Got a safe? (video)

[ichy_trigger]

You think your safe will hold the theives back? they are betetr than nothing but make sure you bolt them down and maybe preferably in a closet.

YouTube - Security on Sale: Gun Safe Break-in

[DanTheEldest]

Good post. Absolutely bolt them down in as inaccessible a place as possible, and buy quality. That may mean putting off that AR build for a little while, but well-built safes are like anything else: the good stuff don't come cheap.

[SgtWKPII]

Mine is bolted to the cement floor in a closet, so they thief's wont be able to get next to it and get that type of leverage on it. Hopefully that will give me another 5 minutes...

[bashman]

I've seen this video before. It brings up some good points in theory, but I don't totally buy into everything he's saying.

The safe in the video is standing out in the middle of the floor, with nothing around it. Anyone with enough momentum could knock that thing over and work on it. How many of us actually have a room large enough to put the safe out in the middle of the room for all the world to see? Not many I'm betting.

My guess is most people put their safe against the wall, if not in a corner. This requires much more work for a thief or two to get the safe down on the floor, door side up. My safe is not bolted down, and I'm not concerned about it being broken into. It's in a corner, with a large (heavy) piece of furniture on the other side. So I've got wall, safe, heavy piece of furniture. The only way to get the safe down on the floor is door side down. Then you've got to roll it over. By the time all this work is done, whatever is inside will probably be beat up to the point it wouldn't be worth the time and effort to take. Sure, they'd probably still do it for spite, but whatever.

Anyway, like I said, he makes some good points, but it seems to me to be more scare tactic to buy his brand of safe than it is about general information about safes. My .02.

[ichy_trigger]

He never mentioned a brand per say. i think its mroe of an eye opener than anything.

[RBOWWOW]

I'm starting to think a false wall is my best option..I have a dead space between a couple closets and a fireplace thats never used. I could have a safe but the garage is my only concrete floor...I also thought about a false wall in front of where the safe may reside in the garage...it's only money right.?

[Gryff]

It's why you bolt your safe to the floor with its back against a wall. The thieves lose a tremendous amount of potential leverage if they can flip it on its back.

A good demonstration, though, of why not installing it properly sacrifices protection.

[Eric_Schwendemann]

I deliver safe's and vaults, weight is no obstacle because I use my brain and special equipment to do the lifting. I weigh 150 pounds IM 5'10 and I move safes all day long, it never ceases to amaze me how many people make the comment "NOBODY'S GONNA WALK OFF WITH THIS" as I wheel there safe past them on a dolly. Heres a tip for anyone buying a safe if you are worried about someone running off with your safe, BOLT IT DOWN. Another tip, that safe in the video doesn't have thick steel on the body on the body of the safe. Its like a soda can the weak parts are the sides. it would take me a couple minutes with a fire ax or sledge hammer to have a hole in the side or back of that safe. So its best to put it into a small area (less room to work with). The thick door bolts don't matter if the door flex's.

[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.

[oldfart]

Ummmm, thats why they have pit bulls!

I like the ole trap door in front of the safe that leads directly to the septic tank. At least if they get out and get in your safe you'll be sure to be able to track them.

On the serious side, short of having a bank vault if someone wants something bad enough they find a way. You need multiple methods and techniques. Like others have said - If you have your safe in the middle of a room not bolted down - you just wasted your money.