Thought I'd start a thread on gun safes to see what everyone's preferences are. I am going to be getting a safe around the holidays if I find something I like. (Maybe an after Christmas blowout sale) One of the features I noticed lately is hidden hinges. Liberty/Field&Stream brand So...what do you like about your gun safes and what do you think could be better. Whatever you want to list would be helpful, brand ..price range..features..accessories..where to buy I'm hoping this will be a one time deal so I'm not telling myself later that I should have bought something else. Thanks for your help Tim
My husband has a large Remmington. Its quite pretty but its difficult to open. The combo is an large sequence of numbers on a touchy dial.
Black Friday was the time to buy a safe. My regrets, buying a smaller one that thought would fit the bill. Then buying more used ones instead of one gigantic bombproof one.
I have a mesa safe check them out.At the time I got it it had the highest fire rating 1750 degrees for 1 hour and they drop test out of a 2 story building.Iam really happy with it.The thing is heavy weighed in more than the competition.I chose a regular com instead of digital.
I'm actually looking for a smaller safe after Xmas too. I'm a handgun guy so m not looking for a tall safe, maybe something half that size. I'd like it to be rated for fire and flood as well as the second story drop test. For now I store ammo in a simple 'stack-on' safe, does it's job but I'd like something better for the guns.
look around on craiglist. search "safe", "bank safe", "diebold", "fire proof safe". Deals can be had when you search for something other than "gun safe".. I got a 4' wide, 4' tall 2 1/2' deep safe from an old pharmacy on CL for 100 bucks. the door is 5/8 hardened steel. i had to take the door off to get it moved with a couple buddies. This one isn't fireproof, but I wanted it for ammo cans and non firearm stuff that buglers couldn't get to. I'm gone a lot and didn't like the idea of thousands of dollars worth of ammo just kicking around the house in various spots. most of those older, heavy as a house safes are much better in terms of security and fireproofing than whats commonly available today. The big box store safes are sort of a joke when it comes to theft and fire ratings, especially if you live outside of a town without a close fire department.
Just got back from another trip looking for safes and I've learned a few more things. The biggest thing is not all safes are created equal... And...some are just not worth buying IMO. The fire ratings on some of these safes are not good at all. Some as little as 45 minutes Thanks for the heads up Freakingstang!
Got my 30 gun liberty from lowes. They don't stock em in stores but you can special order online and ship to store for free! Plus if you can find a 10% coupon that'll help quite a bit. Mine was $300 cheaper out the door than anywhere i could find. Here's my model http://www.libertysafe.com/safe-colonial-safes-ps-7.html?tab=colors
On the external vs internal hinges argument, my choice is external as long as there's locking lugs on the hinge side (which most decent safes will have). The benefit with having external hinges is you can take the door off to move the safe, which could save as much as 200 lbs. Also, the door will only open 90° with internal hinges, which may or may not be a big deal to you. Personally, I'm a fan of the old mechanical dial combo vs an electronic one. It takes a little longer to turn a dial, but I know as long as I get a safe with a good lock (S&G or LaGard are good) it'll last a lifetime. You can find all types of stories online where digital locks failed and the person had to pay a locksmith $400 to break into their own gunsafe. Also, if you find a safe with the wrong type of lock on it, most lock sizes are universal and you can pick up a new lock and change it out yourself or hire a locksmith to do it for not too much money. Like everyone says, get a bigger safe than you think you'll need. I was looking at some of the Cannon safes in the 24 gun range. And don't believe the gun ratings. You'll never fit 24 long guns in a 24 gun safe, 18 is more likely and even then it'll be packed pretty tight. But before I pulled the trigger on a new Cannon I looked on Craigslist and found a 40 gun safe for the same price used with similar fire ratings and gauge metal construction. The weight was 950lbs, and being able to save 200lbs by taking off the door helped tremendously getting it on and off my truck, as well as rolling it into the garage. It'll hold probably 35 guns packed pretty tight, and I have the luxury of free space since I don't have near that many guns (yet), so I'm not banging my guns together trying to get out the one that's all the way in the back. Finally, both that sucker to the floor! I watched several videos where 2 guys were able to tip over mid priced safes ($1000 range) and pry them open. If they couldn't tip the safes over they would have lost a lot of leverage.
I need to find a proper safe. I have my firearms in a wood gun cabinet, with glass front. I have been pricing out a lot of safes here lately due in to the fact MD has made some of the guns I have now illegal to purchase. So If there was ever a fire, I would not be able to replace them.
Internal vs external hinges in quality lines of safes won't effect the security. As pointed out earlier, just verify that the external hinged safe has a flange or lockbolts that secure the hinge side of the door. Fire ratings in gun safes are typically shorter than other fire safes. They use layers of 5/8 sheetrock to accomplish the ratings. Each layer provides about 20 minutes. Make sure the dial is a group II rated dial. Size does matter here. Tough to stretch them out once you own them. I would stay with a safe that can be moved without major problems. Once you exceed certain heights, widths and weights, moving may not only be hard, but impossible. Two smaller safes are better than one huge one if you can't get the huge one to where you want it. TSC has decent units and routinely has them on sale. Capacity ratings are not reality. A 24 gun safe will likely only hold 14-16 guns. Scopes, bolt actions and autos use up more than one slot or they beat each other up. Hence the term safe-rash. Lastly, bolt them down. Whether you use the factory floor preps or drill your own holes in the back of the container, for both safety and security they need to be fastened to something.
Merry Christmas mywaynow . Thanks very much for your very detailed information on gun safes, you seem to have some experience with them. Can you answer me one question, what is a group II rated dial and why is it so important?
These safes are made here in the city I live close to. http://www.zanottiarmor.com/index.html They are well made and secure and the owner of the company does not inflate his fire rating as some other mfgs. do. The nice thing about these safes are that they can be disassembled and moved if need be. Just putting it out there to chew on.
A group II rating means that the dial conforms to a set of industry standards such as hard plates, relockers and tolerances. Probably more than just those items too. What it means from a product design is that the manufacturer has put some emphasis on quality which bodes well for the rest of the mechanics; bolt work in particular. Some cheaper safes like Stack-On brands have poorly designed and/or manufactured bolt systems. They can fail leaving you out in the cold with no gun to hunt with. Merry Christmas to you as well, and to the rest of the crew here!
Locksmith near BrianK told me about the Safe E-lert system from Liberty Safes. It's a pretty neat system that will txt or email you notices about the humidity, temp,door opening and shaking/pounding on your safe. Check out this review in the link below
I wonder if it's a one time purchase and then you own it? How is it monitored, through an app and your personal internet connection? I think it looks like a great product.
