Gun safe recommendations?

[MtPockets]

I went to Cabelas today and checked out what they had. I should have known better.
Boy am I disappointed in them...
Anyway, I went over to the safe department. They mostly had Libertys of some flavor or another, with a couple of small Brownings throw in.
I liked the Brownings, but both of the ones they had were very small.
All but one of the Libertys had the flat "bolts", and the one that had the round ones looked like it'd hold about 4 long guns. I asked the guy about the flat bolts and he said that all of the Liberty safes now have them.
Strike Liberty from the list, unless I could come across an older model with the solid round lock bolts.

 

[Deleted member 103481]

I went to Cabelas today and checked out what they had. I should have known better.
Boy am I disappointed in them...
Anyway, I went over to the safe department. They mostly had Libertys of some flavor or another, with a couple of small Brownings throw in.
I liked the Brownings, but both of the ones they had were very small.
All but one of the Libertys had the flat "bolts", and the one that had the round ones looked like it'd hold about 4 long guns. I asked the guy about the flat bolts and he said that all of the Liberty safes now have them.
Strike Liberty from the list, unless I could come across an older model with the solid round lock bolts.

I have a liberty with round bolts from when Cabela's was good. Good safe...

In what scenario do you imagine the flat bars will negatively impact the safety of your guns compared to round bars?

 

[MtPockets]

I don't see any way that 1/4" thick flat plates are going to have the same resistance to bending as large round bolts.
I'll stick with the round bolts, thank you.

 

[MtPockets]

Maybe in time, they'll prove me wrong and turn out to be just fine.
Until then, nope.

 

[oldfortyfiveauto]

The locking bolts don't matter much. My battery powered metal cutting circular saw wil cut the side of the safe off without damaging anything inside. Will take about 10 minutes.

 

[MtPockets]

That's true.
I was thinking of building closet around the safe, but even then they'll find a way.

 

[Alibiiv]

I went to Cabelas today and checked out what they had. I should have known better.
Boy am I disappointed in them...
Anyway, I went over to the safe department. They mostly had Libertys of some flavor or another, with a couple of small Brownings throw in.
I liked the Brownings, but both of the ones they had were very small.
All but one of the Libertys had the flat "bolts", and the one that had the round ones looked like it'd hold about 4 long guns. I asked the guy about the flat bolts and he said that all of the Liberty safes now have them.
Strike Liberty from the list, unless I could come across an older model with the solid round lock bolts.

MtPockets, I have a two Browning safes in my basement that are bolted together to keep them from walking away. I bought these safes after doing some considerable research. My school of thoughts are that there are two calibers of safes as well as two price ranges. You have the two garden variety safes of Browning and Winchester (Cabelas/BassPro/Tractor Supply $1500 range) that are on the lower end of the continuum, then there are the high end Browning and Liberty safes in the $2800-3800 range. Of course one really gets what they pay for when buying a safe. I have the lower end Browning safes that are bolted together and bolted to the cement wall because of their light weight. I bought one of the safes used and the larger safe from Bass Pro when it was on sale for $1300. The safes are bolted together and to the wall as an extra precaution to prevent them from being carted off in case of a break in. My safes do for me what I need them to do, prevent them from easy access from anyone (the kids), to keep them organized and in one place instead of in every closet, behind the doors or under the bed. The safes sit in my basement under a motion detector, a smoke detector and a heat sensor that is connected to the central alarm. My problem is that there's only about three to four hours of alarm time in the batteries in a power outage. Thus the bolting of the two safes to the wall and together. The locking bolts on my Browning safes are significant and concealed under some reinforced/boxed sheet metal. I also have every conceivable abrasive cutting tool in the basement, so a few hours of work and I suspect that safes could be opened, but...........it's going to take a couple of hours+ to do it and most crooks do not like hanging around for a couple of hours. Now my brother-in-law has a high end Liberty safe, he had to have a couple of riggers bring it in the house, the floor is shored up because the floor was bouncy after the safe was installed. So with that said he doesn't have to worry about anyone carting the safe off due to its weight, the safe has an extremely high fire rating, and the locking system is like Fort Knox. And.....that's the difference between a $1500 safe and a $2800-3900 safe.

 

[larrykbrown]

I do think that fort Knox is cool. If I went that way I would have at least 2 and put them in different rooms and BOLT THEM DOWN. you are right about mechanical locks! Do not get electronic safes/boxes. https://outdoorcoast.com/best-nightstand-gun-safe/ her reviews are good

 

[dixiemagnum80]

I dealt with gun safes for years. Banging stocks together and all that. Two years ago I built a walk-in unsafe in our basement. 6'x12', vault door, heavy gauge steel decking for a ceiling, and block walls that have all the cells filled. I ran duct work to it so its heated and cooled like the rest of the house and fire caulked around all the openings. I used wire closet shelving and steel racks from midwayUSA above so nothing inside is burnable except for the wood stocked guns. The floor is covered with diamond plate foam tiles from menards which are fire retardant. It's the best thing I've ever done for my guns and will never be without another one.

 

[Bcwn]

Heres been my practical assessment. Unless you have a no joke safe that can not be cut into the top, or bottom by a quickie saw don't waste your money, some will say I'm wrong I'm sure, but promise me if you watched the students go trough breaching every class like I do you'll realize 99% percent of gun safes are nothing more than a super uber churched up steel gun cabinet that will suffice ATF, and keep kids out of your guns. PM me and I'll give you safe specifics. In short don't go breaking the bank, anything that you can get for a 1,000 will do the job

 

[mod 700]

Food for thought, my home town burned Nov. 8th, 2018, (camp fire in northern ca.) My friends owned about every conceivable safe known, no safes contents was saved, fire rated is well, over rated. Every safe failed, countless actions, barrels and torched scopes was all that remained. My personal home was saved.Think all safes can be opened with some work, its a piece of mind that the tweaker that breaks in won't be able to just grab and run.
Mike