Purchasing first safe advice?

Brazilianbatman

Im looking to buy my first gun safe....I figured I should have done this probably before getting my guns, but here we are.  Im looking for suggestions/pointers on the matter from the fine people who frequent these boards.  Please and thank you.

Diver43

The stated number of guns stated that it will hold is often not even close.
I think they count small .22s with no scope.
Your collection will grow.  Scoped rifles take up twice the space of unscoped.
Expensive is not always better.
Figure the space you have, how many guns you need to store and budget.  Remember, when they deliver your safe it is often doorside delivery, you need to get it inside the house.  Make sure moving it will not crack your tile.
Others will add more

Johnny reb

Buy bigger than you think you need. Buy the best quality you can get online and look at specs for different brands and models. 

JKP

I buy decent "containers" that are called safes from Costco. The Cannon brand works for me. 

I also have good firearms insurance and a cellular based security system. 

Linefinder

Scopes double the size of your rifle. If it's advertised as a "12 gun" safe, if yours are scoped, it'll hold six. 

My advice....buy twice as big as you think you need. If I'd heeded my own advice I wouldn't own two and be needing a third.

Mike

ilove22s

welcome,

before you open your wallet....

• the idea of a safe is to tell the perps, you have one, but cant get into it and to move onto the neighbor that doesnt.  However....
• my feeling is that "if they cant see it, they cant steal it or whats in it".  So if your safe is a centerpiece of your living room or bedroom, and someone gains access to your home, they may not get into it, but they will know you have it.
• try not to keep any nice tools, like a plasma torch/pry bars/ saws and such handy for someone to use on your safe.
• ask some shooting friends if they have anything you can see.  also ask them the same as the other comments.
• get one with adjustable shelves spaces and compartments.  If you want to focus on long guns, or handguns or?  but see what you can find with a flexible shelving system.
• figure out where you want to put it first.  Then consider if you can secure it to the floor someway.  If its a wood floor or concrete.  
• If you have a basement and decide to put it down there, ask yourself, does it flood in the area?  Is it a known flood basin?  how about dampness?  It may require you deal with humid so your toys dont rust.  How will you get a dehumidifier inside? 
• get bigger than you need or as much as you can afford within reason.   Chances are you will fill it with other things like documents, mags, ammo, cameras, jewelry...ect.
• consider what type of opening mechanism you want.  Old style combo/knob or electronic.   A friend had an electronic combo that went on the fritz and he could not get into the safe for 1+ years.  Buy the time he was going to have a locksmith break into it, it started to work again.   But look at what other options you may have to gain access if the electronic combo goes belly up.
• look at some with fire resistance if you can afford it.  If you have your own place, you can wrap in fire rated sheet rock.  
• i think on a different board, someone got hit and they got their safe.  IIRC some contractors were working in the house and IIRC they were the only ones that knew about it.
• if you have any locksmiths in your area, go there and ask/look.  some may have a used safe for sale.  Worse case, pick their brain.
• If you can, go watch that video showing 2 guys breaking into a safe.  Its on some competitors website and they also show it at gun shows.
• 
  

Elk creek

3 things: 
1. buy the biggest safe you can afford with the fire rating you need. 

2. Pay to have it delivered and installed (bolted to the floor) 
3. put in an inconspicuous place...

zorba

Don't buy crap if you can avoid it.

http://www.sturdysafe.com - read their articles about how their safes are constructed, even if you buy somebody else's,  you'll make an informed decision.

Brazilianbatman

https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/field-stream-sportsman-244-gun-fire-safe-17fnsufssprtsmn24gua/17fnsufssprtsmn24gua

and 

https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/field-stream-sportsman-16-gun-fire-safe-with-electronic-lock-19fnsufssprtsmn16guaa/19fnsufssprtsmn16guaa

are two that I'm looking at.  My dad said he can have it bolted. I don't have a completely inconspicuous place to put it, but its the best I can do 

Elk creek

https://www.libertysafe.com/safe-fatboy-jr-safes-ps-10.html

Gene L

Agree with go bigger than you think you need.  Get a good one.  Mine is moderately good and me and a buddy delivered it ourselves.  It was not as big as I needed, but as big as would fit in my small house. Had to take the cover off the thermostat so I could roll it down the hallway.

I need a bigger one but don't have a place to put it except the garage and I won't do that.  Moisture and heat/cold.

snake284

Like Linefinder, get one at least twice as big as you think you'll need or you may end up buying another like he and I did. It was said get one twice as big as you think you'll need. Remember this, more than likely if you're coming on these sites, there's these scoundrels called enablers and you're collection will grow. So in light of that figure twice what you think you need right now and multiply that by at least two if not 4.

As for mounting, if you can hide it that's better still, but at least don't put it in the living room. And if you watch the videos they're talking about, where the two guys, the one I saw was three guys, breaking into a safe, you will notice they'll use pry bars on the end opposite side from the hinges. So put the opening side up next to a wall. This will limit the leverage. As I said, I have two, one's a Sentry Safe. It has an electronic lock, but they gave me two skeleton keys for it n case your electronics go south.

A friend with a dolley went with me when I bought them and we brought 'em home in a pickup. We installed them and he had a hilte gun and we bolted them into the concrete slab. They come with bolts but my buddy worked in maintenance in the plant I worked in. He does everything OVERKILL. So he canned the bolts that came with it and bought some higher strength longer bolts. We drilled farther into the slab and made a solid, strong mount. We did this with both safes.

What has happened is some people have mounted a safe on an outside wall and not bolted it down, the pirates drilled holes in the wall, ran cables through the holes and around the safe and pulled the whole wall and safe out, hoisted it in a truck bed and took off for points unknown. This has  happened. So bolt it down.

I like my two safes but I will say buy the best grade you can afford. Get one as big as you can afford, and bolt that baby down. Good luck.

Justsomedude

Something that some of you may not know, and hopefully never have to find out, the smoke from a fire will destroy the bluing on guns real quick, even in a fire rated safe.

Justsomedude

Exhibit A

bellcat

Once you make your purchase, don't move a lot!  

Brazilianbatman

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/winchester-gun-safe-26-gun-ts26-45

I can pick it up local too 

Brazilianbatman

https://www.sportsmans.com/shooting-gear-gun-supplies/gun-safes-cabinets-accessories/gun-safes/browning-yukon-gold-yg-12-gun-safe/p/1407005

This one is 600 

JerryBobCo

I bought a Sports Afield safe last summer.  It was delivered to my house, and the driver even moved it to the location in my garage where I keep it.  It's not on a par with the more expensive Brownings, but still a good, quality, heavy safe.  

Uncle Fester

Brazilianbatman said:

https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/field-stream-sportsman-244-gun-fire-safe-17fnsufssprtsmn24gua/17fnsufssprtsmn24gua

and 

https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/field-stream-sportsman-16-gun-fire-safe-with-electronic-lock-19fnsufssprtsmn16guaa/19fnsufssprtsmn16guaa

are two that I'm looking at.  My dad said he can have it bolted. I don't have a completely inconspicuous place to put it, but its the best I can do 

Don’t buy anything at Dicks.  They are anti-2A zealots.

Brazilianbatman

I got the Winchester 

snake284

Brazilianbatman said:

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/winchester-gun-safe-26-gun-ts26-45

I can pick it up local too 

Brazilianbatman said:

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/winchester-gun-safe-26-gun-ts26-45

I can pick it up local too 

That's my safe. I said 32 but I think it was 26 guns. Anyway that's mine. It's a good safe and won't cause you to get a second mortgage. But lord it's heavy, which ain't a bad thing. The heavier it is the less likely they can haul it off.

Brazilianbatman

I got the Winchester 

Brazilianbatman

Thanks everyone!!

snake284

Lookin' good. You got it mounted with the opening side of the door against the wall. The thieves will have very limited leverage with a crow bar, and the hinge side is really too tough to pry open. Now don't tell anyone you have guns or that you have a safe. Word gets around among scumbags. It was mentioned on here that someone got ripped off when they had contractors in their house. That happened here. A brother Mason of mine had about 50 nice guns in a big safe. He and his wife were living in a rent house while their house was being leveled and renovated. Somebody in the work crew broke into the safe. He had a manual combo lock that he failed to spin when he shut it. That's one plus an electronic lock has over a manual Combination lock has. A manual lock needs a when you close it. An electronic doesn't. Anyway, he got ripped off wors e than anybody with a safe I've ever heard of. He had several pre 64 Model 70s, he had sako's he had Mausers, He had Model 700s, he had something in about every Chambering imaginable. He was physically sick for weeks. I didn't want to be him. But we all learn from other's misfortune. I learned from his. I don't tell anyone here I have guns period.

Brazilianbatman

snake284 said:

Lookin' good. You got it mounted with the opening side of the door against the wall. The thieves will have very limited leverage with a crow bar, and the hinge side is really too tough to pry open. Now don't tell anyone you have guns or that you have a safe. Word gets around among scumbags. It was mentioned on here that someone got ripped off when they had contractors in their house. That happened here. A brother Mason of mine had about 50 nice guns in a big safe. He and his wife were living in a rent house while their house was being leveled and renovated. Somebody in the work crew broke into the safe. He had a manual combo lock that he failed to spin when he shut it. That's one plus an electronic lock has over a manual Combination lock has. A manual lock needs a final spin when you close it. An electronic doesn't. Anyway, he got ripped off worse than anybody with a safe I've ever heard of.

Hey, how is it going.
I just saw that you purchased the same safe as I did.  Do you have a dehumidifier in it? if so, which kind or kinds have you tried? thank you

snake284

Brazilianbatman said:

snake284 said:

Lookin' good. You got it mounted with the opening side of the door against the wall. The thieves will have very limited leverage with a crow bar, and the hinge side is really too tough to pry open. Now don't tell anyone you have guns or that you have a safe. Word gets around among scumbags. It was mentioned on here that someone got ripped off when they had contractors in their house. That happened here. A brother Mason of mine had about 50 nice guns in a big safe. He and his wife were living in a rent house while their house was being leveled and renovated. Somebody in the work crew broke into the safe. He had a manual combo lock that he failed to spin when he shut it. That's one plus an electronic lock has over a manual Combination lock has. A manual lock needs a final spin when you close it. An electronic doesn't. Anyway, he got ripped off worse than anybody with a safe I've ever heard of.

Hey, how is it going.
I just saw that you purchased the same safe as I did.  Do you have a dehumidifier in it? if so, which kind or kinds have you tried? thank you

No, I don't need a dehumidifier, we have central air and heat. It keeps the humidity in the house down as low as most dehumidifiers. I've been in this house since 2005 and had guns the whole time and never had a corrosion problem with them.

Brazilianbatman

now I just need a cleaning kit then 

snake284

If you are new at this, get you some bore guides that fit inside the action at the breech. They keep the rod from rubbing on the throat at the start of the rifling. That's where a barrel wears out, usually from repeated firing that erodes the rifling at the start. You can have worn rifling down inside the barrel but you don't want the breech end or the muzzle end worn or chipped. that affects accuracy.

Never put a rod in the muzzle end without a bore guide of some sort either. Some guns you have to clean like that like semi autos, lever guns, and pumps. That's a good way to kiss any accuracy good by over time. Always use a muzzle bore guide there. And if you chip the rifling at the muzzle take it to a gun smith and have the very end cut off and re-crowned. If you already know all this, I apologize for being so basic with you, but if you don't, take heed. It can save you a lot of grief later.

10canyon53

That Scorpion looks lonely......

snake284

10canyon53 said:

That Scorpion looks lonely......

What scorpion?

10canyon53

snake284 said:

10canyon53 said:

That Scorpion looks lonely......

What scorpion?

The CZ Scorpion Evo sitting in his new safe.....all by itself.....waiting for some company.