I’ve got a modest firearms collection and due to a change in circumstances, I think it’s prime time I upgrade my storage accomidations for them. That is, I’ll have to bite the bullet and purchase a safe to store them in.
Of course, now the problem is, how am I supposed to decide. I’ve been looking and they prices go from $500 up to several thousand. I have a number of long guns, so it’ll have to be a tall, heavy safe(which makes it hard to transport but also very difficult to steal).
What I’ve been told is: You get what you pay for. True, but that doesn’t really help me, because there will always be something more expensive and more secure, but eventually you have to draw the line just how much money you want to spend and just how secure is secure enough.
I guess I’m trying to ask: Is there any way to simplfy this process? Is there some brand or safe that’s both good and relalitivly inexpensive? Or at least advice on what would be too little or too much to pay?
If it helps, I live in the suburbs, in an area which is fairly good and doesn’t have much crime.
Just anectdotal evidence, I bought a Liberty safe about 3 years ago. From what I understand, there are not a lot of safe manufacturers out there, and many are sold under different brands from the same manufacturer. I bought mine from a very reputable gun shop, which had models on display and in house for delivery. I got it around Christmas time, which according to the salesman is a good time to get one on sale. Buy extra capacity, I have a 32 gun safe and it’s almost full already, thanks to the wife storing all our valuable papers, etc. inside it, in addition to the few firearms I currently own.
My safe is fire rated to (look for the UL rating) 1500 degrees F for 60 minutes. So pretty much the house can burn down around it the contents should be safe. It weighs 700 lbs and can be bolted to the floor. If tipped over the tumblers are locked, which means having to have a factory rep reset them in order to open the door. I paid about $1250 (financed 6 months, same as cash), saving about $300 off the retail price, and (it was for a limited time only) free shipping and installation. I have the key/dial combo set, vice the digital keypad (which IIRC, was about $100 more for the same make and model). They also threw in an electric de-humidifier which has to be plugged into socket (you can buy non-electric but they have to be changed every few months for max protection).
Not much I can add to what BF said other than to reinforce the suggestion on buying plenty of room. My Remmington is bigger than average but it’s pretty full with the addition to the guns of coin and stamp collections, important papers, silver service, jewelry, etc. When a hurrican was last approaching, I also filled it full with artwork and other items I wanted safe from wind, water or fire.
I I had the chance, the one thing I would have done differently is to have had someone at the place I bought it from change the combination to numbers that had some significance to me; ones I could actually remember. I open the safe about three or four times a year and I always have to go to a stashed sheet with the combination because I’ve forgotton it in the interim. That’s kind of a pain and it’s not good to have that sheet where someone else might stumble across it.
The safe says it recommends a professional locksmith change the numbers. Rather than pay someone to come out, I wish I’d just had the store do it.
Well, there are safes and then there are locking metal cabinets. The safes are heavy, thick walled, often include fireproofing, and have multiple locking points. They cost some money. The locking metal cabinets are basically heavy gauge sheet metal and have pretty simple locking mechanisms. They usually have facilities to screw them to the wall and/or floor to make theft of the whole thing more difficult.
Either will deter casual theft quite nicely. The cabinets can be opened by a determined amateur thief with common hand tools if they have maybe 10 minutes to work without being discovered. The actual safes can be opened by a professional thief if they have some time and think there is something in it worth the effort.
What do you see as the value of your collection? What threat, realistically, do you face? One of the metal cabinets is more than adequate just to keep the guns locked up where the kids, or their freinds, can’t get them. If you screw the cabinet to the wall out of sight inside a closet and don’t make a habit of broadcasting that you even have guns, you can have a very respectable level of protection for relatively little money.
I might be in need of a gun safe at some point in time. However I need something more for display and safety then someone stealing it. Do they make display safes, something made out of think glass or plastic. Mostly it would be to keep the children away from a revolver, and at most I would have one or two.
I’ve got some nice guns, some I really like, and some with great senitmental value(having belonged to my grandfather). Guns I really don’t want stolen. Right now their only real protection is that they are somewhat decently hidden and I don’t advertise having guns.
So I’m worried more about thieves then anything else. Granted, I have a persistant paranoia about being robbed, but still…
I understand. Consider that one of the metal cabinets securely bolted to the wall inside a closet, especially one that is, itself, locked will deter the overwhelming number of thieves. Skilled, professional burglars are a decided minority amongst the criminal element. Your typical burglar kicks in a door or breaks a window, grabs the most valuable things he can find in a hurry and gets out. Old fashioned glass-front gun cabinets which were made primarily to display guns were, of course, an obvious target. If you are the object of a burglary by a real pro, they’ll crack the safe too. I’m guessing you aren’t likely to be in the econnomic group who tends to be targeted by that level of burglar. Most of us here at the Dope are much more likely to be the victim of smash n’ grab junkies.
I visited some local stores today and took a look.
I see what is meant about the cabinets, and while they are inexpensive, they also seem rather flimsy. I look at and touch them and keep thinking they’re made of sheet metal(the claim 12 gauge steel but I’m not even sure what that means). It seems like anyone with lockpicking skills or a sledgehammer could open one.
The problem with numbers which have significance to you is that the person wishing to rip you off may be willing to do their homework. Addresses, birthdates, anniversaries, etc., can all be learned by the determined thief. When setting vault door, night depository and ATM chest combinations, I’d use the serial number of a dollar bill in my pocket. Totally random, and after the next coffee stop, gone from my possession.
