I need of a safe

[gnatshooter]

I'm with DNP on this one. Basically all the kids in this neck of the woods grew up in a house where the shotgun leaned against the wall by the front door. Or somewhere handy like that.

 

On the other hand, there are states where it's a crime to let them near guns. I guess it would be cynical to think that manufacturers of gun safes would push for laws like that.

Edited June 17, 2014 by gnatshooter

[shepp]

I don't see why you gotta have a safe because there's kids around. I thought we were trying to de-pussify this world by carrying out rifles everywhere we go? Might as well start at home, right?

But seriously, responsible ownership doesn't necessarily require a safe. We never had one as I was growing up. Guns were kept in sight, but I was trained not to touch them...along with stay away from the stove and out of dads liquor. <-that only lasted so long, but by that point I had my own guns and had been trained on the safe handling.

Agreed DNP long before my old man got a safe there was a pistol in the closet on the filing cabinet and rifles/shot guns in the basement. Teach em right, start em young, kinda what I said above I'm more worried about scum bags and fire, not the people I know are in my house. That being said I do lock up my pistol by my bed when company comes, just cuz I'd raise my kids to respect guns don't mean others have.

[survivalshop]

  I think most of us grew up with out safes in the house & that's OK . Now a days , things are a little different then we grew up & if for anything , a safe is exactly what it says " Safe ". We were trained to stay away , but what about visitors children or to keep POS thief's from taking our valuable's. 

 

Any Safe is better than none !  Buy what you can afford & if & when you can swing a better one , do so .

Edited June 17, 2014 by survivalshop

[Rsquared]

Buy an inexpensive gang box. Only a couple hundred bucks. That's decent for short term storage. Weigh it down. Bolt it down. Chain it down. Whatever you want.

[gnatshooter]

If there's room in a nice vacant basement like some modern houses seem to have, why not take that money and build a gun room. Indirect lighting, La-Z-Boy recliner, nice gun racks, shag carpet, etc., and a double lock on a steel door. Man cave. Your investment with benefits.

[Cali_Ed]

I wish brother I'm In California no basement and I'm in a apartment lol

[392heminut]

If you have a Tractor Supply in the area check them out. They always seem to have some on sale for a good price. Their sale prices beat any one else that I've seen!

[Tripledeuce]

  I'v been waiting for Robo to get into this.

    In my years in the retal gun business, I v had a LOT of cals from people who ave been Burgled.Mosy wanted me to appraise guns that had been stolen.

     OK, whats the make , model, and serial number? I ask

   UH, it was a 30-06, I think, and had a long bbl. was a commen answer.

    I'm sorry, I replied, I can't appraise something withot a good description.

    It has been also my experience that most burgleries are not commited by por's.  Most were kids, druggies, and on one occasion, a oppertunty presented itself because a large Christmas tree, with a TON of presents under it was promenently desplayed in the front window!!!!!

   Law enforcement is somwhat different.   I'v known officers whose houses were broken into by perps that had been arrested by the officer.

     So, as someone who is somewhat knowalegable in the operation, most burgliers are commeted at random chance, mostles by young offenders, and drug addicts.   they don't have a lot of time to look for hidden things, but ARE aware of the most commen hiding places.

    So, to summerise, most burglieries are random acts, by young or desperate offenders.  It does not take much to stop them.   ANY safe is better than NO safe.

    I have an OLD cannon 55 downstairs, state of the art in the 70's, pretty crude by todays standards, combo lok takes a while to get into.  up stairs is a cheep=o stack-on key lock safe. I keep the self defense guns, the ones I might have to get into fast.  Key is faster than combo, but not nearley as safe.  If I'm away over-night, or for an extended time, everything gets locked in the Cannon.

     Any safe is better than No safe, up-grade as possible.

     Respectfully

      Terry

[DNP]

Just to be clear, my comment was only in response to "...you never thought of buying a safe before having a kid?" In hindsight, I guess he's saying the same thing I am. The kid shouldn't be the reason

I own a safe and agree with a lot of the reasons to own one, with the exception of protecting our own kids from them. I want a loaded gun in my boys room as soon as he's man enough to respect it. His friends will be nowhere near it, nor nowhere near mine. I don't do parties in the house where random people can wander around...and neither will my son.

I own one to keep the tweekers from getting their paws on the ones I care to keep. As far as fire goes, you can't get protection from anything less than around 2k. I haven't heard of anything surviving a good house fire that wasn't in a $2500 safe. You can add drywall, put a document box inside your safe for small stuff, but the guns are going to be toast...literally.

I really like Ron's idea of a gang box or tool box of some sort for solid "keep out" protection.

Edited June 18, 2014 by DNP

[Brushawg]

I deliver a lot of the stack on gun safes that people order from Wal-Mart and Amazon and have found that the combination key pad is very easily broken/off. With that said any safe is better than no safe! Like it was mentioned check on Craig's list, I just found 2 one is a walk in with 2 doors and very large for $700.00, the other one was an old bank safe made in 1832 for $1000.00 I don't think they had fire ratings back then. I understand that you live in an apartment and didn't state what floor, that's something else to think about along with how large of a safe you need. If you can buy for the future not just for what you have now.

[Cali_Ed]

So I guess for this price range I'm looking at it doesn't matter if it's dial or digital huh

[Cali_Ed]

I know the local homedepot has safari safes?

[DNP]

Buy what makes you happy. In a perfect world, price wouldn't be a factor. Not many of us live with that luxury, so decide where you can skimp. Think about your biggest concerns and find a product that covers those first. That will allow you to begin to compromise the other options with the price.

[98Z5V]

Buy an inexpensive gang box. Only a couple hundred bucks. That's decent for short term storage. Weigh it down. Bolt it down. Chain it down. Whatever you want.

 

 

I'm 100% with him on this.  Here's a badass one, and it's on sale for $245 from your local Home Depot.  They'll even drop it at your house. 

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-48-in-x-24-in-Storage-Chest-2048-OS/100130283?N=5yc1vZc27g

 

When it's locked, no tweakers are getting into it.  It weighs 149lbs by itself, so there aren't any 3 tweakers that are gonna carry it off - empty.  Load it up with weights, and guns, lock it up, rest easy.  <thumbsup>

 

They make a 60" one that's on sale now, too.  It weighs 225 empty... 

[Cali_Ed]

That's is a pretty good Idea I just don't have that kind of space. Unless I try to tweak something

[survivalshop]

   One of my shooting bro's has a small gang box in the trunk of his car for holding his firearms ( & its bolted down ), I always laugh at it when he opens his trunk , but its a good idea & it works for him. So , they do make them smaller than the ones shown above , but unless you plan on bolting a smaller one down ( hard to do in a rented apartment sometimes ) a smaller one would be too easy to walk away with .

 

 I also don't believe that most break ins are random , most of these rip off's are cased out first , they know if you have dogs ,who's home & when  & also what may be in your house .

[Robocop1051]

Break ins are a weird crime. The reason for the break in changes like a tide. Random vs premeditated, amateur vs pro...

Random is what we call a crime of opportunity. The turd goes door to door, usually pretending to sell something. He tries looking in windows to see if anyone is home or of there's anything worth the effort of stealing.

Premeditated is the most common. Kids, junkies, pros, they all have one thing in common... they don't want to get caught, so they try to plan their crime accordingly. Kids will watch to see you leave and literally keep track of your schedule like they are in a spy movie. Junkies will have a plan for an entire neighborhood. Pros will case several houses at a time. Guns, drugs, cash and jewelry are the big ticket items. Very small electronics are next. They don't want your big screen, they want your iPad and xbox.

In a burglary, time is of the essence. Anything that delays someone will likely get passed. An LE buddy of mine got burglarized. They went through all of his gun cases and boxes, but got nothing because everything was in his safe. People often try to tell me about "important" safe qualities like having internal hinges so a burglar can grind/cut the doors off.... DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG THAT TAKES?? If they know they have that kind of time, the best safe you can get won't keep them out.

Costco, Lowes, Home Depot, Tractor Supply... All good places for a starting safe in the $400-$600 range. Just be cautious about who's watching you buy the safe and possibly following you home.

@Cali_Ed, there's a Liberty Safe in West Sac, on Jefferson Blvd. It's about 1 block north of the freeway. A little pricier option for the long run.

[Cali_Ed]

I had a chance to fiddle with a liberty safe yesterday, dial felt kinda cheap. It was there fat boy jr. I really can't complain and be picked for my price point. Thanks for the help fellas, as always great help

[blue109]

had some sketchy looking guy come to my door asking if my car was for sale recently. definitely put my alert level up a notch. couldn't catch his plate but I wrote down a description of him and the car he rolled up in.

I have a closet where a furnace use to be. been wanting to turn it into a reinforced gun vault. wouldn't be fire proof, but my guns are on my homeowners INS. policy, and if my house Burns down I have bigger things to worry about.

[Toolndie7]

Being as how were "still on topic"  If you were to build a concrete bunker in the basement how would you control humidity inside the vault? drill a hole and run the dehumidifier drain hose out the wall? A golden rod? I suppose you could put a small vent in the wall with out comprimising security too much. Does anybody own a room like this? Lets see some pics.

[DNP]

3 pages deep and still on topic....this thread deserves an award. At least a participation ribbon.

[Rsquared]

I'm kinda shocked myself. Have no fear.......it'll be jacked before you know it.

[DNP]

I was thinking damn, we've had Ron, Tom, AND Rob have been here ....still on he tracks. We're going to have to shake harder.

[Cali_Ed]

What about the gun cabnits are those useless?

[BigP623]

pretty much I have one i use to store ammo.  I dont even put my guns in it because the door is so thin and the lock mechanism is so cheap a small crow bar and youre in.  Might as well just hide them well instead of advertising them in a central location in a cheap locking cabinet is my theory.