Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Liberty Safe issue?

I own a Liberty safe and have some issues with the mechanical lock since I bought it.

If I spin the dial to one of the 3 numbers in the pre-set combinations and go past it by mistake I cannot open the safe and must take the manual out and "re-set" the combination by following the procedure in the manual. Once the entire combination has been "programmed" again I will then be able to spin the dial to the designated numbers and open the safe.

This seems completely rediculous to me and when I first discoverd this I actually phoned Liberty on two different occasions and explained the issue and asked if when I miss a number if the safe dial should actually let me spin it to zero and then start entering the combination all over again as this would be much quicker then programming the combination into the dail again. This seems crazy to me as during an emergency it would be very easy to miss a number by not ligning up the dial completely with the hash marks.
On both calls to the company I was told that the safe lock was operating as normal and not to worry about it.

I have had this safe for about four years now and tend to open it with the key rather then the mecahnical spin dial to avaoid having to mess with missing a number and having to deal with setting it up again.

I have recently thought about converting the safe to an electronic dial but would like to know if anyone else owns a Liberty safe and has had this problem.

Thanks

I don't think I every had a manual for mine (it's 16 years old and has a manual dial with no key) but if I go past a number you can't go back. You have to clear it by spinning the dial a half dozen times to the left and start over.

I've never seen one that will allow you to go back to a number if you overshoot and I've opened a lot of manual and electronic safes over the years.

What's the reset procedure you have to do?

My Cannon is just like Pugs', if a number is missed you must clear them all by spinning to the left at least 4 rounds.

This is a security feature of a quality lock.
You can put an electronic lock on it but dont be surprised when it fails one day and you have to spend several hundred dollars having a lock smith drill your safes door.
And it will fail.

My suggestion is to just take your time dialing the combo.

I have 2 Liberty safes with the key lock and have never experienced your trouble. Like Pugs, I spin the dial a few times to clear it.

+2

This is exactly my issue, my safe does not clear if I spin it. How many times are you doing this to clear it?

A few Maybe six spins. I don't really count it.

I've had my Liberty Franklin 45 for over 6 years with no problems short of my forgetting the combination.

So how many times does your manual say to spin it? My manual only says "If you go past a number when you meant to stop - even if by only a half a number - the entire sequence must be re-dialed."

As in my case, I would suspect operator impatience. YMMV

I cant find my manual right now but I recall it said to spin the dial to the left 4 revolutions to clear it. Has always worked for me.

I just pulled my Manual out for my safe and it does not mention spinning the dial to the left to reset the lock.

"If you go past a number when you meant to stop - even if only by half a number - the entire sequence must be redialed". this is all that is mentioned in the manual that came with my model.

Tomorrow I will try spinning the dial five or six times to the left to clear the combination so I can start over and see if that works. I have not tried doing that in a long time so maybe I just did not spin it enough times for it to take effect.

The procedure listed in my manual to set the combo is as follows.

Turn dial left stopping on first number the fourth time this number aligns with opening index.

Turn the dial right stopping on the 2nd number the third time this number aligns with index.

Turn dial left stopping on 3rd number the 2nd time it aligns with index.

When I called Liberty I was told that this would need to be done if I missed entering the combination correctly.

Thanks for the help, I will give it a try tomorrow and see where I get with it.

I don't have a Liberty but my manual dial safe acts the same way. I don't believe you are "programming" the combination, you're just following the correct procedure for entering it.

The quality locks seem to be a little more complex than the typical "L to number x, R past x to y, then L to z"

When I mess up entering the combination, I spin the dial to the L at least 4 times to clear it.

(I don't have a choice. No key to back up the combination lock.)

Yup, just follow the instructions (that, in and of itself, will spin the dial nearly 4 times to the left). Remember, who knows how many times the dial got spun (left or right) before you got the safe.

Sure it does - emphasis mine:

I have a Champion T-30 safe and with a keyed S/G combination lock and have had no issues like those mentioned above. http://www.championsafe.net/products.html
I am glad I bought a Champion over the Liberty, my father has a Liberty and my bolt works are smoother and my door shuts alot nicer than his.