I'm going to buy a larger gun safe now that we're moving from a condo to a stand-alone house with a lot more room. The safe I'm looking at is a Fort Knox, 60"x31"x27" with 3/16" steel in the body and 3/8" steel plate on the outside of the door. It has a fire rating of 50 minutes at 1450 degrees. Weight is 925 lbs. The quoted price with tax, delivered, installed, and bolted to the floor, is a little shy of $3000. It's been a while since the last time I bought one. Does that price sound reasonable?
Gun safe price
- Thread starter JackM
- Start date
I wouldn't trade my Ft. Knox for any other safe I have seen. The first one I had was a 60x31. "You might want to get a bigger one" is what everybody says.
JackM, check here. Liberty Safes of Florida - Home Page
$3000 sounds a little high. $6000 is ridiculous.
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Thanks for the quick replies. The list price is $2162 with a plain painted finish and no fancy detailing. It does have a lighted interior and provision for a dry-type heater. Added to the base price is delivery ($350), leveling and bolting down ($95), electronic lock ($175), and 7% FL sales tax. One feature I really like is its recessed door. And it's a little bigger than I need right now so there's room to grow. The company is C-E Safes in Ft Myers. I had a Liberty Lincoln series safe years ago but we sold it along with a house before our permanent move down here. The Fort Knox has more steel in it, I know that much. The Liberty did have a nicer finish, for what that's worth.
MCorps0311
US Veteran
Are there any name brand safe out there that " can't be broken into?" I've been watching some videos and was shock to find out how easy some safe's are easy to pop open with some simple tools.Just asking?
rburg
Member
The quick answer is no. Any safe can be compromised. Some may just take longer. There is a balancing act here. Cost vs. contents. No reason to buy the $3000 or $6000 safe to protect $1000 worth of guns. Just bolting it down makes it much harder for the crook to get it. Notice all the internet videos have the poor helpless safe lying on the floor with adequate room to attack. If you can, bolt it into a corner. Preferably a basement corner with poured concrete walls. Maybe the only time a low ceiling will help you.
Conventional wisdom is safes are of different quality. Maybe. But they never attack the door, or those who do like a good workout. The weak spots are the top, bottom, or back. Crooks hammer or bash until they break a weld, then proceed with pry bars and sledgehammers. So those are places you need to investigate when buying. At some point in time and money, insurance may be a better choice than dumping thousands more into the safe. If you're handy with tools, put a sprinkler head above the safe. Either a crook will knock it off and get wet or the fire will be hot, but the safe has water on it.
Enough time and right tools, yes. That's the short answer.
Most gun safes are Residential Containers. Some such as Sentry, Stack On and others made overseas can be broken into fairly easily. Others made is the US not quite so easily.
This site has a good explanation of safe ratings.Burglary Ratings | Safe & Vault Store
I have seen many safes that have been broken into and others where the attempts failed. This gives me a very good understanding of how people try to break into safes. Generally the thicker the safe on all six sides the better. More locking bolts is better too.
Most attempts are done by those that lack the knowledge, experience and tools to be successful. They give up empty handed. So most quality built safes are adequate enough.
Jack,
I am frugal. I have a Browning Silver Safe, that I have supplemented with a Winchester safe I bought at Tractor Supply. I bought their TS22 (made exclusively for TSC) for about $ 600.it has a foot print of about 2'x3', and weighs about 450 pounds or more. It holds about 26 long guns. The beautiful part is, that if there is a break in attempt for the life of the safe, Winchester will replace the damaged safe.
Yes, given the time, my safe could be broken into, or stolen, but I have layered security. In order to get the safe out of the house, the safe has to be moved through a small maze. Additionally, the house has a hard wired security system. Unless the safe can be broken into and emptied within 8 or 9 minutes, the burglars will escape into the hands of John Law.
I don't feel that you have to expend several thousands of dollars for a secure safe.
I am frugal. I have a Browning Silver Safe, that I have supplemented with a Winchester safe I bought at Tractor Supply. I bought their TS22 (made exclusively for TSC) for about $ 600.it has a foot print of about 2'x3', and weighs about 450 pounds or more. It holds about 26 long guns. The beautiful part is, that if there is a break in attempt for the life of the safe, Winchester will replace the damaged safe.
Yes, given the time, my safe could be broken into, or stolen, but I have layered security. In order to get the safe out of the house, the safe has to be moved through a small maze. Additionally, the house has a hard wired security system. Unless the safe can be broken into and emptied within 8 or 9 minutes, the burglars will escape into the hands of John Law.
I don't feel that you have to expend several thousands of dollars for a secure safe.
I bought a Liberty Revere gun safe a few years ago that is
rated 30 minutes at 1200 degrees. I have a fire station 2 miles
from my house, so I didn't find it necessary to purchase a
more expensive higher rated one. It doesn't take them long
to get to my house....we're talking minutes. I think I paid
$1400 for it plus installation. It came with an electronic lock.
I was thinking of replacing the electronic lock with the old
fashioned tumbler type for around $300, parts and labor. My
reasoning is if there is an EMP event, I wouldn't be able to
access my weapons from the safe.
rated 30 minutes at 1200 degrees. I have a fire station 2 miles
from my house, so I didn't find it necessary to purchase a
more expensive higher rated one. It doesn't take them long
to get to my house....we're talking minutes. I think I paid
$1400 for it plus installation. It came with an electronic lock.
I was thinking of replacing the electronic lock with the old
fashioned tumbler type for around $300, parts and labor. My
reasoning is if there is an EMP event, I wouldn't be able to
access my weapons from the safe.
Wee Hooker
Member
If your new home has a basement, consider making a steel and concrete room with a safe door. Lots more room to grow for around the same $.
That's exactly what I would have done, if I had a basement, only I would have added it outside the existing basement wall to make breaking in from the top harder, for additional fire protection, and to use it as a panic room / tornado shelter.
Since I don't have that option, I went with top name safes, Browning and Fort Knox, both of which are bolted down through my concrete slab. Most home invasions are done by smash and grab criminals, often kids or druggies, looking for stuff to grab quick that can be easily sold, like TV's, computers, etc. These types of criminals aren't even going to give a safe a second look. To thwart these and the more professional thieves, I have a good alarm system, backed up by my four legged alarm system. And at least in this respect, living in a subdivision surrounded by neighbors who look out for each other has it benefits. If we see strange vehicles in the area, we start asking questions or call the cops.
When I bought my first home, one of the requirements was that it had to have a partially finished basement but not a completely finished basement. Many homes that I looked at were either totally finished or totally unfinished.
The house that finally won approval had a family room/play room but 1/4 of the basement was unfinished. I built my room in part of the 1/4 that was unfinished with a door wall that also became the back wall of my workshop. I put my work bench against that wall with the required peg board over top and to the left of the bench where the door was, I hinged a second piece of framed peg board the tall way and covered the door opening. I hung some tools on the door piece and from a few steps back, the entire wall looked like peg board/tool heaven and no one could tell that there was a hidden door there.
I put rock wool insulation above the 5/8" fire code sheet rock ceiling as well as all four walls. The door unit had a steel frame with a steel flush blank for the door. I had two dead bolts, one high and one low as well as a set of locking door knobs.
The room held several wall cabinets for my long guns and a shelved cabinet for my short guns. There was a small reloading bench and an easy chair with adjoining bookcase holding all of my reloading manuals and gun books. It was a perfect haven to get away and enjoy my hobby and relax.
The house that finally won approval had a family room/play room but 1/4 of the basement was unfinished. I built my room in part of the 1/4 that was unfinished with a door wall that also became the back wall of my workshop. I put my work bench against that wall with the required peg board over top and to the left of the bench where the door was, I hinged a second piece of framed peg board the tall way and covered the door opening. I hung some tools on the door piece and from a few steps back, the entire wall looked like peg board/tool heaven and no one could tell that there was a hidden door there.
I put rock wool insulation above the 5/8" fire code sheet rock ceiling as well as all four walls. The door unit had a steel frame with a steel flush blank for the door. I had two dead bolts, one high and one low as well as a set of locking door knobs.
The room held several wall cabinets for my long guns and a shelved cabinet for my short guns. There was a small reloading bench and an easy chair with adjoining bookcase holding all of my reloading manuals and gun books. It was a perfect haven to get away and enjoy my hobby and relax.
When I built my condo I had the builder include a 4'X7' concrete vault with a steel door. Then we put in stud walls, insulation, and power, (lights & dehumidifier). The cost was far below $3000.
