[Euclidean]

I need a real gun safe before I ever buy another long gun.

I for sure want one that can be opened without a key and without relying on a battery.

I realize it's kind of ridiculous to spend this much on a safe when I don't own a gun that cost more than $350, but I'm considering anything $600 or less.

Keep in mind I will move eventually. There is no question. I'd like the safe to be able to go with me.

I can and will clear a floor space for it no problem.

I don't really need a whole lot of capacity. I only own 6 pieces, only 3 of which are long guns. I plan to buy at least one more long gun before Bush leaves office.

 

[Bud White]

I went with a Cannon Gun safe holds 26-38 i think and still not enough room gun safe makes the guns breed for some reason.. Mine weighs about 525 pounds not super lite but no gonna be easy to take off with...

It uses a push button electric lock runs on a 9 volt battery even if it goes dead it has a Flash chip so that all you have to do is replace the battery and enter the code to open it up ...


Do a search for Bettys gunsafe that some burglers tried to break into ..

Cannon has one of if not the best warrenty of all safes lifetime to much to type in so read about them here It was a easy choice for me even though its a big one i know my babys are safe ..Cannon

 

[QKShooter]

The Safe I'm Using.........

The one I'm using now is an older, early, one by "Detroit Bullet Trap Corp."
I think they got taken over ~ or at least the same updated style safe is being made by Zanotti ~ I'll see if I can find you a link on the web.

Mine is pretty nice...it's combination though. The nice thing about it is that it's beautifully engineered & it actually comes apart.
I'm guessing mine measures about 6' high X 4' X 4' - I've moved it twice already.
You can only "get it apart" from the inside though. Some of the parts are HEAVY but can be handled "one piece at a time" by one person.
It's decently heavy fully assembled (I think) about 6 or 7 hundred pounds but I also have mine lag bolted directly to the floor joists from inside the safe.
I also have my home alarmed by Guardian Protection Services which is comforting also.
I put my safe up on our 3rd floor ~ which would be REALLY tough to do with a one piece safe.

 

[Bud White]

Tought Talk about back breaking to get up to the third floor It was hard enough to get mine up 3 little stairs to get it in the door

 

[Euclidean]

That's why I am petrified of getting such a heavy one... but the thing is if I can move it, someone else can too.

I considered getting an inexpensive one now and getting a better one later, but that just seems like a waste of time.

I wish they made something that could be handled with a large appliance dolly without killing anyone.

Heck I wish they'd make a model with a series of weights bolted to the bottom that you could un-attach from the inside.

 

[Betty]

My safe is going to be bolted down now, with one bolt going through the upper back; that way the safe cannot be rocked and knocked over.

After my burglary, my dad has decided to encase the sides and top of his safe in cinder blocks filled with concrete with rebar imbedded in it.

 

[Bud White]

They do make a Safe jack think its good up to 1000 pounds ... They were rented in advance when i got mine thats why i didnt have it

 

[QKShooter]

Here Is One Almost Just Like Mine Pic & A Link Below

Oh...My older DBT safe is about a foot deeper than the one shown.

Zanotti Interlocking Safes Click Here For Web Site

 

[Euclidean]

They do make a Safe jack think its good up to 1000 pounds ... They were rented in advance when i got mine thats why i didnt have it

Holy crap that's so simple... where would you rent one? A place like U haul?

I wonder if you could use a hydraulic car jack...

Edit: And thanks for the link! I wish one of these safe companies would post prices though. I am finding it impossible to budget fully.

 

[Bud White]

The uhaul here rents them its basicly a 4 wheeled appliance dolly

 

[Euclidean]

I just had another thought... why doesn't someone make a safe with a pin mounted on the bottom where you could stack 5 or 6 of those 45 pound barbell weights on it, and then you'd put a floor plate on top of that?

I admit it would have to be extra tall but that seems like it would be an interesting economy solution.

I think sometimes I might have been Kalashnikov in a former life.

 

[QKShooter]

Euclidean

Yep....the more weight the better.
And....those cinder blocks filled with concrete & steel rebar ain't going nowhere either!
Not to many thieves ever do a home "break in" equipped with a jackhammer and an air compressor. :smile:

 

[Euclidean]

Well the thing is, a theif is typically not going to go through a lot of trouble. He's going to grab and go.

Also, any theif stupid enough to use $5000+ worth of tools to steal my $2000 gun collection deserves the dissappointment, not to mention 30 years in club Fed.

 

[mchasal]

Rather than adding weight, I think you're better off securely attaching the safe to the floor and/or wall. With the proper fasteners, you can get the equivlant of many pounds of weight without taking up a bunch of space in your safe. If I were building a house today, I would have a plate embedded in the concrete slab, behind the rebar, with a couple of big bolts sticking through it and up through the concrete. Put your safe on top of those and bolt it down and I don't think it would be going anywhere. Of course, this requires some significant planning.

Actually, if I was building a house, I would probably have a concrete room with a vault door built into the foundation, but that didn't illustrate my point as well

Mike

 

[F350]

I have a Liberty gun safe, I did not get the top of the line but did upgrade the door to 3/8" tool steel door with a 1" tungsten hard plate over the mechanism and the highest fire rating they make it is 6' high and 3' wide . Empty the safe weighs 1800 lbs and the last time I moved it took 4 men to load the safe. I have it bolted to a concrete floor (do not place steel directly on concrete it will rust due to trapping moisture, mine sits on 1X2s to allow air flow) in a corner so only the door and left side are exposed. The only logical way into the safe is a cutting torch on the door or left side, as I shoot muzzle loaders, and the safe is fire rated I “store” 6 1# cans of black powder in the safe and because it is full of guns the cans have to sit along the left side and the front of the shelves :biggrin: . I also bought the electronic combination that “locks out” for 30 min after entering 3 wrong combinations. It has what Liberty calls “relockers”, glass rods under tension so that if the safe is banged around they break and allow locking bars to drop into place so that even if the right combination is entered you still can not turn the unlocking wheel and then you have to call liberty to bring out a jig to drill the door in the one spot where a tool can be inserted and release the lock.

Probably bigger than you are looking for but liberty makes smaller units, one feature I like is that the hinges are not exposed and all the locking bolts are “live” or retract and mine has 5 on each side and 1 on the top and bottom. Liberty is a company you should check out as well

 

[Euclidean]

Rather than adding weight, I think you're better off securely attaching the safe to the floor and/or wall.

Mike

Great thought but not an option for me.

And it sounds like I should check Liberty out. lol that's a lot more safe than I will ever need F-350.

 

[Euclidean]

Okay I've found a few that are currently way too big for me that are fire resistant and affordable.

My personal favorite thus far is actually not the most expensive one:

http://deansafe.com/cannon/h11_large.jpg

This bad boy runs $499 and weighs 350 pounds. Now granted that's not as heavy as we'd all like, but that's still 350 freaking pounds. What I like most about it is that it's basically a gun safe for an apartment. It's slim and trim.

I like this one too

$590 at Academy. Couple hundred pounds heavier, and probably the best value of the lot.

Those are the Cannons. Cannon seems to be winning this war for my sparse money.

I'm also considering one of the Sentry Models. Same $499 price tag as that first Cannon, but it's locally available. The other nice thing about it is I can actually go look at one tomorrow, and I will. Not super heavy either but like I said, that's 300 freaking pounds.

Finally Sentinel actually makes a very interesting offering. I can't find a web page link for it but Lowe's actually sells them by special order. It's the price winner at $485.

Basically all of them offer some degree of fire protection and are a heck of lot better than those curio cabinets I see lots of people using.

 

[rocky]

Check out the safes at Gander Mtn. At least the 1 I walked in had several models to look at, $600 being about the cheapest. I got a Sentry from Walmart, just for the fact I don't need lots of protection . Just secure storage.

 

[JPM34442]

From personal experience I can tell you to get the lagest capacity safe you can afford, because believe me, you will fill it up.

My solution to the problem of a group of burglars carrying off the whole safe was to line the bottom (floor) with lead in the form of 1# reloading ingots I cast for reloding. It added IIRC approx 250 # to the safe weight, and gave me a place to store the lead. I also bolted an Ammo cabinet made by sentry to the top of the safe. Filled with loaded ammo the best the BGs could hope for is to tip the whole rig over. but it ain't going no where.

 

[Euclidean]

You know what I have seriously debated if I really do need the fire proofing. I do have a fire proof document safe already. I've noticed most of the non fireproof safes have a recessed floor compartment. That could easily be filled with some heavy stuff.

I took a look at that Cannon model at Academy today. It seems by far to actually be the most safe for the money but it's so darn big compared to the comparable fireproof Sentry model. They both looked pretty sturdy.

All the models I'm looking at hold 10 or 14 long guns and I currently own 3. I'm leaving myself plenty of room believe me.