Looking for opinion on a gun safe

[Basic]

Asking for your help in finding a good safe.

Under 1000 bucks if I can
any good deals you may know of.

Thankyou

 

[Road Rat]

Welcome to the day-after-Thanksgiving Day.

Gun safes are like anything else. You should buy the best quality you can afford at the time. Buy the largest you can afford at the time.

The chances of anyone ever breaking into your home and then breaking into your safe are extremely slim.

That being said I have two safes (I didn't buy as large as I should have the first time). I keep my firearms in the safes for their safe keeping and to keep them in a humidity free environment - I have Golden Rods in both safes. They will also keep the firearms safe just in case the house ever burns down.

The safes keep prying eyes and sticky fingers off of my firearms. They keep the Honest person Honest. The safes are located in my basement and any potential thief had better come prepared with a stair-stepping dolly and a couple of big friends if they plan on taking them out.

That all being said look at your weekly ads in your paper. Look at Costco (their prices include shipping); Dicks Sporting Goods; Gander Mountain; etc.

If you want to spend more check out local locksmiths.

You should be able to find a safe with 30 to 60 minute fire protection that will hold the "average" persons firearms for under your goal price.

You will also find the lady of the house will put all of her good jewelry in the safe - so there goes one shelf!! LOL You will find your important papers; car titles, insurance papers, etc, will go in.

Have fun shopping for the new safe. AND planning where to put it.

OH, I found that the delivery people will gladly put the safe inside the house where you want it for a nice $100 tip...cheaper than breaking your back!!

 

[strobro32]

Thefts of gun safes are not as rare as you would think. Ask me how I know. Ask a safe company delivery service how many times they have replaced a 1100 lb. safe. to an owner's residence.

Get one with a door front that has at least a 1/4" plate of hardened steel. It takes less than 5 minutes to cut into a "cheap" bargain safe.

Get a safe from a safe salesman, get a monitored alarm, get high resolution cameras, bolt your safe to the foundation and update your insurance to completely cover your collection.

 

[Florida J Frame]

Lowe's carries a nice unit for around $700 delivered.It's a Centurion by Liberty Safe. Properly placed and bolted down it should do what you want. No safe will keep a pro out but how many residential burglaries are committed by professional safe crackers?

 

[Chuter]

The other comments already covered the top tips; buy the biggest and best you can, etc. Years ago I picked up a Treadlock bench style safe that has served me well for decades. The collection grew so I found two more on Craigslist that work well. They're about 6'x3'x2' and hold a lot of "stuff". I had to sand blast and paint the used safes (with a good quality paint) but for the minimal investment, a "used but nice" safe is a viable option.

 

[MrTrolleyguy]

I was in my lgs this week and a regular said he just got for $300.00 a Liberty Presidential used from a widow. The MSRP is $2,500.00 on that series. Unfortunately he did not lay sheets of plywood down before bringing it into the house and cracked his tiles. The message is to ask around, like you are doing now and good luck!

 

[robertrwalsh]

Figure out how big a one you want, then go at least 50% bigger if you can afford it or in five years you will need another one (if you are doing it right.)

 

[Smitty357]

Figure out how big a one you want, then go at least 50% bigger if you can afford it or in five years you will need another one (if you are doing it right.)

^^This^^

And remember that next year the safe u buy this year will cost u even more. Look at them as an investment. The material cost to build them is steadily going up in price.

I had a 12yr old Browning that I sold for the same price I bought it for about 2 years back. I only sold it because i upgraded to an AMSEC, and havent regretted that one bit.

 

[Varangi]

Check out Youtube for how fast it is to break into cheap safes..Buy American, buy one with a re-enforced striker plate behind the locking mechanism so they can't punch the locking bar. Make sure you have at least 6 locking bolts and try to find one that bolts through top and bottom also. $1000 won't get you far with a true American Safe, but if you are good with a cutting torch or know someone who is, you can search the want adds for old safes that Grannie wants to get rid of after Grand-Pa passed 20 years ago. My friends and I have salvaged many a fine old safe this way. The bottom is the weakest point in any safe. Cut an opening in the bottom of the safe, crawl in, remove the inner panel, usually several bolts, detach the locking latch and open the safe. reseal the bottom, reline the interior, buy a new lock off ebay for 35-100 bucks and your in business.

Also, if you have a true man cave with torches, pry bars, drills, hammers and such, lock the valves and torches in the safe also. Bolt the safe to the floor w/ 6-10" lag bolts and epoxy.
Any safe can be had if there is time. Check out youtube...

Mike

 

[SmokeStack Lightning]

Decide on the size of the safe you want (preferably one w/a pro-longed fire rating), then buy one twice the size you decided on because that's what you'll need!

Next one I buy will be a double door, biometric w/room for plenty of shelves.

 

[Beabruin]

Like others have stated already, buy the best and largest you can afford. As someone whose family lost 95% of everything we owned to a devastating house fire 5 years ago, including one of our dogs, it is a good idea to get one with an extended fire rating. My LGS always has deals on them and will sell out every order they received rather quickly.
The house we bought after the fire had a safe in it when we bought it but is too small for me now so I am looking for a larger higher quality safe.

 

[eddie234]

get one bigger than you think youll need. should be able to get a nice one in that price range.

Sent from my ZTE-Z990G using Tapatalk 2

 

[Jabbit]

Go to Lowes.com and search "Liberty safe" and see what comes up. Far and away the best kept secret when it comes to gun safes. The best price-to-feature ratio I have found, anywhere. On sale right now too!

 

[mb66]

Good pricing at Lowes but delivery is 3 months out!

 

[tlay]

You can get a big dog for around $300.