Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Bolt those gun safes to the floor now!!!!

Folks,

I never thought it would happen to me, but it did. My house was burglarized earlier this week.

The theives hauled off my entire >600-pound gun safe. All my firearms were in that safe, along with all my hunting optics.

The perps used my hand truck from the garage. Destroyed some wood flooring and drywall in the process of removing the safe (safe must have partially tipped over on them). There were at least two vehicles involved. The police said theives can do what they did to my home in my in less than 20 minutes.

I'm sharing this info with you because I had always thought home burglaries were usually smash & grab events and that they wouldn't spend time trying to haul off a 600-pound gun safe when there was plenty of other, "easier" objects to be taken in my home. Consequently, I didn't bolt the safe to the floor. I'm suffering the consequences of that choice now. Oh, and they took all the "easier" stuff, too.

Here's hoping this post prevents this from happening to any other readers on the 'Fire.

I kept approx. $1000 of loaded ammo locked in a separate Homak gun safe (basically just a stiff sheet metal cabinet with two key locks). They busted into it and cleaned that out, too. Also took all my primers.

If you have already bolted your safe to the floor, good on ya! If you haven't yet, do it now!!

Its always a good idea. Sorry to hear of the loss!

We keep our safe inside a vault.

My local LGS had a gun safe in the showroom that some burglars had actually busted the wall out from around the safe. Then broke a picture window and wrapped a chain around it. Pulled it through the window and down the road where it was found. They didn't get into it but it and it's contents were heavily damaged. Browning replaced it and had it delivered for free BTW. But GET A SAFE for anyone who doesn't have one. I had a friend who lost between 25-30 long guns. He was old school and had a gunroom with them all hanging on the wall and in nice gun cabinets. For his $30,000 loss he only received $10k as that was the maximum his insurance would cover without a rider policy.

Sorry to hear about that. I have not bolted mine down, but it is in the basement of a ranch style home without a walkout basement. It took a team of four professional movers to get it in empty. If someone can get that S.O.B. out of there now full of guns and ammo they can it. I have good Cor-Vens firearm Insurance.

Mike

I am okay, no crime in Canada.

My safe isnt bolted down, but the pressure switch under it is professionally installed.......

I know a 600lb gun safe plus contents sounds like a lot of weight, and it is, but not extremely so to experienced professional safe movers, and obviously, not to safe thieves who know what they are doing. Once you get part of it off the ground a little bit, a 600lb safe not bolted down can be handled by even one man who knows what he is doing with the help of a few fairly basic tools. I've watched two men, professional safe movers, load, unload, move around, and set up on location, ATM's (which are basically safes) weighing over 3,000lbs. About the most high tech tools they regularly used were a pallet jack and hand crank winch.

This is so true, and an excellent point. As a mover on the side for perhaps a decade in my younger days, I did thousands of jobs. Dozens and dozens involving very heavy household things, and a handful were absolute beasts. Fridges and safes like the one you describe are kid stuff to move for people who know how. It's all technique and using every physical, mechanical and any other advantage at your disposal. This is particularly true if there aren't tons of stairs or tricky angles involved.

Anyway, I'm sorry for your loss, OP, and I hope you are properly compensated and the thieves caught. The heads-up is appreciated, too.

Sorry to hear about your loss but thanks for the heads up.

FWIW, I've seen videos on YouTube of devices that make moving up and down stairs a snap.

Bad deal, freind.

I hope you had a special firearms policy with enough coverage to replace everything OK. Some things, I know, are irreplaceable due to memories and people associated with particular firearms.

My safe is not bolted down, but I am home most of the time and armed so feel pretty decent about the safe being, uh.... safe?

Let us know how this all turns out for you.

I know this, but not with a run of the mill dolly/hand truck/two wheeler, a 'snap' it ain't, for things over 500. Can it be done? Sure, with enough manpower and/or straps and pulleys, whatever, as well as room to meaneuver. I've seen more than a few instances of movers breaking stairs and floors moving heavy things too...

2 tiles and a threshold getting my safe into the house; thank the Lord we saved tile. My wife didn't want me to anchor the safe through our wood floors, so during her next shift at the hospital I used wedge anchors and snugged it on down. I hope she never wants to rearrange our bedroom; she may be a bit pissed. Better that than to have some POS haul off my safe. They'd have to rip the house apart to get the safe out.

Armen, sorry for your loss

Sorry to hear about your safe. I hope they catch and hang the sumbitches that stole it.

hate to hear that....f'in thieves need to be horsewhipped and then shot.

when my 40 place gun safe was installed....upstairs in deference to hurricanes....it cost me 1200 bucks and took four guys with a crawler that took it up the big staircase, and did a bunch of damage to the steps in the process.

always kind of assumed it was protected by its weight and location so I never bolted it down....plus I wasn't real into putting bolt holes in a hundred year old hardwood floor.

but now I'm skeered.

I'm probally wrong but I think a safe only protects you from your average crack head. A friend of mines was stolen using a wench truck. Pulled safe thru a picture window tearing up a wall on the way out. Hasbeen

holes in the floor you'll never see, but the damage to that floor when they are trying to get it out, you'll see that.... ya know what I mean?

Thanks for the heads up!

sorry about the loss--that sucks.

used to move cooling & freezing compressors etc when a teen for my Dad with simple implements...bolts aren't going to slow them down too much, particularly if they know they are installed

my neighbor had a safe door from an old bank and then installed it in a room with poured concrete walls when he built his retirement "cabin"...that would take a little more time...

when me and my brother moved my dads safe from Jame's house to my Dad's down the street. we had to call Dad to explain to the cop who stopped us, why we were rolling a safe down the street. we use a refrigerator dolly by the way, the ones you strap on opposite sides and have 4 wheels.