Ever had a gun safe broken into? What were the specs?

J

jimmythegeek

New member
I was looking into it, and researching the different classifications - "resists 15 minutes with suitable tools, based solely on thickness of steel..." "resists for 5 minutes..."

Anybody have any stats on firearm thefts from gun safes? First hand knowledge? How often does a gun safe get looted? Did you ever suffer a break in and see they tried and failed to open a safe? Either way, what were the specs?

One locksmith chimes in on gun safe threads, and says he regularly sees them broken into and he'd only recommend Class E safes, or commercial safes that are big enough. I may be misrepresenting his views. OTOH, I talked to a cop teaching an NRA home firearm safety class and he thought that was quite rare.
 
I have seen safes of all types, including gun safes, broken into.

Safes are no different than anything else. They are a tool, and they make different tools that do different jobs. You need to determine your true needs, then buy the right tool to accomplish the task at hand.

If you're going to use the "it rarely happens, so I don't really need anything good" argument, then you might as well not buy anything at all. If your house never burns down, the guns are fine under the bed. If the burglar will never touch the safe at all, they'll be fine in a $99 Stack On Cabinet.

Airplanes rarely crash into the water, but they all have expensive floating seats. Cars rarely crash (as a percentage), but they all have highly tested materials used for their seat belts. People rarely have $1,000,000 doctor bills, but they still have insurance policies that will cover those figures. Gun owners rarely face a situation where we would need to use it, but many of us still carry concealed weapons. If you're not prepared for a worst case scenario, there's no sense in making preparations at all.

An E rate safe is essentially a non UL rated, steel plate safe, that would have a UL TL-15 rating if tested. Around here, that safe would be insurable for over $100,000 worth of contents. If you have $50,000 worth of guns, it may be something to consider. If you have $5,000 worth of guns, you'll spend more on the safe than your guns are worth. It's all relative.
 
Excellent points...i was all into a very expensive gun safe but really it gets to be pointless almost (I have less than $5K in my guns)......I can see a stack-on mounted to the wall in the basement.....storage room out-of-sight.............save a lot of money and am already paying for insurance as is...that money could go towards different builds or better optics
 
I have a good 550 pound, concrete lined, fire rated safe. We don't just keep guns in it (I may or may not have a few), but spare car keys, car titles, birth certificates, spending cash, jewelry, etc. For me, a good investment for protection, and piece of mind when I'm not home.

On the other side of the coin, I had a buddy that built a false wall in his basement with an entry built into a large locker style cabinet (hidden switch) he hung old clothes inside. I doubt anyone without prior knowledge would discover it without hours of searching.
 
IMO gun safes are a case where the law of diminishing returns comes in. I've seen a case reported by an owner where a cheap Sentry Centurian that was bolted down stopped a 'smash and grab' type of attacker. I have also seen a TL15 rated safe that was cut open by the owner's tools.

A high quality RSC (a useless rating) can stop some pretty aggressive attacks with non-power tools (I.e., pry bars, sledge hammer etc.) A tool rated safe will certainly stop any attack that a lower rated gun safe can but it may or may not stop an attack involving power tools. So you can spend 5 times as much for a safe that weighs 5 times an RSC and still be volunerable.

I agree with gearhounds and diablo that concealment is the best defense against an attack. Best example I've seen is where a friend of mine created a vault under the concrete frost wall entry way to his house. He cut an access door to it from within his basement then hid it behind a tool cabinet that was on casters so he could move it out of the way when needed. The only person who knew it was there was his wife and the only reason I found out about it was because I helped him move.
 
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Stack-on cabinet a friend was using at a worksite that was hit by smash and grab thieves one night. The cabinet was fortunately empty at the time except for a couple of packages of screws, my friend had been using it to lock up power tools, it was thrown around, jumped on, and had chisels and prybars used in the attempt to open it.

My opinion on them is basically that while they'll keep out some thieves, like in this case, that wouldn't of tried to carry out the cabinet, that's about all it will stop. Also if you're going to use one, understand that unless you bolt that sucker down to where there is no chance it'll be moved, don't put anything breakable in there. Judging by the damage done, any scopes in there would have been destroyed and a good chance that multiple firearms would mean at least some chipped crowns, among other damage.
 
My safe is what many would consider inexpensive. It was, and is, all I could afford. It is not, unfortunately, fire resistant.
But, I am confident, it would thwart any thief that did not bring welding equipment. The safe is bolted to the wall.
I am also confident that most house thieves are too stupid to do much planning ahead with things like welding equipment.
 
A "safe" is just a delay mechanism, be it a delay from fire or a delay from theft. I watched two guys break into a monster jewelry safe at an industry show. It took less than 45 minutes with sledge hammers before they were reaching in and pulling out drawers.

Most good gun safes are decent fire protection and fairly low grade theft protection. They will stop your low brow quick-in quick-out burglars who want a quick score, family members, and neighborhood kids, but won't stop professionals or anybody with 5-25 minutes and a few tools, such as a sledge hammer or in many cases, just a simple crow bar, which is a common burglary tool.
 
Just the other day I was on the phone with emergency dispatch as they relayed information between myself and a local fire department regarding a child who was locked inside of a Liberty safe at Lowe's.

It was 9:30 on a Saturday night, and I was grabbing everything I needed to hop in the work truck and head out that way to assist. The fire department wanted to know if it was OK to take the jaws to the door of the safe. I said it was fine as I stepped through the front door. By time I got in the truck and started it, dispatch advised me that they had it open.

It took them less than 30 seconds.
 
Wasn't a "gun safe" per se, but I had a digital combo fire safe that I probably picked up at the local Costco a few years ago. Well ... the digital part failed and left me with locked box with a nice pistol inside. I popped an abrasive blade on my circular saw and was amazed at how quickly that safe surrendered ... we're talking under 2 minutes :eek: and it dropped apart like an avocado that you slice in two with a really sharp knife. A little noisy? Yes, but nothing totally out of the ordinary, even in an urban setting. I'd imagine that this approach would work for a large part of the safes out there that are not access limited.

Saands
 
Well ... the digital part failed and left me with locked box with a nice pistol inside. I popped an abrasive blade on my circular saw and was amazed at how quickly that safe surrendered ... we're talking under 2 minutes and it dropped apart like an avocado that you slice in two with a really sharp knife.
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This is why it's important to know how a safe is built, because they are all very different from one another.

Chances are you had a document safe. If you look close, many are not even made of steel, and a few of the companies use a lot of plastics. The fill is very loose and wet because its sole purpose is to protect against fire.

If you had a safe with thicker steel walls, or a fill material that was a bit more robust, it may have slowed you down quite a bit. The average safe shopper sees a square box with a dial lock, and assumes they are all the same. They also assume that weight equals burglary resistance.
 
This is why it's important to know how a safe is built, because they are all very different from one another.
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Amen to that! This one was mild steel on the exterior ... probably about 0.1 inches thick ... and I'm sure that it WAS designed as a document safe. I'd be interested in how someone not in the profession would come across solid info on the construction of a safe. I have not yet replaced that one, and someday I'd like to make a better choice. For sure, I am now biased strongly away from digital controls and in favor of the 150 year old dial technology!

I'm assuming that a TL-15 rated safe will resist my circular saw, but what will one of those bad boys cost?? Is there a way to find a safe in the sub-$2000 range that will be big enough to hold long guns AND resist simple tool (e.g. circular saws, etc) attacks? I'm pretty sure my actual gun safe would open almost as easily as my "document safe" did :(

Thanks for sharing your expertise ...

Saands
 
Someone once told me that they leave their safe a decoy and hide their guns somewhere else. Not recommending it or anything but just an interesting idea. I have a cheap stack-on safe. I don't expect it to do any good against any serious thief. Is more of a keep my younger siblings and their friends away from my guns kind of thing.
 
bolt it down

A few months ago I saw a story in a news paper about a highway patrol officer who saw sparks going down a road across a open field some distance from where we was. It was at night and so he went to investigate and found a thief who had stolen a gun safe from a house out in a rural area and was dragging it behind his truck and the metal safe dragging against the road surface was putting up a spray of sparks that were visible at night from a long distance. Apparently the thief was unable to lift the safe into the back of his truck so he used a chain to drag it off.
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Depends on the safe, tools and person. I watched a lock smith open a Liberty safe, he called liberty to obtain the correct drill spot, to not hit the double lock, and it still took him 4 hours. He didn't know what he was doing, masonry bits in a hand drill. With my mag drill and a carbide single flute drill it would have been a 5 min job.

A friend of mine buys and sells safes, he simply cuts a hole in the back to remove the lock cover from the inside so he can tell a buddy turning the dial what way to go and how much. Once open he welds the back back in place.

Those crappy sheet metal safes are to keep them out of childrens hands, they could get to them too with a screw driver but Dad would find out once he got home.
 
no safe is going to provide 100% protection. its all just a matter of time against fire, water and burglaries. the more $ = more time
 
I was looking for a gun safe for several months. Watched the videos on youtube showing how easy it was to break into any and all safes. It was pretty discouraging stuff.
Then I talked to an old timer (old timers have a wealth of information) and he explained that yes, any safe can be broken into given enough time and the opportunity. Most break ins are smash and grab so they arent going to spend too much time on anything they can't haul away. So I bought a large one that takes 3-4 men to move, bolted it to the floor, put most of my guns and cash into it and went on living my life as usual.
The best 'safes' I've seen amazed me. Both were 'fake' rooms in the house. There was no way for a stranger to know they were even there.

I'm not going to spend much time worrying about someone stealing my possesions, if they get past me and the dogs, then I geuss they can have them. I have much better things to worry about...like my new Grand Daughter and what kind of playhouse I'm going to build for her next summer.
How I'm going to keep building the retirement portfolio. How do I get my employees to work harder...etc.
 
My safe is bolted to concrete floor in a closet corner. Thieves would have to defeat a security system and escape scrutiny of helpful neighbors. I'm protected against bust-in-and-run thugs and this thought comforts me. Having a secure storage space when guests are here is another good feature.
 
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