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School me on gun safes

I have a Cannon 64 gun gun safe and it is pretty nice. Watched lots of videos of how easy it is to break into one, but It's better than the wood cabinet with a glass front I grew up with. It will keep the typical cat burglar/ crack head out. I also have Arlo Pro 2 cameras in and around my house. We built our master closet to house the safe, so it would take a lot of time to get the safe out especially full. If it were in my garage or in a shop outside my house I would probably plate it and anchor it to the floor.

Link to my safe-
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...dkDvXPvE_CqYdCUUEbsAKq1ukOuZf9phoC3-gQAvD_BwE
 
Harry Johnson said:
Maybe, but I could literally just let all my guns get stolen, and go out and buy new ones and come in at less than that.
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Which is why I run a typical Liberty safe. Its a decent size, keeps the kiddo out, and fits what I have.
 
TL 15 Definition:

U.L. Label — Burglary Classification TL-15: Best Protection:
Signifies a combination-locked safe designed to offer a maximum door protection against attack by common mechanical and electrical hand tools and any combination of these means.




Construction Requirements
• U.L. listed Group 2M, 1, 1R combination lock or Type 1 electronic lock
• 750 lbs. minimum or comes with instructions for anchoring in a larger safe, concrete blocks or on the premises where used.
• Body walls of material equivalent to at least 1″ open hearth steel with a minimum tensile strength of 50,000 P.S.I.
• Walls fastened in a manner equivalent to continuous ¼” penetration weld of open hearth steel with minimum tensile strength of 50,000 P.S.I.
• One hole ¼” or less, to accommodate electrical conductors arranged to have no direct view of the door or locking mechanism.

Performance Requirements
The door successfully resist entry* for a net working time of 15 minutes when attacked with common hand tools, picking tools, mechanical or portable electric tools, grinding points, carbide drills and pressure applying devices or mechanisms.

* Entry means for: Opening the door or making a 6 square inch opening entirely through the door or front face
 
Krazykiller said:
I have this one from sturdy safe. I called and they had built one for someone but they changed there mind on it so I got it cheaper with upgrades done on the safe.

https://www.sturdysafe.com/products/model-2419
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Sturdy is probably one of the best bang for the buck safes in the business. No frills, just a bunch of steel and grey paint. The owner and his daughter gave me a tour of the factory as well when I stopped by. Super nice family owned business.
 
I went with Blue Dot
1 hour rating at 1700 degrees
UL listed locks
Got mine for $1100 delivered
Got it bolted to the slab in my dining room
I'm happy with it
 
I have a couple small safes. Both with extremely high fire ratings. One holds paperwork, the other sits in my reloading room and only hold primers. Guns live in pelican cases, or where I can grab them quick.

Like has been said, real safes that can survive a real fire AND not be cut into in a matter of minutes, are going to cost 5-10k and weigh well over a ton. Layers of stainless and ceramics keep torches and cut-off wheels at bay. Corner bolts help against the pry bar folks. Shear weight keeps them from being hauled off. Bolted to the slab in a corner limits the ability to easily tip them over to cut and pry.
 
A safe filled with primers and/or powder is a bomb. (if you have a pile of them anyway) Those really should go into a flammables cabinet or the like.
 
Don't overthink it too much, just remember all the super secure super duper fire rated safes are stupid heavy and would need to be placed directly on a slab, a reinforced slab for the heavier ones.

You should be able to find the equivalent of this on sale for your budget:
https://www.libertysafe.com/collections/usa/products/usa-30

I have a remington branded Liberty fatboy jr. It has worked just fine and has a decent fire ratting.

the biggest thing is bolt it down and limit access to the sides and back of the safe. no matter how super fancy of a safe you if someone has the time and tools they will get in.
 
I found a Fort Knox used for $2500. It is impressive. The door weighs 400 lbs. I figure it's over 3000 lbs. loaded. I have it bolted to my garage floor. (8" thick at that location) I have often wondered if you tied a rope around it, whether a truck could pull it off. It's supposed to be double wall hardened steel. I think cut off wheels would bring the suck. I guess the best way in would be plasma.

dscn0532.jpg


Ive often thought it might be better to buy a cheap safe and display it prominently. Put a grand in cash in it and a cheap gun. Then hide your important stuff somewhere else.

dscn0532.jpg
 
You sure there isn't a local place that makes their own? I was super impressed with these when I stumbled across them. Seems like solid security, much heavier steel than the common brands, decent price. I've seen a 2k lb safe for $2k (used, but Bear will pickup and deliver for $200 locally)

www.bearsafes.net/products

Anyway, I don't know if there's anything like this around you, but it's worth checking into.
 
WaterH said:
I found a Fort Knox used for $2500. It is impressive. The door weighs 400 lbs. I figure it's over 3000 lbs. loaded. I have it bolted to my garage floor. (8" thick at that location) I have often wondered if you tied a rope around it, whether a truck could pull it off. It's supposed to be double wall hardened steel. I think cut off wheels would bring the suck. I guess the best way in would be plasma.



Ive often thought it might be better to buy a cheap safe and display it prominently. Put a grand in cash in it and a cheap gun. Then hide your important stuff somewhere else.
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My practice, that I got from a friend of mine, is to just leave a few crappy guns outside the safe: most of the burglaries around here are just grab what you can carry and boogie, so let them have the 870 with the bulge in the barrel, etc., just hoping they'll grab that and go, not taking the time to engineer their way into the safe.
 
WaterH said:
I found a Fort Knox used for $2500. It is impressive. The door weighs 400 lbs. I figure it's over 3000 lbs. loaded. I have it bolted to my garage floor. (8" thick at that location) I have often wondered if you tied a rope around it, whether a truck could pull it off. It's supposed to be double wall hardened steel. I think cut off wheels would bring the suck. I guess the best way in would be plasma.



Ive often thought it might be better to buy a cheap safe and display it prominently. Put a grand in cash in it and a cheap gun. Then hide your important stuff somewhere else.
Click to expand...


depending on what you used for bolts a choker around the top would RIP them right out of the concrete blowing out the top of your slab. Now if they are 3/4 j bolts tied into the rebar it may be a different story.
 
Harry Johnson said:
Yeah, haven't seen it in person. How about less laughing emojis and more links to gun safes that some meth head with a 4.5" angle grind and cutoff wheels can't zipper the back open with no issues while I'm gone from home instead?
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With a diamond edged blade no problem
 
All a safe is is to keep honest people honest. A fire safe is good up to a point but better then nothing at all. I have a big huge fat bastard safe but I know it’s only so good at protecting my stuff

i have friends who’ve built safes or vaults into their basement walls Only a big huge thickass lockable door to get access. If someone wants in it bad enough they’ll find a way.
 
Landslide said:
All a safe is is to keep honest people honest. A fire safe is good up to a point but better then nothing at all. I have a big huge fat bastard safe but I know it’s only so good at protecting my stuff

i have friends who’ve built safes or vaults into their basement walls Only a big huge thickass lockable door to get access. If someone wants in it bad enough they’ll find a way.
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Welp, I'm mainly looking to keep my 3 year old toddler away from my shitty gun collection, with the option of also having a fairly safe place to keep passports, ss cards and whatnot. We have fire sprinklers in our house and no threat of wildfire where I live, so even a short time for fire protection is fine by me.

People do bring up a good point however. I don't want to suddenly make something that wouldn't be a target (ss numbers and passports buried in a random filing cabinet file with a bunch of documents, vs a safe sitting in the closet.

Maybe I just need a metal cabinet to lock the guns up.
 
Both of those videos are impressive, but they obviously are thin wall safes. I assume they are mild steel also. You never see videos cutting through 1/4"+ hardened steel. But it appears those saws are not getting dull. So maybe it just takes longer to go through the good safes. I would have thought the saw gets dull if you let it get to the cement liner. That's why I figured a plasma would be the way to go.
 
WaterH said:
Both of those videos are impressive, but they obviously are thin wall safes. I assume they are mild steel also. You never see videos cutting through 1/4"+ hardened steel. But it appears those saws are not getting dull. So maybe it just takes longer to go through the good safes. I would have thought the saw gets dull if you let it get to the cement liner. That's why I figured a plasma would be the way to go.
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Mines 1/4” and heavy as fawk but know a diamond blade would open it up.

I go to a wood working show every March and one of the booths is a guy who promotes all kinds of special diamond cutting tools. His 4.5” blade will cut through hardened steel, cement and what ever else you want to saw in half with it.

it’s a piece of mind imo and knowing if someone wants in it bad enough they’re going to have to work for it.

mines a fire safe that can handle so much heat for x amount of time. My documents in it will be good.

I remember the days of just having a wood with glass panels gun cabinet was all a person needed. Not these days.
 
Harry Johnson said:
Welp, I'm mainly looking to keep my 3 year old toddler away from my shitty gun collection, with the option of also having a fairly safe place to keep passports, ss cards and whatnot. We have fire sprinklers in our house and no threat of wildfire where I live, so even a short time for fire protection is fine by me.

People do bring up a good point however. I don't want to suddenly make something that wouldn't be a target (ss numbers and passports buried in a random filing cabinet file with a bunch of documents, vs a safe sitting in the closet.

Maybe I just need a metal cabinet to lock the guns up.
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be a good liberal and turn your guns in
 
I have an AMSEC

https://residential.amsecusa.com/product/tf5517/

I got it through a locksmith dealer buddy for about $650, and it seems at least 3 times better (and heavier) than the $300 versions of a similar size. Feels sturdy, 30 minute fire rating...might suit your purposes. It's an import, but my guy says he's never had a lock/keypad failure, but told lots of horror stories about the cheap ones malfunctioning.
 
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