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Old 10-27-2013, 14:18   #48
The Reaper
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Free Pineland
Posts: 24,829
Quote:
Originally Posted by Papa Zero Three View Post
Thats a good video, he covers a lot of good points but its still obvious he has an agenda and is pushing his preferred brands as he doesn't carry some of the other manufacturers products that have similar characteristics. None the less, it is good information in what has to be one of the most convoluted markets when it comes to doing research and comparison of the products out there.
He carries more brands and models than any other dealer I have seen bar one who is also a wholesaler in SC.

The facts he gives are correct and accurate. The door thickness claims and failure to have the body armored in relation to the door are good examples.

I have never bought from the guy in the video or visited him. I did work in a gun shop that also sold a lot of brands, and through SHOT attendance, got to meet the manufacturers and hear some of their advice.

You do not have to spend $5,000 to get a good safe. OTOH, a safe that can be popped by a kid with hand tools in less than ten minutes is really not much security either.

I have personally owned four safes and a vault from four different manufacturers. At work, I have worked with as many as 20 safes in a TS SCIF before. I have helped locksmiths open safes at home and at work.

Here are my tips:

1. Buy more safe than you think you need. One that will hold twice as many guns as you have is not bad advice, especially if they are scoped. You will run out of space before you think you will.

2. Get the thickest door steel that you can afford (not composite thickness, steel plate thickness).

3. Get a body half the thickness of the door or more, with continuous welds.

4. Get at least the double fire liner.

5. You want as many bolts and the largest diameter you can get.

6. You need a rated combination lock. Get at least an S&G or a comparable one, with the glass relockers. If you are not concerned about EMP, get an electronic lock.

7. Bolt the safe securely to the floor, and with the least outside access to the body (sides, back, top, floor) you can manage.

8. Add additional storage features, good lighting, and a dehumidifier as you can, but run the power into the safe before you bolt it down.

9. Avoid any safe made in China and look for a US made safe. Makes with a UL rating are better. If you think all you need is a steel storage cabinet, don't store anything in it you cannot afford to replace.

10. Do not store prybars, sledgehammers, cut off saws, pinch bars, or torch sets near the safe.

11. Use your alarm and security cameras, etc. to help protect your safe's contents.

12. Better to pay more for the best than to lose your guns or have to sell one to upgrade to another larger or better model.

Just my .02, YMMV.

TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

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