Where is your safe located?

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b/c if you have any windows that anyone can look in while you aren't home and SEE a safe, that would probably be a good indication to them that there is something worth stealing in it.
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I have four points to make:

Number one, most thieves do not have the skill to break into a high end gunsafe, and the odds of one that does just peaking into your window one night when your out to dinner are miniscule.

Number two, most robberies are “Smash and grabs” thieves are in and out of the home in a short period of time and don’t bother with things like safes bolted to the foundation, because criminals are lazy and don’t like a challenge, otherwise they would work for a living and not be criminals.

Number three, most thieves travel light which means they don’t have drills with diamond bits and an oxy-acetylene torch on hand. They also don’t typically use heavy equipment that would allow easy removal of a high end, several hundred pound safe that is properly installed. If you do own these things, than they may be used against you in a break in, but since most thieves are idiots, they will probably burn your house down before they succeed in opening your safe (that would really suck). Since most high end safes are fire proofed, your guns would survive.

Number four, most thieves are just looking for quick cash and they stay away from firearms because legally owned firearms are easier to trace than a gold watch, and the penalty for stealing guns is tougher. I have a friend who was broken into and they laid all his guns out on the bed and just left them there.

Now with all this in mind, I say you dont have to hide your safe. You can if you want to, but it would probably be found in a break in anyway. As long as you have a good safe that is properly installed, your firearms are safe.
 
I have a 2 bedroom apartment on the third floor.
My 450lbs Dakota safe is in my bedroom in the corner.
Out of sight for most visitors.

Oh yea, it took 3 terminator like looking guys to get it up there.
 
Number one, most thieves do not have the skill to break into a high end gunsafe, and the odds of one that does just peaking into your window one night when your out to dinner are miniscule.
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You are correct, but with that said, the vast majority of gun safes sold are not high end.

Number two, most robberies are “Smash and grabs” thieves are in and out of the home in a short period of time and don’t bother with things like safes bolted to the foundation, because criminals are lazy and don’t like a challenge, otherwise they would work for a living and not be criminals.
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This is correct.

Number three, most thieves travel light which means they don’t have drills with diamond bits and an oxy-acetylene torch on hand. They also don’t typically use heavy equipment that would allow easy removal of a high end, several hundred pound safe that is properly installed. If you do own these things, than they may be used against you in a break in,
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This is also true. Most of the safes that we have seen attacked in a residential setting were attacked with the homeowner's tools.

they will probably burn your house down before they succeed in opening your safe (that would really suck). Since most high end safes are fire proofed, your guns would survive.
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This is not true. I have seen plenty of successful safe burglaries in homes, but have never seen a home burned down because they couldn't get into a safe.

The "fireproofing" in gun safes is not as fireproof as many manufacturers would lead you to believe. You do not want to test these claims in a real fire.

Number four, most thieves are just looking for quick cash and they stay away from firearms because legally owned firearms are easier to trace than a gold watch, and the penalty for stealing guns is tougher. I have a friend who was broken into and they laid all his guns out on the bed and just left them there.
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Yes, but the bigger the safe, the bigger pile of gold that's inside. You can thank the gun safe manufacturers for advertising how good their safes are at storing every valuable item you have in your home. All criminals know this.

Oh yea, it took 3 terminator like looking guys to get it up there.
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I move up to 600 pounds up and down stairs on my own, and I'm 6', 140 :)
 
Dont you think that if you are robbed that a theive would find your 450lb safe anyway? I mean unless you have a holographic cloaking device, how can you realy hide something that big? If you realy want to be that paranoid, your best bet is to build a bombshelter capable of withstanding a nuclear blast and putting all your guns in that. The biggest point I am trying to make is that your safe should be easily accesible for your own use above being hidden in "an undisclosed location".
 
I have a few.

The HD guns reside in a wall-mounted quick-access long-gun safe right next to the bed -- I've posted pics of it here before.

My biggest/nicest/newest is a Liberty FR-50 in one corner of my playroom, bolted into the concrete slab floor. It holds almost half of my collection. (I think I've posted pics of it as well here.)

I have smaller/cheaper ones that are hidden from sight throughout the house in closets and such, and a few small quick-access handgun safes mounted at various locations in the house.

I have small children, so there are no unsecured firearms in the house whatsoever, by choice -- once it come off my hip, out of my pocket, etc. it goes into one safe or the other. (Pre-kids, things were very diferent FWIW.)
 
Mine is in a basement family room (kind of my "man cave") but it's anchored to the concrete floor with the sort of anchors used to anchor down industrial equipment.

My basement is below ground level in the front, but level with the back yard.
 
I move up to 600 pounds up and down stairs on my own, and I'm 6', 140
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I would pay to see that.
You mean you moved a safe that's 600lbs up and down stairs ALL BY YOUR SELF? Using pulies or something?
 
a1abdj - how often do you have to "shore up" a set of stairs to handle the weight of a large safe? That's my biggest concern about getting one into my basement.
 
how often do you have to "shore up" a set of stairs to handle the weight of a large safe? That's my biggest concern about getting one into my basement.
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Rarely. We will move safes weighing up to 1,000 pounds up/down most stairs without shoring. Add to this 200 pounds for the stair climber, and 140 pounds for my delivery manager who is several stairs beneath the larger safes.

If the stairs seem questionable, we will screw some 2x4s for temporary support running from the stringers to the basement floor.

They key here is the machine. It lifts and lowers the safe in a very gentle manner. If you were using a regular appliance dolly, the safe is going to be bouncing. This can be very dangerous on stairs. A 400 pound safe bouncing is nothing more than a 400 pound sledge hammer. You could break stairs easier bouncing a 400 pound safe on them than you could gently lowering 1,500 pounds down them.
 
Hey, what about the guns you have hanging on the wall? A house is not a home without a rifle or shotgun over the fireplace.
 
Try and bolt to a concrete floor in an air conditioned dry area like a first floor bedroom if possible. The "wall safes", can usually be ripped out in a matter of minutes, but are better than nothing. I had a couple in apartments and my last house, but I left the last one for the new owner. It really isn't going to stop anyone intent on removing it. You need a combination of Safe, alarm, and dog, or cctv, setup. If you can do an offsite storage like through a router to one of the available services, you will be better served than having it go to your computer.
 
Man, I saw a photo of a house under construction once. The photo was just the new, freshly poured concrete basement shell with nothing else done yet, but there was a large concrete "block house" or vault right in the middle of the basement. A perfect vault/gunroom/safe room/man cave! Would also serve as an excellent support for the rest of the house to be built on.

I swear I saved that photo, but I'll be damned if I can find it. The basement was huge, and so was the vault room. Looked like a great idea. If anybody has that photo, put it up willya? It's been on gun forums before, that's where I saw it.
 
I'm a builder and if the market ever turns and I can sell my present house I will build the last house I will own, not to big but a Concrete Man Cave about the size of a 2 car garage. Beyond that a couple bedrooms kitchen/livingroom and bath.
 
In my workout room in the closet. It's a 26 gun safe, thought that would be enufff....wrong,wrong,wrong. When you go shopping for yours buy the biggest think you need than go way bigger than you think you need. Wife will put her jewelry in it as well.
 
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