Inexpensive long gun safe?

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adenn1, that was my observation as well. The stackon's that I have seen I can literally see light through the cracks in the corners, not exactly what I look for in a cabinet.
 
I say hide the partner saw, Sawzall, crowbars, sledgehammers, etc. And/or disable them by hiding sparkplug, motor brushes, cords, etc. We're trying to protect against more than just dedicated robber/pilagers here, who would bring their own, breach a hole in your building to take the safe away whole, etc. and other extreme measures. Others have already mentioned teenagers, opportunistic/casual burglers, etc. Equally important is the fact that most local laws, insurance companies and lawyers who'd like to sue you require that the guns be locked up, preferrrably also disabled (i.e., trigger lock) with the ammo separately locked up elsewhere. Beyond simple gun discharge safety issues, it's a matter of making it clear to any challenging legal authority that the breaking-in party possessed clear criminal intent and that you provided no opportunity, even via negligence, for casual acquisition of your functioning firearms. For ex., if a band of drunk teenagers departed from your house with a loaded firearm (that they didn't previously have) and robbed your neighbor or shot someone in a bar brawl, YOU WILL BE SUED, since the teenagers collectively don't even have enough wealth to bail themselves out of jail. But you do. So one thing we're doing is trying to stop this scenario. Did I mention that, likely, one of the teenagers would be your son or daughter? Sorry, but it's probably true....
 
For ex., if a band of drunk teenagers departed from your house with a loaded firearm (that they didn't previously have) and robbed your neighbor or shot someone in a bar brawl, YOU WILL BE SUED, since the teenagers collectively don't even have enough wealth to bail themselves out of jail
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I never have heard of a person being sued for having his guun stolen and used by a criminal. If that was the case, I think many people would not own guns. How can a gun store or gun owner be responsible for something that a criminal did without his knowledge? Someone enlighten me here.
 
That wouldn't work in court. If they stole your car and smashed into businesses or worse, ran over some people, they wouldnt have any chance in court since you are a victim also. Same with anything else stolen from you.
 
Fella's;

The YOUTUBE video shows two guys getting into the RSC in one minute, forty-two seconds.

True, they knocked it over on its back, so what? Bolt it down good so leverage can be had & upright it's still a 5 minute job. No RSC is going to be proof against a brute force attack for thirty minutes. Unless maybe the attackers are of single digit IQ, or age.

Good fire rating and a $500.00 budget? Diametrically opposed parameters, sorry.

900F
 
4Freedom,

I never have heard of a person being sued for having his guun stolen and used by a criminal.
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My point was that we need to secure our guns so that ONLY a dedicated criminal, with premeditation, could succeed in getting them. In that case, we bear no legal responsibility. We are open to legal trouble if a CASUAL, opportunistic trespasser could get them.
I think I have heard of these kind of suits , or read about it in one of those "Armed Citizen" type columns in the gun magazines, like the 3 NRA publishes. Thanks for the challenge; I'll see if I can document this.
Anyway, besides legal liability, or absence of it, the antis use against us the fact that we civilians do not do a good enough job of securing our guns, they think. I think they are correct, at least in that some significant portion of guns used in crimes are stolen (again, I heard this somewhere and I'd have to look around to document it). The antis will use anything against us, valid or not. Remember that law suits can be files that have zero merit, for harassment and political reasons. Esp. if cost is not limiting, and the anti groups tend to be well-funded. While drifting somewhat from the OP's topic, my point is to reinforce the wisdom of at least making a show of securing our firearms.
 
Oh, I was under the impression that I could cut a hole in the top!
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Sure you could cut a hole in the top, but most safes have layers of shelfs before you can get to the rifles. Most thieves are usually smash and grabbers, unless you have a lot of tools around for them to use, they'll likely go after your plasma tv's and computers before wasting a lot of time and making a lot of noise trying to get into your safe. Lets face it, a professional thief will get into just about any safe given enough time. I hear people all the time bragging about their safe and what's in it, you never know who else is listening or who your friends might happen to tell. Bolt it to the floor(if possible) and put it in a corner which will prevent them from getting leverage to pry it open..Oh... up your insurance, you're paying for it for this very reason...
 
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Its kind of like this "You don't have to out swim a shark, just stab your buddy and swim like hell" or if you prefer "you dont have to out run the bear just your hunting partner"

Make your home more of a threat to robbers than your neighbors.

The easiest target is going to be hit before the hardest target.

I would be more concerned about the fire rating that time to break in. We all know that if someone really wants into a gun safe Sawzall's, torches, chopsaws, etc, will make short work of any safe in a minimal ammount of time.

AD
 
Fella's;

My opinion of the Liberty Lincoln? Just another RSC. The ad hype is typical in that it promises everything & delivers hot air. I looked at the referenced web page & did not see where they listed the body metal thickness. Gee, I wonder why? BTU, fire rating, wow! Wait, on second thought, hold the wow factor until & unless they publish the test parameters. You know, so I can make an accurate comparison against the Pyro 3000 rating, the Omega Labs rating, or the U.L. one hour rating. Oops, excuse me, it seems that neither Pyro or Omega publish the details. Gosh! That sure makes it hard to do a meaningful comparison doesn't it? I wonder why they behave like that? You'd think they were out to dupe the average consumer wouldn't you?

Bah! Humbug!!

900F
 
The two guys prying the safe open didn't prove a whole lot to me. Firstly its very unlikely they would have had the leverage they needed on an upright safe, they had it on its back. Secondly it also supposes that there will be more than one thief, and he'll have a five foot steel pry bar. (BTW, my safe is in a smaller room. You couldn't use a large pry bar like that without unbolting the safe and moving it.) I would like to see that recreated under more realistic circumstances. It is disappointing however they were able to do it as easily as they did. The opening of the door needs a piece of steel welded down its length to prevent a bar from being inserted like that. That is a cheap mod and would make prying it open much more difficult.
Any safe can be broken into given enough time and the right tools. Something most thieves don't have. Most of them aren't really smart enough for that anyhow.
 
Last year a neighbor was broken into. They carried out his safe, a $400 6 rifle version he got at Dicks. He was sick over it. They crow-barred it from the wall he had it lagged to.

That's when I decided to buy a used 6 rifle safe, el-cheap-o. Think I paid $150 for it. I keep an old dbl barrel Nitro special that hasn't been fired for many many years, 2 pellet rifles and an old, unoperatable 9 shot 22 pistol in the safe.

It's in the back of a first floor closet and you can't miss it when you open the door. They can have that one.

The rest of my firearms are hidden. Some behind false walls, Others, well, they are hidden.

If they know that you have firearms or they find a safe after breaking in they are going to do whatever they can to break into it or carry it off. I decided to let them work for it and give them junk.
 
i say do like the drug guys do
put whole in wall replaster over and paint
can get to guns in seconds
take a bit to put them back up though
 
Fella's;

The major reason the RSC is knocked over in the "Security On Sale" video is indeed time. But, it's not the time that the thieve's take that's the issue. It's the time a customer will take to watch it.

The video only lasts about 4 minutes. If the safe were upright, yes it would take longer to gain forced entry, but not much. What it would do though is bore the watching customer & not as effectively make the point that an RSC is a tin box. Period.

Upright, it's a five minute entry, that's what RSC is rated to, 5 minutes. Bolt it to the walls, yea!! Now I've got more leverage. IT'S A TIN BOX. And nothing is going to make it anything except a sheet metal storage cabinet unless & until you put as much time & money into protecting it to raise the cost to true safe territory anyway.

900F
 
My safe can be opened but not quickly. It has a steel outer wall 12 ga hardened steel, 2" concrete insulation, 12 ga steel inner wall. It weighs 1,000 lb and is bolted to the wall. The combination has a dead fall so it cannot be drilled or cut open without triggering a bar to drop into the mechanism and freeze the lock. The lock pins are hardened tool steel.(air hardening chisel steel) a Partner saw would probably get thru, but not quickly and not with one blade. Truthfully my safe is a commercial safe and would cost about $6,000 on today's market. Explosives would get in, but I doubt if there would be anything left to steal.:neener:

My two sons have home depot gunsafes and I could get them open in less than two minutes. Without power tools. Remember the best use of a lock is to keep an honest man honest.:D
 
For ex., if a band of drunk teenagers departed from your house with a loaded firearm (that they didn't previously have) and robbed your neighbor or shot someone in a bar brawl, YOU WILL BE SUED, since the teenagers collectively don't even have enough wealth to bail themselves out of jail. But you do. So one thing we're doing is trying to stop this scenario. Did I mention that, likely, one of the teenagers would be your son or daughter? Sorry, but it's probably true....
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I'm getting tired of all these misconseptions that all teenagers want to do is get drunk/high and cause problems. That's like me saying all parents are good for is b!tching at their teens and forcing them to do things that they have no leagal obligation to so i.e. chores. Sure they SHOULD do them but where is there a law that says they have to. Didn't mean to highjack the thread or anything but I take offence when people single out teenagers for problems especially when you think about the fact that adults are much more capable of pulling off something like cutting open a safe and stealing the items inside as it's legal for adults to purchase and the tools required for the job. Again I appologize if it seemed like I highjacked this thread.
 
I've seen the wall safe's listed in cheaper than dirt. They fit between wall studs and are pretty shallow. Still, you could put one in at the back of a closet and hang crummy coats over it. Maybe put it into a floor and cover it with carper and a coffee table. Probably a good way to hide a few pistols at least. Just a thought.
 
wait wait wait.....

Why is 30 minutes the benchmark?

That's still not a lot of time, unless that's the maximum amount of time someone is not at home...
 
OKAY DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY, HOMAK SAFE holds 14 guns and has a pistol box with quick acess on top.


PRO: CHEAP, MADE STRONG

CON: 100 dollars for shipping, online only, must be bolted down even though mines not. Takes 3 guys with skills and thats with the lights on etc.
 
a thief is going to get in if they find it but my son may DIE IF HE FINDS my pistol. my son is 9 now and shoots with me at the range but i am not willing to take that chance...
 
99% of the break ins around here are smash and grab, where they kick in a door and grab what they can find easy and quick. I would say get the best you can afford even if it is a cheap stack-on. It will slow them down enough to spook them into leaving. Most of these type break ins are done in a real hurry, so anything you can do will help. Also run an aircraft cable through all of the trigger guards and lock it, it's hard to carry a bunch of guns tied together and run at the same time.
I have a Liberty and love it, but if I couldn't afford one, I would improvise. If you know a good welder, you can make a "hard room" in a closet too.
 
I agree, most break ins are not elaborate affairs where they take their time. Pros will break into whatever you have.

A friend of mine had a reinforced concrete room in his basement that had a THICK vault door on it. That would be the ultimate to me. He stored all of his valuables in it. He had a few guns but mostly he kept militaria in it. Funny, now he just hangs all his stuff on his walls.

The major reason the RSC is knocked over in the "Security On Sale" video is indeed time.
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Thats kinda the point. That and the fact both men were putting their weight into the pry bars. If the safe was upright they might have not been able to generate the leverage they needed. It may have taken longer, or they may not have gotten it open at all. I've heard that video referenced on several threads. I would wager if it was longer people would still watch it, especially if it provided more information thats a little more practical.
 
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