The best safe is one no one else knows about. The best door is worthless if the thieves have a metal cutting blade and can get to the side of it.
A super fortified door speaks big bucks, a good door over a hardened gets prying eyes on to easier stuff and leaves the thieves distracted away from the valuables under real "lock and key".
Three44s
some not mentioned yet is a house fire.
massive amounts of water turning into steam is not the best for firearms. Even rated safes and safe rooms usually are not completely sealed and it doesn't take much steam to rust your guns.
just another fact for consideration
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A small shipping container in a building wired with an alarm would be a good start.
One problem I might have with a safe is a very damp basement (125 yr old house). How are the dehumidifiers that come with the safes?
I do have a Stack-On inexpensive safe. From what I've read, thieves with the right tools (and time) will cut through a full sized safe as quickly as a Stack-On.
If you are on a budget... look in the big box building supply stores for a job site tool box. Properly anchored with a pair of good padlock's it is inexpensive and will hold a lot of cased firearms. Designed to be full of expensive tools at an unattended job site means it is built to be darn hard to break into.Originally Posted by Grmps
http://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-48...4824/206442793
Or one of these http://www.homedepot.com/b/Tools-Too...e/N-5yc1vZc27g
Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.
Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.
Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat
Good idea. I'll check those out.
I'd think about a couple dehumidifiers for the basement and making that a useful space if possible.
I've seen Knaack Boxes around for many years
Humidity - This is where the pedestal is important. Never put the safe directly on the concrete floor. It doesn't need to be a tall pedestal, just a few inches off the floor will help a lot.
Dehumidifiers - The small heaters (Golden rod or one of the knock offs) work very well. They prevent the water vapor in the air from condensing on the slightly cooler contents of the safe.
Desiccant - The use of desiccant to absorb moisture inside the safe adds another layer of protection.
Maintenance and storage - in the end, there's no substitute for proper gun storage. There are a lot of gun storage products out there. I've been using RIG for years and it's never failed me. Never handle a gun with sweaty hands and put it in the safe without wiping it down. Never put a wet gun in a safe.
As for cutting through a safe with the right tools - there's no defense to that. If the thieves arrive with a plasma cutter, chopsaw, pry bars AND they have enough time to work on the safe - the thief is going to win every time.
However - if they don't know the safe is there, or they cannot find the safe, or they cannot access or easily remove the safe they're going to run out of time.
The goal is to make the attack too difficult and time consuming to be successful. Given enough time and resources, ANY fixed fortification will fail. Masada, Constantinople, Hitler's bunker, Singapore or that hole in the ground that Saddam Hussein was found hiding in; are all examples of fortifications that failed.
It's unlikely that your house will be the target of a prolonged siege by an army (Roman, Muslim, Russian, Japanese or American in the prior examples). So if you can defend against two meth heads with a stolen truck and crow bar for 10 minutes; you'll likely be able to hold onto your property.
Last edited by Petrol & Powder; 06-26-2017 at 09:24 PM.
For several years I used a Knack storage box bolted in the bed of my truck to transport gear and equipment. was solid and secure I had a matched set of locks on it so 1 key opened it. The pain was I couldn't slide gear out but had to crawl up in the bed to get to it. They are solid and secure and bolted to floor and wall very secure. The draw back is they have to set out from the wall some to open easily and completely so a set of spacer blocks need to be made for the wall bolting.
I live in MA. Lots of communists...It's unlikely that your house will be the target of a prolonged siege
Lot of folks also need to think about what tools they have on hand. My 4 inch grinder with cut off wheel might not work but would encourage some to try. A larger version such as a 6 or 8 inch would probably work.
Even stuff such as sledgehammer or large pry bar could encourage thief to do a lot of damage trying to make it work.
As a side note those small $99 fireproof floor safes are plastic! Made to look like metal, you can cut them in half with an old circular saw. Lame. Which reminds me fireproof works by "sweating". That is having a filler that sweats when heated. Boiling off the sweat helps protect the contents from heat BUT can also damage stuff inside from humidity in normal use, lot of reports of smaller fireproof lock boxes or safes destroying documents just sitting in a closet, and a full size safe can do it too. Enough to raise humidity inside which is bad for guns or important papers.
Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.
Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.
Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat
Well that's a pretty serious threat.
They're easy to spot...
I have a room in the basement that was where the old boiler was. Now we have a efficient furnace mounted outside of that. So I ended up with a concrete room with a steel door for a gun room. When you first look at it it looks like a abandon coal bunker. Its large enough to use as a safe room if we ever needed it. Of course here that would mean a bear got in the house. We have a house alarm, so I feel like we are reasonably safe from thieves and fuzzy marauders. It's nice not to have to remove guns to get to guns like I had to with the two safes we had.
Found this on the side of the road with a free sign on it. Walls are 10 gauge steel, things weighs 600 pounds and took 6 people to get in my back door. Bolted through the floor into a very hard to get into crawl space, and through the wall to a 4'x4' x1/4 inch steel plate that is behind the furnace. No access to it via a car or truck without using a 70 foot cable. I added better locking bars, 2 alarm systems, and an active system with dye packs mixed with skunk pee(yes I make dang sure this system is disabled before I open the door!). Could someone get into it? Sure with a lot of effort. Would they enjoy the result of a dye pack going off at face level? NOPE! Will hold 10 long guns plus 8 ammo cans in the bottom. Up top I store bulky stuff like my bench rest, sand bags, the tumbler for case cleaning etc.
You started, but didn't finish, I came across this earlier tonight. How about both, and a LOT MORE! The guy and girl are annoying but it's worth watching !
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=okq6VIckNQY
A shipping container is a good additional layer. A safe room not only has to be safe, it has to be fire-proof.
I kind of like Champion Safe's line of products.
Remember that very few of these "safes" are actual "safes"; they are "residential security containers". To be an actual "safe" the door must have at least 5/8" total steel thickness and all the walls (including top and bottom) must have at least 1/4" total steel thickness. Anything less than this and it is a "residential security container".
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms *shall not be infringed*.
"The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution."
- Thomas Jefferson
"While the people have property, arms in their hands, and only a spark of noble spirit, the most corrupt Congress must be mad to form any project of tyranny."
- Rev. Nicholas Collin, Fayetteville Gazette (N.C.), October 12, 1789
Collector insurance will be better. I keep mine in safes two by Knox they keep lowlifes out and away. The insurance takes care of the serious thief's.
That's also a good idea. Any suggestions on collector's insurance? I just did a google search and as expected, many came up. Insurance companies are not my favorite people.
Check out Survive-a-storm. They make a panic room/storm shelter that is panalized bolts to a concrete slab and has steel wall's and ceiling. 4x4 4X6 and 6x6 sizes. Gun racks are an option you can buy.
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