Got a safe? (video)

[ichy_trigger]

Originally Posted by Bree

I had an old cast iron swimming pool sand filter down in the basement. It stood about 5 feet high and 3 1/2 feet in diameter. The thickness ranged from 1/2" to 3/4". It weighed about 600-700 pounds.

I hired some guys who remove furnaces to get it out of the basement. I had no idea how they were going to do it. I expected it to take a long time.

The guy took out a reciprocating saw and a 12" blade and started to work. 5 sizzling hot blades later, the tank was cut in two from top to bottom and it flopped open. The two men carried the halves up the stairs and it was gone. They cleaned up the crap that fell out and collected their stuff and were gone in 30 minutes. I simply could not believe how fast and how easily these guys tore through that cast iron tank.

A thief with a reciprocating saw will be into even the best made safe in a few minutes. You have 10 guage steel or maybe 1/4" steel max. to cut through. They can easily cut the whole side of the box out.

A gun safe protects against casual thieves. A determined thief is going to penetrate it eventually. A smart thief will do so faster than you can possibly imagine.

Remember too that...
1. good safes contain concrete between the layers of steel
2. Cast iron will shatter when hit with a sledge hammer.

But yes, Safes do nothing but slow down a thief or help deter them, they will never stop someone who is hell bent on getting to its contents.

[Vic303]

Time is your friend in a residential burglary. The longer it takes them to get TO your goods, the less likely they are to do it. Alarms that you USE are an important first layer. A safe, while not proof against theft, will SLOW THEM DOWN! Most are of the smash & grab variety of thefts--ever watch It Takes A Thief on Discovery? He never spends more than 10min in a place to clean it out, but he only attacks small portable firesafes--never a big one that I have seen. The longer the BG is in your home, the more likely he is to get caught in the act.

[propellerhead]

I bought my budget safe as a deterrent. 1) It keeps my guns away from any visiting kids that might be in my house. 2) In case of fire, it *might* protect the few handguns and documents I have in it. If the entire house burns down the it's already a total loss. I don't expect my budget safe to be Fort Knox or to be totally indestructible.

[Eric_Schwendemann]

Originally Posted by propellerhead

I bought my budget safe as a deterrent. 1) It keeps my guns away from any visiting kids that might be in my house. 2) In case of fire, it *might* protect the few handguns and documents I have in it. If the entire house burns down the it's already a total loss. I don't expect my budget safe to be Fort Knox or to be totally indestructible.

That's a good reason to buy a safe to keep the guns away from kids. I like how you said it *might* protect against a fire. That's true it might, depending where in your house the safe is. What a lot of people get into there heads is that "oh its a safe I can put photos and paper work in there" well the interior can reach 350 degrees. So I suggest preheating the oven to 350 and toss in some photos, paper work and some CD's and see what happens. (don't really try that) what I would do is get a cheap sentry safe for papers in there and put that in the gun safe, or you could put it in a safe deposit box. In my opinion American Security is the way to go for the money.

[HPD SRT]

Good informative video thanks for posting. I never really thought of them being cheaply made. And I am in the the market right now for one. So what are the top of the line safes and what are the bottom of the barrel?

[robinsre]

Locks are there to keep honest people honest.

Real thieves will get you no matter what kind of safe, or lock, you have.

The best protection I have for my firearms is insurance, and good, trustworthy attentive neighbors.

[Bree]

Originally Posted by robinsre

Locks are there to keep honest people honest.

Real thieves will get you no matter what kind of safe, or lock, you have.

The best protection I have for my firearms is insurance, and good, trustworthy attentive neighbors.

+1
And you can get insurance on your guns very easily from NRA. I think they throw in the first $1,000 free for members.

They also sell insurance that will reimburse $50,000 of legal expense if you have to use your weapon in self defense. I don't know anyone else that does that.

[ArmyGuy45]

so pretty much saying that if you bolt it down.. or put its in a "cove" area where it would be hard to pull it out or rotate you should be fine.. right?

[cobra]

well this is why my safe is in a closet bolted to the ground and walls, not to say that a professional wouldn't get in, but then again, if a pro is breaking into my house he isn't really that much of a pro anyway, my safe is to keep a stupid kid from breaking into my house and getting access to my guns, other then that, I have the best security system in the world

a 90 year old ex. Navy demo. guy who sits in his driveway 24/7 accross the street from my house. Guys is an amazing person, christ he calls me to let me know that the oil man was in my back yard, or that the WPCA meter guy came over, he is just awesome.

[Bree]

Originally Posted by ArmyGuy45

so pretty much saying that if you bolt it down.. or put its in a "cove" area where it would be hard to pull it out or rotate you should be fine.. right?

Or hide your safe in the oven.