Gun safe suggestions?

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I want something that if I get a few more guns won't seem crowded, but I don't know if I want to spend the big money on a really big safe.

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Just get a locking metal cabinet - a lot of those safes "in the middle" of the market provide very little additional protection over and above a standard metal cabinet, which is both easier to move and handle.

Having said that, if you're hell bent on buying something that looks like a safe, the rule of thumb for capacity is to get 2x your current number of guns - meaning it should last as long as you've been collecting guns before it fills up - however, you'll find you buy guns if you have a slot in the safe, where being "safeless" might have kept you from adding to the collection before - so there is that phenomenon, too.

An alternative to a full on safe is a vault door - and you just convert a closet in the home to a vault. It is less limiting (space wise), but you don't get much fire protection at all, that way, unless you do additional work to the closet.

But, a true safe from Graffunder or Amsec is the only way to get legitimate safe/vault/fire/theft protection - and even then, you'll have to pay professionals to come in, move it around and bolt it in for maximum security.

And I absolutely don't want to denigrate what those gun safe makers do - Liberty and Fort Knox, particularly, have made products for this market for a long time - and made it profitable enough for all those down market manufacturers to get their sub-$2000 products into a lot of homes.

Obviously any of them are better than nothing. I'm just for people knowing what they're buying.

(ETA: And for clarification, Amsec does make some down market safes to compete with Liberty and Fort Knox, but they also make commercial grade true safes, as does Graffunder and Brown, as other examples).



1. Any safe can be breached - given enough time (Amsec, Graffunder, whatever),

2. Any safe will fail in a fire, given a hot enough fire over a long enough period of time,

3. A dedicated thief will be prepared to handle most of the down market options. If they come in and the safe is smaller - their first instinct will be to just take it. If is bigger, they'll breach it on site

4. The goal of the safe - depending on your risk profile is one or more of the following:

A. To make it more trouble than it is worth, on the theft side,

B. Provide reasonably secure protection against young ones,

C. Some modicum of fire protection - obviously the more the better, but keep in mind many safe makers used ordinary old sheetrock for fire protection, and they test under ideal conditions - take ALL fire ratings with a grain of salt - again, Liberty and Fort Knox are probably a little better in that regard, and even the Amsec and Graffunder models will fail - but, at least those are true safes - if you pay $8k to $15k for an Amsec or Graffunder, you're getting the same equipment used by banks, the military, intelligence organizations, etc.

The rest? A lot of it is status symbol type stuff, rather than actual, legitimate protection.

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or like you said, just a lockable cabinet

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That's where I started, and that's where we should end it - a tool cabinet, metal or even wooden gun cabinet with a lock will be low to mid 3 figures (at most) and accomplish 90% of what the OP wants.

I don't recommend getting into the $600 to $1000 "safes" because you're buying a big, heavy, illusion of security.

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Carson123987

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Thread hijack - Carson, you're a disinterested party in the following hypothetical transaction:

Buyer orders multiple pistols from a local dealer, filling out the 4473 and paying on the day he orders. All but 1 of the pistols arrive the following week and are available to pick up. Buyer calls and confirms this, but is told if he picks up the order, he will have to "redo" his paperwork (whatever that means) when he picks up the remainder of the order later.

How full (or not) of shite is this local dealer?

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At $1600 or so, I am much better off with it that I ever was with the cabinet.

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This is America - if it meets your needs and you're happy with it, who am I to say otherwise?

Did you bolt the safe down at least?

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Ace Midnight

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What do you own? Safe? Metal Cabinet? etc, etc

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I have a custom set up.

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As in a vault? Safe room built into your house?

Thanks! I'm sure everyone is duly impressed!

A metabo and a torch will get through the expensive ones with enough time and effort. The Liberty and Fort Knox safes bolted down and positioned against a wall where it is harder to pry open will keep out the low life smash and grab thieves as well as children.

I personally think anything purchased from anywhere other than a big box store is a good investment, but if the house is a total loss to fire or flood your possessions in the safe will probably also fall into that category.

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How full (or not) of shite is this local dealer?

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he's not. gotta do another one