Thoughts on first safe

M

mendozer

New member
I'm planning to build a gun room in the future with a vault door (or high security door). In the mean time, I wanted to upgrade my current storage from hidden locked wood cabinet to a metal safe. I've been thinking about the Liberty Centurion 24 or the Steelwater 20.

Liberty: I like the bar style moreso than the bolts as it does offer more surface area. I'm not impressed by the "pry test" because no one's going to be able to throw this thing down on the floor and do that, so that's dumb.

Steelwater: seems like very stout construction for the price, but key is made at the factory and you can't change it without voiding warranty...lame.

Liberty is 650 (instore pickup) and Steelwater is 800 (garage delivery)
 
Unless you are a Beast...home delivery tends to be worth it ;)

It's about like getting a filled soda machine delivered to your home,
it's HEAVY...and small/wimps/dinky people don't have a PRAYER of moving it around.
And yeah, if it falls on someone, they're DEAD...or at least very, very broken.
So LITERALLY lock the kids in their room for the Duration!

Gotta admit, even tho I'm a MONSTER..have all three forms of dolly...
and the slider pucks...moving a safe tends to be a real PITA.
Thank God that once it's bolted to the floor, yer done forever!!
 
I'm gonna throw a Tracker into the mix too. They have a showroom here in seattle I will see this weekend. My truck has a hydraulic lift so getting it out of the truck wont be hard. Moving it the rest will be
 
I have a Liberty 24 gun safe and the only disappointment is that I should have doubled the size. Once you start putting rifles with scopes in it, the space gets used up quick.

As for moving it, I had it delivered to my garage and my neighbor and I got it moved into the gun room in the house using cardboard and pipes as rollers. I did not bolt it down because nobody is getting that thing out of the house without making a hell of a racket or at least being noticed. I have two other small liberty's that I use to store ammo and powder and a few handguns and AR's. I got them on a whim when the local Ranch supply had them on special.

If I had it to do over again, I would get the biggest safe that I could get into the house, have it delivered to my garage and have a mover put it in the house.
 
So the traditional answer is go as big as possible. 1. I dont plan to buy too many more guns (I know what you're thinking). 2. Since I'm going to end up building my gun room, this is just temporary as they'll all be hanging on the walls once done.
 
mendozer said:
So the traditional answer is go as big as possible. 1. I dont plan to buy too many more guns (I know what you're thinking). 2. Since I'm going to end up building my gun room, this is just temporary as they'll all be hanging on the walls once done.
Click to expand...
Then go with a Liberty and just big enough for now.
 
$ for $, what's the MOST important factor? I'm thinking steel thickness, door design (not bolts but rather the lip inside), and then the lock.

I'm a fan of mechanical over electronic unless it's higher end electronic. But a good mechanical lock will last...forever?

I like the Liberty for the name and reputation but it does have the thinnest metal of the bunch. I don't care about fire protection either way.
 
I'm not a safe expert, so I'll let someone else more experienced/qualified speak to your first question.

As for mechanical vs electronic locks, I went with electronic for one reason: if I ever had to get into the thing in a hurry, i.e., home invasion (I know, the odds of being home during a home invasion are astronomically small) would I rather punch in a 6-digit combo on a keypad, or spin a dial back and forth PERFECTLY 5 times. Under stress.

At the place I bought the safe from they let me try it a few times on their demo safes. I ended up buying the keypad. I just change out the 9-volt battery every December.

As for the Liberty, which is a good safe, for the same money ($1,000 vs $1,000) you get more with a Superior safe, including thicker steel in the door and the walls and on top. You also get a steel armor plate over the lockwork, and the lockwork in the Superior is offset from the dial/keypad.

And the fire pro is better in the Superior vs the Liberty for the same money, until you get up to something like the President model.

Just a few thoughts.
 
A Liberty safe is hard to beat and as mentioned above get the largest size you can afford. It's amazing how fast one can fill a safe. The same thought process for your gun room.
 
mendozer said:
I'm gonna throw a Tracker into the mix too. They have a showroom here in seattle I will see this weekend. My truck has a hydraulic lift so getting it out of the truck wont be hard. Moving it the rest will be
Click to expand...

Do they just import their safes from China? I have seen their posts on some social media, but have never heard them say where they are made.

Looks like they don't actually manufacture anything. They just have their name put on existing products that are the same exact product that other safe companies sell as their own brand.
 
They are Chinese made. I have no idea if they're from a factory that's other brands but their steel is thicker and the lock group level is either the same or better than lobery of the same price range. I have yet to see superior though. I mean all safes have to rely on their weak points which in this price class is the doorframe the bolts catch on. Where it's going to be, prying wont be possible. Power tools would be the way in. If they work that hard then my insurance will cover the guns and safe manufacturer will replace my safe. Remember these are deterrants, nothing more
 
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