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

[Patriot86]

This is just my opinion but unless you are doing it for a fire rating, I believe any money is better spent in concealment. Like one poster said, his buddy has a spare room in his basement and the entrance is well concealed. You could do something similar and make a void behind a painting or mirror, wall in an old closet etc etc. If you DIY then you are probably going to end up spending less and getting more in the way of theft protection.

I live in a small condo, I have a non-walk in closet that is way too wide to the point where I cannot easily get into one of the corners easily. I have been thinking about blocking off and creating a 2-3' deep void in the closet to store valuables, guns etc because I have no real good place for a safe. Total project cost is probably under $500.00 because my labor is free, you cant even begin to touch a really good full sized gun safe for that money.

 

[PH/CIB]

Combine a good safe with a good alarm system and they won't have enough time to get in it unless they come with tools before the police arrive, five to fifteen minutes in my neighborhood.

 

[Charlie98]

We picked up a Champion brand safe from our local distributor for my FIL, and, being a lover of locks, safes and nonsense like that all my life, I went poking around the warehouse...

Some punk kids worked on this safe for 6 hours and never got it open. That is not to say they were skilled (or sober/straight) but it's the story I got from the dealer.

I always figure it's a law of averages. If someone is determined and knowledgeable, they can breech my safe and get my goodies. Hopefully they will be in a hurry and miss it, or decide it's not worth their time (they are too busy tearing my TV off the wall and packing my stereo up with the silverware.)

 

[FAS1]

Keep a few bucks sitting on top of your safe for the petty thief or drug addict that might break in and he will probably grab in and run without damaging your safe. Just another part of the plan.

 

[a1abdj]

Some punk kids worked on this safe for 6 hours and never got it open. That is not to say they were skilled (or sober/straight) but it's the story I got from the dealer.

From experience, I find that hard to believe. That's no more than 15 minutes worth of lazy work.

Keep in mind that a safe rated for 15 minutes of burglary, made out of the same steel as that gun safe, is going to have 1" solid walls, and a 1.5" solid door. Since your average gun safe is 12 gauge, that means the walls are 10 times thicker, and the door 15 times thicker.

 

[Loader9]

You can get into most any of them in about 5 minutes if you know that's what you're going after. My brother has been hit twice. A known high dollar collector, he has had a Browning and a Winchester safe cut open. The clowns brought a circular saw with a carborundum blade in it and cut the door open. It's amazing just how fast you can cut one open. We played with the hulks afterward to see just how easy they are to cut. We now have a 12'x 20' concrete building with 8" solid walls with a steel pinned door. Inside is lined with prison bar you can't cut with most common tools. It's also wired for heat, radar, noise, and is hooked up to the Sheriffs dept. Not saying it can't be broken into but they'll still be trying as the sheriff pulls up. See, we now keep the counties machine guns and ammo in it. Not only do we perform a service to the county, we get to play with their toys too.

 

[r1mudman]

Here is ont that will be tough to get into!
And it IS for sale!

 

[Poodleshooter]

Good design and location helps strengthen even the weaker safes.

Put your safe in a corner, with the hinge line situated furthest from the corner. Bolt it down to the concrete or floor. Now they can't pry the door as easily, and can't tip it to get leverage. Better yet, keep it in a closet where there's no room for leverage on either side of the door, and keep it distant from any outlets. Make sure there's no straight line from the safe door to an exterior door where a vehicle could apply force (no safe in the garage!!)

Keep your saws, grinders, prybars, extension cords and welding torches locked up separately.

Do all of that, and they have to work with tools they've brought. You can't stop everyone, but that would stop a good percentage of folks.

 

[saands]

I've never been tempted to put a safe in the garage ... but only because it was too visible for my tastes ... I had never even considered this very good point of denying a perp the opportunity to use their Ford 350 to pull it out ... this is a good point!

Saands

 

[PAT FINN]

My safe ( 3 of them ) are intended to SLOW down the thief.

locks only keep the honest people out ..

A well motivated thief will be able to break any safe, given enuff time,
my job is to slow them down,
1. dog
2. locked doors and windows
3. well light house
4. informed and involved neighbors.
5. security system whole house
6. and lastly, gun safe.. and I lock the safe each and every time.

funny how I see some safes , all bolted down and secure as all get out,, and the door is left open / unlocked..

 

[khest]

So seeing this and living in an apartment, what is a good defense for a safe in that case? I am planning on one soon.

Khest

 

[Kevin Rohrer]

Burglars, like all thieves are lazy, stupid, and more afraid of you than you are of them. But they aren't normally completely stupid and most operate under the premise that all houses are alarmed. This means that many if not most time themselves to be in a home no more than 10-minutes.

Put your safe in the basement; burglars seldom if ever go there. They concentrate on bedrooms (cash, guns, and jewelry), closets (cash and guns), and rooms the electronics are in. They also sometime check the frig for something to drink.

I have owned an inexpensive Treadlock w/ 12-gage walls for >30-years that is just as secure as a bank vault because of its location. And I own nothing that would give burglars a means of gaining entry. If a burglar enters your home w/ the tools needed to get into your safe, he/they had prior intel, which means shame on you for allowing that intel to get out.

 

[MagnumWill]

Rdmallory has the right idea.

Something people tend to forget about when considering a break-in is the tools the burglars will bring. Chances are, not many. HOWEVER, even a novice criminal would know to use YOUR tools to get into the safe.

Is the safe bolted up nice and tight? Oh yeah. At this very moment, are all of your power tools put away and locked? Hell no, that would be a nuisance for me (I work on my cars a LOT).

Even an expensive safe is no match for an oxyacetylene torch with a full five-foot cylinder and twenty minutes. And if I was a burglar (and I had a friend with me), it wouldn't be beneath me to drag that SOB up/down stairs to the safe, knowing it would crack it like an electric knife to a cantaloupe.

 

[federali]

Safes--different types

I bought a large two-door safe from the estate of a jeweler and gun dealer. At the time, I didn't know that there was a difference between theft and fire resistant safes. A fire safe will withstand heat to a certain degree for a certain length of time but would be easier to break in to.

My suggestions: put the safe in the basement or bolted to the garage floor. Don't use it as a piece of furniture in the den or living room.
The safe should be hidden from view, especially when the garage is open.
Do not store any tools likely to help a burglar attack the safe where they are readily available. My safe is in my basement workshop (took eight men to get it down there) but all heavy tools such as crow and pinch bars, sledge hammers, lump hammers etc are locked in the garden shed.
Try to disguise the safe in some manner for those times when you must admit service and repairmen to your home.
Place a decoy safe in the master bedroom. Fasten it to the floor so that a burglar must waste valuable time in prying it out. Fill it with worthless foreign coins.

It's not practical to measure the value of guns against the value of a safe. Should your guns end up in high profile crime, there could be civil consequences for you.