I have a Browning safe. Big bad motha’ it is, too. Over the last few years it’s begun to look a bit…cramped. With no prospect of it looking any less crowded. How did that happen? I blame the safe. If it didn’t hold so many guns, I wouldn’t own so many guns. Right? Seriously, isn’t that how it works? Also, at what point do you buy a second safe? And at that point, do you resign yourself to eventually own a third? Please. Help a brother out.
Yup. Had to buy a fat boy as a second.
Now there is room. (To add more).
I shoulda gone with a fat boy on my first safe. The Lincoln is a fine model, but it’s getting cramped.
Sooner or later every gun owner needs more #SafeSpace.
#safespace. That’s hilarious. The pun is intended right? With all the whiners needed a safe space not to be ridiculed
Of course. 🙂
I’d like to see some articles about safes if TTAG is looking for new material. I think this would be great info for new and experienced shooters alike.
Ditto.
+ 1
As much as I like TTAG this guy gets down into the minutiae.
http://gunsafereviewsguy.com/
He hasn’t contradicted much, if anything, that I learned reading and researching prior to finding his articles.
We need to take control of that hashtag. I’m thinking gun blogger posting safe pics, showcasing guns on Twitter and such.
Think of all the “triggering” from them seeing the triggers on all those scary metal boom sticks!
It’s a corollary to Parkinson’s Law of Data ( http://catb.org/jargon/html/P/Parkinsons-Law-of-Data.html ) Stuff will always expand to fill the available space.
Don’t buy the new safe until you have enough cash to purchase the safe and the first, shiny, new firearm to christen said storage.
Damn I love conspicuous consumption!
one does, indeed, fill whatever space is available. Buy the next safe. And fill it too. Keep that pattern up for a lifetime.
There’s no such a thing as too many firearms. There’s a point of “just right”, but never too many….
Start collecting safes – buy them used for the price of moving them.
But that safe in the video isn’t even full yet!
No. Liberals do.
I’ve only had the first safe for a couple months, and already it has insisted on 4 new guns, while I haven’t managed to get around to putting all the old guns in it. I gave up on ammo almost immediately, stacking it around on the floor surrounding the safe (big closet), cleaning gear in another corner. Still, the rest of the house is losing a bunch of scattered gun stuff, the bride likes the safe to keep her *real* jewelry and papers in, and I suspect that eventually we will toss/donate most of what we moved out of that closet to put the safe in it. My plan was to have a spot for all the gun cases/boxes from the assorted guns, already gave that up, too, they’re going in the attic. A project, that’s for sure. But no! No second safe. Promised the wife new DPMS GII/Leupold is (probably) the last gun I’ll buy. Of course, if one follows me home …
You promised your wife that you’d only buy one more gun? Like, only one in the next calendar year, or forever? Do you intend to “trade” for more guns in the future, or did you just plan on breaking that promise eventually?
The best I’ll promise is to “enjoy the ones I have for a while” lol
I just promised I’ll “try” to keep it to one new gun a year… First two years of gun ownership I had a lot of “catching up” to and she did eventually notice…
RF, contact a contractor who can build you a secure gun room.
Your daughter doesn’t need all that space in her room… 🙂
You’re relatively new to the gun thing. Eventually the whole acquisition thing kind of stabilizes and presumably you won’t lust after every new cool thing that hits the market. I’m far more interested now in gunsmithing my own or (slowly) building new ones, instead of buying ever-more-expensive safe queens.
Hm. “Safe queens”. So, I have a Colt Vietnam Special Edition .45, 1 of 200, gold inlay and such. How am I going to convince myself to put it in the safe? That would sort of defeat the purpose, no? Plus, it hasn’t seen the inside of a safe for the past 40 years, why start now? Guess I answered my question. Maybe I should put my Kimber “mantle gun” in the safe, and load the Colt for HD?
If it’s a problem, don’t buy a safe! I haven’t. The cost of a real safe is greater than the value of all of my firearms.
To a point, Mark N. is right. Most of the “safes” that we would buy are really better described as “heat and theft resistant containers”. Those containers protect your firearms for a time if there is modest house fire … and they protect against “smash and grab” thieves. But a really BIG fire … or motivated thieves with a couple hours time will defeat your “heat and theft resistant containers”.
When I said, “To a point …”, that actually depends on how many firearms you have and how much it would cost to replace them. There would obviously be a break-even point somewhere.
Yes.
I bought a Fat Boy when I had less guns than fingers and toes.
Now? Let’s just say I have a problem and could probably use another safe.
My “practical” side tends to win out more often than not when it comes to guns I want so I don’t see myself ever needing more than 1 average size save. With few exceptions if I don’t have a purpose to shoot it, I don’t purchase it. Although a second safe for the wife’s and maybe eventually kids guns may become a necessity.
Yeah, as soon as he found out I had a safe, Son the Elder brought back 2 guns I had given him, and the WWII Nazi SS dagger his granddad gave him, said he’s got a rifle and a pistol, he lives downtown and that’s enough. Since the 2 guns were a Python and a Detective Special circa 1972, I made room for them!
But I dunno about only having guns I have a purpose for, that would leave me with a puny 9mm and my bride’s .38, and no safe! No, not good.
It’s time to start thinking about an arms room, or at least a reinforced closet.
My uncle recently remodeled his house and did that very thing. Concrete walls and a vault door. After seeing it in person the first time, it’s the only way to go.
What type of safes do you all have. The legit kind or the locker metal type. I have one of each. Ammo goes in the locker metal type one.
I have a Zanotti Armor modular safe, since my wife gets antsy when she lives in the same house for too long. I don’t have to advertise that I have a safe by getting a moving company. Just pull off the door and pull out the pins, and I can move it myself. And it is much better constructed than most typical fun safes.
Yes. Gun count will expand to fill all available space +10%. At which time you buy another safe, and repeat…
You are thinking all wrong. You need a vault.
No, gun safes do not attract guns. Instead, gun safes multiply like jackrabbits in the middle of the night when we are asleep. I went from one to three at the speed of light. Now I’m afraid that my guns safes will take over my home entirely — and then they will come for me.
Does anyone know if there are contraceptives for safes? And if so, are they available in different sizes?
“Does anyone know if there are contraceptives for safes?”
Yes.
It’s called ‘Divorce’…
Don’t know about the contraceptives. I went the route of keeping a floodlight on them 24/7. All I can say at this point is that they must be going it with the lights on.
I have actually looked at the idea of a vault door. Dream of my own version of a Cabela’s Gun Library. Maybe that would set a reasonable boundary. I mean the fixings in a room can multiple – ample evidence of that – but wouldn’t it break some physical law for an entire room to spawn another room?
“All I can say at this point is that they must be going it with the lights on.”
Show some consideration for them and get a CD of cheesy 70’s porn music and set the player for endless replay…
Perhaps cut a deal with them… consider building a house made of safes?
“Do gun safes attract guns?” Aren’t first world problems a b*tch? ?
“Aren’t first world problems a b*tch?”
It sure beats the third-world variety like Dysentery and Cholera…
I just converted a part of the basement into a gun room on 2 sides the foundation is backed by granite that the space was carved from the other 2 walls are high strength concrete 18″ thick withe 4 times as much rebar as code requires and the ceiling is also of this special “Vault Spec” concrete the door is a huge former bank vault door with glass relockers time clock etc. dating from 1929 that i got for its scrap price when a bank was being torn down the whole ting is designed to preserve the contents even if the house burns down around it… it is set up inside as comfortable study with a gun care bench and a reloading bench … total cost was about $25,000 when I had it built about 15 years ago. I have never used the time lock feature but like the rest of the huge door its in perfectt working condition… a representative of the manufacturer supervised its removal and installation to the Industry standard (there are sections of hardened steel rod inside of pipes used instead of rebar scattered throughout the walls and roof for example)of the time.
Could I have spent that cash on say 4 safes at $2,500 each and had $15,000 more to spend on guns? yes but they would not be anything like as secure more would I have a totally firesafe safe room for my house
Oh, come on, now. We don’t know where you live, we can’t come and rob you, couldn’t we get a picture of that? It sounds amazing.
And you have a place to go in case of tornadoes.
I’ve drawn up a bunch of designs like this for when I build a house (after the wife is out of Vet school, dang is that expensive!).
A bank vault door is a good idea. I was going to use a locking ships door, but I like your idea better.
The steel rod inside of pipe is an old prison construction trick.
Unless you have 2 saws attacking it at the same time on each side, it defeats them handily…
But does it defeat a grinder, cutoff wheel?, or oxygen-acetylene torch?
Probably not, it’s meant as a deterrent to a hacksaw or a cablesaw.
There are other tricks like pressurizing the pipe with a dye to show sawing attempts…
As a welder I will tell you that no metal you would use for this stands up to an oxy torch (doesn’t have to be acetylene though that would be the choice gas) or cutting wheel in the right hands provided those hands have the time to deal with the situation.
Facing bar inside pipe I would prefer the torch, but using a grinder I would section the pipe and then go after the rod to avoid shattering the wheel. Added time… 10 minutes per cut absolute max. Likely more like five minutes or less, depends on the pipe. The question then is how long is a response time and how many cuts need to be made.
A “port-a-torch” unit will cut through that metal+ pipe in seconds if the guy using it knows what he’s doing with the torch and has clean tips but the metal will remain hot enough to cause severe burns for 5-10 minutes. If they brought a fiber glass blanket to cover the hot points or cans of compressed air to cool the metal you’re SOL, but if they didn’t they’ll be in the hospital after touching the area around the cuts.
A grinder will make a lot of noise and combined with a security system, such a time delay should be nearly 100% effective at preventing theft as long as the thieves don’t use explosives to just breach the wall.
Truth be told, no security made by man cannot be defeated by man. The question is if you can offer enough deterrence for them to just leave or cost them enough time that they are forced to choose between leaving and getting caught.
Replying here as I can’t reply directly to Wilson’s excellent comment,
its all about the delay (how will anyone know what they face before the attack (i but this so long ago anyone with inside knowledge is 15 years out of date.
I set up the alarm pad which must be accessed (radio type with alarm if loss of signal from the system)with a touch pad that had a normal code for my entry and a “duress” code which is a silent alarm that tells the Police the I am being forced to enter at gunpoint or other dire threat… the duress code gets are the ones smudged from use so using them would not seem odd to anyone watching… any attempt to open the door with out using the key pad would also send the signal it is triple redundant through not only the radio but also the cell system and a 15 min alarm if no “things are fine” signal is received by the alarm company…
Nothing affordable (this system costs me about $100 a month in fees) can do much better and mine of course is vulnerable to corruption at the alarm company (on the theory” if he is spending that much a month to protect things” it must be worth a major risk to rob)
If I am home I am armed 24/7 ( home carry is a Colt SAA in ;45 +p)on my person; (In the shower there is Ruger Mini14 SS within hands reach) and if I am out I have to trust to the alarm company and its systems. ( would love to be abel to set trap guns but sadly the law does not permit them. though anyone the had broken through the locked doors between the entry and the vault door surely has shown intent to commit a felony 🙂
as to why the colt SAA? I shoot over 2500 rounds a year in SASS.org and I have total confidence in my abilities with it .( its actually A Ruger Vaquero with a transfer bar and coil springs so I load 6 rounds not 5 at home) it has been slicked up for max performance in Cowboy action shooting and I am confidant in my abilities with it are good enough to get me to my AR-180 home defense gun.
During the housing crash, I placed an add in various local rags advertising safe removal for free. The catch, I get to keep the safe. That was my charge for the service. Banks and realtors seem to hate those things so I received plenty of calls. I now have 4 safes I obtained for free. 1 dedicated to pistols, 1 for rifles, 1 for C&R and 1 for papers, jewelry etc. The rest where either sold or given to family.
I own an electric stair climber which made most of those moves easy.
In all honesty the combination of having a safe and the wife going back to school put the breaks on my buying of more guns. Whereas in previous years I would have bought bought 3+ this year it will likely just be the G21 Tactical I got the wife and another .45 Osprey to compliment that pistol so that she stops stealing the one off of my USP.
Our house has an old coal room in the basement. I put a steel door and a electronic deadbolt on it, made a rack and mounted it on the wall. That rack got full, so I had to make a new two tiered one and a shelf for my pistols. Wife calls it “The Armory.”
If you install it, they will come.
I blame the safe. If it didn’t hold so many guns, I wouldn’t own so many guns. Right?
This is why gun safes should be banned.
An empty safe is a crying event.
They work great silencing mouthy kids.
Scream all you want, you little bastard…
*snicker*
***COMMENT NOT RELEVANT TO THIS POST***
Has anyone seen the post about Shannon Watts getting sexual threats and individuals downloading her facebook pictures?
Sounds like someone finally did an interview with Dirk Diggler!
You mean this one? –
“These are the threats you get when you lead a gun-safety group”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/05/05/these-are-the-threats-you-get-when-you-lead-a-gun-control-group/
I miss Dirk.
I guess we will have to wait until the Moms make another serious attempt on or rights…
For you renters out there just remember: would you rather move a few small safes or pay someone to move a huge one? After I moved out of the family home I started over small, bought one just to hold lowers,handguns, bolts etc. I figured i might get robbed, but at least all the firearms would be inoperable at the time. figuring out how much easier it was to move was a bonus.
I was told that gun safes as a class are almost worthless verses other types of security by a locksmith who i respect but of course he may have been salting his own mine.
They can not come close to the UL standard safe standards for time to defeat entry or the fire protect ( note that they are for the paperwork and bank notes to survive (not a word about how well your polymer frame pistol will remain undamaged) standards. It comes down to every time how long will it take a prepared skel to defeat it and/or how long will it take the normal opportunity sort of housebreaker to get past…
It all comes down to risk mitigation. I am now in the sunset of my life and I live alone. How do I balance the paranoia of this way of existence with a reasonable (within my financial constraints ) level of security.
Note that I have had in the past a full FFL as a gunsmith and most recently as a C&R FFL so I am already in the government databases.I have been so since I got my first CCL in Connecticut in 1967,
I later had one from 1975 In Massachusetts so as far as being on a government see and isolate list I have been screwed since 1967. (I was a pilot flying the days receipts from small banks all over new England to the federal reserve in Boston every night)
(Here is an interesting note for all of your big bore CC fans my normal CC weapon is a Walther .32 ACP PPK that was a WW 2 bring back of my Dads and it remains so to this day. I can not recall the las t time i left the house without it in its Bianchi shoulder holster.. Well except for the flights to Snta Fw NM every other year to visit my older sister… and I don’t mind telling you I felt naked on those flights/.
YES i am one of those Accuracy under stress sort of CC types and I put in the practice to maintain my skills. I loaded After fasting the slugs 260 g .45 over 2,500 of them this winter a;most 100 lbs of lead from scrap (mostly roofers and plumbers lead, these days )(the time of free wheel weights from the tire shop are over I fear. When I was younger the price of 5 Gal container of old wheel weights was a case of bud from the local shops.
I shoot several hundred rounds theough it each year and while I am not as comfortable with it as I am with my .45 SAA i know i can put the slugs where I want them to go even en under pressure as I get to use the local county shoot house with the sherif’s department several times a year and if I am not in the top 5 or 10 each year I would be very disappointed in myself.
As I age I know I have to lower my sights as to what is an acceptable level of expertise… and at some point I will have to either turn in my guns or take that long walk off of a short pier… but that day will come to us all, if we all are lucky enough to live that long… but my goal is ti ti push myself every week until the younger folks at my gun club take me aside and tell me that my time has come to hang them up.
it will come to all of you young whippersnappers some day if you are lucky enough to live so long… the measure of a man is how he accepts that assessment from his friends.
Note when you pass 60 make an extra effort to make some younger friends it really is important,\.
Hah, the size of my safe is the limiting factor on how much ‘more’ I can have. Right now, if I want something, I have to sell something.
Yes, I could get another safe, but then I’d have to fill it. Open space in a safe is a crime 😀