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Kindly note that I placed "pick proof" in quotes. Granted, any lock can be picked, but a burglar must pick two separate locks - one of which is almost at floor level - while the alarm is screaming. I, for one, am not worried.
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Any gun safe/cabinet is better than none. Back during the El Salvador uprising the Red Cross had an aide station for civilians. Guerilla fighters raided it and wanted into a locked Homak cabinet used for medicines. They pried, poked and threw cinder blocks at it. Finally they taped a grenade to it. Still could not compromise it. Sold me on one back then... now I have two, plus a Liberty.
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A 4" grinder and cutting wheel can get into virtually any safe in 10-15 minutes.
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When my house was burglarized in 2012, I found an aluminum garden trowel atop the safe. Did less than nothing. And, I had no alarm then. However the best security is retired yours truly, who always has one weapon not in the safe.
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Dad always says "don't let people know what you have" and I think he's right as far as the best first line of defense.
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Back in the 70s, dad worked at Boeing with some fellow gun nuts. One had three daughters, 10-12ish. One day, mom and two sisters went shopping, leaving the third girl to hold the fort. Dad was at work. Salesman knocked.
Salesman: "May I speak with your father?"
Daughter: "Dad's not here"
Salesman: "May I speak with your mom?"
Daughter: "Mom's not here"
Salesman: "Are you alone?"
Daughter: "Not exactly" (Revealing S&W K-22 she was holding behind her back).
Only a cloud of dust was left in the driveway.
Not accurate. They will get into a sheet metal storage container that quickly. For a "safe" it would take hours or days and a wheelbarrow full of metal and concrete cutting disks.
Entry level for a UL TL30x6 (withstands minimum of 30 minutes attack with all tools including torches and grinders on all 6 sides) rated safe, are the AMSEC safes for a few thousand dollars.
TL-30x6
Purchase the TL-30X6 safe here. American Security has the security safes and solutions to keep your most precious possessions out of harm's way.
residential.amsecusa.com
That said, I don't have one, I have a Liberty Colonial with a UL 8M10 rating. That means it doesn't meet the minimum requirements to be UL rated, and it is classified as a RSC. But that's ok and works for my present financial situation and risk assessment.
You can also do things to make it harder to get into a RSC like limit access to the sides, layer with other hardened locked doors, hide it and alarms.
It's just important to know what you have, and it's limitations.
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I'm sure there are safes that can't be opened like that. I'm also sure most people don't have those. I know that youtube lies. Having said that, I did watch a guy break into the sides of several known brand gun safes really fast with a cutting wheel by just going into the side, and given that the "safe" is probably the toughest thing in the house I don't hold out a lot of hope for limiting access to the sides.
The only option that seemed at all reasonable when I was building the last house would have been to build a room out of reinforced concrete, including the top, and installing a good safe door. That I would trust to slow some weekend raiders down.
My solution is insurance, evidence of possession, and several reasonable locking cases, some labelled safe some not.
The other option was to buy an old bank building I stumbled across that was on the block, and renovate it into a residence and office. It still had the original vault, and that gem was sturdy. The kid was in the oven and I figured a place with a yard was a better bet for that situation.
My Liberty is in a corner with a bunch of stuff blocking the exposed side and top. If it takes 5min to clear a side, and 5min to cut your way in, you've effectively doubled your security rating.
Or even better, if you frame it in, with some type of reinforcement, it would slow them down even more.
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My BIL is a grocery store manager. Some years back someone got into one of their stores at night and burglarized it. The store safe was a smaller unit on wheels; I have no idea what kind of rating. They rolled it into the back room and peeled it open like a banana. (I HATE thieves!)
There is no such thing as bullet-proof. No matter how tough your armor, someone will always make a bullet that will go through it.
Whatever safe you have will slow someone down. Bolt the darn thing down. Build cabinets around it. Put a sticker on it:
That should make someone think twice, at least slow them down a little!
Every safe (or RSC) manufacturer will tell you that their product is the best, and everything else is inferior junk that can be easily defeated by a toddler with a screwdriver. They all have the slick youtube videos to show every criminal in the country exactly how to defeat their competitor's product. It's all about marketing. Yes, some are better than others, of course. You get what you pay for.
There is no such thing as bullet-proof. No matter how tough your armor, someone will always make a bullet that will go through it.
Whatever safe you have will slow someone down. Bolt the darn thing down. Build cabinets around it. Put a sticker on it:
That should make someone think twice, at least slow them down a little!
Every safe (or RSC) manufacturer will tell you that their product is the best, and everything else is inferior junk that can be easily defeated by a toddler with a screwdriver. They all have the slick youtube videos to show every criminal in the country exactly how to defeat their competitor's product. It's all about marketing. Yes, some are better than others, of course. You get what you pay for.
I bought a huge 1920 era vintage laboratory security safe which weighs around 3800 lbs for only $100 on Craigslist a few years ago.
There's over 4" of asbestos surrounding the cast iron inner shell.
Anyone cutting off the outside enclosure is going to regret it later on in life after they get a terminal case of mesothelioma.
On the doors of the safe is a warning sticker stating that this safe is protected by a Nighthawk tear gas theft deterrent system.
If you try and drill or smash the lock it will release a cloud of gas, just like this one shown in the video.
There's over 4" of asbestos surrounding the cast iron inner shell.
Anyone cutting off the outside enclosure is going to regret it later on in life after they get a terminal case of mesothelioma.
On the doors of the safe is a warning sticker stating that this safe is protected by a Nighthawk tear gas theft deterrent system.
If you try and drill or smash the lock it will release a cloud of gas, just like this one shown in the video.
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Even fort Knox (the real one) has its weaknesses and limitations. Any cabinet, any safe, is far better than stacking your guns in a closet. Funny thing about internet forums: post anything and sooner or later it will be attacked, refuted, contradicted, opposed, or you'll be told that the poster has a newer, better,, bigger version/edition - whatever, or got it cheaper.
Funny thing indeed.
Funny thing indeed.
Good thing there's a scientific rating system by a respected impartial 3rd party (UL) that kind of takes the opinions out of it.
It would be interesting to see how many many of these types of safes actually are broken into or picked on an annual basis. Trying to envision a truck full of tweakers rolling up with their plasma cutters and angle grinders is not really a plausible scenario.
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Good point; it would be interesting to know. I do expect that it's probably more common now though, what with some safe manufacturers making youtube videos that show every criminal in the country specific details on how to break into lesser products.
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A guy I used to work with developed a firearm fetish in his youth, and was victimised by it for decades. At one point his house had a 'Vault Room'. His solution to 'entry in 10 minutes' was a ante room that locked behind you. If you didn't get the vault door open in 3 minutes you perished.
He said it scared the hell out of him so much that it wasn't set unless he was working out of town. He was a touch crazy, but he really was worried about the real crazies breaking in when he was gone and starting a revolution. Lol guess they went a different route.
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I'd buy a safe as a decoy, fill it with unimportant stuff, a cheap .22 pistol etc. stack of 1's and hide the good stuff behind a heavy dresser or under a pile of junk in a garage. Burglars will gravitate towards the safe and if they're able to open it they will figure that's all. They want to get away as quickly as possible so the idea is to occupy they're time as much as you can. Most aren't pro's and will be stumped at the sight of a safe, even a cheap Sentry if it's bolted down they might or might not be able to pry it open, the others will know how to open good safes given enough time and location to make a lot of noise.
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As many have said; a safe is just a deterrent to slow a criminal down.
I used to shoot IPSC with a guy who was a doctor and lived on a large farm outside of Eugene. He had a house built around his "vault room". He was vacationing for a few weeks out of the country when his entire gun room was stolen. Obviously, the criminal(s) knew it's precise location, as they cut the entire roof out above it, and had a crane pick it out and load it on a truck. The neighbors didn't know he was gone, and said they thought it was just another construction crew working that week on some new addition. That is the most extreme example of stealing an entire safe that I've ever heard of. He told me what he really was going to miss was the ones with sentimental value. Insurance can't cover that.
I helped a friend of mine get into an old Herring Hall that he bought. Wow! What a safe. From outer to inner, it was steel, then copper, (an acetylene torch won't cut it...only melt it), then concrete, (drill/chisel/drill/chisel), then more copper, then steel again. The door had some sort of glass segment in the locking rods that someone had already broken when he got it, so no door access was feasible. Took us two weekends. Some safes are better than others, but few are impervious to everything.
I used to shoot IPSC with a guy who was a doctor and lived on a large farm outside of Eugene. He had a house built around his "vault room". He was vacationing for a few weeks out of the country when his entire gun room was stolen. Obviously, the criminal(s) knew it's precise location, as they cut the entire roof out above it, and had a crane pick it out and load it on a truck. The neighbors didn't know he was gone, and said they thought it was just another construction crew working that week on some new addition. That is the most extreme example of stealing an entire safe that I've ever heard of. He told me what he really was going to miss was the ones with sentimental value. Insurance can't cover that.
I helped a friend of mine get into an old Herring Hall that he bought. Wow! What a safe. From outer to inner, it was steel, then copper, (an acetylene torch won't cut it...only melt it), then concrete, (drill/chisel/drill/chisel), then more copper, then steel again. The door had some sort of glass segment in the locking rods that someone had already broken when he got it, so no door access was feasible. Took us two weekends. Some safes are better than others, but few are impervious to everything.
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I have a fairly cheap safe, bolted to the floor and two stem walls. Someday, I hope to have a gun room/vault.
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