Or want to be…..
Repairing my gun safe
- Thread starter Tex1001
- Start date
Or want to be…..
riverrat38
US Veteran
It's not just nuclear blasts that cause a disruptive geomagnetic field.
In 1859, there was a solar mass ejection, named the Carrington effect, that took out telegraph lines. In one case a line was kept operating utilizing the current induced on the line, with the batteries switched off. If this happened now, just about everything would be shut down. It could take a long time to restore power and get vehicles moving again.
Carrington Event - Wikipedia
73,
Rick
In 1859, there was a solar mass ejection, named the Carrington effect, that took out telegraph lines. In one case a line was kept operating utilizing the current induced on the line, with the batteries switched off. If this happened now, just about everything would be shut down. It could take a long time to restore power and get vehicles moving again.
Carrington Event - Wikipedia
73,
Rick
To quote Charley Waite " there are things that gnaw on a man worse than dying."
smoothshooter
Member
It is not a given that a nuclear explosion would kill everyone (or anyone, for that matter), depending on the yield of the device.
A nuclear weapon detonated in the upper atmosphere to create an EMP would likely not cause any immediate casualties on the ground. Those would come immediately as infrastructure failed.
Flying aircraft in the EMP zone would be a different matter. They would be dropping out of the sky immediately.
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People should learn about the actual effects off modern nuclear bombs. Everyone will not die. Fall out will not kill everyone who survives the blasts.
The main problem that even in a limited exchange where infrastructure, logistical and communications centers are destroyed, it will cause a total collapse of the supply chain most urban centers depend on. Any one near a major military base or hardware supplier is probably toast of course Look what happened to the supply chain a couple years ago just from the covid shutdowns. What happens when the power, water and food supply is totally cut off to urban areas. Even if their urban assault SUV is full off gas the chances of them actually making it out off a city that approaches grid lock just during morning rush hour is near zero when they decide to all flee the hives. Those that do make it out and head to rural areas will NOT be meet with arms, but not the open type. An enemy does not need to target and kill civilians when the majority of them will perish by simple thirst and starvation and internal conflict.
My water comes from a very deep aquifer. There are millions of bushels of wheat nearby enclosed in metal and cement silos and a acres of cattail bogs as well as thousands of cows, pigs and horses. My natural gas comes form near by and has a huge standby natural gas power plant to run it during power failure. There are lots of old tractors that are as basic as they get around here. Your area?
My only concern is being 71, but I have had a great life and if it flashes in front of me when I go it will be really entertaining.
An EMP locking up your gun safe is the least of your problems.
The main problem that even in a limited exchange where infrastructure, logistical and communications centers are destroyed, it will cause a total collapse of the supply chain most urban centers depend on. Any one near a major military base or hardware supplier is probably toast of course Look what happened to the supply chain a couple years ago just from the covid shutdowns. What happens when the power, water and food supply is totally cut off to urban areas. Even if their urban assault SUV is full off gas the chances of them actually making it out off a city that approaches grid lock just during morning rush hour is near zero when they decide to all flee the hives. Those that do make it out and head to rural areas will NOT be meet with arms, but not the open type. An enemy does not need to target and kill civilians when the majority of them will perish by simple thirst and starvation and internal conflict.
My water comes from a very deep aquifer. There are millions of bushels of wheat nearby enclosed in metal and cement silos and a acres of cattail bogs as well as thousands of cows, pigs and horses. My natural gas comes form near by and has a huge standby natural gas power plant to run it during power failure. There are lots of old tractors that are as basic as they get around here. Your area?
My only concern is being 71, but I have had a great life and if it flashes in front of me when I go it will be really entertaining.
An EMP locking up your gun safe is the least of your problems.
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Pisgah
Member
I don't like electronic locks, but my safe has one because it was priced $200 less than the same model with mechanical combo lock. BUT... it also has a keyed bypass. So when the Russkis or Chinese drop the big one, the zombies had better find the key first...
Lets see a show of hands, and be honest now:
How many of you can still drop to your hands and knees and crawl under a school desk?
How many of you can still drop to your hands and knees and crawl under a school desk?
sigp220.45
US Veteran
For every 10 missile silos, there is an LCF (Launch Control Facility) nearby. Its the site with the missile guys (affectionately called Coneheads) down in the hole with the keys to the kingdom. In a first strike, that place will be targeted with a massive nuke. Kill it and ten missiles don’t fly to the Motherland. Anything remotely nearby might see a flash before the harp music starts.
I’m the earnest looking butterbar with the binder, briefing a convoy crew (including a uniformed US Marshal) before hauling a you-know-what from its hole to the base for some mandatory tinkering.
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Well without considering an EMP event (either nuke or a natural Carrington type) it's a simple fact that electronics do fail. Many safes do come with a key backup system and it will still work even of the electronic control dies. A more serious failure can occur if the gearing fails. A lot of cheaper safes use plastic or nylon gears to turn and release the locking bars. These occasionally fail and it requires a locksmith to open (or an experienced safe cracker LOL).
Our store had a safe that we used for vital records and Class 3 items and the gears stripped in it. Was rather expensive to get it opened and a new lock fitted. Funny thing, we also sold safes and had a new one that was defective out of the box............ The manufacturer replaced it but didn't want the old one back. Had it setting in the back for a while, couldn't decide what to do with it. Mentioned it to one of our regulars and he asked if he could have it if he got it open. We said sure. Took him about 20 minutes, flipped it over, took two prybars and had the door popped! Made us wonder where he learned this....... He was once a British Royal Marine before moving to the US, maybe they taught him? Or he learned some "useful" skills from people he knew growing up in England LOL
Our store had a safe that we used for vital records and Class 3 items and the gears stripped in it. Was rather expensive to get it opened and a new lock fitted. Funny thing, we also sold safes and had a new one that was defective out of the box............ The manufacturer replaced it but didn't want the old one back. Had it setting in the back for a while, couldn't decide what to do with it. Mentioned it to one of our regulars and he asked if he could have it if he got it open. We said sure. Took him about 20 minutes, flipped it over, took two prybars and had the door popped! Made us wonder where he learned this....... He was once a British Royal Marine before moving to the US, maybe they taught him? Or he learned some "useful" skills from people he knew growing up in England LOL
I installed one of those for a customer several years ago. When I opened the box there was a made in China sticker on the lock. 
Maybe that’s changed I hope.
I work on a military installation. Many of the high security areas use an electronic lock made for the government and available only to the government. Highly expensive of course.
They fail. We replace them with another.
I have a rotary dial lock on my safe. And I will never have an electronic lock.
Maybe that’s changed I hope.
I work on a military installation. Many of the high security areas use an electronic lock made for the government and available only to the government. Highly expensive of course.
They fail. We replace them with another.
I have a rotary dial lock on my safe. And I will never have an electronic lock.
That’s not a safe . . .
If there is an EMP and you don’t have a years supply of food stashed and a way to produce more, nothing else matters.
Of course you also need to be able to protect that food. The average guy holed up in his home probably won’t be able to hold out for an extended period of time depending on where you live.
The worst will happen. Your good neighbors will turn against you when their kids are starving.
Of course you also need to be able to protect that food. The average guy holed up in his home probably won’t be able to hold out for an extended period of time depending on where you live.
The worst will happen. Your good neighbors will turn against you when their kids are starving.
I think spin and dial locks are a pain in the backside. EMP fears are highly overrated, especially when it come to their effects on simple binary code devices.
Post 25 nails the scenarios very well
Post 25 nails the scenarios very well
Back before I retired from the Yankee Gov’t, our agency shared space with an almost sister agency. Our gun vault held our safe, with an SG spin and dial lock, and their safe, with an electronic lock. If you don’t anticipate battery failure and change regularly, and even if you do anticipate and experience unexpected battery failure, you get locked out. Guess which agency never had to postpone a training event or actual incident response due to being locked out . . .
MygunisaS&Wrevolver
Member
I have an old Liberty Centurion with the S&G mechanical lock, no issues. But in all reality, EMP from a nuclear attack effecting your electronic lock would probably be the least of your worries.
Uh No You wrap a chain around the safe and place a 10 ton port a power ram between the chain and safe door and push it in until it buckles. I have never used a clamp or bar with a vehicle. You use them to force entry. I have a harden 5' bar that is over 1" in diameter. I I took an axe head and beat it into the jam of a safe door with one of my sledge hammers I would get a spot to stick the tip of the bar in. If I got 1 inch of the bar in I would have 60-1 leverage and my 300# of weight on the end of the bar would give me 18,000# of force on the door at that point. Even 1/4" plate and angle won't withstand that force and very few safes are that heavily constructed.
You could also just punch a hole in the safe by using a big punch in a pair of vise grips and start whacking it with a sledge and then once you have a start hole drive the ax head though the metal at an angle. Would be like using a super sized can opener on a safe made of normal 1/8" or thinner plate. Ever wonder where the expression pealing a safe came from. It is just metal. I cut it all the time.
But, an older car that just used points and a coil might survive a EMP. No real electronics and the coil is by design made to make an electro magnetic pulse in the first place. The alternator might fry, but it will run without one. There are lots of older tractors around here that only use a magneto to run. Pretty simple.
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