Browining SR 37 Silver safe review..

[1stmar]

I just received a new safe and thought I'd give a brief review. It's a browning SR37 silver in black gloss with electronic keypad. I bought it off gunbroker from LG outdoor for $2500 including shipping.

Fit/finish: 9
Fit and finish is excellent. The gloss paint seems durable and has a great sheen to it. The embossing and sketching seems good. I got the mountain scene which is nice but not sure I would get a scene again. Seems out of place, almost an after thought and is not easy to I make out. May be too busy. The key pad works well. Each digit provides and audio and visual indication that a digit has been pressed. The lock turns with ease and positively, the door swings open easily despite the weight. The interior is well fit carpet around the interior of the walls and ceiling/floor. Fit and finish is everything you'd expect from a browning. I orders a file drawer. It's ok, not great, would not get it again. It seems servicable but I suspect is mostly cardboard and may not hold up. It has 2 shelves in it making it difficult to get anything to thick (multiple DVDs etc) within the drawers/shelves.

Design and innovation: 9
This is where the safe stands out in my opinion.. The vast majority of safe I looked at are pretty standard designs. 2-3 shelves and barrel rack. Usually some sort of carpeted plywood. When I saw the features of the browning with DPX and Axis shelving it was a game changer for me. It seemed to really standout as a differentiator. The axis shelving is rubber coated shelves that are a heavy weight steel. These things are heavy and well constructed. I'm confident they will hold extreme amount of weight. They are completely adjustable and fit 3 across. Mine came with 5 shelves and 3 barrel racks. I ordered the file box (included in the 5). I like these shelves a lot. The black rubber has great grip, nothing is sliding off these shelves. The barrel racks are also rubber and are the same width and length as the shelving which makes them nicely interchangeable. There are many options and additional shelves are available for jewelry etc. it came with an axis pistol rack. It's a nice feature but frankly I'm queasy about sticking metal objects (despite being coated) in my barrels and let them hang like that. Just me. The coating seems acceptable, much like a coated cleaning rod. I'd prefer a rubber coating. Several of my pistols have scopes on them, you cannot use the rack with a scoped pistol. It's a nice feature but I don't expect to use it. The DPX rifle rack is excellent, I really like this. It's a door mounted rack with cut outs for scopes. It holds 10 long guns of which 4 can be scoped. The cutouts for the scopes should be a bit taller and the barrel rack should be mounted a bit lower. I have a lever action with a scout scope and a 22-250 ruger with a 6x-20x scope. Feels like the scope covers touch or are very close to touching the top of the cutout in the door. Another couple of inches would have been ideal. When mounting carbines (ar15) the top of the break just. Barely fits, if it was 1/2 shorter it would not be secured. I put something below the but of the rifle to push it up and make it more secure. It's a great feature but it probably needed a bit more attention to detail. The foot rests extend into the safe taking up floor space, this is ok but keep in mind that you won't be able to store objects the entire width of the floor. If the foot rests folded it would be ideal. The axis shelving and the DPX rack is the primary reason I went with the browning, they are great features I haven't seen on any other safe.

Volume/storage: 9.5
With 10 long guns capable of being stored on the door, there is room easily for 4 more long guns in each of the 3 barrel racks, you could comfortably get 22 or so long guns. Perfect for me. I believe the storage is the best in the industry, at least as far as I have seen. The door has storage pockets, holsters and pouches, they are ok. Most of the loops on the door are too small to hold much of anything and they are not elastic. Seems like they were designed for the old military ammo pouch clips you used on the cartridge belt. I'm not sure how useful they will be. Bottom line you can fit a lot of stuff in this safe. It's got great volume.

Shipping/packaging: 2
This is probably generous. I ordered this safe in September. It shows up and looks like it fell of the flatbed. There is no crate, no real protection. It has a thin card board cover, on the inside there is a film of protective wrap and the corners have some styrofoam, that's it. And it showed it. I rejected it because the damage was so severe. Lg outdoor was excellent about, they reordered another safe which took a couple of months. The next time it was packaged the same way. There was a bit of paint chipped but I accepted it anyway. The packaging was so flimsy the paint was chipped from the tie down straps on the truck. Very disappointed in this. It came with touch up paint (no wonder) so I was able to cover up most of the damage but I'm not happy about it.

I tried to keep this concise as I hate to read novels.. I'm sure I over looked stuff. In the end I am very happy with the safe, it has great features, it looks awesome, and it holds a lot. Lastly I have mostly all good things to say about lg outdoors. Their communication could have been better but I got a great deal and they handled the return perfectly.

[markm_04]

I don't want to sound rude but for spending $2500 on a safe, I read quite a few "it's ok" and other statements that sound like it isn't quite what you would like or use. If I spent $2500 on it, it would be exactly what I wanted and sure wouldn't have any dents, dings, or scratches from the factory OR from shipping. I understand that nothing is perfect and it is probably just cosmetic but that's a big chunk of change in my opinion. I am glad you like it and as long as it serves it's purpose that is all that matters.

I recently purchased a Liberty Trailblazer 30 gun safe and it doesn't have all the fancy gadgets or doohickies that other safes might have but it was less than $1000 out the door and without a scratch. Like I said as long as you are happy with it that is all that matters. I hope it serves you well and keeps your investments safe and secure for many years to come.

[1stmar]

I thought that as I was writing but I felt it was important to be upfront with any deficiencies I noticed. Like I said i am very happy w the safe. Some of the deficiencies may be unique to my requirements (ie scout scopes). In the end the things I said were ok we're not the reason I went with the browning. I bought this safe for the axis shelving and the DPX. It gives me the storage I need and great flexibility. I keep my pistols in rugs as an added protection against rust. I Don't really have a need to hang a bunch of stuff on the door and I have all my temp sensitive supplies in the safe (~30lbs powder and 15k primers, 10sets of dies and my auto charge). Volume was important. I am disappointed in the shipping. I really dont get why they ship that way. I have a call into browning but not expecting much. I looked at a lot of safes this size and felt this gave me the most volume. Looking closer this morning I think I can get 25 long guns in here with very easy access to 16 without having to remove any other long guns to get access to them. 25 long guns in a 37 gun safe is pretty good. Hopefully I get to prove that out soon. :-)

[markm_04]

I understand your process and I respect it and like I said as long as it serves its purpose for you and you are happy with it thag is all thag matters. I am surprised about the shipping and the fact that it came with a touch up pen. Thats almost telling me that tby expect there to be some scuffs and scratches.

When I picked up my safe it was wrapped in thin foam padding, bolted to a wooden platform and covered in thick cardboard. I strapped it down to the trailer and was not worried about scratching it, which it didnt.

My safe is not as large as yours so of course i dont have quite the amount of storage that you have but for now I think mine is sufficient. I have only had it a little over a week and its amazing all the stuff that has already found its way into the safe, but it is all important stuff that needs to be secured.

[Snyper]

Thats almost telling me that tby expect there to be some scuffs and scratches.

Scuffs and scratches aren't uncommon when getting them into the house, because the packaging is normally removed by then.

Most large safes will just barely fit through doors

[1stmar]

Snyper this came off the truck that way

[K1500]

Old thread I know but I am looking at the same safe and have a few questions. The first is how is it holding up? Is the storage space still working for you? The second is how did you get it in the house? If it was loaded on a truck, could you and a buddy get it off the truck and through a door yourselves, or did you use a rigging company. Thanks.

[1stmar]

Safe is holding up great. As time goes on, I like it even more. Would definitely buy again. It's very heavy, if there are any steps you need to navigate two guys won't be enough. I had a moving company bring it in. 4 guys and they struggled a bit but my space was very challenging.

[K1500]

Thanks so much for the update. Two other quick questions if you don't mind. What is a realistic long gun capacity for the safe? What did it cost to have it moved? Thanks again for your help!

[1stmar]

Number of long guns depends on the configuration of the rifles. I'd say 18 conservatively. 10 on the door, however, only 4-6 scoped, depending on size of the objective lens or if you are willing to remove the scopes. So a mix of shotguns of iron sights and scopes, you can get 10 on the door. Two rifle bays inside you should be able to get 4-6. Really depends on what types of long guns you have.

I think I paid $300 to move it.

[K1500]

Thanks again, that's just what I needed to know. Glad it is still working well for you.

[BigCheese]

Referring to #3 above, quote"I Don't really have a need to hang a bunch of stuff on the door and I have all my temp sensitive supplies in the safe (~30lbs powder and 15k primers, 10sets of dies and my auto charge)"

Get the powder and primers OUT of the safe. If you have a fire and the inside temperature reaches the ignition point, the tremendous volume of gases generated in this strong, tight container will explode your safe with violence you can't begin to imagine. That's why storage is recommended only in thin walled containers or wooden storage boxes.

Don't count on the insulation as providing absolute protection. Can you imagine criminal liability if responding fire fighters were killed.

[kilimanjaro]

Get up from your computer and get your powder, primers, and ammo OUT OF THE SAFE. You just built a bomb inside your house.

Do this NOW, December is home fire month. You just voided your homeowners insurance policy, they will not pay for damage resulting from the explosive event.