Thread: Gun safes?
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Old December 20, 2002, 05:38 PM   #45
djsjd
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Join Date: October 1, 2001
Location: US of A
Posts: 80
What I learned about safes...

Spent a loooong time looking for a safe, and finally bought one about a year ago. I decided NOT to go for a fire-rated unit that was all spit polished and gold plated. Instead, I went for safe rated in terms of burglary rating - how long it takes a knowledgeble person, with the appropriate tools, and diagrams / drawings to break into the safe in question.

I ended up going with a unit that is referred to as being a 'Plate' safe - all sides, top, bottom and door are made of plate steel. In my case, everything but the door is 1/2" plate, the door is 1" plate. That's 1" of SOLID steel in the door, and 1/2" of SOLID steel everywhere else.

When I checked with all the 'name brand' safes (Liberty, Cannon, etc.) I found that their construction consisted of dry-wall sandwiched between two thin sheets of steel, typically 10 GA (0.120") or less thick per sheet. Having drilled through stuff like this before (ever do body work on a car?), I knew there wasn't much security provided by something so thin. Yes, the dry-wall is a fire barrier, but...

Dry-wall fire barriers do their job by trading off moisture for temperature. So, add heat to dry-wall, and you get steam, until all the water has cooked off - then you get the heat. This steam has to go somewhere, and in the case of a safe, the steam goes inside. Then, presto! your safe is now a sauna. All the stuff you have in your safe is now mush, and likely worthless. Metal will quickly rust, wood warps, and paper materials turn to crud.

Here are the recommendations that I can make for a safe:
1) get a plate safe - most protection for your $$$
2) get the biggest one that will fit inside your house that you can afford
3) put it in the basement (cooler in a fire, and no risk of it falling through the floor)
4) bolt it to the floor so it can't tip when you open the door, and so a thief can't drag it out and open it at their leisure
5) have a professional move it in - note, I'm talking about safes that are measured in TONS, not pounds
6) conceal it, like in a closet or other space - don't show it off - all it does is advertise that there's something VALUABLE inside
7) the most tender spot on a safe is one of the sides or the top - protect those areas where possible with walls or other obstruction
8) REMEMBER: a safe only buys time, and deters those who are in for the quick grab. If you look for bugulary ratings, you'll find that safes exist for protection from explosives

Aloha!
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