Stack-On 10 gun safe: Any owners out there?

[22_Shooter]

I think I've settled on this safe http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/sm-stack-on-10-gun-safe-w-combination-lock--pi-2033184.html . Anyone have of these? I like the price, which is about the max I have to spend right now. I didn't get a real good look at it though, it's up on a shelf, and I could only reach the bottom of the door. Anyways, the sales guy at Gander said he just bought one and likes it. But there's no more left till next week, so I figure I'll fish around here for some reviews on it.

Yes, I know some people are going to say get a real safe, bigger safe, better brand safe, but this is in my budget for now.

 

[CU74]

So long as you recognize it as a gun CABINET with a door lock and not a gun safe, they are good. If you are concerned about theft, save your pennies and buy a real safe when you can afford it.

I have two and they serve my purposes well. Most of my rifles are old mil-surp bolt-actions. I store them in open racks without the bolts - the bolts are locked away. The two Stack-Ons contain the semi-auto and lever-action rifles, and the only time they are locked is when the grandchildren are "in residence".

 

[yesit'sloaded]

I have several friends that have them and they work fine. This is not the one you want to leave in the center of the room daring someone to break into it. My friends both have them bolted to the wall studs inside closets with locked doors on the closets. They will stop a smash and grab, but not a pro with some time on their hands.

 

[ken w.]

I also have a few of these to keep the kids away from the guns.You can bolt them down if you like.In my opinion,unless you spend over $600.00-$700.00 you are not buying that much better.You have to look at the locking mechinisim and wall thinkness and fire ratings.Most of what I have looked at in the $350.00 -$500.00 range were not that great for the money.If someone is in your house to rob it,they will take the easy stuff first and leave.If they have time and the will,they will get into any safe.A few years ago a old timer who kept his life savings in his very large gun safe/vault had it ripped thru the wall of his house.The thieves put a chain thru the window and around the safe and used his own tractor and bucket to pull it out of the house and haulled it away.In that case did it matter what safe ?I would buy the best you can afford.

 

[Schutzen]

I purchased three cabinets similar to this one (Sentry, non-fire rated). I am very pleased with them. I gave them to my sons for Christmas. They are reasonably strong and with prevent children from accessing firearms. They do not protect against fire and any determined thief can pry them open in 15-30 minutes. Prying them open is much more difficult if they are bolted to the floor/wall. I believe they are a good value for the money, but you must realize they are not a fire-rated, burglar-hardened safe.

 

[Zebraranger]

I agree, not a good gun safe, it probably only has 3 throw bolts and its not fire rated. Lowes sells a fire rated 14 gun Sentry gun safe with six throw bolts for about $250. dollars more (I think I paid 479. with 10 percent off coupon) and it weighs about 500 pounds, no thief is going to walk off with it. I would wait and save enough to get a good quality safe that will do what its suppose to do. 3/16" to 1/4" steel at least, the more throw bolts, the harder it will be to pry open with a 6' steel pry bar. At least 3 throw bolts on the top and side as a minumium.
there are a lot of good safes out there and a lot of bad ones too.
Good luck

 

[damien]

It's not a safe at all. Even if you bolt it down, thieves will be able to get into it in a minute. But it will keep children away and give you at least the appearance of being "responsible" with your guns.

BTW, I have a similar cabinet made by Homak. I am going to get a real safe someday when I move to a nicer house. I don't want a real safe now because I am planning on moving in the next few years.

 

[roscoe]

It does keep the kids out, but a determined thief will breach it in a minute. Smash and grab types might be kept out.

 

[realityscope]

I have a stack-on cabinet and although it is not burglar proof it is an upgrade from the wooden cabinet I had previously, I feel comfortable with it since my neighborhood has only had a single break in in the few years I've lived here and it was just some kids stealing christmas presents, plus no one here knows what I have.

 

[jakemccoy]

Are you guys looking at the link? It's a safe, even though it's not substantial. Stack-on does sell cabinets. However, they also sell safes that happen to be Cali-approved, like the safe in the link. For the money, they do the trick, especially if you bolt them to your house frame in a corner such that prying would be difficult. I have the 8-gun Stack-on safe. It serves my purposes well in my bedroom closet. It will keep kids and non-dedicated thieves out. Note that a dedicated thief will get into anything.

I prefer a non-fire proof safe because I keep my guns loaded in the safe. It is dangerous to keep ammo inside a fire-proof safe because during a fire such a safe with ammo inside becomes a bomb. My guns are utilitarian and not collector items. So, if a fire destroys my house, my insurance will handle the replacement, and I will have more expensive things about which to worry.

 

[jefnvk]

I got a cheap one. Throw it in the back of a closet, works well for keeping drunk partiers out, which is about all I need it for.

 

[Barr]

I like my cabinet just fine. It is night and day better than the very light weight thin cabinets. It is not a cabinet for a 5000+ dollar collection but it is great for an apt or college student on a budget.

 

[B. Adams]

I have the 8-gun version at my house, and it does a fine job. It's my only cabinet, but I don't have any long guns worth more than $500, and most of them are closer to $200, so I don't "need" anything more expensive. One of these days...

My dad has the 10-gun version, because I noticed it was on sale at a local store, and he had a habit of leaving guns laying around the basement when he was done hunting or shooting. Drove my mom nuts, so he got that to put in the basement to store guns before cleaning (or not cleaning ).

I think they're great for the price. If you need a safe, get a safe, but if you just need somewhere to put your guns to keep kids and prying eyes off them, you can't do any better for the money.

 

[SteyrAUG]

As stated earlier, it is a security cabinet rather than a safe.

But more importantly, something is better than nothing. And it is much better than those glorified filing cabinets with a locking door being sold at Wal Mart.

I recommend putting them into a closet and anchoring them to wall studs. This way any criminal will have a difficult time getting leverage and having room to apply pry tools and that sort of thing.

Also get one with shelves so you can toss in your cameras, wife jewlery and important documents.

 

[damien]

I looked at it, it's a glorified lockbox. A pry bar would make short work of it, or the one I have also. I am not talking down, I have substantially the same thing. It gives a modicum of security.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

I think some posters are confusing the item in question:
http://www.stack-on.com/securityplus/gun_safes/gs-410.html

With this similarly named item:
http://www.stack-on.com/securityplus/gun_security/gc-910-5.html

While neither is high security storage by any means, they are rather different products with different locking systems and such.

 

[a1abdj]

There is nothing wrong with buying what you can afford so long as you understand the limitations of your purchase.

I would like to respond with some of what has been mentioned in this thread quickly, and without quoting:

1) Just because there is a dial and a handle does not make the cabinet/container/box a safe. If you can bend the steel by hand, it is easily defeated by simple prying. Anything less than 1/4" plate falls into this category. You probably can't flex a 12 gauge steel safe due to the bending of the steel, but if you've ever had the opportunity to see a sheet of 12 gauge steel you'll quickly see what I'm talking about.

2) The vast majority of gun safes on the market will provide you with a few minutes of protection from any uneducated thief armed with common hand or power tools. If somebody does decide to attack your standard gunsafe, it's not going to last 15 or 20 minutes. There was a video posted recently showing a Liberty getting its door pried open in under 2 mintues.

3) Gun safes with fireliners are not fireproof the same way a UL rated fireproof safe is rated. You should not store important documents in a gun safe and expect them to survive a fire. If you must store paperwork in a gun safe, place it in a fire rated box, and place that box within the safe. Same is true for large quantities of any type of valuables. Always use the proper safe for the task at hand.

4) Doesn't matter what you use to lock up your stuff. Bolt it down. 1,000 pound safes can walk off almost as easily as 100 pound safes. Even if it doesn't walk off, they are easily tipped, causing damage to the contents. Bolting is cheap insurance, and can slow a thief down.

 

[Bobarino]

i have that exact one. like others have said, its not a concrete filled 800 pound, fireproof safe, but it is very study, very secure to all but determined thieves with at least 10 minutes or more on their hands. it weighs, if i remember correctly about 160 pounds. the locking lugs are close to and inch in diameter and comes with a kit to bolt it to a wall or floor (mine is bolted to the floor) and scope stand offs. the inside is carpeted with cheap grey "carpet" (more like thick felt) and the inside floor is padded.

the top shelf is a bit cramped and stands away from the back wall about two inches to be able to store extra long barreled guns. i have to store my semi-auto 12 gauge with 28" bbl this way.

delivery is a little bit of a pain. they offer curbside delivery so you'd better be home when it gets there and have a hand truck or a friend or two to help you bring it in.

my purposes for the thing are to keep nieces, nephews, and drunken poker buddies away from my guns. at the time i got it, it was also to assuage a semi (ok mostly) paranoid (now ex) hoplophibic girlfriend. it satisfied all the listed criteria.

i say go for it. its plenty substantial keep curious youngsters, amateur crooks and scaredy cat girlfriends at bay.

Bobby

 

[mljdeckard]

I have an entry-level stack-on, and it has a few distinct advantages.

First of all, the price point is such that I can tell any of my friends whose wives don't like guns to go get one, and it seems like a very reasonable place to get started in collecting guns. $100 houses your furst few rifles, pistols, accessories, and can be easily moved if necessary.

Second, as for being easy to pry out, I suppose it's easier than say, a heavy safe built into the basement wall. However, mine has four holes drilled to line up with the studs in your wall. Put it in the (LEFT HAND for easier door access) side of your bedroom closet, and you find it is very difficult to get a pry-bar behind it to steal it. The walls are too close, and the shelf is too low. I found this out when I installed it, and I tried to pull out the baseboard with a prybar. Could you steal it? Obviously, but it would pretty much mean tearing out the wall. The same for popping the door open. Just because you can stick the tip of a pry-bar into the door crack, doesn't mean there is room to the side of the safe to pop it open.

 

[clone]

i have a 8 gun stack-on bolted to studs. its ok for keeping out kids and unprepaired crackheads. it wouldnt take long with a crowbar but i dont think thats likely with your average thief. i have a meager collection so i dont see much point in a $1000+ safe at this time.

 

[K-Romulus]

I have it, and it works as others described. Better than the cabinets by far . . . not Ft. Knox, but will stop the smash & grabs.

 

[22_Shooter]

I think jakemccoy and Jorg have it right. I wouldn't consider it a cabinet. I'd consider the bottom pic in Jorg's post, a cabinet, and the top, a safe. I was talking about the top one. Yes, I'm aware "you get what you pay for", but as far as price, and the fact that I will be moving soon (so weight and size plays into it) are the main reasons I liked it. I know it's no beast of a safe, but like I said in original post, I only got to touch the open door on it, cause it was so high, but it felt pretty sturdy, for my needs anyway. From what people have said that own it, I think I will make the purchase when they get back in stock at Gander. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Elza]

realityscope: plus no one here knows what I have.

Bingo! The fewer people that know the better. Knowing that there are guns in a house would, IMHO, increase the likelihood of it being specifically targeted. VERY few people know that I own guns and I plan to keep it that way. Mine are locked in a safe (the real kind) and I wish you luck in finding it. But, I still don’t want my house targeted.

 

[jakemccoy]

Technically it's a safe, even though it's not much. Stack-on does sell a cabinet version though. For anybody buying, make sure you note the difference.

 

[thebaldguy]

It's much better than nothing. Much better. Bolt it down and weigh it down, and it will deter most of the commom amateur burglars. Save for something better and bigger. A lot of valuables (jewelry, laptops, cameras, documents, etc.) besides firearms deserve some locked security as well.