Gun Safe Story

[Jeff B]

Dude - where'd ya find that beast?!?!? Been tryin' to find one that size for the garage....

I've been thinking about something like that for the garage, but have been concerned that having the safe in the garage is too exposed. That said, about a year ago, I had the crappy one one layer aluminum garage doors replaced with two thickness, insulated steel doors.

You think a large safe bolted down would be reasonable in an attached garage?

The bedroom clost safe is maxxed out (actually, there is overflow).

Jeff B.

 

[TexasRedneck]

Same issue I've got, Jeff - my Ft. Knox is filled to the max, and guns keep showing up lookin' to be adopted, so it's gotta go to the garage. I figger if it's good enough for jewelry, it'll do the job for me.<G>

 

[junkyguns]

having the safe in the garage is a bit of a challenge , you must stay on top of the weather first, if it is raining you dont even want to open it up , when it is cold the outside swaets just like a cold beer on a hot day , you must have a golden rod or equivilant , I also keep to tubs of damp rid in there which has to be changed one time every month and a good oil wipe down once a month is a must. I have never neglegted this but one time I was gone out of town and came home to a near catastrophe, back in october while getting ready to go to colorado elk hunting the excitement of goine overwhelmed me and it was time to change the damp rid and it i didnt happen, when i got home 20 days later well I had to rifles in there that was just about to start "RUSTING" I had to wipe them all down right then and off of two of therifles I got that "UGLY" orange residue off of the barrels ......damn near sickening.


and for waht roger says, yep a good bunch of neighbors cant be beat but fot he most part I am surrounded by single women but they dont even miss a cat walkiing down the street .
we have had two incidents here on my block neither ended in less than felony charges so far only one had the pleasure of seeing my nickle 357 snubbie !

another word to the wise , after the last incident I ask the officer that came out just what were our rights as a nieghborhood , he told me flat out if you have your neighbors permission to protect thier property you are inside ofthe law , if not and you use a weapon to defend or even hold the punks you can and most likely will be arrested ( but ususally released ), so if you are like me and most of you readingthis is ..... get your neighbors written permission to protect thier property.
with or with out if i see someone attempting something uncool around here I will and do get involved I will not tolerate my neighbors and good friends being victimized
I do make my 2nd ammendment rights know around here and any and everyone around me knows that if the shit hits the fan I am here and very well armed !
I have been stopped getting out of my truck by several folks asking me why are you getting out of your truck with a pistol in your hand... my answer is because i don't like leaving it in the truck !

 

[Fisherman777]

Guys,

If you're really interested in keeping your stuff secured, you need to look at a bigger picture. Any metal box can be opened by a BG (Bad Guy). The idea is to slow them down until other measures can come into play. If they want it badly enough, they'll get a dozer and smash the walls down down to get the box. That's where the neighbors come in.

I live on a dead end street where all 26 households know everyone around here. During 2 hurricanes, everyone bugged out leaving Little Bonnie and Big Flash to watch the whole neighborhood. We had every phone number of the neighbors and several 12 gauge shotguns. Folks who turned down our street were met with two very determined and armed people. Most turned around and left pronto without talking to us.

When I leave for a weekend trip, my neighbors know how long I'll be gone and if anyone should be around my place. On the last trip, my next door neighbor said: "don't worry, you have an armed neighbor!" My reply was "So do you!"

I keep a loaded 12 gauge by my door. I also bought a pair of S&W handcuffs. Someone messing with my neighbors' place had better be willing to offer ID or run real fast.

Someone was loading furniture from one of my neighbors place into a truck. He didn't look familiar so I stopped my vehicle, backed up, got out and demanded to see ID.

About 3 days following Hurricane IKE, my neighbor from 5 or 6 houses down the street woke me up (I was sleeping with the windows open). She told me a strange car had been going up and down the street and she asked me for help. The shotgun and I answered the call.

There is no doubt in my mind that a strange vehicle parked in front of my house would stir up my armed and dangerous neighbors. Hauling something out of my place would earn the thief a lethal dose of lead poisoning.

My neighbors daughter was burned out by a fire in her apartment. We all dipped in for stuff to help. I donated two dressers and offered a desk, too. When Don lost his Dad, I was over there mowing his yard. This week, I was all but crippled with a dose of joint pain. Don brought a plate of great food over to me.

That's the way a neighborhood is SUPPOSED to work. Taking the neighborhood away from the BG's starts with you.

Summed up: The steel boxes are nice but it's only part of the story. Get to know your neighbors. Be a neighbor to them and they will take care of you.

Flash

Excellent! That's the way it's supposed to work. Good job!

 

[Texas42]

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBhOjWHbD6M&feature=related]YouTube - Security on Sale Gun safe Prying video[/URL]

This is a video, obvously by a safe salesman. You can fast forward a bit.

Long story short, they took a decent, thousand dollar safe, and pried it open in less than two minues with a pry bar and a crow bar.

Junkyguns, do you have a de-humidifier in your safe?

 

[junkyguns]

I have a golden rod that stays on 24/7/365 and two tubs of damp rid that has to be changed every month but it works ,if it was inside the house it would be a little less work ,but changing the damp rid takes only a couple of minutes I try and do that and change the air filter in the house at the same time . one helps me remember hte other

 

[junkyguns]

in that video , the main rule was broken for safe owners ....BOLT IT DOWN, had that cheap safe been bolted it would have been 10 times harder to open note the one guy nearly sitting on the long bar ,in the upright position he could have not gotten the leverage he needed and it may have defeated them.
the average punk that breaks into a home will not have a 6foot prybar under his hoodie. usually a burgular will seize an opportunity using what ever tools you have on hand other than his entry tools which is usually a small pry bar or even a screwdriver , if you bolt a safe to the floor or even a wall throught the back or bottom it takes a truck to pull one over. I am not saying that it cant be done but it makes it a bit more of a deterent for them ,bottom line there isn't a safe that cant be opened mine included.
A home burgulary is like walking into a garage sale they never know what is going to be inside till they get in ,unless they have been inside your home before and come back on a mission.they will not have the tools and most likely will not succeed in a safe opening.
again everyone should have ALL serial numbers recorded and pictures as well.

one of the best gun safes I have ever seen was barely secure enough to keep a kid out but it was one of disguise an old soda vending machine with the internal parts removed ,the power cord hanging over the front of the door and and an out of order sign on it ....it is a soda machine why would someone take the time to investigate it ???

 

[thorkyl]

In the video, you notice the first thing they did?
put it on its back.

If you have it bolted to the floor and the wall that would take the a while to do.
Also if you have the opening side of the door against a wall it makes it harder for them to pry.

Now if your like my neighbor at the end of the road...
They took a chain saw to his floor and walls and just drove off with the safe in the middle of the night.

 

[IronFixXxeR]

A soda machine gun safe sounds like an awesome idea.

"Hey burglar, would you like a soda? Leme grab one for ya..."

 

[2Shots1Wound]

You asked about safe failures. I'm currently waiting on a locksmith to replace my hub\spoke. The safe is a Cannon and the threaded shaft connecting the safe to the locking mechanism has stripped out (to open the safe you have to pull hard on the wheel, this completley came apart last time I opened the safe!).

 

[DCortez]

in that video , the main rule was broken for safe owners ....BOLT IT DOWN

Bet you can still slip the blade of a reciprocating saw under a safe and cut the anchors in seconds. Blades are flexible and thin.

 

[TexasRedneck]

Bet you can still slip the blade of a reciprocating saw under a safe and cut the anchors in seconds. Blades are flexible and thin.

You're presuming:

1) The perps will have one with 'em. Most of the ones I ever encountered were doin' good to have the tools necessary to break in, since they generally would just use whatever was at hand to break a window.

2) That the anchor iswithin reach of the blade. Most blades have an effective max cutting depth of 4".

3) That some grinch SOB such as myself hasn't installed yet a 5th anchor smack-dab in the middle of the safe - seen any 14" blades?

4) That they're gonna be doin' all that while the alarm is blarin'.

One other Word to the Wise, though. How many of you have large drills or torches/plasma cutters at home? My plasma head resides in the safe when not in use, as did my torch tips before I gave the rig to the youngest son. Bottom line, though - MOST thieves are gonna smack it a time or three, then move on. They're thieves BECAUSE they're lazy!

 

[junkyguns]

Bottom line, though - MOST thieves are gonna smack it a time or three, then move on. They're thieves BECAUSE they're lazy!

but you can count on them beating hte dial out of it because it didn't open for them thier intelligence level says beat the dial then it will open.

for the torchers , just have you a sticker made that reads .....Black powder stored inside torch at your own risk but please kick in my back door so my dogs can get out when the house blows !!

 

[onac255]

Guys,

If you're really interested in keeping your stuff secured, you need to look at a bigger picture. Any metal box can be opened by a BG (Bad Guy). The idea is to slow them down until other measures can come into play. If they want it badly enough, they'll get a dozer and smash the walls down down to get the box. That's where the neighbors come in.

I live on a dead end street where all 26 households know everyone around here. During 2 hurricanes, everyone bugged out leaving Little Bonnie and Big Flash to watch the whole neighborhood. We had every phone number of the neighbors and several 12 gauge shotguns. Folks who turned down our street were met with two very determined and armed people. Most turned around and left pronto without talking to us.

When I leave for a weekend trip, my neighbors know how long I'll be gone and if anyone should be around my place. On the last trip, my next door neighbor said: "don't worry, you have an armed neighbor!" My reply was "So do you!"

I keep a loaded 12 gauge by my door. I also bought a pair of S&W handcuffs. Someone messing with my neighbors' place had better be willing to offer ID or run real fast.

Someone was loading furniture from one of my neighbors place into a truck. He didn't look familiar so I stopped my vehicle, backed up, got out and demanded to see ID.

About 3 days following Hurricane IKE, my neighbor from 5 or 6 houses down the street woke me up (I was sleeping with the windows open). She told me a strange car had been going up and down the street and she asked me for help. The shotgun and I answered the call.

There is no doubt in my mind that a strange vehicle parked in front of my house would stir up my armed and dangerous neighbors. Hauling something out of my place would earn the thief a lethal dose of lead poisoning.

My neighbors daughter was burned out by a fire in her apartment. We all dipped in for stuff to help. I donated two dressers and offered a desk, too. When Don lost his Dad, I was over there mowing his yard. This week, I was all but crippled with a dose of joint pain. Don brought a plate of great food over to me.

That's the way a neighborhood is SUPPOSED to work. Taking the neighborhood away from the BG's starts with you.

Summed up: The steel boxes are nice but it's only part of the story. Get to know your neighbors. Be a neighbor to them and they will take care of you.

Flash

Wow...That warms my heart to know there are still places like that to live in.

Gives my hope.

 

[TexasRedneck]

True 'nuff - I've got neighbors that'll get involved in a heartbeat - as will I. Thing is, sometimes folks are busy and/or don't notice. Me, ah figger the least ah kin do is make 'em WORK for what they steal!

 

[DCortez]

2) That the anchor iswithin reach of the blade. Most blades have an effective max cutting depth of 4".

There are some 12" out there. I carry a reciprocating saw, hammering drill, and crap load of anchors every day.

 

[TexasRedneck]

Yeah - but how many CROOKS do?

Oh....never mind!

 

[Jeff B]

There are some 12" out there. I carry a reciprocating saw, hammering drill, and crap load of anchors every day.

T.R. beat me to it... I was about to inquire about your line of work.

Jeff B.

 

[DCortez]

Part of our job is installing and de-installing racks that are anchored into flooring. We slip the blade under the rack and slice the anchors off at the floor.

 

[TexasRedneck]

Part of our job is installing and de-installing racks that are anchored into flooring. We slip the blade under the rack and slice the anchors off at the floor.

....and tell me again how many folks carry these extended blades around on break-ins?