Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Gun safe around $1,500..

The title pretty much says it all. I am in the search for a gun safe. I currently have 18 long guns and I am sure that I will get more. I am looking for decent fire protection and something to where its not a PIA to get to a specific gun. I hate having to take all the guns out to get to a specific one. I have been looking at this one for a while..

https://www.costco.com/bighorn-31.4-cu.-ft.-heavy-duty-safe%2c-60-min-fire-protection.product.100405769.html

If you have any other ideas or suggestions it would be greatly appreciated...

DNG

Always buy a safe that is twice as big as you think you need. OR, buy two safes.

Make sure they are able to be placed where you can bolt them to the floor/wall or both.

Whatever you do, dont buy a safe with an electronic lock. S&G manual lock only.

Don't count on fire protection out of a safe unless it's in the $6,000 to $10,000 range.

A few members here have been through this and have found ash in the safe after the fire is out.

Money would be better spent on fire suppression in the area around the safe than on a "fireproof safe". An electronic lock is nothing more than an invitation for a costly locksmith visit at some point in time. S & G combination lock is the only way to go, mine has been trouble free for 30 yrs. or more.

I have a by nice Liberty that I got for around that price.

I bought a Liberty about 10 years ago in that price range.

Yep....I have photographic proof

Hint, ask about scratch and dent at your dealer. I got an 800 lb 36 gun 72 inch high Rhino Safe for $800. About 1/2 price, because it was listed as S&D. That was four years ago, and I still have not found the scratch or a dent.

Fire protection is a joke and I speak from lots and lots of experience. If the fire doesn't get them (it will) the water and the fall through your floor will. Safes are good for keeping kids and crack heads out...thats it. Don't fool yourself that a "residential storage container" is going to keep your guns safe if a competent thief wants them.

Not trying to burst anyones bubble just being honest. Ive never seen one hold up to a fire and I've seen how easy they are to break into. As a result I purchased a beautiful oak gun cabinet and an insurance rider. I was tired of having a big metal box in my den anyways.

Dunhams (if you have them) always have great deals on safes. I second the get double the size you think you need.

I got the big metal box and the insurance as well. Some are not replaceable but at least they are covered.

If I had to do it again, I'd get 2-3 smaller safes put in different parts of the house. One dedicated for the guns that get used the most. Easier to move them around if need be too.

Put cheap guns in the safe, put the safe out in the open like a spare bedroom.

Hide the good stuff under couch cushions , hang in closets amongst clothes.

#1
As stated, you will get little fire protection from a safe.
Buy a cheaper one, install sprinklers over it. Now you have a chance.

#2
People brag about how much a safe weighs.
That's important if someone wants to steal it. (Not gonna happen)

Then, they brag about the door thickness.
Bullshit.

First, it's not that thick. The metal is rolled so it looks an inch thick.
It ain't.

Second, no unequipped dumbass is getting into any steel cabinet.

An equipped informed burgler will attack the sides, back, or top.
They are much thinner. (Unless you bought a cheaper cabinet.
Then, the front will also be thin. Like the sides of a safe. Getting it yet?)

That smart dude? He is going to take a chisel or grinder and cut a V in
the top of a panel, pointing up. Then he will cut a hole in the middle of the V.
Insert a pry bar, and peel your safe like a banana.

Maybe, 20 minutes.

If you aren't spending $5k plus.
That's what you are getting.

A safe will keep the honest people out, not a pro.

Follow Pat McManus's advice - always leave a couple spaces in the gun rack. The wife will think she is just getting old when it takes her 20 minutes to dust it, vs the 2 it used to take....

Fine guns are just burglar bait. I don't have any .....

Good luck with your quest.

Yeppers! After researching this topic in 2013, I had a choice:

1) Pay $30,000 for 30 minute protection for the shamanic deer battery
2) Build a gun cabinet for $200 using plywood and spend more money on my homeowners insurance

Guess which one I picked.

Pro?

I sawed the bottom out of a Liberty Fat Boy with a Sawzall in about 15 minutes

Not sure if it would make a difference or not but this will be put in a room that is under my front porch. All walls are 10" pored concrete so I am of the belief that if I put it on the wall furthest from the house wall it should be relatively safe for fire protection. As for water protection I was leaning on putting it on 4x4s and try to bolt it to the floor and wall. Does that sound like it would make a difference? And quite a ways down the road I am wanting to put a steel door on the room and kind of use it like a safe room... I am wanting to conceal the room because this room would not be here in a normal house, it's where my water holding tanks were before we had city water. And by the way this room is in the basement...

Weight indicates how much drywall is inside the safe. At elevated temperatures, drywall decomposes and produces water vapor. Water vapor displaces Oxygen and prevents the contents of the safe from combusting for the time and temp the safe is rated for.

No the safe is not insulated. The inside will get hot and very wet in event of a fire. But the contents will not actually combust, if the house fire is extinguished rapidly.

If the safe is in the basement, or falls into the basement, to be buried in burning debris for three hours, all bets are off.