Name that safe

S

SouthCali

Moderator
opinions vary, widely, when it comes to personal taste and related opinions of gun safe's reliability, protection, looks, effectiveness, and overall worthiness.

Not all safes are alike, that is for sure...

So what are your opinions as to the safe you would MOST like to have, do have, or would recommend to someone....

TouchPad, standard Dial, Hinge outside/inside, etc.
:D
 
I don't think a serious thief would have a hard time getting into my safe. Most burglars are opportunists and would have better results hauling it offsite to defeat and short of a hardened room I can't stop them. Fire is another hazard I've chosen not to protect against. Nothing terribly valuable in my collection, few I can't replace.
Before you buy a safe, choose the hazard you wish to avoid. I'd rather have a large safe that fills my needs than a smaller, more expensive one that offers more protection than I feel I need. You're buying insurance, not a guarantee.
 
I have Canons. Biggie T-54 series (tho i have sadly forgotten the combos, Obama). The Ivory, looks better than most of the furniture in my house, then again thats my subjective opinion :D

Id recommend it to anyone, if within their budget. Or any of the smaller series (T-36).

I dont however, have it bolted to the ground, DO ANY OF YOU?
yhst-14628535264555_2101_8241309

Like this but in Ivory color.


I checked the link out...looks great, only thing i dont like is any outside hinges.

cheers:D
 
I am very happy with my Fort Knox. Excellent fire rating. When I bought it delivery to my basement was included, that was the deal maker for me. I was wondering how to get a 1400 pound safe in the basement. Not bolted to the floor, still debating that yet. For me was a toss-up between AMSEC, Browning, and the Fort Knox. I love opening the safe and it lights up with full lighting! It's like a moth to a light, I can't resist! I am very happy with it.
 
Gun safes are too small !

Can't you just put an armored door to a room without windows? It qualifies like a safe under the US Law?

Otherwise, i will take four like this one:
UNTITLED_3.jpg


Or one like this:
dragone.jpg


And because our "Law" is weird, i have to spent even more money to buy an separate Ammo Safe...:mad:

(From 3 guns if i remember correctly, its illegal here not to have a gun safe.)
 
Browning

I have four Browning Pro-Steel that are all dial, no key lock and set to the same combination. That combo. is not written down anywhere in the house. I do know of an aquaintance that had his number written down behind a picture on the wall. They found it.

Several of my friends have the number-no name in their safes for emergencies.

Protection? I know that when I come home, if the safes are empty, I do not have to go checking the local pawn shops. I think the stats show that most burglaries are commited by 18-25 yr. olds looking for something to sell for drugs. My safes protect me from that.

In fact, I have a coffee can 2/3 full of change sitting beside two of them. My theory ( luckily untested so far ) is to make the thief happy. Yeah, he can't get into the safes, but here is cash money right in front of him and it takes two hands to carry out. The added bonus? is that it is a good way to know if someone has been in.

The reality is that if your collection has enough value to attract pros, you will probably be dealing with them holding a weapon on you or a loved one and forcing you to help load them into their rig.

For the past 25 years, I have ALWAYS loaded and unloaded guns in my garage. I am not selling guns in the neighborhood, so I see no reason to advertise them.

Some would call this paranoid, I call it common sense. To each his own.

JT
 
The reality is that if your collection has enough value to attract pros, you will probably be dealing with them holding a weapon on you or a loved one and forcing you to help load them into their rig.
Click to expand...

I have also, long said this. In which case a safe will do no good, just make sure you get the combo right within the 3 tries or your gunman might be a little irritated at waiting another hour to try again lol (in my case anyways):D
 
I have a cannon safe. with the electronic key pad. Sometimes it lets me in and sometimes it doesn't. I thought about getting a different combo switch for it. I just dont know whats all involved in changing it. I dont want to need to get into it and cant. Other than the lock it works great for me. And mines not bolted down either,But then again I had to take the door frame off the closet to get in it. :)
 
I have a cannon safe. with the electronic key pad. Sometimes it lets me in and sometimes it doesn't. I thought about getting a different combo switch for it. I just dont know whats all involved in changing it. I dont want to need to get into it and cant. Other than the lock it works great for me. And mines not bolted down either,But then again I had to take the door frame off the closet to get in it.
Click to expand...

Which model do you have? color?

I know what you are talking about with the not letting you in thing. It happened to me, but i have discovered it was ME making the problem. Put your combo in SLOW. I used to punch it in as fast as my finger would allow, and every so often it wouldn't open on the FIRST TRY. Ive since put it in slow (not ultra slow just not nascar fingers) and its perfection every time!:D
 
Right now a have a cheaper ‘Stack On’ safe. I know a lot of folks say it can easily be opened but I highly doubt to. I have it bolted to the 2X4’s in my closet. Being in the closet as it is, there is no way possible to get enough force on the safe’s door to pop them open. It is tucked in there awfully tight you just can’t get any torque on the doors.

I plan to buy a new, better and larger safe soon. But I am not looking forward to getting that sucker out of that closet!
 
a1abdj is the forum expert on safes. I'm sure he'll chime in shortly.

Here's what I look for in a safe:

1.) External hinges WITH Bolts on the hinge side of the door: Allow you to remove the door and open the door 180 degrees for good access. I found a nicely priced Homeland Security Safe but they had external hinges with Bolts only on the opening side. If a thief had the werewithal to cut off the hinges the door would probably come right off.

2.) Bolts near the edges/corners. Helps counter prying. One of the above pictured safes with the bolts in the middle of the door looks like it'll be susceptible to a pry-attack.

3.) Recommended at least 10 gauge steel walls. Most safes can be hacked open from the side with a fireaxe. A 10 guage steel wall will slow them down some. A1a showed us a pic of a safe which had its side ripped open (and some valuables were lost.)

4.) Non-fireboard fire-proofing. Use of drywall as insulation seems a little silly. I would want something like concrete, fiberglass or whatnot to protect my firearms against fires.

5.) Although the safe I'm receiving has an electronic lock, it's been reported that dial locks are much more reliable. I'd stick with a good dial lock if I had the budget.

6.) Recommended >750lbs. That way thiefs can't haul off the safe.

7.) Finally, when you shop for a safe, look on the door for a UL Residential Security Container rating. Basically means that the safes will withstand a tool attack for 5 minutes (IIRC). A lot of the lower priced safes simply don't have that.

Look around on youtube, thehighroad.org and ar15.com . A lot of informative stuff on safes there.

Keep in mind, these are only things *I* look for. Other opinions may differ.

As mentioned before Amsec BF series safes are great. Sturdy Safes are also well recommended.
 
I have a small pistol safe in the house with an adequate supply of loaded handguns and emergency ammo.
I currently have a friends 24" gunsafe in my living room till she can pick it up and move it to her new home. Hopefully within the next 2 or 3 weeks.
I have a 36" 1400 Lb. Browning safe with an old fashioned dial that's kept off site for the valuable rifles, and a small gun cabinet with my everyday rifles in it. The keys to the gun cabinet is strategically located as well.
Everything is bolted down with a minimum of 4-4" lagbolts thru the wallstuds, the big safe bolted down with even more.

Good luck in protecting your gear. Any method of security is better than none at all.
 
I bought my safe from Sun Welding at the Ventura gun show last year. They are in Simi Valley and have a very good selection of safes from "starter" to elegant. They are CA gov't approved and made in USA.
 
South cali - Not sure what model it is. It was handed down to me from my father. Its 60x30x20 and its maroon. I try the combo slooow and not to slow and fast, and not so fast. sometimes I have to have the wife open it. :D
 
liberty makes a line called "centurion" that is the same as their more expensive safes except the outside finish and 15 minutes less fire rating. I have 2 of them and have been very happy with the value. both of those have dial locks, but i have a 3 foot by 2 foot safe in the closet that has a digital key pad that is much faster to get into.
If i had kids in the house I'd get one of those night stand digitals, but, i don't, so the gun sits in easy reach.
off topic, but those gun magnets being sold now work great for holding a 12 ga to the back of the headboard.
 
i saw on a different thread a guy had a gun vault.. You put your finger onto the scanner and it reads your print and spring opens the little safe.... Would be good if kids were a worry (or an angry girlfriend/wife):D
 
My collection has grown far faster than I would have expected it to; I guess the gun safe I bought last year made me more bold about my gun purchasing habits.

I do think I have outgrown my gun safe both in storage volume and security level but I do think it's a great safe none the less. When I bought my gun 'safe', my criteria for choosing one came down to: security, fire protection, weight and value (weight only because I will be moving in a year or two so I wanted as much of the weight to be steel rather than gypsum).

What I found and would recommend to anyone who asked me is Sturdy Safe. No their safes aren't UL listed like some others but they are a small company and I don't blame them for not wanting to waste the 60K or so on tests for each model in their line up and besides if you look at the test they do on their own safes (a couple are attached below) then you might not think the UL listing is so important ... I don't.

Here's what I wanted and found from their safes - heavy gauge steel: their standard is 7ga on the body 5/16" on the door, commercial grade lock: they use Sargent And Greenleaf Premium Grade Group II Combination and lightweight fire protection: they use 2300 Degree Ceramic wool which is 'the good stuff' and as an engineer with a lot of furnace experience I think I'm qualified to say. They offer more from a security standpoint then was available when I ordered one last year so ordering now I'd add the additional 7ga plates on the sides and the stainless 'torch' resistant plate over the lock box.

Of course, it's always impresses me to see some good video:

10,000 LBS Fork Truck Tension Test on Safe Door

Prybar test on door with 2 of 4 deadbolts cut, proof of strength of supported deadbolts

Total house burn down, the aluminum safe handle and dial have melted away (Al melts at around 1250 F), papers in the safe show no noticeable effects from the heat
 
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