doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Need recommendation for small gun safe

About 12 long gun capacity w/shelving on other side for pistol, etc. Prefer made in USA. Not a lot of monetary value in my guns, but I would hate to loose the .45 my father carried in WW11, the Birmingham boxlock 20 that fits me perfectly, the Remington model 11 left to me by a friend. All the others could be replaced. Thanks for any advice.

I just took delivery on a Stack-On locking gun cabinet that holds 8 long guns and has one shelf. http://www.stack-on.com/categories/security-cabinets-gun-cabinets/products/194 They have other, larger models and true safes as well. This will probably serve me adequately enough. The plastic barrel rests are kind of cheap, but they won't have a lot of stress put on them, at least I hope not. The interior is painted steel, and though there are no sharp corners exposed, there's ample opportunity to scratch barrels or stocks without additional protection. My guns will stay in their soft cases until a batch of light gun socks arrives. If you plan to put it in a closet, be sure to include floor and door mouldings in your measurements! No biometrics or even a user-defined combo. Just a pair of locker keys. You need to note the unit-specific code to order replacements or spares.

The unit's one undeniable virtue is cost. I paid $141 tax & ship included on Ebay. It is strong and discrete enough to keep the guns out of the reach of kids and casual visitors. Secured to wall or floor, it would probably also frustrate or escape notice of an opportunistic housebreaker. But if one worried that a serious burglar might specifically target one's guns, a stronger, heavier, and more expensive option might be in order.

A small gun safe is like small bowling ball. It needs to be a certain size and weight to do it's job.

Your guns are much like the accumulation I have-worth more to me, for various reasons, than they would be on the open market. It is doubtful that professional gun thieves will target us. What we are primarily up against are punks, that seize the opportunity we leave them to jack our stuff.
I've seen the small, sheet metal locking gun cabinets that are sold by discounters, but, would only consider them for the storage of ammunition, or as a decoy. A cordless die grinder with two or three fresh lithium batteries will make quick work of them. A punk only needs to create a hole big enough to get your stuff out. Chuck is correct, a safe needs to have some mass, and to be secured to a floor.
I have seen some great deals for used safes on the local Craig's List, usually people who are relocating and want to sell rather than move a safe. I bought my safe 20 years ago, it is a smaller Liberty safe, but it weighs most of 600 lbs and holds about what you are looking for, depending on which interior is installed ( I bought two different configurations of interior for it at the time).
I didn't buy fire protection for my safe. A friend was on the local fire department and assured me he had never seen a safe come out alive after a good, ripping, house fire. Others, feel differently. A safe really just buys you time in the event of a robbery or a fire. If either calamity has lots of time, you will probably lose your guns.
What ever you do, it is wise to buy the safe before you suffer the robbery. You wouldn't believe the number of people who wait until everything is gone, and then buy a safe.

Best,
Ted

When buying a gun safe buy one way larger than you think you will need. Like humidors, no matter how large they are you will fill them.

Take a look at a nice Liberty Safe. They make a great product. I'm very happy with now full Liberty Safe. They manufacture them just down the hill from me so I have to support the local guys.

Go to youtube and look how easy it is to get into some gunsafes with a sledge hammer or electronic locks with an internal reset button. A burglar alarm system and gunsafe should deter most smash and grab thieves.

Avoid the 1 minute "cracks".
Search "gunsafe" Gil

Safes are rated for fire resistance and tampering:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe#UL_certification_for_safes

http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/solut...dard/?id=687_15

Short of a bank vault, the best rating is TXTL-60, Torch, Tool, and Explosives Resistant for 60 minutes.

Pete

Best budget safe line is probably Sentry, made in China and sold in lots of places, including Home Depot and WalMart. Available in various sizes, with standard or electronic locks, with or without fire lining. I have four of them, bought from the local safe emporium during their annual scratch & dent sales. Another good source is Costco. They put safes on sale a couple times per year, and they are pretty careful about the quality of the stuff they sell. Sale prices are very competitive and include delivery to your garage or driveway. I have a couple of Rhinos that I got from Costco with fire lining and electronic locks and they are a good value in mid-sized safes. I think Costco also puts Liberty on sale about once per year. In higher quality safes, look at AmSec. Bigger, heavier, better, but still reasonably priced. Check sources like CraigsList for used. Whatever you buy, bolt it to the floor and to the wall. Generally a good idea to hide it in a closet or basement so that casual visitors don't know it's there.

Take a good look at CHAMPION Safes. This summer I bought one as a second safe and love it.

My needs were different - They ultimately customized one to hold longguns only, and I've got my current best 18 in there with room for reasonably 8 or so more.

Their "Medallion" series are the ones for you to look at.

Good luck, and as another member wisely pointed out, you will get more guns so keep that thought in mind while you search.

You have three choices where it comes to protecting your guns and family. Be a constant armed guard yourself, keep them in as strong and secure location as money allows or use deception and good secure locations for guns. I choose the third option and even then it was not cheap and I doubt fool proof.

I have a well hidden gun room with concrete walls and a large safe door, remote camera system and an alarm. Most are not as lucky and my wife was more understanding than I deserved to put up with the construction mess and cost. That said there are a fair number of locals who know I have guns and I can only guess at how many others have learned of my hobby so it for them I use deception.

It is for them that I keep three gun "safes", metal cabinets with the keys hidden nearby, in plain sight filled with klunkers and project guns. All have had the firing pins removed or are missing for ends. Thieves will keep looking until they think they find what they are after. Not that many thieves know enough to keep looking for the good guns after they find a large number of lesser ones. To them it is all about money and they hope quantity is enough for a big score. All hand guns are where even I have a problem getting to them but long guns are in almost plain sight.

Buy a cabinet if that is what you can afford but consider a second smaller cabinet in a much more secure or hidden location for your special guns. Hidden in the attic, on its back, with empty boxes with no bottoms placed over it, or stuck in some small closet off the beaten tract. Deception is in part about imagination and making others think they are as smart or smarter than you are. A small cabinet could hold your three or four most favorite things and give you an extra level of protection. Make sure they can find you first cabinet, perhaps with just a little effort, but make your secure cabinet as invisible as possible.