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Get plenty of shelf space along with rifle capacity. You will want to keep important papers, like mortgage info, car title, credit card paperwork, in there with the firearms. Plus with scoped rifles, you seem to take up more room. I say go double what you are looking for, and then double that.
 
I was thinking of using 1/4" plywood and building a insert for those papers, and other stuff. Tall and narrow.

Im also thinking of using a couple of those battery powered 'push-on/off lites' for the interior.
 
When I was looking at safes,I was looking cheap.
One guy says "well the Forrest service had a fire safe and still lost all the items inside"
Hmm do I need a fire safe?

Well the fire was in the middle of nowhere and it took at least an hour for response,so after 1 1/2hours,yes your stuff may burn.
But at your home with a 15-20 min response time and you with a hose,you won't lose anything inside.
I bought a fire safe.

And as the others have said buy bigger.The kid at Sportco told me the only complaint he has with safes is they didn't buy big enough.

I moved my safe,by myself 3 times.They move pretty easy if you know how.So you do want to bolt it to the floor and to what ever else you can.Heard horror stories of guys driving thru walls,chaining up the safe and pulling it down the road till they were at a better spot.
Might be urban legends,but it could be done.

And I went for the old style dial so I didn't have to worry about batteries for the digital.
Then get the drier too

Get as good as you can afford.You should get better fire rating with the extra money.Heck I was quibbling over the cost,till I figured out it wasn't as much as one of my rifles.Then I had 10 more plus my pistolas to go in there too.:s0155:
 
Is 45 minute about the industry standard for a fire rating?
I agree a failure with a digital dial would not be good.
Absolutely, bolting a safe down or into a structure is the way to go.
 
STAY AWAY FROM KEYPADS! I was talking to a local safe and lock guy (store owner) and he said that almost all of the safes that he has to go "drill out" to open for homeowners are keypad safes. Unreliable and not to metion you are screwed if there is an EMP pulse or somethine. Good luck getting it open yourself. The time you save with the keypad is not worth the risk (and not to mention the money) if there is a problem. Tumblers have been around for over 100 years for a reason....

Also, he said if possible buy American. Yes it is pricier, but you get what you pay for. The China steel is not of good quality and the welds can be shoddy. Be careful, even though some safes are from an American company, they can still be made in China.

my .02

Let me know what you get! I am in the market too.
 
Always buy bigger than you need

Why this is good advice: The Rule of Safes is that you look at the number it lists for capacity and divide that by 2. That's likely your real capacity.

I have a 36-gun and I'll be lucky to see 18 long guns fit in there. Sure, the Barrett takes up a bit of real estate but really no more than any two other guns would.
 
STAY AWAY FROM KEYPADS! I was talking to a local safe and lock guy (store owner) and he said that almost all of the safes that he has to go "drill out" to open for homeowners are keypad safes. Unreliable and not to metion you are screwed if there is an EMP pulse or somethine. Good luck getting it open yourself. The time you save with the keypad is not worth the risk (and not to mention the money) if there is a problem. Tumblers have been around for over 100 years for a reason....

I haven't had my safe long enough to comment on it's particular reliability or longevity. What I can say though is that my safe has a back-up key that can be used in the event of keypad failure. That is the only way I would consider a keypad safe.

Also, he said if possible buy American. Yes it is pricier, but you get what you pay for. The China steel is not of good quality and the welds can be shoddy. Be careful, even though some safes are from an American company, they can still be made in China.

+1 :s0155:
 
Same here on the key backup to the keypad. I'm surprised that anyone would make a digital keypad safe *without* a backup...

I've heard complaints from people regarding the fireproof material holding moisture in their safe & causing rust issues. Anyone have experience with that?
 
Unfortunately, the stuff they use for most gunsafe's fireprotection is simply fire rated sheetrock. (That stuff is made as a fire shield for wood framing in houses)
In a tightly closed safe it will HOLD-in heat if in a fire for a period of time: not good.
Try www,sturdysafe.com. Go ahead and learn more about what you want in a safe. Yes, they cost more(they're American made), but maybe buy one safe for life.
 
AMSEC, Summit, upper end Libertys are good. They say a minimum of 700 lb safe is required to really make it somewhat burgalar resistant. Bolting it to the floor is a definate must.

Basically you need to balance fire rating, steel thickness, bolts on the door and extra security features.

I went with a Summit Denali safe because it seemed to have the best balance of all the requirements and price. My safe is over 1200lbs. It isn't going anywhere.


liberty_safe.jpg
 
What happened to the liberty?

Looks like it was hit by a cannon:s0114:

Ok to be honest I think that when i comes down to a safe get the best you can afford. I have a chinese safe but the thing is solid. It cost me a lot less than the ones with the deer on he front:D It also has an electronic lock. If it does not work I have a key to get me in also. It is also rated for fire but when it comes to fires I do not think anything would survive. I have talked to many fire fighters who have opened a fire rated safe just to find ashes. Only the high dollar safe I think might stand a chance. But if you have the cash and the manpower to move it this would be the ultimate gun storage plus it has room for lots of ammo unless you have a small armory:s0131: <broken link removed>
 
Lies. Keypads are just fine.



If there is a big enough EMP pulse you are screwed and will not make it to your safe




Look into TL-15 and TL-30 ratings. Do a little reading and see what people use who put big $$$$$ in safes.........like Jewelry store owners, etc.

<broken link removed>

Im no safe expert, Ill get that right out in the open. All I am saying is that is someone who sells safes for a living and is a locksmith tells me that almost all the safes he has to drill out are electronic and to stay away from them.... there might be something there. If there is a key backup, I agree... not a problem. If not, why risk it? Which do you think is more reliable...

not on the same page with you on the whole EMP thing either.... can happen with out harming people. am I way off base on this?
 

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