Installed new GunVault MicroVault in my bedroom.

PlayboyPenguin · Dec 31, 2010

I needed something to secure my nightstand gun now that we have young hands in the house so I just finished installing a new GunVault MicroVault in my bedroom.

My nightstand and bed frame sit so low they do not offer a lot of room for front opening safes and I do not like how the drawer safes often have trouble opening fulling inside a drawer (especially if the drawer is shallow or not fully open).

This seems to work just fine. It is slim enough to slide under the nightstand or bed and easily pull out when needed. The digital combo makes it fast to open too.

For a little added security I secured it to the back wall by installing a 2.5" eye hook into the stud. It would take a very strong man many pulls to ever break it loose. It is not fool proof but would slow down a snatch and grab thief and prevent my son and his friends from hauling it out of my room.

Please pardon the lack of base moulding. I am repainting the mouldings upstairs and have gotten lazy about putting the ones for our bedroom back.

wwkii · Dec 31, 2010

i have one also its pretty fast to open but i dont like how slow the key punches take between each touch it kind of seams there is a lag time. mine is the micro gun vault

ApronAmy · Dec 31, 2010

I have a similar set-up by my bed. My Mini gunvault safe sits on the top shelf of a small bookcase. Unfortunately it is in plain sight so my boyfriend secured it to the wall for me. He used a slightly different kind of bolt - I have no idea what its called - it is flat and bent so it's harder to twist out of the wall. He installed it while I was on vacation, took me several hours to realize it was even there. Lol.

PlayboyPenguin · Dec 31, 2010

ApronAmy said:
I have a similar set-up by my bed. My Mini gunvault safe sits on the top shelf of a small bookcase. Unfortunately it is in plain sight so my boyfriend secured it to the wall for me. He used a slightly different kind of bolt - I have no idea what its called - it is flat and bent so it's harder to twist out of the wall. He installed it while I was on vacation, took me several hours to realize it was even there. Lol.

I dosed the predrilled hole with gorilla glue to make it nearly impossible to just unscrew. I did the same with the eye bolts I hung my air cleaner in my show with and when I later tried to move them I have to use a pry bar to try and unscrew them. They still would not unscrew but the heads twisted off instead.

Sun195 · Jan 1, 2011

wwkii said:
i have one also its pretty fast to open but i dont like how slow the key punches take between each touch it kind of seams there is a lag time. mine is the micro gun vault

I agree about the lag - my gun safe keypad (LaGard) is much quicker to open than my MicroVault.

One thing I like about the MicroVault - it's easy to pack along for travel. We have a family cabin & I don't carry when I'm up there. There are kids running around up there, so I've got to secure the firearm when not on my person. The MicroVault gives me a good place to put it.

SargentMac · Jan 1, 2011

Sun195 said:
I agree about the lag - my gun safe keypad (LaGard) is much quicker to open than my MicroVault.

One thing I like about the MicroVault - it's easy to pack along for travel. We have a family cabin & I don't carry when I'm up there. There are kids running around up there, so I've got to secure the firearm when not on my person. The MicroVault gives me a good place to put it.

Not trying to be a jerk with this question but why don't you carry when you're at the cabin? "Cabin" to me would indicate the woods or somewhere secluded. Wooded areas tend to have wildlife wandering around whether there are people or not. I carry any time I go hiking for this reason. And then there's the obvious "the safest place to keep your gun is in it's holster on you."

I can come up with a few obvious reasons like if you're on a lake and constantly in and out of the water. Some people go for the dry-bags for their guns, I'm not one of those people. Another would be that your cabin is in a nudist colony and I'm really not okay with trying to conceal my firearm when I'm wearing my birthday suit.

Sun195 · Jan 1, 2011

SargentMac said:
Not trying to be a jerk with this question but why don't you carry when you're at the cabin?

Besides the times when it's impractical to carry (like swimming), I simply don't feel the need to carry when I'm up there. YMMV...

Trlsmn · Jan 1, 2011

It's basically good for keeping the honest people and the kids out, a thief wouldn't even be slowed down.

Thinking like a thief I would first try to brute force it, if that didn't work I would put the unit in the second drawer of your dresser then flip the dresser onto its side then get behind the dresser and use it as leverage/wedge pushing out until something gave, it would take less than a minute from the time of discovery of the strong box.

Putting it under the dresser (stealth) is the best thing you can do though short of a very expensive built in safe.

HappyRoman · Jan 1, 2011

JBMiller · Jan 1, 2011

Good work. Keeps kids from walking off with it.

Pros would have it free in 10 seconds.

PlayboyPenguin · Jan 1, 2011

Trlsmn said:
It's basically good for keeping the honest people and the kids out, a thief wouldn't even be slowed down.

Thinking like a thief I would first try to brute force it, if that didn't work I would put the unit in the second drawer of your dresser then flip the dresser onto its side then get behind the dresser and use it as leverage/wedge pushing out until something gave, it would take less than a minute from the time of discovery of the strong box.

Putting it under the dresser (stealth) is the best thing you can do though short of a very expensive built in safe.

I hope it slows them down that long. By the time they get to our bedroom the alarm would have already turned audible on the exterior of our home and have alerted the authorities even sooner...and, unless they find the hard drive, we will have a nice video of them approaching and leaving the house.