questions before buying a gun safe

[TXDMERC73]

i have a cheap ass STack on safe, it uses a key, i had an old one i lost both keys and had to dremel the lock off, got a new one recently to keep the son away from showing off my guns to his friends when i m not home.all my guns are barely worth 3 grand so im not at the 10 grand limit yet for a fort knox floor safe! mosg importantly is its fire rated for 1-2 hours , cuz insurance cant replace heirloom firearms....

[bamboomaster]

Look around and you can find movers who will transport and install the safe for you complete with bolts and up on hockey pucks.

Their trick to moving them is sliding the safe on pieces of thick Teflon.

Or, Schedule 40 PVC cut to length...

[bamboomaster]

It's not hard to move a safe if you're creative about it. I moved my 1000 pound safe from a garage in Monroeville to a basement in Pittsburgh fairly easily. 3 people loaded it onto trailer, I drove it to the new location and we dumped it into garage fairly easily. Later when I was ready and had the time, 2 men moved from garage, loaded it back on trailer, drove it around front, unloaded it, and jimmied it into yard to put on a Lowe's yard cart.

Then I used winch on my Jeep to lower down sloped yard to get into position for next step. Then I moved Jeep and rigged up winch line to pull the cart up 3 step steps onto back porch. From there, it was just a matter of rolling it into basement on the yard cart. Once in the basement, we had to stand it back up and we did so by pushing it off the cart. It sort of landed on a "corner". The hardest part of the whole thing was getting it from there to an upright position, but it wasn't that hard. Then we just jimmied it over to the corner and I bolted it down (:

Free, if there was a way for PAFOA to give you a medal for not killing yourself, I'd volunteer to pipe you in at the award ceremony.

Thankfully, I now know who I can hire if I ever need one (moved)...

Getting at the ones under the floor are gonna be difficult. Ooops! Did I say floor? I meant rafters. Yes, somewhere up in the rafters...

[ColtShooter]

I disagree. Plenty of older safes around without an RSC rating that are way better than a cheap safe that has it.

Here are some great potential safes for OP, if he lives in the area. If not, his own CL probably has some:

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/atq/5925429628.html (At $350, this is a steal. If I needed a safe, I would go buy it right now)

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/jwd/5930094679.html (I love this TL-30 safe! Even for the price)

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/for/5889803144.html

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/fuo/5880054094.html

Here are some in another area:

http://winchester.craigslist.org/atd/5917169191.html

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/n...931595247.html

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/n...894319538.html

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/spo/5895097720.html

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/for/5935348343.html

I'm with Free on this one as well. Those old double door Diebolds are the way to go. Build an interior for it like you see in the safes that are sold all over and you have something that weighs a ton, takes a lot to move, and have some real space. I have seen them moved with something as large a back hoe and as small as a lift gate truck with a couple guys that know what they are doing. They are not coming back out or being broken into with one guy and a crow bar. They are also pretty cheap for what you get.

[ColtShooter]

Not sure I would lay a Diebold over on it's side though without big equipment. That's where Free is more brave than I.

[free]

Free, if there was a way for PAFOA to give you a medal for not killing yourself, I'd volunteer to pipe you in at the award ceremony.

Heh - thanks (:

I will say, the rigging to get it up the stairs as painless as could be was pretty cool. I'll post the diagram I made later (update: now attached). I have a video of the operation, but I don't want to show my face to you people. You'd gun me down next time you saw me (:

Not sure I would lay a Diebold over on it's side though without big equipment. That's where Free is more brave than I.

Well, there are tricks. But those 1 ton safes - yeah, you need more equipment than I can provide for those (:

safe_operation.jpg

[39flathead]

Be warned that gun safes do not fit as many guns as advertised. Empty they look huge. But when you toss a few rifles in you soon learn they are not.

It sucks taking out six or ten rifles out of the safe to get to that one that is way in the back.

The trick that many people never learn is to first use gun socks to avoid the bumping and banging everyone hates to have happen and the second is to store half of your long guns muzzle down.
If fact, storing muzzle down is better for wood stocked long guns to keep oil from migrating into the wrist area.

I can fit over 30 long guns in a 1.5X3 foot area.

[TXDMERC73]

Or, Schedule 40 PVC cut to length...

and risk scratching the 1000.00 paint job on the safe?

A huge safe is a buy once cry once job, requires 4-5 muscleheads to carry it in the home. Yes add that to the cost of the safe and moving fees... I wouldnt wanna scratch a beautiful shiny finish on a safe.

[Daycrawler]

I have a video of the operation, but I don't want to show my face to you people. You'd gun me down next time you saw me (:

So you're Free, just not Free enough to show you're face, right?

[pitounar]

Keep in mind a gun safe only buys time, and for the most part, protects you against the smash and grab burglars. But if they sell the info to a gang who might be more interested in what is in that safe, they may show up with more equipment to defeat your protection. Been there and done that complete with a shootout! Had two large safes full of guns, mostly high dollar competition guns. Added up to more than 175 guns/rifles/shotguns. Never lost one of them. One was a Treadway, one a custom. I had installed a fire sprinkler head over each just in case of fire as it was an older house. Even with efforts of pros, the safes were hard to get into in a reasonable time without a plasma cutter. Neither was exotic nor expensive...less than $500.
I had both of them bolted to the floor and the wall behind. By themselves, they were heavy enough to require some heavy duty moving equipment and with the guns and ammo they were nearly impossible to move without dedicated moving equipment.
I also installed a 15/20 Watt bulb best gun safe under 1000 that constantly burned for humidity control. Never had any problems.Good Luck