Single handgun safes

[GKC]

I have a number of handguns, and I like to keep one in the top drawer of the night stand beside my bed, with the rest in a gun safe in the closet in my home office. I usually carry one of my handguns from the closet safe when we go somewhere for the day, or evening.

So far, when we leave the house, I've been putting my night stand gun in the closet safe, and then putting it back in the night stand when we return home. I've been thinking about getting one of the single handgun safes for my nightstand...the kind that has the electronic buttons on top to enter a code to open the door. However, I have some questions:

Do you just put the safe on top of your night stand, or do you bolt it down? Any other suggested locations in the bedroom?

When you leave for a while, do you leave your gun in the single safe in your bedroom, or do you put it in your larger safe while you are gone?

I know my wife will definitely not be enthused about me bolting something to the top of the night stand...but I wonder if it's wise to just leave it out there, unsecured, in case a thief does break in...seems like he would just carry that off.

We do have an alarm system, and our children are grown and do not live at home. We don't live in a high crime area, but like anywhere else, there is always that possibility.

Any suggestions or advice?

 

[Strato]

If you keep your bedside gun in a locking box you need to remember to unlock it before you go to sleep. Being awakened from a sound sleep it can be hard for a moment to remember your name, much less a combination. I keep a gun in a bedside holster. It's in a natural position where if I hear a noise I can have a bead on the door in about a second or less. A lot faster than reaching over and opening a drawer or a box, locked or not. It's on the side of the bed that's away from the door plus during the day the comforter conceals it quite well. I built a locking gun compartment in my van where I keep my carry gun while I'm working and any time I leave the house my bedside gun goes in there and is always near by. It doesn't matter what kind of nieghborhood you live in or the likelyhood of neccessity. If that one time ever happens it all comes down to preparedness.

 

[RufusG]

I have small handgun safes bolted inside both nightstands, and steel cabled to the bedframe. Obviously, that's not going to stop someone with much determination or time, but if they are lacking in either or both it may help.

The guns stay there except when they're with me. You have to balance the risk of a couple guns disappearing against the trouble of going back and forth to the more secure storage all day long.

 

[GKC]

I have small handgun safes bolted inside both nightstands, and steel cabled to the bedframe. Obviously, that's not going to stop someone with much determination or time, but if they are lacking in either or both it may help.

The guns stay there except when they're with me. You have to balance the risk of a couple guns disappearing against the trouble of going back and forth to the more secure storage all day long.

That's an idea...I could actually put the single handgun safe on the nightstand, next to the bed, with a steel cable to the bed frame. Since we have an alarm which will rouse the dead (as our neighbors tell us when I accidentally trip it) it may spook the thief and he won't take the time to do any more than grab a few portable items and run.

 

[flop-shank]

Here's a crazy idea. Have you considered a small safe and then just using it as a nightstand? If you don't like that idea, that's cool. Just a thought.

All that said, I don't subscribe to the whole nightstand gun idea. Everyone is different, but once I, while sound asleep, sat up, picked up the 6" 686 on my nightstand, popped the cylinder open, then dumped the cartridges into my hand. My wife woke up and asked "What are you doing"?

"I don't know". Pretty brilliant, huh?

I no longer have a gun within reach while sleeping. I keep a pair of shotguns across the room, leaning against my safe. I can grab a handgun if I wish. I need a couple steps to get to any of them.

 

[Strato]

If I ever woke up with a gun in my hand I would keep them out of reach while I sleep too. That being said, both my front and back doors are within 15 feet of my bedroom door. If someone busted through one while I'm sleeping I wouldn't have a couple steps.

 

[flop-shank]

That being said, both my front and back doors are within 15 feet of my bedroom door. If someone busted through one while I'm sleeping I wouldn't have a couple steps.

Due to my ageing legs, I wouldn't either. That would suck the big wazuoo.

Last December, I had a car full of idiots (drunken) try to barge into my house at 4:00 AM on a Sunday morning. I had plenty of time to get ready to shoot. My shooting buddies laughed at that one, they said "Talk about picking the wrong house"! LOL, the fact is they picked the right one. I have no desire to hurt anyone if unnecessay and am trained well enough to know when and when not to use deadly force. They never got past the dead bolt.

God bless them. I hope they made it home O.K.

 

[Deltaboy]

Get a 30 cal ammo can, some aircraft cable, and a padlock and anchor it to the bed.

 

[GKC]

If I ever woke up with a gun in my hand I would keep them out of reach while I sleep too. That being said, both my front and back doors are within 15 feet of my bedroom door. If someone busted through one while I'm sleeping I wouldn't have a couple steps.

We have a door in our master bedroom that lets out onto a patio which is in the back yard. The other door into/out of our bedroom goes into the front entry area. I don't know where anyone would try to break in, and I hope I never find out...but I've often wondered if someone did break in quietly and came into the bedroom whether I'd have time to get to my gun even in the nightstand. I'm not sure I'm ready to start sleeping with a gun under my pillow!

I like the idea of a safe disguised as a night stand...I wonder if anyone actually makes one like that: a wooden shell over a safe, and the false front with fake drawers opens to reveal the safe. Hmmm...may have to look into that.


Does anyone else here disguise their safe(s) ? Not the 700 pound ones, but the smaller ones for one or a few handguns.

 

[Strato]

If someone gets into your room before you have your gun in your hand it won't do any good in the nightstand. If they don't think you're armed and it's in a place where you might be able to get a hand to it unnoticed, you might have a chance.

 

[APS]

I used a gunvault unit with the optional steel cable and left it on my nightstand. The cable went through the bed furniture. When my sister got a handgun I gave it to her since she has kids. Now, I use a Wilderness Safepacker hung over the bed post. It carries a cell phone and a spare mag. When I leave the house, it goes in my safe and my carry gun comes out of the safe.
Whatever you choose I'd pick something that forces you to wake up before you get your hand on the gun like flopshank (any MANY firearms 'experts') says. Don't want to shoot your wife, kid, friend, whatever accidentally. It only takes once, like the first time you do it. The combi safe on the nightstand forces you to wake up a little to enter the combination. Pick an easy one to remember and practice!!!! Set the alarm to go off at 3:30AM a couple of nights and practice with your unloaded pistol.
To buy yourself some time, pick up one of those Master bar/wedge locks, I think they're about $30 and you can take them with you to hotels, etc. Someone really has to make a ruckus kicking in the door with one of those.

 

[Frailer]

Do you just put the safe on top of your night stand, or do you bolt it down? Any other suggested locations in the bedroom?

Which side of the bed do you sleep on? If it's the side away from the door, I'd suggest under the bed. Rolling out of bed should probably be your first action if you suspect an intruder might be preparing to walk into your bedroom (or just has) anyway.

 

[Strato]

I can surely agree with a "wake up" step to access a gun when you have other people living in your house and have a time barrier between entry and potential demise. I live alone in a tiny 800 sq ft house. Tossing a brick through my bedroom window and following it in would only take 2 or 3 seconds. I would have no time for a wake up step. If someone is in my house while I'm sleeping, they don't belong there. On the occasions that I do have an overnight guest I don't use the bedside holster. On those nights I put a holstered gun in the bottom drawer and lock the rest up. I know this isn't the best system for everyone but it's the one that works in my situation.

 

[hdfinder47]

I used a gunvault unit with the optional steel cable and left it on my nightstand. The cable went through the bed furniture. When my sister got a handgun I gave it to her since she has kids. Now, I use a Wilderness Safepacker hung over the bed post. It carries a cell phone and a spare mag. When I leave the house, it goes in my safe and my carry gun comes out of the safe.
Whatever you choose I'd pick something that forces you to wake up before you get your hand on the gun like flopshank (any MANY firearms 'experts') says. Don't want to shoot your wife, kid, friend, whatever accidentally. It only takes once, like the first time you do it. The combi safe on the nightstand forces you to wake up a little to enter the combination. Pick an easy one to remember and practice!!!! Set the alarm to go off at 3:30AM a couple of nights and practice with your unloaded pistol.
To buy yourself some time, pick up one of those Master bar/wedge locks, I think they're about $30 and you can take them with you to hotels, etc. Someone really has to make a ruckus kicking in the door with one of those.

^
This. Manual or Bio. Quick access but you have to wake up enough to think about your situation. Don't bother to bolt it down - a thief can usually pry it up with little effort. Cable around bed frame is good. Secure gun in your safe/gun valt during the day. Don't forget a flashlight.

 

[Titan]

I use gun vaults bolted to the nightstand and cable locked to the bed frame.

The biggest risk of loss is having the door pryed open.

I deliberately use a gun vault to make sure that I'm wide enough awake to enter the code before attempting to shoot anything. I don't want to ever shoot while still fuzzy.

With a bedroom window on the second floor, I think the odds of me getting surprised before I get to the gun is slim.

 

[GKC]

Which side of the bed do you sleep on? If it's the side away from the door, I'd suggest under the bed. Rolling out of bed should probably be your first action if you suspect an intruder might be preparing to walk into your bedroom (or just has) anyway.

I sleep on the side of the bed (left hand side as you face the bed from the foot of the bed) that is closest to our internal bedroom door. My wife sleeps on the other side (of course) which is closest to the outside door.

We are both heavy sleepers, but my wife has two little chihuahuas that sleep with us, and they bark if a mosquito in the next room burps, so hopefully they would alert us of an intruder before he/she/it got into the bedroom.

 

[Model29Lover]

Adopt a dog

My wife and I have 3 dogs, a rottweiler who sleeps by the bed, a shepherd who sleeps by the front door, and another shepherd who sleeps next to my son's bed. They let us know if anyone comes into the yard!! That would give me plenty of time to grab my 629-1. A coyote came in the yard from the pasture the other day and I woke up fast and started clearing rooms in the buff!!! That was probably quite the sight!!!!

 

[GKC]

I woke up fast and started clearing rooms in the buff!!! That was probably quite the sight!!!!

You could always blind an intruder with the "moon light" !

 

[YogiBear]

Aloha,

We also have 3 dogs in the house. Australian Cattle Dogs. We also have a 6' wall around the property. We never lock our doors at all, how else can the furkids go out and do their thing?

M29Lover, hopefully you will have your finger off the trigger when one of the dogs sticks a cold nose you know where.......

 

[Lightfoot4]

I’ve got Vline safes mounted in various parts of the house. Takes me about 2 seconds to open one and have a gun in my hand.