Looking for a good gun safe

firemn260 · Feb 9, 2020

All I have ever had was the metal cabinet style boxes for most of my guns but even a 10year old that’s handy with a pry bar could probably get into them if they wanted to.

I was looking at the cannon safes at tractor supply the other day but after reading some bad reviews on them I’m leaning more towards a Liberty. I would like a 64 gun size. I probably have that many firearms maybe more and I know I won’t get them all in there but I at least want to keep the irreplaceable ones and all the pre 2013 evil weapons I have safe.

Should I go with liberty or are there better options. I know protecting my investment in what I have is priority but a 3k safe is not in the budget now either.

Topher · Feb 9, 2020

My experience...
Buy the best you can afford.
Things to watch for. A fire rating can influence the price.
Whatever you think is big enough... It's not. Go bigger.
Count the number of locking points. The more pieces they have that move from the door past the door frame the better.
I prefer dial over electronic locks.
Having an A/C outlet in the safe is VERY nice, especially on bigger safes.
If you have to pay freight to get it shipped it may be pricey. If they ship freight and need a truck with a lift on the end because you don't own a forklift or have a loading dock it may cost more.

See what Tractor Supply and Costco have and watch for sales.
Something may pop for President's Day.

Good luck

davsco · Feb 9, 2020

i got a huge cannon safe from costco they put on sale every few months. def not the thickest metal but has a ton of room and def is a step up from metal cabinets.

i also have an older ft knox that is def thicker/sturdier but also cost like 3x and it's a little smaller.

JerseyMike · Feb 9, 2020

If/when I have the number to justify a real safe I’ll grab one of these. Researched this a lot but not speaking from first-hand knowledge. A lot of things marketed as safes are actually just lockers with a heavy door that is easily compromised, but cost almost as much as the real thing.

https://www.sturdysafe.com/collections/economical-long-gun-safes

Good info here:

https://gunsafereviewsguy.com/

Huckleberry · Feb 9, 2020

Here’s the best safe buyer’s guide on the internet

https://www.6mmbr.com/gunsafes.html

As for, Sturdy Safes, I’ve owned one the past 13 years. One of the best, toughest safes for the money. And the company has great customer service from ordering, delivery and follow up.

firemn260 · Feb 9, 2020

Topher said:
My experience...
Buy the best you can afford.
Things to watch for. A fire rating can influence the price.
Whatever you think is big enough... It's not. Go bigger.
Count the number of locking points. The more pieces they have that move from the door past the door frame the better.
I prefer dial over electronic locks.
Having an A/C outlet in the safe is VERY nice, especially on bigger safes.
If you have to pay freight to get it shipped it may be pricey. If they ship freight and need a truck with a lift on the end because you don't own a forklift or have a loading dock it may cost more.

See what Tractor Supply and Costco have and watch for sales.
Something may pop for President's Day.

Good luck

At least one good thing is I can have them throw it in my truck or trailer and I have equipment to unload then shove it through my basement double doors. May have to rent a pallet jack to get it from there back to my gun room.

Fire rating I’m not so much worried about. It will be in a room in the basement and even if a fire did start in the basement The closed door and the drywall with buy it some time. I’d rather it be waterproof because if the house does burn, by the time the local vol company gets there they will just be dumping thousands of gallons of water on it.

slsc98 · Feb 9, 2020

Huckleberry said:
Here’s the best safe buyer’s guide on the internet

https://www.6mmbr.com/gunsafes.html

As for, Sturdy Safes, ...

Eggzellent thread! (Gratitude)

parttimer · Feb 9, 2020

firemn260 said:
At least one good thing is I can have them throw it in my truck or trailer and I have equipment to unload then shove it through my basement double doors. May have to rent a pallet jack to get it from there back to my gun room.

Fire rating I’m not so much worried about. It will be in a room in the basement and even if a fire did start in the basement The closed door and the drywall with buy it some time. I’d rather it be waterproof because if the house does burn, by the time the local vol company gets there they will just be dumping thousands of gallons of water on it.

Cannon safes are definitely not going to be anywhere near the top of the line. With that said I bought one knowing that about 5 years ago and I am happy with it. It will stop kids and some random thief from making off with your guns. Cannon also has a lifetime warranty against fire, flood, and break in. I have never had any reason to see how they are with honoring their warranty.
As far as moving it in. One you get it through the door moving it “Egyptian style” is easy get an 8’ length of 1 1/2 or 2” pvc pipe cut it into 2’ lengths. Put them under the safe and start rolling. When one rolls out the back put it back up front and keep going. I have heard of people using golf balls to roll them on also if you have to make turns.

Oswaldo87 · Feb 9, 2020

Bought a Cannon as my first safe. Definitely an easy 1-2 man quick break-in with hand tools. It served its purpose. I highly recommend Sturdy or any other safe like it. Things I considered was proximity to firehouse and location in house. I skipped fireproof as the firehouse is 2 minutes away. That allowed me to go bigger. And bolt it down with the biggest bolts you can manage.

jefflac02 · Feb 10, 2020

Bought a used Liberty Presidential 50 last year. Rock solid. Nice fire rating. And beautiful to boot. It’s a showpiece in my basement and I don’t have to worry about someone breaking in in a brief period. If they want to take the time to crack it, god bless em because the cops will be there before they even get the first hole drilled.

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HoCoShooter · Feb 10, 2020

Check out Safe and Sign - they sell Superior / Champion. Very good bang for the buck and made in the USA. Ask for Jake.

https://www.facebook.com/SafesandSignsCo

firemn260 · Feb 10, 2020

Thanks for the recommendations. I have some time to choose what best suits my needs. I do need something that’s going to fit the most guns but I got to figure out a way to pitch that a different way to the wife. I’m sure her response will be I have to many guns.

Topher · Feb 10, 2020

NOT.... fit the most guns
Instead...
Protect investments.

ed bernay · Feb 10, 2020

I have a Fort Knox and a Zanotti. I like them both. I need to get one more. Thinking about Sturdy but leaning toward a smaller Zanotti because it has to go upstairs.

One other thing to consider is getting a gangbox to lock up all of your home tools; e.g. pry bars, hammers, saws, extension cords etc. Chain that pallet jack handle and forks too. Don't want crooks using your own tools against you. Just my $.02.

Pinecone · Feb 10, 2020

I like Superior safes.

THICK plate outer door panel to resist the pry bar.

Most are 3/8" thick (0.375"), versus 10 (0.134") - 11 (0.1196") gauge on many safes.

t84a · Feb 10, 2020

I bought mine from Tractor Supply. It's decent but that's about it. Curbside delivery means just that. I will never buy a safe from a box store again. Moving mine required a Bobcat. Once inside, the nightmare continued. I will gladly pay to have it delivered and installed.

Cal68 · Feb 11, 2020

HoCoShooter said:
Check out Safe and Sign - they sell Superior / Champion. Very good bang for the buck and made in the USA. Ask for Jake.

https://www.facebook.com/SafesandSignsCo

Pinecone said:
I like Superior safes.

THICK plate outer door panel to resist the pry bar.

Most are 3/8" thick (0.375"), versus 10 (0.134") - 11 (0.1196") gauge on many safes.

I agree with the two above comments. I bought a Superior Safe from Jake at Safe and Signs a couple of years ago and it is great. The service and price from Jake was terrific as well. He and his crew delivered the safe to my basement and set it up for me without a scratch on it. The probably took 45 min to figure out how to get it down to its place in my basement and 15-20 min actually moving it. I really liked that they spent a lot of time planning how they were going to move the safe into place before beginning the actual move. Real white glove service.

I highly recommend Jake if you are looking for someone to deliver a safe to your house and move it into place.

Cal68

parttimer · Feb 11, 2020

firemn260 said:
Thanks for the recommendations. I have some time to choose what best suits my needs. I do need something that’s going to fit the most guns but I got to figure out a way to pitch that a different way to the wife. I’m sure her response will be I have to many guns.

I sold my wife on a much bigger safe by telling her we needed room to secure her stuff. I reminded her that she has a lot of jewelry that could be put in there while on vacations. I told her she should put photo albums, important paperwork, and the back up hard drives for our computers in there also incase of a break in or fire.
She agreed that it was a good idea to buy a bigger safe for these reasons. To date none of these things have go in the safe 5 years later.

jefflac02 · Feb 11, 2020

parttimer said:
I sold my wife on a much bigger safe by telling her we needed room to secure her stuff. I reminded her that she has a lot of jewelry that could be put in there while on vacations. I told her she should put photo albums, important paperwork, and the back up hard drives for our computers in there also incase of a break in or fire.

She agreed that it was a good idea to buy a bigger safe for these reasons. To date none of these things have go in the safe 5 years later.

^^^^THIS. The top half of the safe is filled with photo albums. Family heirlooms and jewelry. Selling the wife on protection of valuables, while being able to buy a safe larger than you currently need, is a smart move.

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firemn260 · Feb 11, 2020

Topher said:
NOT.... fit the most guns
Instead...
Protect investments.

Jefflac said:
^^^^THIS. The top half of the safe is filled with photo albums. Family heirlooms and jewelry. Selling the wife on protection of valuables, while being able to buy a safe larger than you currently need, is a smart move.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That why I love mdshooters. You guys have all the angles and loopholes figured out.

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