fwiw,
Had a thee pager in response. Lost it...
The basics:
1. Could your basement flood? No safe, regardless of security rating, defends against water...
2. Everything from a $2000 Liberty to a $15,000 Fort Knox Titan are classified by Underwriters Laboratory as a RSC. In short they are not classified as a safe but rather as a Residential Security Container. There IS a difference between a $2000 Liberty and whatever Fort Knox and those BS Safes you see in Costco... With names like Winchester... They ARE tin cans that you can break into them with a pry bar in several minutes...
Real safes start at TL-15. Tool resistant for 15 minutes. TL-30 same attack double the time. TRTL-30x6 is Torch and Tool resistant for 30 minutes on all six surfaces. EXTREME Jewelry Vaults can go to TRTL-60x6 to TXTL-60x6. The TXTL is Torch, Tool, and Explosive Resistant...
Consider keeping a very low profile for your safe. The fewer folks who know you have one the better off you are... On this note one of my brighter friends bought a mid grade Fort Knox YEARS ago. He never tore off the brown box. Instead he carefully cut a door in the cardboard and uses velcro to keep the original box around the safe. Looks, at first glance, like a spare hot water heater.
Consider solid fire protection. Many RSCs use nothing more than a couple layers of sheetrock to withstand fire. The more expensive Fort Knox safes do well with fire. They have an expanding door seal activated by heat that seals the safe in a fire. Though you will pay for it...
I use ISM Super Treasury Diamond Vaults that were bought used for roughly $2000 a piece. They typically bring 4 to 5 times that in similar condition. New they are $20Kish. These Israeli made safes are the gold standard of the jewelry business...
Total overkill. That has its own pitfalls. Don't feel like typing it out again. Short of going with an UBER Safe you won't have this problem...
http://www.empiresafe.com/143/ism_super_treasury_trtl30x6Thoughts:
1. Weight is your friend on safes. Light safes are easily moved unless bolted down to cement.
Never buy an old safe that is weighted with cement. It holds tremendous moisture.. I've seen one gun collection ruined by a cheap "old" safe...
2. Never count on an electronic lock. They will fail on you atleast once in 20 years. They are handy, however, make sure you have a redundant mechanical backup...
3. You will get more for your money with a used vault, however, as with all things there are pitfalls. You either spend your money up front from a legitimate safe dealer or you do mucho homework on used vaults and have the locks serviced.
Had a friend who brought home a US Navy M16 Safe that were being thrown out. He put a large gun collection in one. All was well until he was going to shoot prairie dogs. Safe would not open. Local safe guy drilled plenty of air holes in the safe with no luck. Finally had to pay an expert $400 to punch the lock and open it... Used OLD safes have pitfalls.
4. If you can afford it go with a Sargent & Greenleaf 2937 mechanical combination lock. This is current government spec for intelligence safes, file cabinets, etc... Don't ask me what happened with the Chinese and the F-35 plans...(grin)
Regards, Matt.
