Compact Sized Home Safes

**midtownchris** · June 8th, 2011, 11:52 PM

I am looking for some advice about safes. Because of space and such I am not going to be able to get a full size fire resistant gun safe but would like to get something that is compact and fire resistant for the pistols and other things that i have for the times that I cannot take them with me.

I was looking at the "Home Safes" from Liberty (http://www.libertysafe.com/safe_homesafes.php)

Does anyone have any suggestions of what I whould be looking out for and have any recommendations?

thanks.

**Ricochet** · June 8th, 2011, 11:57 PM

Originally Posted by midtownchris

I am looking for some advice about safes. Because of space and such I am not going to be able to get a full size fire resistant gun safe but would like to get something that is compact and fire resistant for the pistols and other things that i have for the times that I cannot take them with me.

I was looking at the "Home Safes" from Liberty (http://www.libertysafe.com/safe_homesafes.php)

Does anyone have any suggestions of what I whould be looking out for and have any recommendations?

thanks.

Is it just for handguns and small accessories?

Take a look at Sentry fire proof safes.
They are actually pretty good safes,very fire resistant and more important very affordable.

http://www.sentrysafe.com/Series/100/Fire-Safes

This is what I have for handguns and other valuables:
I think I bought mine at a Staples store or Office Depot for around $125 or so. It also bolts to the floor and wall studs.

**sprrdhawk44** · June 9th, 2011, 02:07 AM

What Ricochet said, times two. If it is for long guns as well, I believe Sentry makes a taller one for comparable money.

**midtownchris** · June 9th, 2011, 05:46 PM

I saw these at a store the other week and they seemed nice. We spend hundreds of not thousands of dollars on guns, seems silly to go cheap on a safe to keep them from theft. I just wasn't sure how they compared to more expensive safes and if those more expensive safes were better quality for the money or if you were are just defraying the cost of their ad budget.

**SecurityPRO** · June 9th, 2011, 10:12 PM

By putting all of the guns in a safe such as pictured all you're doing is making sure that when you are burglarized they won't miss taking anything! I don't have the time to tell you all of the times that I've seen safes stolen in burglaries......

I tell our clients that unless the safe exceeds 500# it is basically useless for theft prevention, but may be great for a fire safe. You're better of hiding it than putting it in a safe for burglary safe keeping, unless the safe is BIG and HEAVY and nearly impossible to move.

**midtownchris** · June 9th, 2011, 11:56 PM

Originally Posted by SecurityPRO

By putting all of the guns in a safe such as pictured all you're doing is making sure that when you are burglarized they won't miss taking anything! I don't have the time to tell you all of the times that I've seen safes stolen in burglaries......

I tell our clients that unless the safe exceeds 500# it is basically useless for theft prevention, but may be great for a fire safe. You're better of hiding it than putting it in a safe for burglary safe keeping, unless the safe is BIG and HEAVY and nearly impossible to move.

All of this would need to be taken into account. I guess in the end hiding would have the same stalling effect as a safe would in that there are other things that could be stolen a lot faster than hunting for something thatt may or may not exist in the house. The safes i was looking at started at 175#, while not as heavy as 500# or as bulky as a floor standing long gun safe, I was thinking even 175# might persuade the would be robber that other lighter things might be worth the effort.

My thinking may be naive in that respect, so different opinons are good to hear.

**acosenza2** · June 10th, 2011, 12:29 AM

Originally Posted by SecurityPRO

By putting all of the guns in a safe such as pictured all you're doing is making sure that when you are burglarized they won't miss taking anything! I don't have the time to tell you all of the times that I've seen safes stolen in burglaries......

I tell our clients that unless the safe exceeds 500# it is basically useless for theft prevention, but may be great for a fire safe. You're better of hiding it than putting it in a safe for burglary safe keeping, unless the safe is BIG and HEAVY and nearly impossible to move.

You will also want to bolt the safe to both the floor, and the wall studs (not just into the drywall, but into the studs/support beams). If the safe can just be put onto a hand truck and rolled out then it will bite you in the ass. Now if the safe is to keep children out and offer fire protection, then go for it.

**midtownchris** · June 10th, 2011, 05:22 PM

Originally Posted by acosenza2

You will also want to bolt the safe to both the floor, and the wall studs (not just into the drywall, but into the studs/support beams). If the safe can just be put onto a hand truck and rolled out then it will bite you in the ass. Now if the safe is to keep children out and offer fire protection, then go for it.

I was planning on bolting it to something be in the floor or walls or both. There aren't kids involved with this purchase just another layer of theft deterrent for the place. I have to think it over some...

**dannyb** · June 12th, 2011, 10:46 AM

A point about bolting it to the floor. I was discussing this with a safe seller/installer at a gun show. He said that most amateurs run bolts into the floor joists and maybe even into the wall studs, but that won't stop somebody with a good solid iron bar from prying it up which also rips the bolt out of the wood floor (if it's a basement with a cement floor, that's a different story). The proper way to install, according to him, was to run the bolt through a large metal washer below the flooring, then through the flooring, then into the safe. The washer spreads the force of a pry which makes it much harder to pry the safe loose. Don't forget that a burglar doesn't care how much damage he does, he just cares about the time and effort that it takes.

**jerryg** · June 12th, 2011, 10:55 AM

Anybody with moisture problems in their safe? I bought a 200 pounder from Staples about 6 yrs. ago, if I don't keep Damp Rid or something like it inside all my paperwork gets damp. I think the walls are made of concrete for the weight and that is the problem.