to think about kids. Wanting to get the guns out of the closet and into something a little more safe. Also wouldn't hurt to keep them from getting stolen.

So I'm looking at the 14 gun Sentry safes and while they look like crap they seem fairly sturdy. I only have 3 long arms and 3 pistols atm so I think its big enough with room to grow plus some for non-firearms valuables. Has anyone used theses? Are there better for the price (I think 300ish at Academy sports)?

Also thinking about anchoring and weighting the safe as well, has anyone tried these?

 

[deadmeat]

I have the 14 gun and I dont know where they got putting 14 guns in it. Maybe 14 long guns with no scopes. But even then, there is no way you can get 14 guns in it. I have 8 long guns in mine with 3 being scoped and you cant get another one in it. Other than that, they are great safes!

 

[S_O_Laban]

Sevenpoint62mm, check your local wally world, I thought I saw one (sentry 14 gun) yesterday for around two bills.
I was kind'a wondering the same thing you were, and my impressions where exactly the same as yours.

 

[Daedalus]

I have the 14 gun and I dont know where they got putting 14 guns in it. Maybe 14 long guns with no scopes. But even then, there is no way you can get 14 guns in it. I have 8 long guns in mine with 3 being scoped and you cant get another one in it. Other than that, they are great safes!

Same problem here, The only way I have been able to fit my collection of 7 long arms plus room for 3 more inside mine is to store the guns on the right side Muzzle down and the guns on the left side stock down. However for 200$ you cant ask for a better deal IMHO.

 

[jobu07]

I've got that one too. I've managed to stuff 12 long guns into it. It's really not as big as they would like to have us think it is. By stuffing 12 into it, I mean leaning against one andother and such. They really didn't design that safe for EBR and such... But, it does hold them all in one place.

 

[roo_ster]

If the lock is not a S&G (Sargeant & Greenleaf) mechanical spin dial, keep on looking. (You will see "S&G" along the circumference at the top.)

 

[Kamicosmos]

I have a Sentry safe, but it's one of the older ones that still has the mechanical combination lock. It also has 14 bolts all the way around the door, with internal hinges. That thing is a good safe, at least for my purposes, which is a place to store the guns, and to prevent theft of the casual break in type.

I, too, wonder about their capacity claims. I have 3 long guns in mine, and the other side holds all my handguns, and it's tight. But it's a great little safe though. I got it at Costco for 299 I think.

 

[zippo8]

I bought one on clearance at Lowe's hardware for somewhere between 200-300. I got it for the same reason as you are. It definitely fits the bill for that purpose. However, if you are looking for hardened protection, fire protection, etc. you may want to consider something else. It does fine for me, but I never have been able to fit the number of guns that Sentry states it will hold either. Long term, I'll probably upgrade, but the Sentry will do for now.

 

[Tall Man]

Sentry safes are the lowest cost products whose construction qualifies them for the monker "safe", and not locker or closet.

Wal-Mart and Costco are the best sources for Sentry safes, both in terms of price and availability. Since both stores are essentially fronts for selling Chinese-made products in pleasant surroundings, it should come as no surprise that many Sentry safes are manufactured in the Middle Kingdom.

I have a Sentry safe, and I am well satisifed with the build quality and design of my safe, relative to the price paid...which was $299.00. I'm happy to say that the newer Sentry safes seem to have more "meat on their bones" these days, without a radical increase in price. Good news if you are shopping for one right now.

Wal-Mart tends to bring in and display their safes and other storage units in late summer/early fall, just prior to the commencement of deer season.

zippo8 and others are on the mark, with respect to actual storage capacity and the practial theft-resistant abilities of Sentry products.

TM

 

[sevenpoint62mm]

Yeah I thought 14 guns is a bit of an overstatement. Depends on the size of the gun I guess (My Mak90 w/ scope is a bit bigger then my Kel-tec P3at). But if its anything like the Sentry fireboxes it should be pretty solid.

 

[biere]

I figured a sentry was good for my first locker/safe whatever. Just make sure you compare. I got mine 3-4 years ago and it has bolts on the side away from the hinges as well as a bolt or two on the top and a bolt or two on the bottom. I forget how many bolts total, but even at 5 that is 3 on a the side and one top and one bottom.

All safes are way off on numbers of what they hold. I have had a lot of guns in my safe, but many were handguns in soft holsters sort of squished together. The holsters kept things from getting damaged.

I paid around 300 for mine and bought it at a local gunshop. At the exact same time walmart had a similar looking safe for 200-250 or so. But it only had bolts on the side, none on the top and none on the bottom.

I got the combo lock since I don't like electronics and batteries and what not. Don't know if it is a good combo lock, I considered this a good starting point and have since found a safe that is a safe. I like the sentry for the weight and price, heck I moved mine up and down steps and all around all by myself.

I do recomend that you bolt it down. I also built around mine making it darn hard to get to anything but the front door, and the front door is stronger than the rest of the safe in many cases.

I do not know what places are carrying what these days. I do recomend that you count bolts and make sure of what you are comparing to others since I almost bought the walmart safe without looking it over since it was so cheap. But the missing bolts in the door were enough to get me to pay more.

Everyone has their level of protection just as everyone has their idea of the number of guns their safe will hold. I can tell you that mine was numbered from the factory using kids 22lr single shots since anything with a pistol grip or a scope takes up 3 spaces by my count.

Oh, I recently played with a long shot gun. Something with a 28 inch barrel that would be for hunting and where I set the shelf for the handguns would not work for the shotgun. Does not matter now since I have other options, but I thought it looked close and after playing around I figured that things would have been different if my first shotgun was anything other than a 20 inch mossberg of some sort.

 

[benEzra]

For the price, they are a LOT better than the lightweight cabinets you can open with a big screwdriver. Not nearly as secure as a 700-lb Browning safe, but a lot better than something made of light-gauge sheetmetal.

 

[sevenpoint62mm]

Well I'm on pier and beam so bolting it down wouldn't help much. I am however planning on putting about 4 to 6 inchs of lead or steel plate at the bottom to weight it down more. It also going into a closet where it its fully enclosed on all sides but the front which should only give a single guy enough room to pull it out. Between this, my Brinks home security, a good neighbor and the fact I'm 2 blocks from the police station is enough to give me some piece of mind.

If nothing else a couple of BBGs hauling a safe out looks worse then just the items themselves.

 

[SapperLeader]

I have the 14 gun version, and I find its 14 gun rating to be very accurate. If your talking about single shot break open longarms. I have 8 in mine in a assortment of actions and its fairly tight. Now that I have my c&r I will ahve to start packing some upside down, and others rightside up, and others under bed sans bolts. Size aside, it is a great safe for the money, and if you put it in a good location should offer a decent level of security.

 

[sevenpoint62mm]

Hmm, I went to Wally world here in Dallas and no gun safes bigger then a shoe box.

 

[FullClip]

I picked up one as an "overflow" unit when my first safe (Browning) got too full and I was starting to ding up the guns by trying to squeeze them too tight. Figure it's good enough to keep drunk kids out, but just to be sure it's anchored tight and I put the less valuable guns in it. Beats the tin lockers for sure.

 

[Kamicosmos]

Biere said:

I moved mine up and down steps and all around all by myself.

Damn!! Took 3 people to get mine up six stairs to the garage! I almost considered just leaving it to sell with the house...

 

[CB900F]

7.62 & All;

Neither the Sentry nor the Browning are safes. They are Residential Security Containers, or RSC's. The Browning is not significantly more secure than the Sentry, just a lot more expensive.

I'd suggest doing a search for RSC, or my posts. I'm a locksmith & sell true safes for a living. I've explained the differences in my previous posts.

900F