I have a nice Browning safe, approx. 26" wide by 20" deep by 60 inches tall.
No longer needed and I'd like to use the closet that it's in, as a closet again.
When I bought it a few decades ago, I was able to bring it in the short distance from my garage with a hoist that I had, but that's gone, and I'm no longer the same young buck that I was.
I figure that a pro safe mover has to move it out of here, at least to the garage, but that leaves another move to be paid for later on, so I want it gone at one time, if it's to make any sense at all.(I don't want an amateur Craigslist type buyer tackling it)
I also figure that a new comp is about $750. Currently waiting to hear back from my LGS, who sells new Browning safes, if he has any interest in it.
Can any money be realized from such a thing or is the scenario that they want the safe as a payment for their effort? (or want loot and the safe?)
Thanks.

You need to PM our great forum member/locksmith extraordinaire Kanewpadle. He can tell you how to handle this the most economically.

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Possum—The other white meat!

In the "for what it's worth" department I know of no one in my current shooting circles who would turn down another safe if the price was right.

Currently many of my associates are using 2nd and 3rd safes for ammunition as well as firearms, and nowadays they often have more of the former than the latter.

I'm no different - if someone advised me of a safe no longer needed, I would pay to have it relocated myself if that were the only cost involved. Getting a nice safe that way saves thousands over buying a new one.

Thus I suspect the answer to your issue lies in how much you'd like to get out of it. If you're looking to simply get rid of the safe, check around with your associates and/or the local gun club - tell them "pay to move it and it's yours" and it will be gone in no time.

On the other hand, if you'd like to make some money on the deal, that may take a bit longer, as (as you say) the safest way to move it - depending on how large and heavy it is - would likely be to pay a couple guys with a suitable truck and the right equipment to move it, particularly if there are flights of stairs involved. Guys may be less inclined to both pay for it as well as have it moved.

Just my humble opinion. Your mileage may vary.

Contact your nearest safe company or locksmith that moves safes. They may or may not give you something for it. That’s about your only option since you don’t want amateurs to move it.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

I just had a local moving company move a safe for me. We don’t have “safe movers” around here but the regular moving company does it so you might check with your locals. Cost was $175 to move it from the store to the location of my choice in the house about 8 miles away. Way less than the doctor’s bills would have been if I tried to do it!

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Everybody could shoot

Thanks for the responses. I think it weighs about 375#. Heavy, but not excessive or gigantic.
I floated the idea of $200 with a clerk at the shop,(figuring that they might be able to get at least $550 for it) who would pass the info along to the boss.
I guess it all depends on who is moving it, a couple of their employees or a moving company that does a lot of safe moving.The shop has always been good to me-I consider them friends, so no biggie if I give it to them either. It located only a few miles from my house.
I dealt with heavy cash registers as my business,(that wrecked my back) so I can understand the margins that might be involved in dealing with big and used items.
The money is always in dealing with used stuff versus new stuff.

These days $200 isn’t bad. I wouldn’t pay any more if you give the safe to them. At least they are insured so the liability is on them. Not you.

I used to move safes. Never again.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

That size can be moved with a fridge dolly. I think you can put it up for $350 on a sale ad(Craigslist FB Marketplace, etc) with that the people move it out of the house. I think you’d sell it faster.

To move it out of the closet, walk the sides back and forth to give you some room. Then tip the top back and stick dowel rods or pvc pipes...roll it out. Then use the dolly and move it to the garage if you are worried about it. It’s something a pizza and a 6 pack of beer should buy you the manpower you need to have it moved to the garage.


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Yes, when I put it in the closet, I used that ancient Egyptian technique-Wood dowels to roll it back. :-). Reckon it will come out the same way. Now however, the room has new carpeting, unlike the worn out stuff that was there when I put it in, so a little more care is warranted. I bought a few partial sheets of plywood to help the cause.
I'll wait a few more days to see if my LGS contacts me, and then I'll proceed with another plan.

Advertise it on Craigslist at an attractive price. Declare "You move it." It will be gone before the weekend is over.

If ya go with Craig’s List, be sure your liability insurance is up to date.;

Use those compressed sheets that are used for clipboard. Those will slide on that new carpet. Much less resistance.


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I don't know where you live
but in Phoenix there is a professional safe company that moves any and all safes for a decent price.
So I imagine you can find the same thing near you.

As mentioned by others, a used safe priced fairly (that does not mean a low price) will sell quickly.
You don't have to give it away.

The used safe I purchased,
I had to pay for the safe to be picked up at the seller's house and then delivered to my house.

On many safes, once the door is opened it can be lifted straight up and removed from the hinges. This can make it easier to move as you now have two medium heavy pieces instead of one very heavy piece.

Here's a video of what I'm talking about.

Used safes are cheap. It's moving them that's expensive.

That's my experience anyway.

Were it not for the insane cost of moving it, I'd have a nice, big, slightly-used TL-30 right now.

I got a safe from one of our members. (Thanks again) No cost other than moving it. I called a regular moving company and paid the price. It was well worth the cost of moving it and I saved money not buying new. (the safe is like new)

You don't need a specialty mover, just one that can handle it. Two guys for mine. They only had to help when getting it in and out of the truck and a little more getting it over the threshold. Other than that one guy moved it on a heavy dolly.

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Dum vivo cano

Those are pigs and extremely heavy...almost twice the gun safe twice it’s size.


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I’d find a safe mover (they’re out there, ask around the gun shops, or safe retailer) and ask how much to take from your house and deliver within a certain mile radius of your house. Assume in your quote a flight of stairs. Then advertise the safe for sale at a price that includes the move. Maybe you agree on a cap on that cost to be safe, or say, “delivered to your garage,” and work that price with the mover... I’m thinking $200-$300 for the move and maybe you can put a few hundred dollars in your pocket.

It’s worth finding out, why not make a few hundred instead of giving it away. Lots of folks would jump all over a quality safe for $500-$600... That’s a deal, and it’s turnkey for the buyer.

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NRA Life Member

Thanks again.
Well, I now have it out of the closet, sitting on plywood. I was able to walk/slide it without too much strain. (The trick was having the door of the safe open, and then turning the safe sideways. Otherwise, it was a tiny bit too wide for the opening(and I recalled that I did not remove the door stop trim when I put it in) or the handle/dial would hit.
I don't think it would be too hard to move it the next six feet to the door leading into the garage, or to create a little platform for the five inch step into the garage, but this is it for now.

Post your locale and someone on the forum might take it off your hands.

I'm on Long Island, NY. Since I started with my LGS, I'll wait a few days to hear back from him. Beyond that, I'll try it on Craigslist for a few hundred, with a stipulation that a professional mover takes it out of here.

OK. If it doesn't play out for you, I could ask my SIL on LI if he wants it or knows anyone who'd take it away.

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Slava Ukraini!

Sold one a while back.
But it was in the garage and my ‘horse’ refrigerator Dolly easily handles it.
Later did the trade of a heavy wood-stove for a Colt SA.
Me and the Other guy. had a heck of a time getting that heavy blivet up into his truck.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I would ask top-dollar. Safes are selling like hotcakes around these parts!

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Death? Smile back...

Had to settle a deceased cousin's estate in Dec. 2017. Very nice, nearly new gun safe. I advertised it here on the S&W Forum and a member had a moving crew pick it up and take it home, free of charge (he paid for the moving company). The safe had to go in order to get the house ready to go on the market, and I was 2000 miles from home and didn't want to spend weeks in dealing with it.

New value about $1600. Used value, whatever you can get. Moving it out of the house and into a new home, name your price.

You are welcome, again! Thanks for helping me deal with this and get back home in a timely manner!

375# is nothing with the right equipment.

Heck my truck has a small winch mounted on the rack right behind the cab and I have a set of steel ramps or I can use my gin poles and just go straight up and then in. I loaded a full size freezer and a fridge into it by myself about a month ago.

Inside a building with decent floors a quality hand cart with ratchet type strap will make it easy for a husky guy with a brain. Steps require the roller belts on the rear of cart. Stairs are where 2 guys may be needed. The width and depth means doorways are not a problem.

If your floors aren't up to 375# you sure wouldn't want me and one of my brothers in it at the same time. Any 2 of us would put you over 550

you may be over thinking this one, from the size you speak of and the location, it would be a piece of cake, appliance dolly, or one of them square 4 wheel dollies, ,heck even straps, you could get it out of there, at least out to the garage,,,,,,,heck if YOU cannot handle , get a young friend or relative, could even lay it down, slide it out...............I'm 73 and me another guy moved one much bigger than that , across first floor ,out to the garage and slid it up into his pick up truck....those small 4 wheel dollys can be gotten at Harbor freight, cheap........
as said above, you over it cheap enough and they have to get out,,,it would be gone in little of no time..........

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dan
NRA Benefactor,PMA

Here's a video of one person moving an 800 pound safe up a flight of stairs.

Turn your volume down...music is awful.

^^^^^

Euro Techno Pop. The audio version of waterboarding.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

I bought one of those stair climbing hand trucks. It wasn't originally intended for a safe. It was bought mainly to take my old furnace out of my basement.

Unfortunately, I made a huge mistake and bought one made entirely out of steel instead of aluminum. Well, you can probably guess the result. The damn stair climbing hand truck weighed more than the furnace.

Me being old and decrepit with just one good arm, I couldn't use it. It would take two seriously good-sized healthy young men to move anything on that thing just because of the weight of the dolly alone.

Afriend of mine just sold a similar, but not Browning, safe. He used a Refrig dolly and got it to a "gun auction" and it sold for $600.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Reason I ask is I bought a safe when it was needed, I told Jr it was heavy and I wanted help we went there and he went in and said in a very ( I've got this dad) voice, went and got the dolly and the safe wheeled it to my truck and then I was allowed to help lift into the bed, this was the same size as yours, when I was done with it I sold it to him for 200.00 and he did it again, but for himself this time, just a thought

You don't like that eh, I started liking techno years ago, it's a fun beat at least for me.

Most any company that buys/sells & moves machinery (lathes, saws, milling machines, ect) can handle that easily.

They may even buy it,,who knows.

Can you 'donate' it to some non-profit for their use to hold valuable items and documents?
Then take a tax write-off (If you itemize)

Me and my wife put my Liberty(800 lbs) in many years ago with 1 1/2" pvc dowels. She in front placing the dowels and me in back pushing and handing the dowels as they came out the back. We rolled it right over the carpet and hardly made any indentation at all. From the truck to the front door I used my 4 wheeler trifold ramp covered in plywood. Wasn't a bad or hard job at all.

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S&W Accumulator

I recently had my safe, a piano, a recumbent exercise bike,, my South Bend metal lathe, and two tool chests, plus another storage cabinet moved from our current home to our new one.
The cost was about $750.00 and they did a great job. Safe and tool cabinets, and storage cabinet were in the basement and went in the basement in our new home. Piano and exercise bike were on the 1st floor, and the bike was taken to the basement and the piano was moved into the living room of the new home.
The lathe was in the garage at the old house and went into the garage at the new home.

I was going to leave the safe at our current home, but when I priced a new one for the new home, I decided to move it.

When I moved, my neighbor wanted my 2000 lb. gun safe so I sold it to him. My safe was in the basement but there was a door to the outside so it could be moved through the backyard to the driveway. When the moving crew has all of my stuff from the house, I asked the foreman if his crew would like to make $100 cash each. He talked to them and they agreed to move the safe from the basement to the driveway and they used all of their dollies and lifts, put the safe on a wooden pallet. They had it move in about 20 minutes. For $300 I had the safe moved to a point where my neighbor could come and get it and it was even on a pallet!

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Bill

Try your local plumbing and heating wholesaler.

The delivery guys put boilers in basements that weigh more than your safe.

They might do it for beer money.

I used to do stuff like that.

When I was younger LOL

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BTDT, Got The T-Shirt

If your safe has a solid bottom, you can walk it on most floor types on regular corrugated cardboard.
Just keep adding cardboard in the travel direction.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

When remodeling my office (used to be a bank) I decided that that was the time to get rid of the big honking ATM machine. Approached the contractor and made a deal-after hours the boys could have it and sell it for scrap. Worked like a charm-they rolled it out put it on te trailer and if memory serves, they got a couple C notes for their trouble from the scraper and I got rid of an eyesore-winna winna chicken dinna

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Forum consigliere

Something else to consider is although you may not have a "safe mover" in your area you probably have a "piano mover', same basic idea. We had a large upright piano moved into our basement and out when my son moved. It cost about $250 each time, they used an amazing dolly that seem to articulate its way up the stairs. I was concerned that they would damage the tiled stairs but they weren't at all concerned and pulled it off without a hitch, impressive.

Find friends, family and/or a trusted neighbor and move it to the garage. From there let amateur craigslist people handle it. I wouldn't want complete strangers all over inside my house and in my closet... just imagine all the skeletons they could find.

That way you safe money and can advertise it on CL like stated in previous posts.

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Jorge

Update: I was able to get it the short distance to my garage without much difficulty.
I still have a wood ramp that I constructed for taking my mother in her wheelchair down the six inch step into the garage. With that and a few blocks of wood, I could slide it out, and shift it onto some 2x4s.
A few CL guys that wanted to take it from there at my price,)and no shortage of lowballers) but a very short list that would agree to my terms. Using an insured mover, which was clearly stated in the ad.
One guy presented as the most keen, and lives only about ten miles from me. I gave him a deal better than he expected, he made calls to various movers and got numbers as high as 500, but finally found one that would do it reasonably.(how much I don't know, but low enough that he can pay me something, pay the mover, and still be below buying a new comp at the LGS, as he should be) The deal is set to wrap up on Monday.
More about getting it out here promptly and without liability, than trying to max the price.

Love the low ballers...I get it that you want a deal. Yes, and you start lower than what you are willing in order to negotiate. But sometimes people don’t realize you can actually insult someone to the point where even if you pay my asking price...I’d rather set it on fire than sell it to ya!


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Sorry I’m late to this.. Let me know if the deal falls through. My BIL lives on LI and has a Mechanical Contractors shop and trucks and people that move large industrial AC units everyday. He would likely move it ( he’s insured) and pay you too. He lives in western Suffolk County.. E. Islip) He would buy it for the business or for his house in all likelihood.


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John 1:17
NRA Life Benefactor

Will do. Thanks. I'm also in western Suffolk, but on the north shore.

Yeah, as the previous poster stated, love the lowballers. All of them want to ignore the terms, and still want it for extra cheap. I've gone through that with selling cars."I'll be there today and will pay you a few thousand less than your price" ....Sorry, I'm not in need of making a mortgage payment nor am I a crack addict.

Update: I advertised it at $350, with the requirement that it be moved by a moving company. My best prospect offered 300, and I did him one better: $250. I wanted the deal to complete.(some others wanted me to quote a moving price to an undeclared location....I don't know how to do that). The best deal that he could find for taking it about 11-12 miles was $250. A little mix up with the mover this morning, but it's now gone. I'm content, and he got a nice safe to his house-all in for 500.The mover sent two guys with a lift gate truck, and it left as it should have.

On any heavy object I desire to move, I always consult the "Hernia Scale" first.

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Endeavor to persevere. <><