I certainly think it’s important. So does the owner of CE Safes (retired cop). He uses delivery people who have had background checks. If I recall they are firefighters or something. They also show up in a plain, unmarked truck.Originally Posted by JTQ
Bolt a Stack-On cabinet in a prominent place in your garage. Keep your Snap-On ratchets and your nice drill-driver there. Keeps them away from your neighbors and brother-in-law. Might make idiots think they found your safe. voilà.
If you're cool with not bolting down your safe because you think the weight is sufficient, have at it.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
15 minutes with a cold saw and it's over. Best to have several layers of security in addition to your safe.
The flat dollies are easier to move heavy and awkward things around in a house, you dont lose space from tipping it like regular dollies/hand trucks most commonly seen.
One old semi-frail 80-some year old geezer dude moved a double wide frige/freezer unit himself on one, I then got one and have been liking it. I watched movers use them, good gadgets.
Last edited by Malamute; 08-24-2019 at 12:06 AM.
I don’t remember the exact dimensions, but the one recommendation that you hear over and over, which is absolutely true, is about the size. You will need more space than you think!
When you’re buying online, it’s very difficult to know how big a certain set of dimensions will actually be, once you see it in person, so it’s difficult to know how much space the stuff you have now will take up. And that’s not even accounting for other stuff you will probably want to store inside, such as passports, insurance papers, jewelry, etc.
If you plan to store your ammo in there also, which is smart, you’ll need to allow room for that too. Then your budget comes into the picture, which is the big hurdle.
The ‘get more space than you need right now’ approach could not be more true!! But buying more space is costly, but not having room for everything you want to store, is also costly.
One maker I've seen mentioned very favorably on several boards and forums is Sturdy Safe out of California. They have a reputation for building a no frills no gummicks safe. They are industrial in appearance with plain speckled paint and a lever handle rather than a fancy spoked wheel, etc. Door bolt work is reported to be simple and durable. No corner bolts or active bolts on the hinge side of the door.
My interest in Sturdy is what has me curious about the Fort Knox M2. Specs between the brands with regard to metal are pretty darned close.
Here is a comparison of the Sturdy 72" and 42" wide and the Fort Knox M2 72" tall and 41" wide.
Both safes are 7 gauge body with the top and bottom welded. Plate doors are used for both with the Sturdy using 5/16" plate and the FK using 3/8" steel.
https://www.westcoastsafes.com/produ...241-gun-safes/
https://www.sturdysafe.com/products/model-4227-6
The biggest difference it would seem is in fire protection. The price for the base Sturdy does not include any type of fire insulation. That option, for this size, is almost another $800. This puts the Sturdy quite a bit higher in price than the similar M2.
With that said, the Sturdy price includes shipping and the FK price does not. I guess depending on dealer location you could spend several hundred in freight costs with the M2.
Finally, there is the topic of fire protection itself. Sturdy has some info about fires and such with photos of safes from house fires but they have no time vs temp data. This leads me to believe they have no real test data and/or don't want to disclose that the interior blanket material may not actually work as well as materials used by other companies.
Just some random stuff from looking at a few websites....
Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
I would put more faith in Sturdy Safe's fire protection than I would Fort Knox's.
At least Sturdy's hasn't actually been proven to be bogus, and its theories make sense.
Fire boards, however, are basically understood to be worthless for the use of fire protection in a safe. So that's just wasted money to begin with in a Fort Knox, full stop.
Last edited by TGS; 08-24-2019 at 09:24 AM.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
There's plenty of debate on the effectiveness of Sturdy Safe's blanket material. It is strictly an insulator and nothing more.
Fire board aka sheetrock is known to emit water vapor when subjected to high heat. All gun safes operate in this manner. At least all that use a gypsum or vermiculite layers.
None of the gun safes on the market are actual UL rated for protection against fire. Likely because nothing will pass a UL fire test. Most early gun safes were unlined metal boxes. Fire lining was probably originally added as a sales gimmick. A way to boost a safe's published weight and make it appear heavier and, therefore, more secure.
I personally don't think buying a gun safe for its fire protection is the right approach. Security and theft protection should be the main purchase concern with fire protection a secondary consideration. With that said, if all else appears about equal I would probably use fire rating as a tie breaker.
Perhaps the biggest argument against the blanket-type lining is that few other makers use it. I believe it was Browning Pro Steel that used a blanket back in the 1980s but they are now using fire board like most everyone else.
Still, there are plenty of pics out there showing safes from house fires where the contents survived. Maybe these linings do actually work....
https://youtu.be/1emdpdLWhH4
Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
Really cool thread! Could someone build added fire protection around the safe itself if you had enough space? Someone above posted putting the safe in its own room with a steel door. What if your wrapped Sheetrock around the safe in its own room? Possibly build a mini room around the safe with concrete block and then drywall the outside so it doesn’t look weird in your house.
Maybe put a commercial grade fire sprinkler system in that room? Probably big bucks to retrofit an existing house due to plumbing needs for that. Maybe if you had enough dough and were building custom you could have the contractor install fire sprinklers in the whole house? Maybe a block house is less apt to burn than a wooden house?
I dream about someday saving up the scratch for a new house with cool upgrades like this! I keep my mouth shut about guns I own and have a home alarm system so I think fire is a bigger threat to me than theft.
I don’t know much about fires but even if put some custom suppression system in a tiny room around the gun safe, if the rest of the house is burning then that heat would still damage the guns I bet. That’s why I was thinking a block home might be more fire resistant. The furniture and stuff would burn but I don’t think the concrete block would burn. Anyone here know or have ideas on attainable custom ideas that aren’t millions of dollars?
And other than initial cost is there any downsides? I’d hate to burn bacon in the kitchen and have the sprinklers ruin my flat panel television! I think the sprinklers are pretty robust though and only kick in if there’s a very high temperature not just smoke or false alarms.
Last edited by talos; 08-25-2019 at 12:10 AM.
Reply With Quote