Best place to buy gun safe on a budget?

[gnochi]

Wanna know how often residential burglars bring or attempt to use crow bars/pry tools to access a legitimate safe interior?
10 years in LE, I’ve never seen it happen on an actual safe. Only once, and that was on a sheet metal storage locker that wasn’t properly bolted to the floor.

Another response mentioned “5 minutes with a crowbar or 30 seconds with a sawzall…” and that’s bullshit from ANY modern marketed safe for most burglars if it’s properly anchored. The 5 minutes claim is only reasonable if they can flip the safe on it’s back and use body weight/leverage to pry. I’d love to see someone try that on any 14ga or better bodied safe standing upright that is properly anchored where they can’t apply leverage easily.

And if half the things marketed as gun safes even had a single layer of 14ga steel anywhere but the door we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I agree that a B-rate safe would be fantastic but they sure as hell aren’t less than $2000 new in gun safe size.

They don’t have real metal because it’s expensive to manufacture and expensive to ship from China. You might have an 18ga sheet on the outside of gypsum and a 20ga sheet on the inside, neither hardened. You can pry the front away from the boltwork.

Also, if you have tools in your garage… the burglars now have tools. Glad the ones in your area are idiots.

 

[E. Bryant]

Also, if you have tools in your garage… the burglars now have tools. Glad the ones in your area are idiots.

This has been my concern since purchasing my first safe long ago. I know what's in my shop, I can guess what others have lying around in their garages, and yeah, there better be some additional layers to the security plan or else someone is gonna get what's in the safe as well as a sweet plasma cutter, cordless angle grinder, oxyacetylene kit, Enerpac kit, etc etc etc.

 

[CaptNemo]

I looked at the TSC safes and then bought a Liberty Colonial Series.
900+ Lbs. will hopefully dissuade the amateur thieves and occupy the better ones so that they don't get as much stuff out of the house in the time available.
I had a Browning 26 Gun that I sold with my house a couple of weeks ago and gave a similar sized Liberty back to my in-laws, so it was time to upgrade my situation.
Expect a 20 to 25 % price increase after the first of the year, so pull the trigger soon.

 

[obx22]

Hmmm,
Something to consider if you own rather than rent: I was in a new realty co that had purchased an old bank, I asked what they were doing with the old safes. Owner came over and said I could have either one or both for $1500 a piece. Safes the width of a standard door deep, twice as wide, and about 6’ tall. One Diebold, the other a Mosler.
One problem, they each weigh in excess of 4000 lbs, and the owner said I’d be fully responsible for any damages (they had added permanent counters/built in desks blocking the way).
The deals are out there, just ask around.

 

[Herb Stoner]

Gun safes are generally safes only in appearance and a deterrent at best. Unless you’re going to do an in-home vault or actual commercial safe, it’s a locking cabinet and not much more. What do you REALLY need? Theft protection? Fire protection? Keep kids out?

I started looking at safes recently and was pretty dismayed at what I thought was a lot of expensive junk (albeit with a nice paint job) and particularly concerned by the potentially corrosive off-gassing from imported drywall used to line them.

I live in the burbs with fire sprinklers, good insurance, and a fire station about a mile away. Breaks-ins are fairly rare. I got a unit from Secureit and it’s perfect for my situation. While not as secure as those marketed as “safes”, it does what I need. Keeps the grandkids and others out, stores more than I thought it would as its highly configurable, and easier to move/ install than a full-on safe. I unpacked it in the garage and moved it a panel or two at a time upstairs and assembled it there. (Tucked away where no one is likely to ever even see it.) It’s a solid deterrent and very functional storage. Grabbed it on sale a while back and am quite happy with it.