24 replies to this topic

[goosebrown]

Hey there. I have to get a gun safe. I have been looking and Costco has one from Cannon on sale for $600 with tax delivered to my door. It is 1" thick. 1/2 hour fire rating. Room for 14 long arms or some combination. It weighs 350 lbs. Key locking combination lock. We are in a very low crime area with lots of stay at home neighbors who watch out for each other (?! In California?! Go figure...) so I think it is secure enough.So... Any opinions? Thoughts? Stories about Cannon? Is there something else in this range that I should be looking at? We need to keep it about $600.

[Fishwrestler]

Buy one bigger then you think you will need. I bought one that would fit double the guns I had at the time. That was 6 years ago. Now I am struggling to put all my guns in it. I need to upgrade. Just mu thoughts on the matter Robert

[BC9696]

You will find em on ebay both new & used.I see used safes on ebay periodically as guys either upgrade or die.

[homemade]

Cannon has a great warranty.I have a friend in Fresno that makes them and sells a lot faster then he can make them.Sturdy safe its a well made safe.And +1 on buying a bigger one then you think you will need I just had to upgrade to a bigger one.

[Fjold]

If a safe says it holds 12 guns, it will actually hold about 8. I think that they measure capacity with 22 semiautos or lever action guns. When you start stacking bolt action guns in there they take up more room.

[Hipshot Percussion]

Bigger is always better. I spent the extra money and bought a bigger safe than I thought I needed, I was going to buy a $600 safe too. I bit the bullet a little and got a Browning that was on sale for 40% off. With the economy the way it is look around there are deals to be made. The nice thing about a bigger safe is you can throw in your wifes jewlery cameras etc. and leave them without worry. My safe weights alot and I don't worry 3 or 4 guys are going to load it in a pickup sometime, it would never happen. It's an investment just like your guns don't scrimp to save a few bucks you won't miss.

[Bennie]

I agree with everyone here that says get a big one. You will end up keeping more than just guns in there. I have a big one and it is not big enough.

[goosebrown]

Great. Thanks guys. I appreciate the responses. What I hear is bigger but Cannon is a good enough brand. Now it is off to look at what we can get and how much it is. FWIW, I only have 5 long arms and two pistols to go in and no more on the horizon so I have to really think about the bigger vs cheaper. Money is tightish...

[fyrewil]

As my grandfather once said... "all it will do is keep an honest man honest" I would go with the biggest you can afford and place in the location you want it in.personally I purchased a Hall's safe and have already at the out grown stage (not yet... working on it)

[Heywood]

I think there is a member on here that said he could get Amsec safes for a bit above his cost. I don't remember the amount or who it was tho.Edited: Found it here Not sure if SquirrelDuster is still around but it's worth a shot if he's willing.

[jawbreaker]

I have 2 gun safes right now, an 18 gun safe and a 12 gun safe. I keep my guns in the 18 gun and my ammo in the smaller one, the 18 gun holds the 12 long guns that I have now pretty well but about 1/2 of them don't have scopes and it is a hassle to get to the ones in the back of the safe. I like having a safe specifically for ammo because it's a sure way to keep the kids from getting into trouble, besides the smaller one was given to me so I couldn't pass it up.

[300wsm]

Go big , bigger than you think you will ever need, then go bigger. Get a good fire rateing. I have two 30"s with shelves on top and I need more space. There is an advantage to mutiple smaller safes, they are easier to move, and to hide in closets. My ,,,300wsm

[CoyoteHuntress]

Get the biggest one you can, PLUS make sure the fire rating is real high, also the ability for it to withstand someone trying to break in. There are alot of great safes out there, look around and see who has the biggest and best you can afford.. Then the minute you get it home put a jar in the back corner.. Start stuffing extra money into so when you get this safe full you can buy another I have a 50 gun safe and its gonna need a friend soon..

[ShooterJohn]

Make sure you bolt it down well too.

[hay big dogg]

This will give you an idea of what to look for even if its not a browninghttp://www.browning....rview/index.asp

[Lang]

As everybody else said "Go Big".I bought the one I had the perfect place for and was (at the time) way bigger than I thought I would ever need.Wrong.I outgrew it in almost no time.Its a Sportsman www.sportsmansteelsafes.com/.It weighs around 1000#.And absolutely make sure its fastened down properly to the floor or to the wall.During the Northridge Earthquake,The safe tore itself off the floor and ended up laying on the hood and fender of the car parked next to it.

[sum-rifle]

Make sure you bolt it down well too.

A lot of people bolt them to the floor. I prefer to use 3" wood screws and screw them to the studs in the wall. Both work well.

[ShooterJohn]

I recommend the wall and the floor. If you can budge it you can break it loose.

[CoyoteHuntress]

Did he ever get a safe? ANyhow... since this came back up I figured Id mention, If money is tight spend as much as you can on fire rating and the amount of those bars in the door... Doesnt do any good to have a nice pretty safe if it is easy to break into and has a low fire rating..

[tawnoper]

In all honesty it is a good idea to bolt them down, at least to the wall. In the last big earthquake 94' I watched one of my safes nearly topple over, luckly it didn't. It's now bolted to the wall. If someone wants in they'll get in. You can bolt em down, weight them down etc. but a thief equipted with a radiac cutoff saw will cut a nice window in the side of the safe and pull out what they can get to. Most safes are made from about 12Ga mild steel...a radiac wheel will buzz through that stuff. More then anything, safes are a great deterrent and a great place to keep all your guns organized and in order. They also provide peace of mind that a gun isn't going to be "borrowed". Also it's as good a place as any to keep paperwork, titles etc. but don't let any fireproof rating fool you...they mightl protect from a minor fire, but in a full on engulfed fire the safe and it's contents will be gone.

[Rick]

I was able to purchase a couple of commercial double-door Diebold safes from a large jewerly store many years ago for a very reasonable price that have worked well. They were listed in classifieds under "store furnishings." One of them went through a fire (don't know what degree) and contents were said to be okay. They are 4 hour fire rated, have an inner door, and about 4" thick w/ concrete sandwiched between two sheets of hardened plate steel. I used a forklift to load them on and off a truck and a floorjack to move them around on the concrete garage floor. They're not for everybody considering the 2-3 K lbs. each, but has worked well for me. I have seen such safes before at great pricing because if you don't have access to equipment, it can get very expensive to move.Happy Hunting,Rick

[zippy1970]

always buy the best you can . best Burglar rating ( bf15-60) or if you have the money get a tl rated safe ( torch rated 15-60) then there is txtl / trtl x6 , which means it is torch & tool rated on all 6 sideds of the safe , NOT just the door . I was a locksmith for 8 years . I have seen alot of safes stolen & some that were attempted to be stolen / broken / cut into . a fire rating is good but when the body of made of 12ga its not so great . I got lucky by getting 2 bf rated safes( 1/2" hard plate in door , 1/4" hardplate in body + the filler ) for 2000.00 both are big safes . I filled them both . bought the 2nd one due to price . not the need for it . I also have a 3rd safe made in the 30's that is just my ammo safe . I paid to have it moved , due to its weight & size . look around . I would take a 30 y/o bf safe to anything they make now . I even have a txtl/trtl rated safe that maybe only 1 sqaure foot but its 200lbs empty & i got it for free due to the job . I was told that in 70-75 when it was made it was about 600.00 & they do not make then like it anymore . Just as a side note . all but the smallest of my safes are NOT were I live . they are 6-10 miles away . It can be an innconvience but I live in the ghetto and if my nieghbors saw that many safes coming into my house , I could become a target . Andy

[novaman64]

Lowe's has the Liberty Safe Centurians at a decent price, and you can find 10% off coupons online...22 gun is $697 (30 min fire rated, weighs 445lbs)14 gun is $397 (20 min fire rated, weighs 265lbs)

[homemade]

Ya where I work they teach me how to crack safes so I went to a school for safe locks back in Oklahoma and in the school there are a lot of safes from the late 1800's to present day and if you look inside the doors of the old early ones they are a work of art.

[Stan]

Old looks nice but Drills even better I'm toldWell Lock Masters is in KY I think so who was it teaching the class