This thread is meant to share my experiences in weapon storage and gun safes. I have never seen a comprehensive gun safe thread so here is my attempt at the reasons behind having safes, as well as criteria to evaluate them based off my experience a couple years ago. Hopefully it is worth your time to read, and I am in no way affiliated with Fort Knox, Cannon, or any other gun safe company.
Several years ago after I had accumulated several firearms I decided I needed a better way to protect them than having them in unlocked transport cases under my bed. Having several thousands of dollars tied up in these weapons I decided to buy a safe. Not being particularly wealthy I purchased if I remember correctly an American Eagle gun safe which is a sub-brand of Cannon. It was a decent safe with an electronic lock, bolts in the doors, and a minimal amount of fire protection. I found it on eBay from a safe wholesaler about 40 miles away so I went and haggled with him and loaded up the safe in the back of my truck to save shipping fees. I think it cost me about $600-$700 and I sold it 7 years later for $400 to a friend. The couple hundred bucks of depreciation was well worth the peace of mind. The American Eagle only got sold because I bought a new safe.
After several more years of collecting and getting into the rather valuable precision rifle specialty of weapons it was time to get something better than a $600 safe to protect my investments. I shopped around for months; reading online, going to gun stores and hardware stores to check out their safes (all really low end from what I saw), etc. Eventually I bought a Fort Knox safe from a gentleman named Gerald Clifton in Dickson, Tennessee. If anyone is in the area and looking for a nice safe I highly recommend him and he can be reached at 615-446-5413. Fort Knox does not sell directly to the public and do not list prices in their catalogs so you have to contact a distributor. Gerald sells well below MSRP however.
Selecting a safe- You have to look past gadgets and determine what is going to actually protect your investments (guns, gold, jewelry, documents, cash) from disaster and criminals, while fitting your situation and your budget. What follows are some things to consider.
Disaster- On a disaster side we have floods, building collapse, and especially fire. I am not going to get into earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, etc. Any half decent gun safe should stand up to a building collapse of a normal residential home. If you live in a high rise or an apartment building you may have to consider that though. Sorry, but most gun safes aren't water tight and have holes to allow plugs for dehumidifiers to go in and the seals on the door are for fires not water.
Fire- Speaking of fire, this is the most common occurrence to attack your safe, not criminals. Our weapons won't dissolve if they get wet for a little bit but get them hot enough and you will have major problems. A good fire rating is the best thing you can do to protect your belongings. Fire ratings are handled by temperature and time based on the heat level reached inside the safe that would cause paper to char. If you live in a residential area where fire trucks will arrive quickly you can probably get away with a 30-45 minute fire rating and with the money you save get something with a higher temperature rating or better features. If you live in the boonies you may want a safe with a 2 hour rating so your house can burn all the way down around it while you wait for the fire department to arrive. 1,200 degrees is a good temperature rating to withstand normal household fires but higher is available. Fort Knox throws there safes in an oven and heats them up pretty much instantly to there temperature rating and measures the time they last. Most other safe companies gradually increase the heat over a given time and sell their safe based on the max time and temperature they were able to reach. Shady, but it isn't regulated and you have now been warned. The seal around the door I mentioned earlier that is not for water is there to expand upon heat being applied in order to block smoke from entering the safe and damaging documents.
Criminals- When many people think of safes they imagine some impenetrable fortress that will thwart a master thief's attempts to steal their treasures. If you buy with this mindset you may pay for way more protection than you need. Most burglaries are smash and grabs were the crooks are looking for something valuable they can take quickly before the police arrive or anyone notices. Generally if it would take them more than a couple minutes to break into your safe they won't bother. So, how do you get a safe that will stand up to attack for a few minutes? There are a few ways most crooks will try to attack your safe: prying the door open; defeating the lock; cutting through the side; or busting the hinges.
Bolts- Get one with bolts on at least the left and right sides of the door to protect from prying attacks but all 4 sides is better. Really cheap safes come with a flap of metal directly attached to a lock and they don't offer much protection. Cheap safes come with bolts but often only on one side. If that cheap safe has external hinges that the burglars attack then as soon as they bust the hinges they have access into the safe. Higher end safes also come with corner bolts as corners can be attacked but these are largely unnecessary if the door is adequately designed as bending a corner of the door won't grant access as long as other bolts on the sides keep the door shut. Safe makers tout how thick their bolts are and how numerous they are but be sensible as to how much force a couple humans can apply with pry bars. Bigger and more is only good up to a point.
Hinges- Internal hinges are more secure than external hinges in that they are protected from attack by the walls of the safe. If you only have latches on one side of your door and the burglar takes out your external hinge they have access to your stuff. Ball bearing hinges are a nice plus but a creature comfort.
Locks- Ensure the lock is UL listed and not some knock off as it is a weak point for thieves. SG (Sargent and Greenleaf) are common and reputable but there are others. I wanted a biometric on my Fort Knox but it wasn't economical as I found most safe manufacturers want about $500 to upgrade to a biometric. I went with another electronic touchpad as the fine motor skills needed to spin a dial as well as needing light during an urgent situation did not appeal to me. A lock with relockers is a good idea as when tripped they basically block a thief's attempt to manipulate the lock and they now need to try something else.
Metal thickness- Many safe manufacturers seem to try to hide the thickness of their metal. Many economy safes will have doors only 14 gauge or even 16 gauge thick. This obviously makes it easier to pry open, cut into, or drill through and the door is the most likely point of attack. My suggestion would be to get at least 12 gauge but 10 would be better. Obviously the quality of metal comes into play as well but metallurgy is not my strong suit. Additionally, the thicker metal gives you the advantage of weight making it harder for criminals to move your safe or knock it over to make it easier to attack with pry bars.
Placement- Put your safe somewhere inconspicuous. Limit the amount of people who know about it. Having it in your garage in plain view every time your garage door is open is not a good idea. Nor is having it sitting next to a bunch of tools for the robber to conveniently use to break into it. Bolt it to the floor preferably to concrete as it makes it harder for criminals to knock the safe over and attack it with pry bars or carry it off so they can open it later.
Liability- Many states have laws against leaving firearms unsecured and you can be held liable if a crime is committed with one of your weapons or a child finds it and hurts themselves or someone else. Even if it isn't against the law specifically, no body enjoys being sued. Theft and damage are not your only enemies.
Bottom line- Get a safe of some sort.
Several years ago after I had accumulated several firearms I decided I needed a better way to protect them than having them in unlocked transport cases under my bed. Having several thousands of dollars tied up in these weapons I decided to buy a safe. Not being particularly wealthy I purchased if I remember correctly an American Eagle gun safe which is a sub-brand of Cannon. It was a decent safe with an electronic lock, bolts in the doors, and a minimal amount of fire protection. I found it on eBay from a safe wholesaler about 40 miles away so I went and haggled with him and loaded up the safe in the back of my truck to save shipping fees. I think it cost me about $600-$700 and I sold it 7 years later for $400 to a friend. The couple hundred bucks of depreciation was well worth the peace of mind. The American Eagle only got sold because I bought a new safe.
After several more years of collecting and getting into the rather valuable precision rifle specialty of weapons it was time to get something better than a $600 safe to protect my investments. I shopped around for months; reading online, going to gun stores and hardware stores to check out their safes (all really low end from what I saw), etc. Eventually I bought a Fort Knox safe from a gentleman named Gerald Clifton in Dickson, Tennessee. If anyone is in the area and looking for a nice safe I highly recommend him and he can be reached at 615-446-5413. Fort Knox does not sell directly to the public and do not list prices in their catalogs so you have to contact a distributor. Gerald sells well below MSRP however.
Selecting a safe- You have to look past gadgets and determine what is going to actually protect your investments (guns, gold, jewelry, documents, cash) from disaster and criminals, while fitting your situation and your budget. What follows are some things to consider.
Disaster- On a disaster side we have floods, building collapse, and especially fire. I am not going to get into earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, etc. Any half decent gun safe should stand up to a building collapse of a normal residential home. If you live in a high rise or an apartment building you may have to consider that though. Sorry, but most gun safes aren't water tight and have holes to allow plugs for dehumidifiers to go in and the seals on the door are for fires not water.
Fire- Speaking of fire, this is the most common occurrence to attack your safe, not criminals. Our weapons won't dissolve if they get wet for a little bit but get them hot enough and you will have major problems. A good fire rating is the best thing you can do to protect your belongings. Fire ratings are handled by temperature and time based on the heat level reached inside the safe that would cause paper to char. If you live in a residential area where fire trucks will arrive quickly you can probably get away with a 30-45 minute fire rating and with the money you save get something with a higher temperature rating or better features. If you live in the boonies you may want a safe with a 2 hour rating so your house can burn all the way down around it while you wait for the fire department to arrive. 1,200 degrees is a good temperature rating to withstand normal household fires but higher is available. Fort Knox throws there safes in an oven and heats them up pretty much instantly to there temperature rating and measures the time they last. Most other safe companies gradually increase the heat over a given time and sell their safe based on the max time and temperature they were able to reach. Shady, but it isn't regulated and you have now been warned. The seal around the door I mentioned earlier that is not for water is there to expand upon heat being applied in order to block smoke from entering the safe and damaging documents.
Criminals- When many people think of safes they imagine some impenetrable fortress that will thwart a master thief's attempts to steal their treasures. If you buy with this mindset you may pay for way more protection than you need. Most burglaries are smash and grabs were the crooks are looking for something valuable they can take quickly before the police arrive or anyone notices. Generally if it would take them more than a couple minutes to break into your safe they won't bother. So, how do you get a safe that will stand up to attack for a few minutes? There are a few ways most crooks will try to attack your safe: prying the door open; defeating the lock; cutting through the side; or busting the hinges.
Bolts- Get one with bolts on at least the left and right sides of the door to protect from prying attacks but all 4 sides is better. Really cheap safes come with a flap of metal directly attached to a lock and they don't offer much protection. Cheap safes come with bolts but often only on one side. If that cheap safe has external hinges that the burglars attack then as soon as they bust the hinges they have access into the safe. Higher end safes also come with corner bolts as corners can be attacked but these are largely unnecessary if the door is adequately designed as bending a corner of the door won't grant access as long as other bolts on the sides keep the door shut. Safe makers tout how thick their bolts are and how numerous they are but be sensible as to how much force a couple humans can apply with pry bars. Bigger and more is only good up to a point.
Hinges- Internal hinges are more secure than external hinges in that they are protected from attack by the walls of the safe. If you only have latches on one side of your door and the burglar takes out your external hinge they have access to your stuff. Ball bearing hinges are a nice plus but a creature comfort.
Locks- Ensure the lock is UL listed and not some knock off as it is a weak point for thieves. SG (Sargent and Greenleaf) are common and reputable but there are others. I wanted a biometric on my Fort Knox but it wasn't economical as I found most safe manufacturers want about $500 to upgrade to a biometric. I went with another electronic touchpad as the fine motor skills needed to spin a dial as well as needing light during an urgent situation did not appeal to me. A lock with relockers is a good idea as when tripped they basically block a thief's attempt to manipulate the lock and they now need to try something else.
Metal thickness- Many safe manufacturers seem to try to hide the thickness of their metal. Many economy safes will have doors only 14 gauge or even 16 gauge thick. This obviously makes it easier to pry open, cut into, or drill through and the door is the most likely point of attack. My suggestion would be to get at least 12 gauge but 10 would be better. Obviously the quality of metal comes into play as well but metallurgy is not my strong suit. Additionally, the thicker metal gives you the advantage of weight making it harder for criminals to move your safe or knock it over to make it easier to attack with pry bars.
Placement- Put your safe somewhere inconspicuous. Limit the amount of people who know about it. Having it in your garage in plain view every time your garage door is open is not a good idea. Nor is having it sitting next to a bunch of tools for the robber to conveniently use to break into it. Bolt it to the floor preferably to concrete as it makes it harder for criminals to knock the safe over and attack it with pry bars or carry it off so they can open it later.
Liability- Many states have laws against leaving firearms unsecured and you can be held liable if a crime is committed with one of your weapons or a child finds it and hurts themselves or someone else. Even if it isn't against the law specifically, no body enjoys being sued. Theft and damage are not your only enemies.
Bottom line- Get a safe of some sort.
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