Sturdy safe gun vault

[Hitman]

Anyone out there have a sturdy safe gun vault or vault door? I'm considering buying their vault door. Need opinions.

 

[MVW]

Hitman:

I got one a few years ago. Safes are pretty complicated; some are UL rated Sturdy safes are not. Sturdy put their's in homes that were burned to the ground; in contrast some say Sturdy put the safe in the coolest part of the home. My safe mover sells Knox safe and hated the Sturdy Safe, but for no reason that he could define. The weight of the Sturdy is in the steel, the weight in other safes is often in the drywall. I will say, the door is thick and seals and fits well. I don't think you could get a small screwdriver between the door and frame.

Safe comparison is really a case of comparing apples and oranges. UL rating only complicate the matter, because there are several ways to do it and they often don't include the cool-down cycle. I did an analysis to help me make an (somewhat) informed decision - chainsaw seems to have deleted his post, which was helpful in creating the final post.

This gives some insight into the trade-offs on ceramic wool, which Sturdy uses and sheetrock, which other manufactures use.
http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?p=1790527

They are not a pretty compared to other safes. I keep mine in the basement.

Mike

 

[Hitman]

Thanks mike. I have a 10x10 12 inch thick vault in my basement.need to put a vault door on it. I'm not a wealthy man. I need to get I right the first time. Lost my home to fire 10 years ago. Had all my weapons in a premium browning fire safe. Everything inside safe was destroyed. Doing what I can not to let that happen again.

 

[MVW]

Hitman:

Many of the gun safes have a screw on the door that serves as a door stop when the door is closed. This gap lets smoke, water etc into the safe until it heats up enough for the gasket to expand and seal the safe. That is often too late to be of any help. In additional drywall is hydroscopic. It gives off water as it is heated. The hot steam and smoke are very damaging to your gear. When all of the water is gone, the drywall crumbles. Many of the better safes pin the drywall so it doesn't collapse, but I think most still give off moisture. Keep in mind that most documents will survive the ordeal (i.e. be readable at the end); valuable don't always do so well.

I don't know if the Sturdy is better, but the door seals tight against the fire gasket when closed and it contains no drywall. Both seem to be good ideas. There are some pretty dramatic pictures of drywall collapse in some of the safes if you search the internet.

Sorry to hear about the fire. Good luck with your project.

Mike

 

[JRS]

Hitman:

When shopping for a safe or door, ask the sales person if it contains drywall. If he/she says yes, walk away and shop elsewhere. Buy one ceramic lined. Well made safes use a seal that actually expands when subjected to a fire. The expansion creates an air and water tight seal.
Something that might be of help to you would be to contact someone like Diebold. They produce many different types of vaults and vault doors.

 

[Hitman]

I ordered sturdysafe vault door today. Ceramic lined and upgraded to stainless. Eta 6 weeks. Feel good about choice. As a consumer I'm tired of being ripped off. I'll let everyone know how it works out. Appreciate everyone's imput.

 

[MVW]

Hitman - I'll be interested in what you think. Please let me know. Mike

 

[P Henry]

I own two Sturdy safes since deciding to upgrade from my cheap safes (RSCs). I am thrilled with them.

I researched this off and on for six months. You can easily read on this topic until your eyeballs dry out. In the end, if you are not ready to spend Graffunder money, your best options are Sturdy and AMSEC.

I worked with ceramic fire wool in high temperature applications, so I am very comfortable with this material as a fire insulator. Just realize that fire insulation in any residential gun safe is a compromise. My main reason for going with Sturdy was the heavy steel construction. Burglary is a much higher risk than fire IMO.

Sturdy safes are certainly not pretty, but they are built better than the proverbial brick s#%^ house. The customer service was excellent, and the price is a bargain for what you get. Just price a Ft Knox with 7 ga steel.

 

[rpl6cm]

Overly Doors is the place to go for any kind of entry security. The do a lot of military/government applications. All different levels of security.
door.overly.com/gsa

 

[MVW]

rpl6cm,

I just looked at the Overly site. Those look like impressive doors! For kicks I looked at the GSA schedule - at $5 grand they should be.

Mike

 

[fastergun]

I bought a vault door to fit the opening in my 16x14x7 concrete vault. The door was custom built by an outfit called Arkfeld in Columbus,Nebraska. They need the horizontal measurements across the top of the opening and the bottom of the opening as well as the vertical measurements at the left and right side. They are concerned that concrete openings are not square. Price was reasonable as I remember but this was 12 years ago. Dennis