Gun Safe / Gun Vault

[Tony1320]

Looking for recommendations for a gun safe or maybe the idea of building a secure room

Something that will fit 4 match rifles up to 52" overall length with room to grow my collection in the future

Looking for reasonable security, when I did some research I was surprised how many safes were easily broken into

Or the other idea I had was turning my gun room into a vault with a reinforced door

 

[spife7980]

4 rifles? Plan for 40. My "24 gun" safe can comfortably fit 8 scoped rifles. 24 shotguns maybe. The bigger it is the harder it is to walk away with.

 

[THEIS]

Hi,

Tactical American Series... Fully DOJ compliant and company has an annual competition in which they put x amount of money in safe...IF you can break into it within y amount of time..it's yours.

Safes and Vaults from Sportsman Steel Safes

Need a wide body gun safe? Take a look at our Arsenal gun safe. This wide gun safe holds plenty of guns & ammo. Click or call for quote 800-266-7150.

www.sportsmansteelsafes.com

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[pyplynr]

I have an American Security BF7250. Very well built and very heavy at around 1800 lbs. I like that it does not use drywall for fireproofing. And the door organizer is a must.

 

[Hippy_Steve]

I have a Sturdy Safe. Very minimal, but has lots of thick steel. Worth the money in my opinion.

 

[Spdy]

Agree with Spife, plan on the biggest safe you can afford now or another safe later. I have an older Fort Knox plain version with lining upgrade. It will keep kids and smash and grab burglars out. No affordable safe will keep out a determined thief using tools. Think layered security: a safe, out of plain sight, alarm system, etc.

 

[DaleGribble82]

Agree with you guys above, if I was not active duty I’d go as big as possible for two reasons, more guns and too heavy to steal.

 

[BurnOut]

As others have said, plan for as big as you have room/budget for.

The first two things to do here are determine where you want it to be within your home, and figure out your budget. If you want to go with a vault/room, take a look at American Security vault doors (and keep an eye on Champion, as rumor has it that they're getting into this space as well).

If you want a safe, there is a LOT of good info here. The long and short of it is that it's easy to get distracted by pretty paint and gee-whiz interior layouts, but (for a home gun safe) there's no substitute for steel in terms of security. In terms of fire protection, I prefer a poured/concrete solution over sheet rock, but either of them is better than a blanket type solution.

As others have said, understand that anyone with enough time and motivation can get into anything... and the name of the game (realistically) is to make it inconvenient enough to get to your goodies that the bad guys say fuck it and go to your neighbor's house. It's kinda shitty to say, but that's the reality of it. Additionally, feasible/realistic security isn't about guarding against what is possible, but against what is probable. Is it possible that a bad guy show up to your house with a 600V generator and a heavy duty plasma cutter? Sure. Is it probable? Not for most of us.

Again, as others have said, the best approach is to have several layers of security; each layer on its own wouldn't be a showstopper for most burglars, but in combination, it's a really effective approach. Most of us aren't going to be targets of burglars who know how to defeat an alarm system AND intercept/jam a cellular uplink for security cameras AND have safe cracking skills (or the kinds of tools to be able to cut into them). Further, an easy way to avoid becoming a target for burglars is to not have stickers, etc... on your vehicle (no Browning Buckmark stickers, etc...), and keeping a low profile regarding your goodies on the Internet (I'm proud of my toys, too, but I don't post pictures of many of them, and CERTAINLY won't post a picture of the entire collection).

Food for thought.

 

[Ravenworks]

Further, an easy way to avoid becoming a target for burglars is to not have stickers, etc... on yours vehicle (no Browning Buckmark stickers, etc...), and keeping a low profile regarding your goodies on the Internet (I'm proud of my toys, too, but I don't post pictures of many of them, and CERTAINLY won't post a picture of the entire collection).

Food for thought.

Not Advertising is a good practice to get into.
I am also very conservative about who know what.
I tend to not worry about folks that are close to me,but you won't catch me showing the landscaper my inventory.

 

[Dougie308]

I have had an American Security that I’ve had for years. Love it. Except that interior carpet started coming unglued after about 5 years. I have a locking mechanical dial.

 

[DownhillFromHere]

If I had it to do over again, it would be one of the Liberty models. That's not to say there aren't other good brands - but here in central NC it's really hard to beat Talton's Safe Company in Raleigh for sales and service. Ray has been in business the better part of 50 years; his shop has lots of models to check out from closet-size to walk-in. His museum is pretty interesting too. Also, he always has some display models at the Dixie Knife & Gun shows at the state fairgrounds.

Cheap safes from the big-box stores are better than nothing, but Ray can get into one of those in about 5 minutes.

Whatever you get, bolt it down unless it's quadruple-digits heavy. My safe weighs about 600 pounds and it was delivered by an old short guy with a bad back. I marveled at the ease with which he moved it... he said it's all in managing the weight, not trying to overpower it. Another guy I used to shoot with described a gun safe literally set in concrete in a garage; while the owner was on vacation, the thieves got into the garage and took their time chipping it out, then hoisted it up onto a pickup truck and drove off with it.

 

[seansmd]

Anyone pay to get one moved up to a second floor, most places I have looked to buy will only get it to your garage?

 

[AllWorkAndNoPlay]

I just put a lock on the closet door in an upstairs bedroom and right now I pile all my guns and equipment in there, but it’s big enough that one day I’ll install gun racks and organize it. It’s a cheap alternative to a big gun safe on the second floor and its incognito...

 

[northshorelumber]

I have a Liberty safe. As has been mentioned above, it doesn't accommodate nearly as many guns as it is rated for, maybe half that number. Don't only consider security but also fire rating. Usually the higher the rating the thicker the steel and better security. For security consider the number, location, and size of the bolts. I bolted my safe from the inside floor of the safe into concrete floor which is in the basement. The biggest challenge I had was getting this monster into the basement. I had it moved by a professional who does safes, pianos, etc.

 

[DownhillFromHere]

Anyone pay to get one moved up to a second floor, most places I have looked to buy will only get it to your garage?

Yes, Ray Talton used an electrically-powered climbing dolly to get my safe to the second floor - and you pay accordingly for the expertise. My point is to contact a safe company, not a business that happens to sell safes along with everything else.

Note that putting a safe on an upper floor requires proper support. Mine sites in a space specifically created for it when the house was built.

 

[lr123]

There is a really good video from CE safes on youtube. It covers most of the info you will want to know so you can ask the appropriate questions when looking at safes. More than anything look at the amount of metal in the safe. Personally I chose a 40 gun made by a local guy that builds them for a living. It has a 7 gauge steel body and a 3/8" plate steel door and he was much cheaper than some of the big name companies with all the same level of quality.

 

[ToddM]

Have any of you ever met anyone that's had a "significant safe" (say over 1000 lbs) removed from a house that was bolted down or broken into? I got wrapped up in all this you need 3/8" plate steel theft rated safe talk a few years ago when i lived in Vegas and asked one of the long standing safe stores and a NLVPD detective how many times in their history had they had a heavy gun safe in a normal residence broken/pried into/removed from the house. Over decades of the store selling safes and the detective on the job their answer was 4-5 between both of them and in all the cases they were high profile people and the thieves were going after the safe specifically. That's in a city where break ins are so common that the NLVPD won't even show UP to an alarm/report of burglary until a physical human has been to the scene and verified the break in. You can be watching them on camera taking your stuff and the NLVPD won't show up till you have a witness at your residence.

In other words, if you have a descent heavy safe, and bolt it down, the odds of a break in are TINY to start with, and the odds of them tearing apart even an average heavy safe or carrying it out the door, are like being hit by lightning, mauled by a bear, and winning the lottery on the same hike.

The best protection is not to advertise, I see guys displaying all their guns in the driveway every weekend loading up for the range, posting all their high dollar guns on facebook, gun stickers all over their truck etc. If someone is coming into your house and removing a 1000lb safe, or prying/cutting it open, they knew what you had long before they got there.

 

[Darkside-Six]

Don’t just plan on the biggest you can afford, make sure it’s also a sturdy one. Don’t go getting an 84 gun safe from tractor supply that is about as good as a stack safe cabinet.

The problem with getting a bigger safe than you need is once you have it, you’ll really want to fill it up! Haha.

I have a large one from Rhino Metals. Can’t remember exactly how many guns it is supposed to hold but it originally came with a swing out rack that I thought would be cool until I started getting all my guns in there.

That being said, you can really fit a lot in those safes if you have it organized well without feeling like it’s cramped.

The issue I ran I to with actually trying to secure a room as a vat was you really have to have poured concrete walls all the way around as well as steel rebar on the ceiling for it to turkey be effective. Can get quite expensive. The other big reason I went with a safe over trying to build a vault was fire protection. If my house burns down my guns have a pretty fair chance of survival in my safe. In a gun vault they would more than likely not.

 

[Tony1320]

Thanks for the input everyone

I do practice not advertising what I have, I load my kit in the garage so neighbours can't see and as much as possible try to keep my gear off facebook. I like to post on instagram but I post under an alias for that reason

I'm running out of room in my current safe so figured I would ask for feedback before I bought another one. If I'm going to buy something I figured I would buy something decent

 

[ToddM]

The tip on interior is good too, you can get twice as much stuff into a good interior than a bad one. While I don't think their safes are the best, from the ones I've used/seen, no one beats Brownings interior for being modular and flexible with all the different kind of racks, shelves, drawers, etc.

The other thing I would say is always get a 72' high safe, the extra height is easy to get where you need it, and it's cheap space. Some of the taller rifles and shotguns for Trap etc. will not fit into a 58-60" tall safe.

 

[Wildfire1550]

Rifle rods are really nice to help get more rifles stored

 

[Crazy1323]

I have a safe from Brown Safe and it is great. While they have standard sizes, you can customize them since each is built to order.

The entire ordering process was a breeze and they walked me through all the steps. You can get the fancy “estate series” or the bare bones HD Series. The safes are TL=15 certified and they go up from there. It would take a professional locksmith a while to get into one of these, the steel used is at least 1/2” think and it is encased in concrete.

They also have a 50 year (you read that correctly) warranty.

Brown Safe HD-Series Model 4018

 

[Jefe's Dope]

Anyone pay to get one moved up to a second floor, most places I have looked to buy will only get it to your garage?

A hand truck of proper spec and several strong friends can easily move most residential safes/security containers up and down most stairs.

 

[Deerhunter 28]

Google Griffin Enterprises Chesterfield, SC.
Call Mike Griffin about your safe.

 

[EastCOYotes]

I’ve got an ironworks safe and am pretty happy with it. They’re made by Rhino safes I believe and it has the analog style dial instead of digital which is a plus for me.

+1 on the comment above about going with a 72” safe. It’s nice to be able to stick a long suppressed gun in there without taking the suppressor off.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

A hand truck of proper spec and several strong friends can easily move most residential safes/security containers up and down most stairs.

Done properly and with coordination, this process can be slicker 'n goose-shit!

Done IMPROPERLY and without teamwork, this process can (read: WILL) be the "Boulder scene from Indiana Jones."

 

[Nik H]

Graffunder
AMSEC RF Series
Liberty Presidential

 

[bikeracer]

Only one way to go - used bank safes made with plate steel. I’ve bought two used from local locksmiths - both cost about $2-3K for safes that had list prices of $8-10K. You can find any size and they will paint and put in a new lock dial. I have a TL 15 and a TL 30 - both Amsecs.

 

[mjeter]

Sturdy Safe with rifle rods and yes, buy bigger than you need. I did get the 6’ tall one and that was a good decision for my longer rifles.