Gun safes

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Geeswell
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Gun safes

Post by Geeswell »

I'm wondering what kind of gun safe people recommend. I would like to house a handful of rifles, documents, electronics for safe,keeping, etc.

Also, having never owned one, where are terrible places to keep your safe ( other than the obvious front or back yard, haha)

Where is the recommended place to put it? We have a small 3 bedroom house. I was thinking the garage but that makes me nervous....

What are your thoughts?

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Gun safes

Post by iWriteStuff »

Geeswell wrote:I'm wondering what kind of gun safe people recommend. I would like to house a handful of rifles, documents, electronics for safe,keeping, etc.

Also, having never owned one, where are terrible places to keep your safe ( other than the obvious front or back yard, haha)

Where is the recommended place to put it? We have a small 3 bedroom house. I was thinking the garage but that makes me nervous....

What are your thoughts?
Garage = bad idea.

Thief: "Hey, got a hand truck? All we gotta do is roll this thing down the driveway and we're home free!"

Liberty safes are nice. http://www.libertysafe.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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David13
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Location: Utah

Re: Gun safes

Post by David13 »

Well, no matter where you put it, you have to bolt it down.
Be certain you don't have pre-stressed concrete if you bolt it onto the cement floor, in the garage or otherwise.
It also doesn't hurt to disguise it or hide it so it is less obvious for someone who gets in. The advantage there is if anyone does come in for legitimate purpose, they don't have any reason to come back later to go after the safe.
The fewer who know it's there the better.
dc

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mirkwood
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Location: Utah

Re: Gun safes

Post by mirkwood »

Fort Knox if you are looking at a full size. I second not putting it in the garage.

2EstablishZion
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Posts: 337

Re: Gun safes

Post by 2EstablishZion »

Thieves tend to focus on bedrooms because if you have valuables in the house, people tend to keep things like that close at hand.
There really isn't a great option, if you have an unfinished basement or other room not finished that's a great option.

kennyhs
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Posts: 1537

Re: Gun safes

Post by kennyhs »

My Dad always said, you need 2 safes. If some one put a gun to your head and said, " Where is your safe, you take them to one with some valuables, while the other safe is well hidden.

brianj
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Re: Gun safes

Post by brianj »

If you have a sufficiently large coat closet, or a closet underneath a staircase, with concrete underneath the floor it would be a great place to hide a safe. But keep in mind that if somebody breaks in, or attempts to do so, an unloaded gun in a gun safe is worthless to you.

For this reason I also have a GunVault: http://www.gunvault.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I found a great place where it is out of sight but easily accessible if I am on or next to the bed. With 54,000 possible combinations kids are unlikely to figure out the combination. And if I recall correctly, after three failed attempts to open the safe it locks out additional entries for two minutes.

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David13
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Re: Gun safes

Post by David13 »

Yes, two or ten minutes lockout.
Therefore, practice the combo regularly and under stress.
So that you don't get stressed in a situation and end up locking yourself out of the box.
dc

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harakim
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Location: Salt Lake Megalopolis

Re: Gun safes

Post by harakim »

My only addition is to keep in mind that safes aren't fire proof, they just survive a while in a fire. They usually have gypsum (drywall) in the walls. When it dries out, the fire protection is gone. So if you really need something to survive a fire, you will want to double check the fire rating of your safe.

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friendsofthe
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Re: Gun safes

Post by friendsofthe »

Here is an idea that may work for you...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p48xVc1lGvQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJwPDVLDOSU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Let me know if you are interested...

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Sandinista
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Posts: 518
Location: Ohio

Re: Gun safes

Post by Sandinista »

You need several. My wife and I each have a pistol safe in the nightstands by our bed (with pistols inside of course). If a thief wanted those they could easily just lift them out of the drawers and carry them off, even though they are bolted to the bottom of the drawer that's just thin plywood. I have a large 64 capacity gun safe in my gun room in my basement. First, the room is locked with a deadbolt. Second, the safe weighs over 700 pounds empty; I had to get a specialty moving company just to get it down the stairs and into the room. With everything inside It's probably over a one thousand pounds. It's not going anywhere very fast. So I recommend an easy accessible pistol safe somewhere you can get at it quickly, but that is secured from the prying eyes and hands of children/grandchildren. Then you need a big safe, the bigger the better because then you can get more guns. Put it somewhere where it is not noticeable to the casual; observer (definitely not a garage), secure it to the floor (unless you have it like mine in a room that is secured and in a basement or other place where it would take a major effort to move it), and then make sure you get a brand that has a decent fire rating (most good ones will start at 30 minutes and up). Realize that most safes are made by just a couple of manufacturers and sometimes safes are "branded" by a store or organization (e.g. Cabela's, Browning, etc.) but are made by a different manufacturer like Liberty. Most importantly, however, is that you need to make sure it is full. :)

cayenne
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Re: Gun safes

Post by cayenne »

http://www.brownsafe.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One of the best companies I have found. These are what I call real safes, but expensive. If you want to prevent someone from taking fire ax and breaking through the sidewall of your safe, get a "real safe" not just a gun locker. We have a cheaper liberty safe and with a fire-ax I bet I could breach it in a matter of minutes. It still works for those quick smash and grab criminals that don't have a few minutes to crack into your safe, but if they had time me thinks it would not take long. However, a real safe with real steel can take hours of beating on it to get in. (unless your a pro, and they don't use cave man methods lol)

Geeswell
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Posts: 163

Re: Gun safes

Post by Geeswell »

Thanks for the response, all. I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner. We had a death in my wife's family, and it's been a lot of that, and then I forgot that i had ever reached out with the question, haha.

Thank you again for your thoughts and experiences.

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Jason
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Re: Gun safes

Post by Jason »

There's only handful of manufacturers...the rest is just branding...I used to do work for the two big ones in Utah...Liberty and Fort Knox. Liberty by far the bigger producer.

Just a steel box. Both of them sell 2nds if you are in the area. Sometimes you can pick up scratch and dent from retailers.

Lots of good ideas and realisms mentioned already. Don't put it in the basement if you think you'll be moving frequently...unless you like hitting the weights and have Elder's Quorum members who do. Or you have the cash for movers...

Nothing is safe from thieves if they want it bad enough...

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iWriteStuff
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Safe Guns

Post by iWriteStuff »

Jason wrote:There's only handful of manufacturers...the rest is just branding...I used to do work for the two big ones in Utah...Liberty and Fort Knox. Liberty by far the bigger producer.

Just a steel box. Both of them sell 2nds if you are in the area. Sometimes you can pick up scratch and dent from retailers.

Lots of good ideas and realisms mentioned already. Don't put it in the basement if you think you'll be moving frequently...unless you like hitting the weights and have Elder's Quorum members who do. Or you have the cash for movers...

Nothing is safe from thieves if they want it bad enough...
Had a friend of mine just pick up an enormous Liberty safe... I forget the model. At any rate, he hired movers to do it. No way he was going to put the safety of his house and $2k safe in the hands of unpaid/untrained elders looking to check the "service rendered" box on their report cards.

I have several safes. One is easy to find, one not so much. I think it would be easy to determine the motive there.

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Sandinista
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Posts: 518
Location: Ohio

Re: Gun safes

Post by Sandinista »

Don't let the Elders move it! If its a big one you will kill them! :)

So here's my story. My wife bought me the safe I mentioned above to replace a smaller one I had. Weight empty was over 700 lbs. When she bought it the store loaded it into the bed of her full size pickup with a fork lift (it was mounted on a pallet). When we got home we backed the truck up to our front door and somehow, with the help of a refrigerator dolly and five big guys, were able to roll it out of the bed of the pickup through the door to the top of the stairs in the kitchen. We then maneuvered it around, denting my wife's new stainless steel Samsung refrigerator in the process, until we had it all "staged" at the top of the stairs ready to lower into the basement. The plan was to have a couple of guys at the top with straps to lower it while a couple of guys were at the bottom to "guide" it. I of course was supervising the whole thing. It was then that I had my "vision" of the safe careening down the stairs, crushing my one of my sons and his friend into pancakes, and going through several walls before coming to stop against the concrete foundation wall. I called a halt to our somewhat dubious plan and called a safe moving company! The next day, and $150 later, they used a real cool lift type mechanism and had the thing down the stairs and in place in 15 minutes. And no one died! lesson learned! :)

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Jason
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Re: Gun safes

Post by Jason »

usually maneuver them around quite easily on mostly flat surfaces using golf balls....piano dollies work well too...but yeah the stairs are a pain without the right gear

goodson
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Re: Gun safes

Post by goodson »

]
Geeswell wrote:I'm wondering what kind of gun safe people recommend. I would like to house a handful of rifles, documents, electronics for safe,keeping, etc.

Also, having never owned one, where are terrible places to keep your safe ( other than the obvious front or back yard, haha)

Where is the recommended place to put it? We have a small 3 bedroom house. I was thinking the garage but that makes me nervous....

What are your thoughts?
i recommend you this safe http://mygunsafeguide.com/the-fort-knox ... pb1-review ..this is the best gun safe from my reviews

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Thanae
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Re: Gun safes

Post by Thanae »

Ah Yes Safes! I have 5 of them and all are fire rated somewhat the same. Something I discovered after I bought them all was the contents of the safe are not insured for replacement by any companies that make safes! At least none that I know of. Before you contradict me be darn sure of what you are saying and have it in writing. Most compaines only will replace the safe and not the contents and some will do neither! Heritage is what I have the most of and from big to small they are of good quality and fit and finish. I have one that the door sticks on slightly and one that sometimes gives me fits to open. The technician has looked at it several times and can find no reason for it. All of mine are dial and tumbler type as I have heard from several people of battery failures and not being able to get into the safes after that happens. Several people have also told me that the batteries are difficult to replace and some are hard to find the replacements for because they are specialized in nature.

Safes can be moved over almost anything by one or two people if one has the right stuff to do it and use common sense. There are little teflon pads made to move big and heavy things over floors with ease available commercially. You can also use small pieces of plastic pipe ABS pipe to get them moving if you have enough of them they hold up nicely. My safe man and his wife move and install almost all of the ones they sell with knowledge and ease using the above methods.

Any good quality fire proof safe for example like a Barska https://secretstorages.com/best-wall-safes/ is going to cost you money new and quality is in keeping with the price. The way to get them is at auction or used through an advertisement and being sold by the owner second hand. There is little that can break on them so they rarely wearout or break much. After you move one the combination can roll up or down slightly so keep that in mind after setting it up. It is fairly common and if you call the maker they will tell you how to deal with it. Say the combo is 4-48-65 it will generally roll one or two numbers and say come to rest at 5-49-66 or amybe down the same way. I have had one do that to me after about 1 month in place! Drove me crazy till the safe guy came over to the house and figured it out in about 5 minutes. Cost me two beers to fix.

Oh point of information for you!!!! Very important!!! If you figure you need a 24 gun safe buy a 36 gun safe! It always works out better that way in the long run. Good Luck!

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iWriteStuff
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Re: Gun safes

Post by iWriteStuff »

Before you dump big money into a safe, do two things:

1) Consider the primary purpose of the safe. Gun/ammo storage? Important documents? Fine jewelry? Missile launch codes?
2) Go to YouTube.com and look up the safe you want to buy and add the words "cracking" or "break". You will find that most safes can be broken into in under 5 minutes. Even the expensive ones.

If "security" is the heft of your purchase, you need to realize 99% of safes have vulnerabilities even an idiot with a smart phone can discover and exploit. Ergo, a cheap fireproof safe may be a better value if all you're trying to do is protect stuff from flames/water/kids.

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