Linstrum
01-17-2006, 07:34 AM
44minimum's thread on safes is one that hasn't come up very often before, but it is an important one!
Make sure that when you get a gun safe that it doesn’t keep YOU out, too!
When getting a safe, make darn good and sure that it is equipped with a reliable lock that you can get open quickly, even in poor light. There may be times when you need the safe opened immediately if not sooner, so make sure that the lock is one that is easy to operate as well as one that you are comfortable with.
The lock that was originally on my Wells-Fargo gun safe was the classic four-number rotary dial combination tumbler type lock made by S&G. That is the type where the first number must be passed by four times, the second number three times, the third number twice, and the last number once where it stops in place automatically. The lock was a real problem to operate and sometimes it took ten attempts of running through the combination sequence before it would open, which is around fifteen minutes of messing with it. The problem is not making mistakes in the combination, instead, according to S&G, that model of lock is far too sensitive to pausing the dial rotation between numbers in order to re-grasp the dial so as to complete the rotation to the correct combination number. As such, it is a treacherous built-in flaw and it is my opinion that those locks should never be used for gun safes or any other application where quick access is a must.
The push button type locks are much more user friendly, but if they are battery powered the down side is that the batteries need to be replaced often enough to ensure being able to get the safe open quickly without needing to resort to the fail-safe dead battery mode.
Make sure that when you get a gun safe that it doesn’t keep YOU out, too!
When getting a safe, make darn good and sure that it is equipped with a reliable lock that you can get open quickly, even in poor light. There may be times when you need the safe opened immediately if not sooner, so make sure that the lock is one that is easy to operate as well as one that you are comfortable with.
The lock that was originally on my Wells-Fargo gun safe was the classic four-number rotary dial combination tumbler type lock made by S&G. That is the type where the first number must be passed by four times, the second number three times, the third number twice, and the last number once where it stops in place automatically. The lock was a real problem to operate and sometimes it took ten attempts of running through the combination sequence before it would open, which is around fifteen minutes of messing with it. The problem is not making mistakes in the combination, instead, according to S&G, that model of lock is far too sensitive to pausing the dial rotation between numbers in order to re-grasp the dial so as to complete the rotation to the correct combination number. As such, it is a treacherous built-in flaw and it is my opinion that those locks should never be used for gun safes or any other application where quick access is a must.
The push button type locks are much more user friendly, but if they are battery powered the down side is that the batteries need to be replaced often enough to ensure being able to get the safe open quickly without needing to resort to the fail-safe dead battery mode.