A Cheap Safe that Foiled the Theves and a Question

[Lostinidaho]

A friend bought a broken Harbor Freight safe for his guns. Mostly to keep them secure form kids in the home. He bought the safe from a Harbor Freight store. The electronic lock was broken so he got it for $30.00. He was always going to replace the lock with a dead bold system he had dreamed up but never got around to it. He bolted the safe in a closet to the walls and the floors. And wrapped a bicycle cable around it with a padlock to keep it secure.

My friend and his family went on a vacation and while away the his home was broken into. The house was trashed and the high tech stuff was gone. But the safe was intact. Still sitting in the closet Pry bars had been used but to no avail.

When I heard the story of the undefeated safe, I asked how was that possible.

My friend said that before he left he drilled three holes through the side of the safe into the door. He threaded the holes in the doors to take a 3/8 bolt. He then bolted the door shut.

A simple solution that worked with these robbers. Just kind of funny what can sometimes work.

Now the question.

I am looking to secure some firearms in a "secret" location in my house. Its a small house, and I have looked for a place. I did come up with an idea where my daughter would loose a portion of her closet. That idea was shot down pretty fast. Although the teenage girl eye-roll made me laugh and laugh.

What have you seen or heard of? I am just gathering ideas.

Thanks In Advance

Lost

[adcoch1]

Between floor joists, under stairs, behind a small vanity cabinet that hinges out from the wall, behind utility shelves cut into the wall. Coolest one though was a fake electrical panel.

[kevin c]

Do you have an attic? I would imagine that, if it was ladder through a ceiling access panel into an unlit space, and the ladder is down in the basement, most break in thieves wouldn't bother. 'Course, your access would be limited too.

[knifemaker]

Go to YouTube site and search for secret gun hiding in home and you will find many ideas for the home with hidden locations and even using furniture or book cases for hide outs that are hidden very well from burglars spotting them.

[lightman]

The bolts through the door were a good idea. Even better would be something like a torx or one of the tamper resistant types.

[Thundarstick]

I built a book shelf back in my poorer days with about 3 inches of dead space on the back side that hinged from the wall with a hidden wheel on the end. I have a very good safe today!

[Mr_Sheesh]

I've seen and heard of some odd ones. Hidden gun lockers inside a wall; Masonry that had a hidden crank so you could open an area behind it; Garage floor cut in a rectangle or square and a safe put under it (then park a car with alarm atop the door); crawl space dug out and a full basement with safe put in there, with a hidden access; The limit is your imagination (well, and your budget.) Old pop dispensers too. You could repurpose a deep freeze chest I'd think, too. Or a fridge.

[Beagle333]

Out where I live, someone could unload a bulldozer and take the side of the house out with the safe and haul that room away on a dump truck and nobody would notice. So I have dual home alarm systems instead. They might defeat one, but the other will be alerting me and the sheriff. I don't have much stuff to take, but I have a lot of paranoia about being burgled.

[bedbugbilly]

After watching a few shows on TV about the drug cartels - think like a drug dealer and ask yourself where you could hide your "stash". LOL

It can take some work, but "sophist" over kitchen cabinets could be altered to hide, false back book shelves, etc. I knew a fellow who built his workbench and made the top to look like a real heavy top - it had an end that could be removed with just enough space to slide long arms in. Lot's of possibilities but for those that think a free standing gun safe is secure, bolt it down so it's too much work to try and remove it. Over the years, our business was broken in to several times. We had two different large safes - I'm talking 2' X 4' X 6' that when we had to move them it took three of us to do it. One night we got broken in to and the next morning we found the safe in the back room - doors open and contents spread all over. They were looking for cash but all it had was business records to prevent so if a fire occurred. The state police investigated it and from the tracks in the mud outside the building and other evidence, they determined it was just one guy who walked with a limp - go figure!

[JSnover]

Concealed storage is always the best way. Some people would have you believe the thieves will show up with plasma cutters, acetylene, grinders, nibblers, drills, etc. But even if they did, if they can't find your guns they can't steal them.

[Blackwater]

They have some safes out now that fit between the studs in a wall. They can be "hidden" by camoflaging them so that they're not obvious, and thus, are unlikely to even be tried. That's just one thought. All sorts of ways to skin this cat, and the best are probably one-offs worked out by one's own self and not spoken of even to friends, except maybe the very closest friends, and even then, whispered to emphasize the gravity of talking about the matter.

The camo idea has much to recommend it. Most burglars/thieves don't want or can't take much time "inside," so they don't typically have a lot of time to figure out what MIGHT be done to fool them. If they use metal detectors, they'll find the guns, but not many are so thorough or smart. Then, the key is to make them take too long inside to get to the guns, and that requires some pretty heavy machinery (safes) with good locks that can't be merely knocked off by a sledge, and the safe then opened.

Security is always a touchy subject, and there are zero "rules" therein. It's mostly how much do you have to spend and how much security do you really want/need. Good luck, and do NOT Post back what you decide to do! We'd all be curious, but that's bearable. Seeing a great idea go up in flames because you wanted to share it might not turn out to be quite as satisfying as you'd like to think it might be!

[Reverend Al]

I'm agreed that concealed storage is the best route, but a friend of mine took that one step further and I thought it was ingenious. He bought about 3 junker guns (a cheap .22 single shot, a cheap single shot shotgun, a cheap beater sporter Lee Enfield in .303) and deactivated them so they wouldn't fire live ammo anymore and then he cable locked them into a cheap wooden gun rack mounted on the wall of his basement. Most B&E artists are quick "in and out" jobs where they smash a window and assume that there might be an alarm or a neighbour might have seen them so they are in and out in 5 minutes or less. If they see the "decoy" guns in the basement gun rack they'll grab them if they have bolt cutters to cut the cable lock and think "Great ... I got the guns!" and they won't go looking for the "good" stuff before they scarper. Interesting idea ...

[CastingFool]

My dad's neighbor house got burgled, and the thief did find the guns, and attempted to take off with them. He dropped them when he found them too cumbersome to carry. 15 or more long firearms all fastened together with a heavy cable lock

[MaryB]

I have a free steel cabinet that was sitting at a guys curb with a take it sign. Cleaned it up, upgraded the door to 6 locking bars, then bolted it to the floor into a blind area in the crawl space and it is bolted through the wall to a 1/4 inch steel plate behind the furnace. 16 bolts total. Would need 50 feet of steel cable to try and pull it out with a truck and if you open it before disarming the security it activates a pump that is attached to a nozzle at face level. Pump has a tank fill with purple dye and skunk pee (trapping supply store). Open that door without turning that off and you get marked. And with a face full of skunk the last thing you are going to want to do is take whatever was in that cabinet. Added a motion sensor so if he has a buddy that walks up after the first stumbles off he gets the same treatment! There is a night light in that room, if it is on safe is armed. It is plugged into a dummy outlet that is a part of the security system.

[Kenstone]

If it's handguns you are trying to "hide", remove the drawer in the kitchen range (under the oven) put the gun on the floor towards the front, replace the drawer.

[NyFirefighter357]

When I was 16 I built a loft bed, just larger than a twin mattress. 2x4 frame 3/4" plywood top & bottom. I always wanted to make the top side hinge up to use for just such a thing. I never did and have since removed it but I did build 2 for my daughters and need to build one for my son. I may incorporate it but I have two large safes now and no crime in this area to worry about. I may retrofit a bottom into my headboard and make the front section hinge down. These days you use 12v electronic latches you can install with a relay and remote https://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-Cabinet...atch.TRS0.TSS0
https://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-One-Cha...atch.TRS0.TSS0
You then power it with an emergency light battery & a trickle charger but send a set of power wires to two posts hidden on the frame maybe 2 decorative brass knobs that you can then use a jumper set to power the latches if the battery fails or you may disconnect the battery if you went away with the only way to open it being power the knobs.

[Catshooter]

A friend of mine pulled all the bolts from his rifles and put them in the safe. Went on vacation.

Came back to a torched open safe, bolts & rifles all gone of course.

It was five kids and the oldest was 14.

They used the torch he had sitting next to the safe.


Cat

[Petrol & Powder]

OK, getting your inspiration for hiding places on the internet probably isn't going to yield a unique inspiration.

The concept of "dummy" bait guns is a good one. Be sure to record serial numbers, make, model, caliber by photograph and store those photos off-site. Even dummy guns make excellent evidence in a B&E investigation and criminal trial.

Don't store your cutting torch, angle grinder, plasma cutter next to your safe.

If you remove bolts, slides, barrels or other key components from guns to disable them; store those components separately. A hidden floor safe is an excellent option for storing small firearm components.

People can't steal what they can't find. But, the only way two people can keep a secret is if one of them is dead. If you hide valuable property, don't show off your ingenuity to your neighbor, brother in law, friends, etc.

[Mr_Sheesh]

I have heard of one gent putting a note on the front of his gun safe "I store the bolts for my guns at my gunsmith's. You won't get anything for rifles without bolts, there's a $20 bill in this envelope, please settle for that." Not sure how well that'd work but no honest gunsmith wouldn't be suspicious if you brought in say 10 rifles and none of them had bolts!

[RogerDat]

I used to pull bolts, cylinders, slides. Pack them in padded case and take with or take to family member off site. Figure might catch the dumb ones when I gave most of the local gun shops pictures of the guns and what part the thieves would be needing. But at the least would reduce the potential for criminals to use the guns.

Worked great until on returning dear wife put one of the cases with bolts away without recalling it, or where or anything about ever having know about it at any time in the last 15 years. Found it in a pantry box a couple years later. Well after having had to replace them.

Bottom shelf of storage closet riding a few inches off the floor. Essentially resting on bottom frame of cabinet or shelf. If the shelves and floor of cabinet are full depth front to back it can make it difficult to spot the "extra" space.

Make it hard to find, and then hard to move, with a dash of additional downside. Be it missing parts, cabled together, or being covered with dye and skunk "P".

Floor safe in concrete is the most difficult to breach but typically not very big.

I bought a house where before they put up drywall they drilled through studs, glued pipe piece in the hole as a bushing, then ran cable through. Came out into the back of a built in gun cabinet. Only problem was to fit through trigger guards the cable end had to be fairly small which limited the size of the lock. Slow down smash and grab thieves, and keep youngsters from accessing.