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Gun Safes - Any recommendations?

Curran

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,971
172
Central Ohio
I've been looking at safes for a while now, and starting to get ready to pull the trigger on making a purchase. I hate spending the money, I'd rather buy a new gun or two. But as the kids are growing older, and more and more people come in and out of the house, I need to have them securely locked away. I should add that all the guns are currently stored with trigger locks, and that my kids have been (and continue to be) educated about the responsibilities of guns.

Anyway, I'm looking at mostly 24 to 30 gun type models. I'm tired of reading on-line reviews, and would rather hear from the guys on TOO... What do you guys have for safes? What would you do differently, if anything, when buying a safe?

Thanks as always for the input!!
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
I'm a fly on the wall here. I left space in the laundry room remodel for one and plan to get one as well with the young 'en on the way...
 

DJK Frank 16

Senior Member
Supporting Member
9,358
133
Hardin County
I'm a fly on the wall here. I left space in the laundry room remodel for one and plan to get one as well with the young 'en on the way...

Same here as well. Something else that ive put off that has came to light after the baby was born. Will be keeping an eye on this thread.
 

Curran

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,971
172
Central Ohio
I'm buying this one a couple days before the July 29th sale ends. They will hold it for me for 90 days until I get my house completed.
Not a bad deal for $ 599.00. It comes with good reviews.

I was looking at the same one. These ones TOO...

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc...1625662&ec=BC-EC877-CatHome&pos=14&lang=en-US

And since the #1 thing guys have told me so far is to not buy too small, this one is more than I need, but at a decent price... Plus it's made in the U.S.A. which is always a plus!

http://www.libertysafe.com/safe-fatboy-jr-safes-ps-10.html?tab=specs


Lots of good info in there Sam. Thanks!
 

Buckmaster

Senior Member
14,362
191
Portage
And since the #1 thing guys have told me so far is to not buy too small, this one is more than I need, but at a decent price...

I was told the same thing as well but you can always buy another safe later. I doubt I will every exceed 20 guns in my arsenal even if I get Dad's guns someday.
 

CJD3

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
14,630
201
NE Ohio
The only thing I have to contribute is this. IF they say they hold "X" number of guns, knock a couple off the number unless all you have are simple, stripped guns.(like a shot gun. guns with no scopes) Throw a couple with scopes in there and you loose valuable real estate.
Consider if you will want to put anything else in like amo, documents or mamas silver set. Some shelves will also reduce the amount of over-all long gun storage they say it will hold. Lastly, consider if you will need a dehumidifier type tube in there. If so, is there an access to get power into the vault. Some will have a couple of outlets that you can plug into on the inside,Hard wiring it out the back of the vault. some may just have a small hole to run a power cord through and some offer no means (from the factory) to get power to the inside. Mine has a dbl outlet inside so I can run a dehumidifier and the other has lights. Lights may seem funny at first but in a poorly lit room, I had some trouble seeing into the back. I added some rope light around the whole inside of the door w/ a on/off switch. Now I can see even if the lights in the room are off... Gives the inside a cool illumination as well.
 
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Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
15,973
135
Curran - the Fin delivers free up to 50 miles. If you need to have it delivered to my house for awhile so you only have to haul it half way, let me know!
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
I don't own a gun safe, but I know quite a few guys that do... And one thing I've always heard was that Liberty makes one of the best safes on the market. One of these days when I decide to take the plunge, I probably won't even bother researching it... It'll be a Liberty.
 

CJD3

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
14,630
201
NE Ohio
The only thing I have to contribute is this. IF they say they hold "X" number of guns, knock a couple off the number unless all you have are simple, stripped guns.(like a shot gun. guns with no scopes) Throw a couple with scopes in there and you loose valuable real estate.
Consider if you will want to put anything else in like amo, documents or mamas silver set. Some shelves will also reduce the amount of over-all long gun storage they say it will hold. Lastly, consider if you will need a dehumidifier type tube in there. If so, is there an access to get power into the vault. Some will have a couple of outlets that you can plug into on the inside,Hard wiring it out the back of the vault. some may just have a small hole to run a power cord through and some offer no means (from the factory) to get power to the inside. Mine has a dbl outlet inside so I can run a dehumidifier and the other has lights. Lights may seem funny at first but in a poorly lit room, I had some trouble seeing into the back. I added some rope light around the whole inside of the door w/ a on/off switch. Now I can see even if the lights in the room are off... Gives the inside a cool illumination as well.

When I shopped and bought mine it was sitting next to 2 additional name brands. All 3 in that size ( or that similar gun count size) were evenly matched in all the ratings detail raa raa stuff. I believe any of the top brands will only differ in slight inside configuration. So all things being equal in the 3, I ended up choosing the Cannon because of the wall outlet built into the back wall.

The part about the scopes costing Real estate, as well as the shelves... Those lessons I learned AFTER hauling a 740 F'en pound empty safe into my home and thinking I would have a little space left to grow into it with a couple of guns down the road...
I'm not suggesting you add on another room to the house to accommodate the safe bu t ( O-Man! that would be cool to have one of those big "walk-in" vaults!) but you should allow for growth as well as consider things like Wills, computer data or Cd's/ a external hard drive holding all your other computers files. Ammo... Over time even "momas wedding silver set" could end up in there. Its a large investment but buying bigger is still cheaper today than looking at an additional one down the road. Look at the floor location; if you have a basement, go down there and see what that vault will be sitting on. Is there a beam or a load bearing wall. Do you need to add a basement jack. Think about how much that thing will weigh once its full.
When I first got mine and it was still a bit of a novelty with the family, my daughters boyfriend use to tell me when they stopped by to check on the house that "your safe is gone..." I would always calmly reply to "look down the hole into the basement where the safe was and see if its down there now cause its TOO damn heavy now to go in any other direction BUT down." lol
 
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Ohiosam

*Supporting Member*
11,708
191
Mahoning Co.
I agree a safe can never be too big. Scopes, pistol grips etc. can double the room needed. I was limited by a narrow doorway, had to take the door frame out to get the safe in. But the safe isn't leaving that room, a 100 lbs of lead in the bottom is a little extra insurance.

BTW I have a Champion safe. They are highly rated but hopefully it's never tested. I wish I had this one, I saw it at the NRA convention last year. Saw the girl too she's even cuter in person then in the video.
[video=youtube;YkaZNEiR2rQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkaZNEiR2rQ[/video]

Also don't keep ammo in a safe(a few loaded mags is OK) part of the reason for a safe is fire protection no reason to have fuel in there.
 
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Buckmaster

Senior Member
14,362
191
Portage
O-Man! that would be cool to have one of those big "walk-in" vaults!

Indeed it would. In my mental plan is to buy a safe now and look for an antique jail cell or door later on. I could end up with a jail cell in my basement with a gun safe inside it.

That way when the wife and kids are bad I can put them in "Time Out".
 

CJD3

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
14,630
201
NE Ohio
I agree a safe can never be too big. Scopes, pistol grips etc. can double the room needed. I was limited by a narrow doorway, had to take the door frame out to get the safe in. But the safe isn't leaving that room, a 100 lbs of lead in the bottom is a little extra insurance.

BTW I have a Champion safe. They are highly rated but hopefully it's never tested. I wish I had this one, I saw it at the NRA convention last year. Saw the girl too she's even cuter in person then in the video.
[video=youtube;YkaZNEiR2rQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkaZNEiR2rQ[/video]

Also don't keep ammo in a safe(a few loaded mags is OK) part of the reason for a safe is fire protection no reason to have fuel in there.

Opps. Very good point Sam.
 
Curran,
I purchased a Cannon gun safe at TSC, during one of their Father's Day Specials and have no regrets. They were offering NO INTEREST for 12 months, on a $600 safe so I made $80 payments to get it paid off within the 12 months.

My criteria was to get a safe big enough to hold all my weapons and have some room left over for ammo, important documents, etc. Plus, I wanted it to be big enough that it would require 2 healthy men to steal it...not something that could be walked off with without some serious effort.

Good luck with your gun safe search!
Bowhunter57