Bolt your safe down! Here is why...

[Clark]

A guy gave me an old bank safe that was on a steel work bench with steel wheels.

He rolled it into my driveway.

It as so heavy, I could never figure out how to get it up off the bench safely.

The guy had a locksmith change the combinations and told me what it was. When I opened the door and looked at the lock, I could not understand how it worked. So many turns and multiple turns. My son tried to explain it to me, but by then I was out of enthusiasm.

So I towed the bench back to the other guy's drive way with my vehicle.

I would rather see 10 cubic yards of steer manure dumped in my driveway than see that safe again.

 

[Rum Smuggler]

Everything you can do, you should

One big mistake I see is gun safes in garages. Everytime the door goes up the world sees that you have a safe.
At minimum cover it or put it in a cabinet.
Then get a hammer drill, if on slab, and put 4 fat red heads (anchor bolts) through the bottom in each corner.
If you are tight to the wall figure out the stud layout and put 6 or more (safe size dependent) lags through the back of the safe into the wall studs.
Be aware, if the safe is fireproof the walls are filled with a damp powder that will play hell on your humidity and corrosion levels.
So seal up any holes with some caulking before running the lags through.
I also store all my ammo in the bottom to add weight.
I also save all my loose quarters and bag them and throw them in as well. Kind of a mini savings plan.
Lock up all your tools and prybars and sledge hammers as most junkies come with very little tools and will use yours to get the job done.
With a safe bolted to the floor they can't pry from below. And if it is heavy and loaded with guns AND dead weight it will be really tough to break even small anchor bolts.
Even a 1000lb safe can easily be moved with 3 guys and a dolly. Then they tip it into a van and off they go. So bolt it and hide it.
If the owner wants to move a heavy safe, the first thing to do is to open it and take off the door. More than half the weight is in the door. In my younger days I did some professional moving in San Francisco (hills and stairs!) and we did safes and 100's of pianos. 1/2 of my coworkers had records and drug habits, so be aware. And be smart.
Do not plan to get around to it, or think you are not able to protect your guns.
Make a fake panel in your closet if a safe is too much. Or lay them between rafters in the attic.
But protect your guns. And protect us from criminals getting your guns. I can see having one gun at the ready or two, but not 14 long guns and 5 hand guns falling into the wrong hands.
It is just being responsibile.
Criminals are industrious little pukes and we owe it to our children to hand down all our guns. They won't be able to replace them 30 years from now.

 

[erikk8829]

My Fort Knox Guardian weighs a tad under 1300 empty but two guys delivered it with no problems It is now bolted to a cement slab

 

[Batty67]

True, but then they'd have to get the safe UP 6 steps. Getting it down 6 steps was hard enough for 3 people. Could my 600 lb safe be taken whole out of my house? Absolutely, but it would take at least 2 strong guys with a proper hand cart and at least 15 minutes of backbreaking work. And there still is my dog, close-by retired neighbors in my surbaban neighborhood. Etc.

As my kids are 13 and 12, keeping my firearms away from my kids (and their friends) is no longer an issue. I see my non-bolted safe as a theft deterrant, not a theft eliminator. It should prevent non-determined thieves from accessing my guns, and that will suffice in most home robberies.

 

[heeler]

Pity.
The poor guy.
And yes I have been on that scene three times,losing guns twice.

Not sure why it is thought that the people who steal your guns are mostly people that know you or are related to you as that has not been my case at all and judging by the amount of residential burglaries that are at epidemic levels here in Houston,these are not people that even remotely know you pretty much more times than not.
Luckily my home has a concrete slab and my Amsec BF weighs 1250 pounds empty,but I still had it anchored with four half inch diameter four inch long Red Head concrete anchors.
I truely hope I dont ever go through this horrible scenario ever again!

 

[ridgerunner1965]

there was a video on youtube a few years ago showing 2 guys breaking into a gun safe with 2 ordinary crowbars.not a stack- on cheapy but a very heavy gun safe. they tipped it over on its back and in less than 2 minutes had the door open.i had just paid 1100 buks for a safe just like it and it made me want to puke. it looked like it helped them to have it on its back but im not sure they couldn't of done it standing up also.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Bolt it down.
Camouflage or conceal it.
Alarms.
Dogs.
Fence/gate.

Can you see security is layered like an onion (or like Shrek)?

 

[303tom]

To steal mine, you would have to steal a room out of the center of my house, thats after fighting off the dog...........

 

[Certaindeaf]

I heard that in Vietnam they stick a garden hose into the house and gas the occupants and then take up house there.

 

[JohnKSa]

The guns will likely be sold on through underground gun markets and end up “getting into the hands of the wrong people,” he said.

They're already in the hands of the wrong people. I know what he's saying, but his quote makes it sound like the burglars are really ok, it's just that they'll pass them along to "the wrong people".

 

[StrutStopper]

I think my safe weighs like 500 lbs empty. It isn't bolted down, but it is in the basement. My wuss dog won't go in the basement but someone would have to bring the thing up a flight of stairs and then face the dog to get out. Of course, they might take the time to break into the safe downstairs and remove the guns thru the window while my dogs are going crazy upstairs... Eventually I'll bolt the thing down to make it harder to move. The waterproof guarantee only holds if I bolt it down and use rubber washers anyway...

 

[Owen Sparks]

Moderate precautions are all you need if no one knows that you have a safe. Potential thieves will not come prepared with a hand truck or a cutting torch if they don't know that you have a safe. The main thing is to keep it concealed from all visitors and service people and keep your mouth shut. The safest safe is the one nobody knows about.

 

[EddieNFL]

Lead

Start storing your ammo stockpiles in there

So where do I put my guns...and the rest of my ammo?

 

[22-rimfire]

Gun safes just buy time, just like fire proof safes and other storage containers. A determined thief will still steal your firearms and any other valuables contained in a gun safe. The safe does tend to centralize valuables however.

I went to one house once that was vacant at the time and there was a gun safe out front on the drive way cut open. Suprised somebody didn't take it for scrap.

 

[Redlg155]

layers of security are always your best bet. The number of layers depends on the value of what you are protecting. Even the military uses electronic monitoring to protect individual unit Arms rooms.

If I can afford several thousands of dollars worth of weapons and a expensive gun safe, then I can afford electronic monotoring and probably the most effective deterrant, a dog.

Heck, I used to have a Siamese Cat that would just as well eat your eyeballs than be petted. He made a great guardian.

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

Just a couple of general comments on the views expressed earlier in this thread. And I am one of the professional safe guys who frequent this forum.

One: Don't store your ammo in your safe. A. You're using valuable space for relatively cheap goods. Use a cheap sheet metal/plastic locker instead.
B. If the interior of the safe reaches the ignition point of even one round of ammo, it usually sets all of it off. Then there's a cloud of incandescent gas in the safe. Goodby contents. I've seen the results firsthand, and it's not pretty.

Two: Bolting is good. The whole idea is to make it easier for the thief to bother your neighbor rather than you. If it's not bolted down, you'd be surprised at what two people who know how to move safes, can move.

Three: The video mentioned is: "Security On Sale" And it's on youtube I do believe. Anybody who has or is contemplating getting a "safe" should view it. The pity of it is these days there's no law in the land that states what may or may not be sold & called a safe. I could scotch tape my business cards together & put a pin across the corner & sell it to you as a "safe" if you wished to buy it.

I sell safes, not tin cans. Downside is, they cost more money, but not as much more as you might think.

900F

 

[Reloadron]

When I decided it was time for a gun safe I started doing some homework. After doing some homework I ended up going to The Cleveland Safe Company. Conveniently located for my shopping pleasure.

The merit here was I got to shop and compare safes in a very large showroom will all kinds of safes and vault entries. You name it and they pretty much had it. They also stocked a large selection of gun safes which was pretty cool. Crawling around on these things was a big plus for me.

My gun room as I am building it up was originally like an old front porch area of the house with no basement and sitting on a 6" concrete pad. That area is now part of the house and included an entry point. It is now heated and air conditioned. I arranged for delivery on a safe weighing in at well over 1,000 pounds. I removed the original door to get the thing into the house as well as most of the door framing and with some effort and their cool tools and things designed to move safes we got it in. They planted it where I wanted it and I lagged it down. The only way it is going anywhere is if someone removed a section of the front of the house. The house entries to that area are about a 12" to 18" drop.

The safe contains our important documents as well as my wife's jewelery collection. The only ammunition in there is a few loaded magazines and guns. Ammunition is cheap and expendable, I can get some cheap stack-on safes if I want a safe for ammunition.

One of the forum members here has posted pictures of his safe's contents after a fire and it was ugly! While my safe has a high fire rating and we have a good fire department his post got me thinking. This spring I have plans for major continuation of house renovations. I don't see it as difficult or really very expensive to plumb in a simple fire sprinkler system. The existing outside entry door is going to be removed making it more difficult to do much of anything with the safe.

Overall I figure it this way. There are considerable investments between her jewelery and my guns in that safe plus other valuables.Skimping on a safe would be a foolish move. While safes have a pretty high markup in some cases the distributor I dealt with was willing to come down on the pricing. The delivery and setup of this beast was essential also. No way in hell was I with a small army going to plant this thing.

Just My Take......
Ron

 

[GLOOB]

How about having a decoy safe? I would love for a 500+ lb safe loaded with scrap metal to be lugged away by some very disappointed thieves. Wouldn't take much to set the trap. Hang a holster on the handle. Hide the real valuables.

 

[22-rimfire]

Not actually a bad idea if you can afford to do such things GLOOB.

 

[Shadow 7D]

you can usually find cheaper firesafe and GSA filing cabinet, I bought some older safes etc 3 of them, for less than 75 dollars, they are NOT proper safes, nor large enough to be a 'gunsafe' but they are purty lil safes, and will, some day, make dandy decoys
right now, one of the (a GSA locking filing drawers with included security door - the Mosler lock was gutted, I mean the lock is there but the bolt and associated is missing)
it's an inexpensive insert, but the outside looks like a safe...
got them off of craigs list/local lists.

Reminds me, CB want the dial and lock pack?

 

[jrdolall]

Knowledgeable, determined thiefs can steal about any safe. Any thief with a crowbar can break into the $300 safes at Walmart. It requires advanced knowledge and multiple perps to steal a "quality" safe that is bolted down.

My safes are to keep kids and casual thiefs out of my guns. I do bolt them down but have few illusions.

 

[ridgerunner1965]

lots of guys keep touting ther dogs as a deterrance to burglary.excuse me? wrap your left arm in a white towle, when dog grabs it, stab him in lungs with hunting knife. now 2 or more dogs cud be a problem.but one is a 20 second delay.on the plus side if yu are home yu will have a good warning.

 

[Arp32]

Ridgerunner, it all depends on the dog. I've got a sweetheart Akita and a temperamental German Shepherd. You cant tell by looking, most folks are terrified of the Akita and go to pet the happy looking Shepherd. Unfortunately the shepherd has bitten people before, and not once did he know he was supposed to go for the forearm like on TV. Twice he broke skin in the abdomen through clothing. The last time he bit, it was a trainer who does work for the border patrol and some local police agencies. You'd think if anyone would have known how to deflect an angry dog, it would have been that kind of dog trainer.

Even if you're used to playing with your own dog, doesn't mean another one will fight the same way. Im a dog guy and am used to big dogs, but I wouldn't take my chances against any aggressive breed over 70 pounds or so.

 

[Redlg155]

I would think one would stand out wearing a red man suit for dog protection.

 

[Reloadron]

Yeah, as to the dogs thing. We have two and there has never been a time when there were less than two. They bark at sounds outside and all of those wonderful things that dogs like to do. They may or may not serve as a deterrent to a break in. They may convince a potential thief that he may fare better a few doors down in a home sans dogs. I sure as hell would not depend on them as a major deterrent.

While a good well thought out gun safe is a big plus it is also not a single solution to home security. A quality safe combined with a good and reliable home security system is a big plus. The list of making things secure goes on limited only by location and budget. A good safe being only a single component of a larger system.

Looking at my situation as every situation is different I feel comfortable with what my wife and I have as it works for us. That is what becomes important, I do not see it as just a safe but look at the much larger picture.

Ron