Sentinel 64 gun safe

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baddarryl

New member
Hi all. I stumbled on a Sentinel at Dicks that is on clearance for $700. I know that this is heavily discounted, but I am concerned about throwing my money away. I don't feel I need a safe this big, but I suppose that could change. :) The salesman said they normally only carry them for the holidays then unload in spring. He said the Field and Stream Pro was a little better quality. Experience with these?

There is also a used 24 gun Winchester locally for $600 that I believe is a better quality.

And then there is Liberty, Canon etc. What say you?

And yes, money is a bit of an issue.
 
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It depends on what the primary purpose of the safe is in your mind.

If you want a safe that a "professional" would have a hard time getting into, nothing on your list would meet those criteria.

If you want a safe to just keep nosey kids and smash and grab burglars out of, pretty much anything on your list will probably work.

If fire resistance is your goal, I can not help there as I am not familiar with the features of each safe you are looking at, but look at the fire ratings for each safe and go from there.

When it comes to safes, it is always a trade off of some kind (assuming a limited budget like you mention). Not everyone can afford to drop $10,000 on a safe.

I was in your shoes about a year ago. My collection was growing, we just bought a house and I finally had somewhere I could bolt down a safe for a long time, and we were planning to start a family (my wife is due in 6 weeks). I did a lot of research, and went to several stores to see them in person. One store in particular had a very knowledgeable sales guy that walked me through each safe they carried (everything from Sentry to high end Liberty, Canon and Brownings, my budget was about $2,000). He did not seem to have a bias as he was very good about pointing out the deficiencies of every safe in my price range.

In the end, I opted for the Liberty Fatboy. I was not concerned about fire protection as the safe is sitting on a concrete floor in a corner of my basement surrounded by cinder block and I live 2 miles from the fire department (but it does offer 75 minutes of protection at 1,200 degrees). I live in rather low-crime area so I was not overly concerned with ultimate security (and I realized that nothing in my price range would stop a "professional"), so 13, 1" bolts was good enough for me. It will keep smash and grab guys out and will keep the kids out and it will allow me room to grow my collection, and that is what I wanted.

So, in a nutshell, evaluate what your primary purpose is and go from there. My only recommendation (and it is hardly a novel idea) is to buy one size up from what you think you need. It is amazing how quickly they fill up once you start throwing scoped rifles in there. I debated the Fatboy Jr., and am glad I went one size up.
 
Safes ALWAYS shrink. Buy one bigger then you think you need...avoids having to buy another next year.

Im up to 3 safes now. The last one was the largest Cabelas has. Just like above... a safe to keep a pro out will be expensive. One to keep a residential burgerler out, along with a smash and grab Crack addict is good enough for me.
 
Well thanks for the replies guys. I spent all day researching and learning about safes yesterday.. Makes me a pro right? One thing I found for sure is that all $1000 perform about the same. I had a very helpful locksmith tell me that without getting into the $2500 neighborhood to get the cheapest one I could that had the features I wanted. I came across this page (and many others) that confirms that. I think I am going to get something cheap in a pinch and save for a good one.

http://gunsafereviewsguy.com/articles/myths-about-gun-safe-theft-protection/#myth-thicker-door-is-stronger
 
What other people have hinted at is that nothing is 100%. Anything one man can make, another can break. What you're aiming for is the balance.

How much money/value is in the safe?

How much will my insurance go down if I tell them about the safe, and it's rating?

How many years will my insurance have to be that much lower to pay for the safe?

How long will a thief of the expected skill level be willing to spend getting into it, and how long will it actually take them? Again the safe isn't made to keep someone determined from getting in, it's made to make someone determine it's not worth the risk/time of getting in.

Have you ever watched the videos of people "testing" these safes in a "fair" manner? In the first place the acting is horrible. They always do the "good" safe last, and the demo crew have their prybars slip and lose purchase a lot more on the "good" safe. So yeah, they all probably perform about the same. Second, everybody is in an arms race over their locking bolts, how many, how big, and so on, but I never see the locking bolts fail on any of these safes. It's the socket/walls they go into.

Most of the time they're prying that short wall away from the door, then popping the door up. Bolt it upright (they all want to flip them on their backs, I haven't seen anyone break into a safe on the video while the thing is in place) in such a way to prevent them getting leverage on the wall opposite the hinge. I have no testing or proof, but I'd be willing to bet a cheap $1000 safe performs better in that position, than a $3,000 safe on it's back.
 
You might check locksmiths that sell used or reconditioned safes for a better deal. Several years ago when I was looking I found one that had a like new Liberty Colonial 50. I paid 1K delivered!
 
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