talk about safe purchase. suggestions


R

rdm6680

Banned
Looking into purchasing a safe. Any do's and don'ts? Sentry any good? Dicks had some for my price range. $500-$800.

Safe will be used for long guns, ammo, pistols, family stuff.

I consider this a "last a lifetime" purchase so I want to make a decent purchase. I own 3 long guns and 2 pistols so I thouht a 10-gun would be adequate to hold ammo and guns.

Thoughts on these? What about securing them? Tie them to a joist, concrete screws to floor?

http://m.dickssportinggoods.com/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5kaWNrc3Nwb3J0aW5nZ29vZHMuY29tL3Byb2R1Y3QvaW5kZXguanNwP3Byb2R1Y3RJZD0zNTk5MjY0JnNlYXJjaC1idXR0b249U3VibWl0
 

Congrats on not only having a place where you can place a safe, but also on having the foresight to get one!

If I woulda had the money at the time I'da gotton a Liberty safe or such, but ended up getting a fire-resistant $600+ dollar (on a good sale) safe and Dicks Sporting Goods. Makes be feel a bit easier about any thug-wanna-be's that break in, they will have one hell of a time getting my guns/papers. I built a wall in next to it so as to help deter prying, etc, and have it bolted to the concrete floor.

Good luck with your purchase and let us know what you get, and how it goes!

Oh yeah, your collection may grow so make sure your safe gives you the room to grow your collection. :)
 
Love telling this story. A few of years ago I decided to buy a safe. Went with a friend, he decided to get one also. Seems that safes were hard to come buy at this time. This was when ammo was hard to get and expensive. Just a sign of the times.
Safe sales were up because gold was on the move and Barry O was also on the move. Two main reasons to have a safe is for Guns and Gold!
Have to shorten this. I was at a gun store. My safe hadn't come in yet at Lowes. I was talking to one of the guys behind the counter and he told me to make sure I got a safe that was large enough.
I thought to myself. "Are you crazy? Do you know how many guns this safe can hold?" Well I didn't say anything to the guy.
Bottom line here is that I NEED ANOTHER LARGER SAFE. Yes cracks me up also. Most likely you will have more purchases and a larger safe would be a good place to keep ammo in also.
 
rdm6680 said:
But my future wife told me no more guns. ;)
Click to expand...

Be careful. Some consider wedding cake a form or birth control!
Just put them in the new big safe with the rest of the guns. If she is not into guns she will never know.lol If she is into them she won't restrict you.
Of course you could always tell her no more new shoes until she wears the others out!
 
The cheaper gun safes you find at Dicks Academy and many other places are nice but as for real security, from being cracked open quickly or being really fire proof well you won,t get it with a $500/$800 safe.

Think of them as nice thin metal cans with locks.

If you really want your firearms safe from quick entry by smart thugs, and being fire proof for a UL rated time. My choice would be getting a Fort Knox safe.
Gun Safes, Fort Knox: Americas Best Made Gun Safes, Hand Gun, Fireproof, Home and Vault Doors
 
I have heard that two companies warranty their safes so that if you have a fire or burglary they will send someone to open it and then replace or repair the safe. I think it is Cannon and Rhino Metals.
 
rdm6680 said:
But my future wife told me no more guns. ;)
Click to expand...

Tell her only when she stops buying new shoes - just kidding.

Seriously, I would get a safe that holds more guns than you have. You may never know when you may buy more guns, trade in your guns for something else, or buy lots of ammunition.

In my case, I'm running out of room in my Liberty Safe because I got some really good deals on guns and ammunition. I'm actually very cautious opening and closing the safe door.

I have a Liberty 18 gun safe.
 
Oh yeah... the safe... Mine was so heavy it took four of us to get it in the door. - I ain't moving it again. A couple of bolts into the concrete floor or studs and it will become part of the house. If I sell the house, I will give them the code and manual to change it.

Of course, like a lot of people, I didn't get mine until AFTER my good rifle was stolen. :-(
 
From a technical standpoint, make sure you look at safes with a UL fire rating of 1 hr. @ 1200 deg. There are plenty out there with and without. Don't waste money on the without's.

Also, stay away from Heritage if they are still available. I have worked on the inner bolt works and they are garbage.

I have sold several Diamond Back series safes from cobaltsafes.com. Make sure to talk to someone who can get you a good price on one because the website list price will scare you. I am about to buy another larger one for myself. I keep my wife in shoes and she doesn't look in my safe;)

KK
 
I got a basic Sentry on sale at Lowes a while back. Bolted it to my floor. Fire resistant. Manual combination dial because I don't trust the electronic ones (see other thread in this category). It does the job.

(Note: If I hit the Powerball lottery tonight, I'll switch from a sentry safe to a custom, walk-in, fully armored gun room!)
 
By doing the job, I assume you mean it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside? We really never know if our safe really does the job until it does the job, or not:):)

KK
 
I was considering the 24 gun Cannon safe from Academy. I like the lifetime warranty on flood, fire, or break in, but I'm still researching for now. Item #:S6028E-DOK Costco put a bighorn safe on sale recently that should hold 24guns and has the external hinges so you have better access. Item # 569035

Not sure which one to go with though.
 
The Bighorn safe is nice, it isn't the most fancy but awesome for its price point. Their warranty is about on par with Cannon, look it up on their website, I was impressed. One nice thing is to have a safe with exterior hinges, typically the door is 1/3 the weight and if you can take it off it makes moving so much easier (the door on the bighorn I helped move did). I would have preferred to have a manual lock, but the electronic was hundreds less on sale.

One note on manual locks, I have read that if you spin the dial with too much force you can throw the combination off by a couple of numbers.
 
Warbirds said:
One note on manual locks, I have read that if you spin the dial with too much force you can throw the combination off by a couple of numbers.
Click to expand...

Maybe if you used a pneumatic impact wrench. The only way this could happen is if the last guy that changed the combo left a wheel , or three, unlocked.

I understand that is what you may have read, but don't believe it. Don't buy cheap Chinese junk and you will never have this problem.

KK
 
Done a lot of research. I'm trying to balance reality with cost. We have a alarm system and any house we live in will have an alarm system. I believe this will at least limit a crooks time at breaking the safe. I've gone from super high end to low range in research and keep coming back to the stack-on 24 gun safe with 1/2hr 1200 fire rating. Manual combination. Dicks has them for $550. Probably cheaper the week of black Friday. Thoughts? I do want the safe to last a lifetime and I think this will for my needs. I cant justify spending $2000. I've tried to find negative reviews on stack-on but they seem like decent middle of the road safes.

Am I wasting my money? This will hold my papers, 1000 rds of various ammo, 3long guns and 2 pistols.
 
Here is a safe you could get for $589 plus shipping. There are also other's there you can look at a bit bigger.

Link Removed

I have sold several of these and am about to buy a bigger one for myself, which has the higher fire rating.

I don't know where you are but these could be dropped shipped to you. To get an idea of the shipping you could call and ask the company. They will ask for your zip and give you an answer.

As you can see, these safes list at a lot higher price. I personally think most real safes are better than the Stack-on but to be fair, I don't think any locksmith would consider a safemaker wannabe as making a real safe. They seem to us to be just a 'fire resistant security container' not to be used for anything but basic fire protection and casual security.

It's sort of like, you don't buy a John Deere Gator if you're in the market for a 4WD Pickup.

I personally wouldn't buy anything with less than a 1 hour fire rating but if your house was built with straw, that might work for you:):)

In the end, you know only YOU can make this decision. Just have all the facts available before you buy and don't ask someone else to help you make a bad decison.

You are free to contact me if you would like or I may be able to put you in touch with another Security Professional in your area.

KK
 
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