Gun safe advice needed

[Quadzillabill]

I really need a gun safe, but don't have a lot of room to put it.  I was at Wal-mart and found several Sentry models that were suprisingly affordable and reasonably sized - really, I need it to be small.  It does need to be able to hold about a dozen long guns, plus a few handguns.

The electronically locked fireproof model was around $550, while a non-fire rated unit of similar size was only $350.  Heck, they had a 10 gun unit that was only $250.  Seem to be well made, and heavy - plus they are able to be bolted securely in place ot the floor of my basement shop.

Obviously, you can spend as much as you want for a safe - but when it comes right down to it, what are the features that are MUST HAVES, and what features can you live without?

We have a lot of neighborhood kids around the house, and I really just want this as a safe way to store them.  If someone is going to break into my house just to steal my guns - they're going to find a way to get them IMHO.  Plus, lots of valuable electronics and computers they'd rather have anyway - since they're so much easier to carry.

You safe advice and comments are appreciated.

Thanks, Bill

[jhm]

Quadzillabill :  I am a ferm believer of a gun safe around the house, not only for the reasons you have mentioned, It just gives me a little peace of mind when off the farm, as I think that if a quality safe is seen by the bad guys they may just assume all the good satuff is locked up and will leave, however thats no gurantee, they may also think you have some real good stuff and come back later, Its a shame when you have to lock up your collection to keep them out of the wrong hands, at one time I actually said I would not ever own a safe I wanted to display my stuff and be proud of it, now we have to hide the goods, the only advise I would give is get the largest safe you can afford as you will run out of room vary quick, and when they are advertised to hold so many rifles (long guns) thats without scopes, if your rifles have scopes on them it will effect the amount of rifles that you can put into it, take that into account as I have all of my long guns sxoped and it is a pain in the tail section placing them in the safe, I personally use the liberty brands safes here and have been vary happy with it and the secure feeling I have.   JIM

[Mikey]

Quadzillabill:  about a month ago I posted down in one of the opinion columns about Homeland Security and cited the recent purchase of gunsafes in that regard.

I purchased two Homak 7 gun safes from Cabellas, or Shooters, or somebody.  They need assembling - weigh 70 lbs each but only cost $70 each, at that time.  You can bolt them to walls or floors for added security and they are only 19"wx10" deep by about 4' tall.  Nice looking and easy to deal with and it provides you with all the security you could want.  Someone would have to tear your house down to get them out or get into them, for that matter.  Check it out, it might work for you.  HTH.  Mikey.

[Quadzillabill]

Quadzillabill,

i have 2 of the walmart models you are talking about, one fire and one non-fire.  IMHO, they are awesome safes for the money.  i have mine lag bolted to the wall studs, and they aren't going anywhere cause they are heavy.  i one in the closet, and one out in the open view.  i dont think you can go wrong with either of them for the money.  hope this helps

I waver on whether its really useful to have a fire rated safe.  Seems like a big fire that burned your house down would smoke one of these safes anyway.  Isn't that why I'm insured?  I know some of these are 'irreplaceable', but so are family photos and all kinds of memorabilia.

Not sure about potential water damage, but I guess if there was a real fire, some water is getting in with the hot guns for a steam bath - that can't be good - no matter what.  

What's the thinking on fire vs. non-fire?  Do you have the really good stuff in the fire safe, and the 'expendable' stuff in the other?

[jhm]

In the safes I was refering to earlier I also keep vary important papers and documents in there, as I would a safe deposit box, which is tax deductable, which lets me deduct the home as if it were a safe deposit box, with the insurance clause on your homeowners policy you may find it has a limit on guns if you dont have a rider to cover your total loss, same for jewlry, I keep a small fire prof lock box in the safe with vary important papers giving them double protection, also have the main safe on a outer wall to lessen the fire heat build-up.    JIM

[chrisk63]

hi all,
 i bit of advice that i found valuable was to buy a safe one size bigger than what you feel you need,once my safe arrived my wife found many,
many....many uses for it so make sure you have enough room for jewelry,important papers and the guns it was intended for

   just my 2 cents

      chris

[rickyp]

ont thing no one thinks of when putting in a safe.
you NEED TO ALWAYS PUT IT ON THE LOWEST LEVEAL OF YOUR HOUSE.
If you have a basement put it there if no basement then put it on the first floor.
The reason is they are heavy some are well over 1000 lbs loaded. IF you put it on an upper leveal of your home and have a fire on the floor under it. the safe will fall trough the floor  and maybe killing the fire fighters that are putting out the fire.

This did  happen to me. I was fighting a house fire and just after we leave the room I hear a crash when we go back in the room a large safe   had come trought the floor. if we stayed in just a few munits more we would have been hurt or killed.

[doc-and]

Hi Rickyp,

Got a question, I'll be building a new home and plan to have a room off my den to store my firearms.  Do you have any recommendations how to make it as fireproof as possible.  Will be installing a steel safe type door and hiding the access.  But not sure what materials would be best to cut down the fire danger.

Thanks
doc-and