Gun Safe

I’m in the market for a gun safe and my knowledge ends at knowing they’re heavy.

It would only need to house about six rifles/shotguns and some pistols. This would be used at the lake which we’ll be moving to in about three years so it will also serve to house important documents, jewelry, keepsakes etc…it’s a little different up there as far as fires go.

I don’t want to sacrifice quality to save money but it need not be gold plated either. I assume there are some pretty cheap keypads on otherwise quality units.

As always, thanks in advance for your help!

You’re only screwed if a burglar sees what kind of leftovers ya got.

You might be a redneck if…

check in to “fort knox” safes…. there awesome and wont break the bank. I personally think that you get more for your money!! I don’t know about any store front dealers but I’ve met a couple of there salesman and there great people to deal with

Thanks 692, I’ll check them out.

I just saw a post regarding gun safes from FDR. Good info there.

Liberty safes are great! And made in the USA! I bought a fatboy jr. Way bigger safe than I thought I needed, but I always find more things to put in there. Very happy with my purchase!

I bought 2 Canon 30 gun at Tractor Supply store on Black Friday a couple years ago. Very happy and on that day they had $300 bucks off per safe. Canon has the best warranty that I could find. FF used to sell the same safe with a different name on it but it was still a Canon safe.

Stack On, Cannon, Liberty, Sentry, and a few others all have similar and comparable safes to each other. Price point and features is key in comparing.

A huge factor that sets some models apart will be the fire rating and locking points. If I understood your concerns, the fire rating isn’t a major concern for you. 1/2 hour @ 1400 degrees is common. Longer times will = $$$
Most safes will have a 5 to 8 lock point system. $$$$ will set them apart and I ask often how much time does it really take to break into a 5 point system or a 8 point sytem. Either way, a criminal will have to work their azz off to get into it. So I would just compare the spec sheets to equivalent models to determine the best value.

I have a Stack On and a Liberty for long guns and a couple Liberty hand gun vaults. The liberty is a higher quality and came with a higher price tag. Is it worth more $$$ to me – NO. I don’t care about 100 more degrees or 10 minutes longer in time for fire. I don’t need a fancier interior, and its NOT a display case. I store business records and personal info along with firearms in it. The average criminal that may break into my home will have a heck of a time getting into either.

Volume – This is a critical thing to compare. 24 gun safes don’t store 24 rifles with scopes….. NOPE, doesn’t happen. You can figure on about half, at best, of what it is named. Also, make sure you look at the interior height. Nothing worse than buying a 448# safe, navigating it to its new home….only to find a shotgun or particular rifle is an inch or two too long.

Hand gun vaults are a different story. I wouldn’t trust anything but my Liberty HDX units. They are nearly impossible to break into.

Randy Wieland wrote:

Volume – This is a critical thing to compare. 24 gun safes don’t store 24 rifles with scopes….. NOPE, doesn’t happen. You can figure on about half, at best, of what it is named. Also, make sure you look at the interior height. Nothing worse than buying a 448# safe, navigating it to its new home….only to find a shotgun or particular rifle is an inch or two too long.

Pay special attention to THIS ^^^^^. Randy is absolutely correct, the makers seem to calculate capacity using single shot .410s with 22 inch barrels.

Half the stated capacity is about right when mixing shotguns and scoped rifles. You might be able to get more in, but then it is very slow getting them in/out because you have to unload half the safe to avoid scratching one gun when trying to remove another.

Also, some guns are going to be problematic, like AR platforms or anything with a scope and bipod, etc. Most safe makers have insets or cradles that accommodate these, HOWEVER what I’ve seen is these cradles can only be used in certain spots in the safe, so for example my 16 (10 in reality) gun can only house 1 AR platform because there’s only one place where the cradle will fit. This further limits capacity.

And don’t make the mistake I made and fail to plan for enough expansion. I bought one, added a second bigger one, and now guess what? I’m nearly full again. Buy right and buy once. Maybe not forever, but you want to avoid having to upgrade for a long time.

Grouse.

My favorite safe that I use and trust.

American Security BF7240

Plenty of room and protection.

JH

Also one thing I didn’t like when shopping safes was that some of them have exterior hinges. Make sure all hinges are built into the safe wall. Also unless your house is really built any safe pushing over 900 lbs. should be in the basement or the garage. Wood can only handle so much.

mxskeeter wrote:

Also unless your house is really built any safe pushing over 900 lbs. should be in the basement or the garage. Wood can only handle so much.

Most residential homes are ONLY engineered for 40#/sqft Live Load. If you have a builder like me, over 50#/. If you have a safe that is 36″ wide and 30″ deep and weighs 450#, your live load is 60#/sqft. A 48″ wide safe by 42″ deep @ 900# is 64.29#/sqft. You could have a failure…..your insurance company may not cover negligence and your problem got a whole lot worse.

BTW – When you walk across the floor, your weight is added to the safes weight the moment you step in front of it…..

Basement floor or a properly supported floor joist for it

It’s always been my plan to locate it in the basement.

Thanks for all the help!

Most residential homes are ONLY engineered for 40#/sqft Live Load. If you have a builder like me, over 50#/. If you have a safe that is 36″ wide and 30″ deep and weighs 450#, your live load is 60#/sqft. A 48″ wide safe by 42″ deep @ 900# is 64.29#/sqft. You could have a failure…..your insurance company may not cover negligence and your problem got a whole lot worse.

BTW – When you walk across the floor, your weight is added to the safes weight the moment you step in front of it…..

Basement floor or a properly supported floor joist for it
[/quote]

Thanks for the info Randy. The numbers I quoted came off of a couple of the safe websites when I was looking into them.

mxskeeter wrote:

Thanks for the info Randy. The numbers I quoted came off of a couple of the safe websites when I was looking into them.

I’ve built a lot of safes into homes over the years. This is something that most people never think of when they cart it into their living room or bedroom. Obviously location is everything, but I’ve seen a lot of sagging floor joists from over-loading in my career.
The sizes I list above were just generic comparisons to show how footprint relates to live load on a floor.