Gun Safe, Gun Rug Question

[quinn]

I am mulling over the purchase of a new gun safe with fire retardant lining. These safes are rated to keep the interior temperature below 350 deg. F for a specific period of time (30, 60, 90 minutes) during a house fire.

I store all my handguns in gun rugs of various manufacture and material. I had the idea to put a couple of the rugs in the oven and set the temperature to 350 to see the effect on them. My better half immediately deleted my idea.

The idea of melted material on the guns sort of offsets the value of a lined safe.

Does anyone know how gun rugs stand up to 350 degrees?
Is the high $ of lined safes worth the extra over my existing plain steel safe?
Are gun rugs not the way to go?

Thoughts? Thanks

 

[DGT]

Good questions. I don't have the answers but, will be anxious to see the responses.

 

[Kanewpadle]

I use gun socks. I've seen guns that went through fire with and without. The guns with fared well. No damage at all. Without gun socks did not fare well at all. Have no idea how hot the interior of the safe was. And I don't know how gun rugs would do either.

Buy a good safe. They are not equal by any means. Stay away from anything made in China/Taiwan.

 

[Dashriprock]

Brian Pearce did a set of articles on this subject in Rifle Magazine back in or around 2011, reporting on helping a friend with his safe and guns after a house fire.

The big damage he and his neighbor encountered comes from something he called cold smoke damage. Essentially, after the fire has been going awhile and the fire department starts hosing down the property, the cold water hitting a hot safe causes a vacuum of sorts that sucks all the toxic smoke in the room into the safe. This smoke is very corrosive and filled with all sorts of volatile chemicals and the like from everything in the room / house that has burned.

He noted that the rifles stored in those silicon gun socks were practically as if they had never seen the incident. The rifles not stored in socks required some serious cleaning and some were never the same after the fire.

He also mentioned a product called Palusol. It's a thin liner type seal that goes into the door frame. At 250F, it expands and seals off any joint to which it's applied. No way for the toxic cloud to be sucked into the safe upon rapid cooling from FD water.

Caveat: This is from memory, might want to google it up or find those back issues!

 

[Vulcan Bob]

Storing a hand gun or long gun in any "gun rug or case" is not a good idea in most climates, they have a tendency to draw moisture. The "silicon gun socks" are a much better way to do it. As already noted there are other considerations inside a safe during a fire to be sure.

 

[rwsmith]

Make sure....

Make sure that there is no plastic, polymers, synthetics (pretty much the same thing) and all all natural materials that will bake into nothing but ash. You can take a small swatch, put it in a tin can or something similar and bake it where ever is convenient. I don't think a small swatch would hurt the oven but I know how spouses can be. BBQ grill, small fire in the back yard???

You are likely to get better materials in a good gun sock. It's hard to imagine something being made without synthetics nowadays.

See 'Sack-Up' gun socks. He says the smoke and heat got all of his prized guns except for the ones in the Sack Ups.:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag5Qk5S_ooU[/ame]

http://sackups.com/about/mission.php

They are a treated cotton material that I was thinking would 'bake' the cleanest.

 

[finesse_r]

Being cheap, I use new white cotton socks from a discount store that come 10 pairs to a pack for about the cost of one actual gun sock. They take up less room and prevent scratches very well.

 

[05CarbonDRZ]

I would reccomend buying a good fire rated Safe First before I would worry about the Gun Rug issue.You have been posting some awesome Guns lately that deserve a nice safe.I picked up a nice Liberty Fatboy JR. and set up the shelves to hold all Handguns.It is made in the USA and has the Palusol in the Door to keep the Smoke out.I got mine from my Local Gander Mountain with FREE in Home delivery for about $1,500.You have Guns that cost more than that so spending $1,500-$2,000 on a nice Safe is a no Brainer IMHO.

 

[Bugkiller99]

I would reccomend buying a good fire rated Safe First before I would worry about the Gun Rug issue.You have been posting some awesome Guns lately that deserve a nice safe.I picked up a nice Liberty Fatboy JR. and set up the shelves to hold all Handguns.It is made in the USA and has the Palusol in the Door to keep the Smoke out.I got mine from my Local Gander Mountain with FREE in Home delivery for about $1,500.You have Guns that cost more than that so spending $1,500-$2,000 on a nice Safe is a no Brainer IMHO.

I'm not an expert. But there are people here that are. KP for one.

But CarbonDrz is right. Don't get cheap with your safe. Consider what the value of its contents are worth. Spend accordingly.

 

[kozmic]

I do not store guns in my safe in gun rugs. I store my gun rugs in a box and use them to transport to and from the range, etc. They will absorb moisture. Even with a dehumidifier in your safe. My handguns are in racks and most of my long guns have impregnated gun socks.

As for safes, I'd like to know what you choose.