In the market for a safe

[SPHBS]

Sturdy safe hands down. My buddy's liberty is a joke, it's like a tin can compared.
Someone said for one brand.... .."There isn't even enough room between the door and the body to fit a crow bar" Same with the sturdy, but grind a spot for a huge breaker bar and see what's what.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oOqDHedivQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Looks like that safe had maybe an 1/8" plate that they ground through. Some of the Graffunder models have 1.5" solid plate doors (before the insulation and the inner steel liner). You're going to have to so a lot of grinding to get a breaker bar started. But for the sake of argument, lets say the BGs actually
1. get the breaker bar started
2. pull a 5400 lb (empty), bolted down safe from against the wall or from a corner,
3. orient it on its back
4. and apply enough weight on the breaker bar to overcome the
a. ~1700 lb dead weight of the door
b. thats locked in place by ten 1.25" stainless steel locking bolts.

 

[B5Ben]

We ended up with a Browning 45 Pro Series Deluxe. I love it.

What I can say, is buy twice the size you think you'll need.

Trust me on this.

Agree with buy bigger than you think you need.

I still say sturdy safe is the best safe for the money. More steel than any other at twice the price. The graffunders are fantastic if you want to spend $10k.

 

[usagi]

browning prosteel safe, about 30 sec with a sawzall:

liberty safe vs sledgehammer, estimated about 5 minutes to break in:


sturdy safe, amsec, fort knox, brown. all great safes.

sturdy safe is the best value for money, followed by amsec.

fort knox is highly customizable and very well built, if you get their steel thickness upgrades.

brown is the most secure you can get next to graffunder for about half the price of a graffunder.

 

[evltwn]

Rogue Safe.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

The OP hasn't been back (that i saw) What is your budget, that's the only thing that seems to matter these days.

 

[Joe Link]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I've been thinking about this nearly every day since posting this, reading, researching, etc.

For me, I've decided I'm likely going to get one of the large Cannon or Bighorn safes from Costco. In the end it came down to the pro's and con's of each.

At this time in my life I *might* be able to afford a $2,500 safe, but it wouldn't be large enough, it might lack fire protection, and it likely wouldn't be much more secure than the $899 Cannon. Realistically I'd be spreading myself thin financially and still settling for something that wouldn't fit my needs. I don't have the cash right now to invest in protecting my collection from a truly prepared thief, and honestly I have insurance for the replacement of those items. Where this safe will be located, it really won't matter if it takes them 5 minutes or 15 minutes to get in. Fire and smash-and-grabs are really what I'd be protecting against.

Once I'm better off financially I'll look into upgrading

 

[usagi]

check craigslist for used safes.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Joe, you're pretty much exactly the same boat i am, and choosing very similarly as well.

usagi, that's a good idea that i thought of, but it seems they're not really sold on when replaced, just added to and handed down, so it's possible, just highly unlikely

 

[B5Ben]

I understand the financial position, but IMO the extra initial investment is worth not buying twice. Granted, any level of security is better than none, but if you are protecting several thousand dollars (or possibly much more), it should be a quality product between my prized possessions and someone who thinks they want them more than me.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

B5Ben, you're right, to a degree, but the problem is, there is a very large gap in price between the affordable end of the market, and the investment end.

The large-ish safes at Costco and the likes, are about as good as you'll get before moving into the several grand range. It's the lesser of two evils, and for the reasons Joe gave, it's as good as you'll get, and better than no safe at all.

 

[Joe Link]

I understand the financial position, but IMO the extra initial investment is worth not buying twice. Granted, any level of security is better than none, but if you are protecting several thousand dollars (or possibly much more), it should be a quality product between my prized possessions and someone who thinks they want them more than me.

That's almost always my thought, buy once, cry once. If I were in a better position financially I'd love to make the investment, but the longer I wait and save the longer there's little to no protection for my collection (aside from loss mitigation, such as never keeping everything in the same place).

This isn't a scientific example, since you're never 100% protected, but you'll see my point. Not trying to win an argument, cause I agree with you, just want to let others know my thought process. If protection were laid out on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being left out on your front porch, 3 would be in a closet or under a bed. For less than $1000 I can move from the lower end of the scale up to probably a 6, and a couple extra grand might only get me up to a 7 or an 8, as it gets progressively more expensive. If the difference between a 6 and a 7 or 8 is 10-15 minutes with power tools, that really isn't much different to someone who lives in the country where the thieves can make as much noise as they want.

 

[usagi]

you should be able to afford a safe approximately half the value of your guns.

if you have $3000 of firearms you can drop $1500 into a safe.

 

[Joe Link]

Theoretically speaking, what if you inherited a $10,000 collection which you'd never sell, but made $13/hr.?

Difficult to generalize like that.

 

[xlsbob]

you should be able to afford a safe approximately half the value of your guns.

if you have $3000 of firearms you can drop $1500 into a safe.

I've got almost 7 grand into one of my rifles and it's scope, that formula doesnt't work , especially when you start collecting.

 

[usagi]

it depends on how much you value your firearms and if you care if they are stolen or not.

if you don't care, get a budget safe.

 

[rick]

For less than $1000 I can move from the lower end of the scale up to probably a 6, and a couple extra grand might only get me up to a 7 or an 8, as it gets progressively more expensive. If the difference between a 6 and a 7 or 8 is 10-15 minutes with power tools, that really isn't much different to...

That and limited funds are the two main reasons I got one of the budget Bighorn safes. Judging from how much used safes are going for, I'll probably be able to get back at least 75% of what I paid for it if/when I upgrade to a higher grade of safe someday. In the meantime, it sure beats keeping guns in the closet, or in a $149 locker that can be opened in 30 seconds with a screwdriver and hammer.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

it depends on how much you value your firearms and if you care if they are stolen or not.

if you don't care, get a budget safe.

You can't roll in with that BS, sorry, that's just a very self centered and narrow minded view.

 

[usagi]

Theoretically speaking, what if you inherited a $10,000 collection which you'd never sell, but made $13/hr.?

Difficult to generalize like that.

i sure as hell wouldn't put it in the cheapest sheet metal locker i could find from costco. or those bargain safes you see on sale at cabelas. just about anything you see on the floor at costco or cabelas isn't going to be very secure.

again, it depends on how much you care if that $10,000 collection got stolen. what if it were a $10,000 heirloom, or $10,000 in jewelry? same thing. protect it as much as you care about it.

 

[mrblond]

I pulled the trigger on a new one this weekend. I decided the value of my firearms and the piece of mind that some crack head would get a hold of one of them and kill someone with it pushed me into spending the scratch and getting a Fort Knox.
Congratz on your Safe Joe, remember, if it ended up to small in a year or two, buy another!

 

[usagi]

fort knox is a great choice