What You Should Understand Before Buying A Gun Safe

[Dusty Stevens]

I have a lot of experience with indexing pry bars, it would truly amaze me to see one pry a safe door open without failing. I also just took the 48" indexing pry bar to my safe door to see if it would fit between the door and frame, it was way too thick.
I just cannot see any crackhead or methhead that does a random break, work that hard or long to break open a safe and have the proper tools to get in it. What I have heard from guys that have had attempts to get in their safes, is the idiots give up and break off the dials or handles with a hammer and flip over the safe. A gentleman in the gun club had an attempt to get in his safe and they flipped it over and it fell through the floor.

You should watch some of the youtube videos. Guys can pop the door open in less than a minute

 

[INTJ]

You should watch some of the youtube videos. Guys can pop the door open in less than a minute

Cheaper safes have a big enough gap to get a pet bar in. They also have a lot less metal. I doubt my safe could be pried. The gap is just too tight.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Cheaper safes have a big enough gap to get a pet bar in. They also have a lot less metal. I doubt my safe could be pried. The gap is just too tight.

The ones with the cover plates over the gaps are tougher, but the external hinge ones are real easy just due to the gap it has to have

 

[INTJ]

How are you going to pry this door? The best you could do is damage the upper right where the gap is the largest. There is no way you can actually get the door open. Those seven 1" lockers on the side aren't letting to door go anywhere. There are also those same lockers on the top and bottom. On the hinge side there are fixed 1" bars.

I was able to get a small pry bar in 1/4"in that spot. It won't go in anyplace else on the door. I don't see how prying is an option.

Now a cutting torch would work I think. As would a grinder if you had enough time. There is about an inch of concrete fireboard immediately next the the 3/16" steel shell, so that has to be broken out as well. While no safe is unbreakable, mine is very safe from the average criminal. It would take a pro crew to break into, and those guys aren't likely to waste their time with my stuff.

 

[chardog]

Your tools in pics are probably worth more than the things in your safe...

 

[garapan]

I would also like to give some tips for those who are going to buy a safe
Gun Safe Buying Guide Part 1
Gun Safe Buying Guide Part 2
I think the main message is that you should still buy gun safes from trusted manufacturers.

 

[Mark M.]

Sturdy Safe is by far the best value when buying a real safe.

American Gun Safes & Vault Doors! Affordably Higher Security

Sturdy Gun Safe manufactures gun safes, pistol safes and vault doors sold direct at discounted pricing. Thicker steel, real fireproofing and custom options, for less!

www.sturdysafe.com

 

[sdean]

Cheaper safes have a big enough gap to get a pet bar in. They also have a lot less metal. I doubt my safe could be pried. The gap is just too tight.

Security for your house is where the real money should be spent. No thief is going to take the time to open the cheapest safe with the lights flashing and siren blasting and the law on the way. A noisy dog is never a bad idea.
PS. Nice safe

 

[Tesoro]

The basement may be recommended but it's the first place to flood. Basements flood when the home stays dry.

Just a thought.

I am a 'safe guy'. The worse thing that can happen to your safe ( other than box store variety being popped open in 15 min) is house fire. Therefore if you have valuables you want to protect it is always best to place the safe in a single level area. If your safe is in a basement or under a second floor then a bad fire will collapse all above on top of your safe so it will be buried in a pile of coals. No firesafe will protect the contents in this case.
You will note that professional grade safes all use tumbler dials for a reason.

 

[acloco]

I am a 'safe guy'. The worse thing that can happen to your safe ( other than box store variety being popped open in 15 min) is house fire. Therefore if you have valuables you want to protect it is always best to place the safe in a single level area. If your safe is in a basement or under a second floor then a bad fire will collapse all above on top of your safe so it will be buried in a pile of coals. No firesafe will protect the contents in this case.
You will note that professional grade safes all use tumbler dials for a reason.

Add a layer of sheetrock, green sheetrock, or cement board to the outside of the safe. Two layers on top.

 

[M-61]

Sure you can buy one made in the USA promising the best protection

Based on your extensive experience is that indeed a fact? Promising or delivering?

 

[M-61]

You will note that professional grade safes all use tumbler dials for a reason.

Is that because of a failure rate amongst electronics?
Personally I prefer the mechanical type but my info is dated and not based on experience. Closest I can come is to keypad front door locks and it was not good after 6 months on two of them.

 

[M-61]

Ever see an indexable pry bar?

Yes

 

[Tesoro]

Is that because of a failure rate amongst electronics?
Personally I prefer the mechanical type but my info is dated and not based on experience. Closest I can come is to keypad front door locks and it was not good after 6 months on two of them.

An old friend of mine won the national championship safe cracking competition. He told me to always have a 'dial' so I did. He had many reasons, one being reliability. I am not really worried about it but it seems like there would be ways for someone to defeat a consumer grade electric keypad. ie: break into your house and install something behind the keypad. And then come back the following week!

 

[M-61]

How are you going to pry this door? The best you could do is damage the upper right where the gap is the largest. There is no way you can actually get the door open. Those seven 1" lockers on the side aren't letting to door go anywhere. There are also those same lockers on the top and bottom. On the hinge side there are fixed 1" bars.

I was able to get a small pry bar in 1/4"in that spot. It won't go in anyplace else on the door. I don't see how prying is an option.

Now a cutting torch would work I think. As would a grinder if you had enough time. There is about an inch of concrete fireboard immediately next the the 3/16" steel shell, so that has to be broken out as well. While no safe is unbreakable, mine is very safe from the average criminal. It would take a pro crew to break into, and those guys aren't likely to waste their time with my stuff.


View attachment 1376720
View attachment 1376718
View attachment 1376719

How are you going to pry this door? The best you could do is damage the upper right where the gap is the largest. There is no way you can actually get the door open. Those seven 1" lockers on the side aren't letting to door go anywhere. There are also those same lockers on the top and bottom. On the hinge side there are fixed 1" bars.

I was able to get a small pry bar in 1/4"in that spot. It won't go in anyplace else on the door. I don't see how prying is an option.

Now a cutting torch would work I think. As would a grinder if you had enough time. There is about an inch of concrete fireboard immediately next the the 3/16" steel shell, so that has to be broken out as well. While no safe is unbreakable, mine is very safe from the average criminal. It would take a pro crew to break into, and those guys aren't likely to waste their time with my stuff.


View attachment 1376720
View attachment 1376718
View attachment 1376719

Reason I don’t like a garage is a pickup or flatbed, winch and cable, tear the safe out, load it and gone.
Beautiful set up you have but that straight line from the garage to the safe jumped out at me. ( could be the pic angle)

 

[Tesoro]

If anyone plans on buying a safe just get an American Security brand. They are 'real' safes and totally sufficient for anti burglary and fire.

 

[Tesoro]

Reason I don’t like a garage is a pickup or flatbed, winch and cable, tear the safe out, load it and gone.
Beautiful set up you have but that straight line from the garage to the safe jumped out at me. ( could be the pic angle)

I have a 800lb smaller professional grade safe. It will blow you away how fast the safe installers can offload or load up a safe after moving it along hallways and a room. 2x4 wood skids with uhmw polyethylene strips screwed in on the top side. Think of sets of railway tracks, a lift gate, a heavy duty hand truck and 2 thiefs. If the safe is properly anchored into concrete in the right place then this can defeat them. And then there are these things called alarms. It is pretty hard to defeat a real alarm system. The bottom line is ideally your safe needs to be properly armored as 9 in 10 will try to get into it where it sits.

 

[ben lurkin]

M61 speaks the truth. I know of someone who had their safe bolted to the concrete floor in their garage. The thieves were able to get a cable or chain around it and hooked it up to a truck and ripped it right out of the concrete. All a safe does is keep people honest. A determined thief will get it no matter what.