Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

I've been looking at safes and had no clue there were so many on the market. I dont want anything cheap nor do I want to spend a small fortune. I want to protect my guns/ammo/other valuables and have plenty of room to grow. I'm leaning towards Browning on the upper mid range side and Winchester or Stack-on for a starter model. I would appreciate your thoughts. I've inspected a Stack-on elite up close and am familiar with those models. Anyone have a Browning or Winchester? Also, anyone have any experience with gunsafes.com?

I have a Centurion from Liberty Safes of VA

http://shop.libertysafesofvirginia.com/main.sc

I've looked a the Liberty's. How do you like it?

I like it. I bought it late on a Sunday afternoon at the gun show, so the deals were getting good by then. They even delivered it inside the house for free. Unlike the other safes I looked at, this is a 1200 degree / 30 minute fire safe. And at 420lbs empty, it's not going anywhere.

Sounds like you've got the 24 or 28 inch wide version.

The 17 gun model - 24" W

I picked one up from my local Tractor Supply store. I've been very pleased with it.

http://vagunforum.net/general-discussio ... -t795.html

zephyp wrote:I've been looking at safes and had no clue there were so many on the market. I dont want anything cheap nor do I want to spend a small fortune. I want to protect my guns/ammo/other valuables and have plenty of room to grow. I'm leaning towards Browning on the upper mid range side and Winchester or Stack-on for a starter model. I would appreciate your thoughts. I've inspected a Stack-on elite up close and am familiar with those models. Anyone have a Browning or Winchester? Also, anyone have any experience with gunsafes.com?

Zephyp, your in my world of work now. First decide what your going to store inside. 1:value of weapons and/or ammo or powder. The more value and ammo or powder, then you need fire rating (15, 30, 45, 60 mins of fire rating. This means how long it will with stand a fire outside of the safe before the inside lites up. If you have older guns not replacable or you store a lot of ammo/powber then get a high fire rating. Next to think about is the Bug rating, how easy is it to break into. Anything can be broken into, now how much skill will it take. This comes back to value inside. Do you want to keep your kids out or the bad guys out. Things to look for: 1thickness of walls (can you get in with an ax?) 2: is there hard plate behind lock? drill resistant? 3: on the hinge side of the door are there welded bolts on the door to keep the door from being pryed open (yes some door can be pryed open) 4: type of lock on door, elect or mech lock. My choice is the mech lock because when an elect. lock fails IT IS DEAD! when a mech lock started to fail I van play with it and 90% get it open saving a drilling fee. I hope this helps you some, if you need anymore get in touch with me. This is what I did for a living before being laid off. I had 9 years working on bank vault door and safes.

OK...
I want to keep kids out and the BG's too...
I will have ammo stored, and lots of it...( i hope )

I need space for about 10 to 15 long guns and 10 or so pistols...

the space it will going to be placed is currently a rental so future movement is a liklely possiblity...

If i have to go with a smaller safe...
any recomendations?

Many thanks All!!

BluemontGlock wrote:OK...
I want to keep kids out and the BG's too...
I will have ammo stored, and lots of it...( i hope )

I need space for about 10 to 15 long guns and 10 or so pistols...

the space it will going to be placed is currently a rental so future movement is a liklely possiblity...

If i have to go with a smaller safe...
any recomendations?

Many thanks All!!

I'd look at a minimum 30 min. fire rating. remember a safe with explosives inside is a bomb. You may have firefighters trying to save you home. Since it is a rental you can't bolt it to the floor. Also be aware of the weight of the safe with contents and the floor you put it on. Just remember this as a rule if you buy cheap in a safe, I can get into it a lot faster and easier. Also the lighter it is means I can pick it up with a hand truck and take it away and open at my leisure.

i've got (4) 41" wide fort knox 'executive series' safes and they're pretty nice middle of the road quality. i would love to upgrade to electronic locks but never justified the cost hike.

you can find 31" and 37" defender and maverick models at most dealers. i'd stay away from all the extra bells and whistles like upgraded interior, metallic paint, etc. because they're useless... a safe is a safe.

do your diligence on pricing by searching online and then get a local dealer to match it.

silentshootr wrote:i've got (4) 41" wide fort knox 'executive series' safes

I think we have a winner

BTW, since I'm laid off/retired not sure what yet. I do offer my lock services to anyone on the board here as a favor to our group. Looking more to help the others out more so than make a living out of it. Combo changes or if your taking more than one time to get in let me know, we'll work something out
I did this for nine years and was the company lock instructor

silentshootr wrote: i would love to upgrade to electronic locks but never justified the cost hike.

i should have said... i would love to upgrade to electronic locks but besides pure laziness i've never justified the cost hike.

Thanks, all. I really appreciate that. My biggest problem has been looking at one safe and then looking at the next model up and so on. I start out looking to spend less than $1000 but once I started doing the research figured that aint gonna happen.

Found out today that the locksmith guys right around the corner have a big showroom full of Liberty safes so I'm going over Monday to take a look.

John, thanks for the tips. Not easy pulling all the facts together when you dont know squat about a safe except they keep things secure and have to be checked at the end of each duty day...

Do it right...

That is sweet. I saw some pics of in basement vaults being built while searching for safes. Pretty cool. Would be easy to do in a basement but you would still need to order the vault door to do it right.

That vault was in Charlton Heston's home. I'll refrain from any comments on whether it was still in his cold hands

OakRidgeStars wrote:That vault was in Charlton Heston's home. I'll refrain from any comments on whether it was still in his cold hands

Maybe they put him in there once he was cold. Btw, gonna check out Liberty safes on Monday.

OakRidgeStars wrote:Do it right...

There is a fellow not far from me that has something similar to that with a few class III's won't say how many. You would believe the inspections ATF does on him. He has a vault door like you see in you newer banks. Now his is a VAULT!