How effective are gun safes

[Bad-mofo]

I had two rifles stolen 10 years ago and while I'm mostly to blame for being careless about gun safes and security alarms, I still tend to think a conventional gun safe only makes it marginally harder for a professional thief. There's no doubt such professional broke into my house and it was later confirmed by all police officers who inspected the scene. You're going to hate me for this remark, but I was impressed myself. As much as we hate thieves, it's just another line of work, and some people are experts.

I do have both the safe and home security now, but have been thinking of getting a better safe. Anyone has a successful (for you, not the thief) theft/burglary story about their safe? I tend to think the alarm would suffice, as the Sheriff's station is around the corner, but what do I know about professional thieves. Anyone tried to open (or just take) your safe and failed? And if they did, what are the chances those people would break into your house again with the proper tools?

[cactus]

Id say it depends on the quality of the safe. Any deterrent is better than none at all. My father in law said it best when I bought my bench rifle. "You just bought a rifle that cost 4 times as much as your safe maybe you should up grade". I have multiple safes now and an alarm an even custom welded latches do I think it will stop a true professional? No. What I do hope is they buy me time and change the mind of lazy low lives who hope to profit off my hard work.

[rp55]

Scary.

[ohsmily]

Scary.

That is a bottom of the barrel safe without multiple locking pins. That video is more or less a sham. Also, even with that bottom of the barrel safe, if it was tucked in a corner and/or bolted to the concrete, they wouldn't be able to generate the leverage and angle that they did to get it open.

To the OP, if there is a professional thief who has special knowledge for opening safes and/or has plenty of time to do it once he is in your house and noise isn't a factor and who knows about your gun collection and wants it, there isn't anything you can do. You can however do many little things to slow even the best guys down. But seriously, if noise and time isn't much a factor, any grinder or cutting tool with an abrasive steel cutting bit and get into most residential safes fairly quickly and with an acetylene torch, fuggedaboudit. My safe is bolted to the concrete and tucked between a wall and my workbench. A thief's best bet for mine might be to wrap chains around and it, hook it to a truck and try to rip it out. That would make lots of noise and attract attention so it isn't very feasible.

[Soldier415]

go check out sturdysafes website, see some of the pics and videos they have on there of safe comparisons when it comes to fire and break ins

[hoozaru]

I am not a fan of Liberty Centurion and Gauge 11 steel, however that video is all Sales BS.

[DVSmith]

Nothing is perfect, and as said before, a motivated and talented thief will most likely get what he/she is after. The idea is to discourage even trying. That is the point of home security system and proper residential lighting and landscaping. The safe becomes a secondary deterrent. If the alarm is blaring and the police are on the way, taking enough time to break into a safe or break it loose from the concrete and studs it is attached to may be just enough to discourage the thief. Short of that, make sure you have enough insurance to cover the loss.

[Bad-mofo]

IMO it'd take more than 2 minutes and with the ringing alarm only very confident thieves would be willing to take chances.

[chsk9]

IMO it'd take more than 2 minutes and with the ringing alarm only very confident thieves would be willing to take chances.

Add my two Rottweilers who get very annoyed when they are woken by the perimeter alarm to the equation. It is difficult to work the pry bar when your leg is being torn off... Also they don't mention the fact that the safe isn't bolted to the floor.

[zinfull]

Pretty much a pro who is good with safes will not touch the gun safe. They will look for the small house safe where you keep jewels and money. Most guns have serial numbers and they keep track of stolen guns. Not a lot of profit in stolen guns any more. When I was a kid you would buy a gun from anyone and never think about if it was stolen. The big factor was if the license number etched into the barrel matched who you bought the gun from.

As far as crack heads and scum you just need to make it hard for them to steal the guns. Most times they will give up before the can break open a good safe.

jerry

[paintballergb]

Another thing to think about when bolting a safe is its location in proximity to a wall. Put a safe where there isn't enough room to use a pry bar.

[ilbob]

You have to think about security as a layered thing. The harder it is for a thief, the less likely he is to come visit you.

The safe is the last barrier.

The cheap sheet metal safes can be defeated most of the time with a big screwdriver used as a pry bar. However, you can make it somewhat harder by bolting the thing into a corner so it is harder to get leverage on it.

A guy told me once he had gotten some hardened chain and a serious padlock and wrapped it around his $99 "safe" to make it near impossible to pry the door off. Not perfect but made it harder for the average thief.

Sadly, a lot of times thieves come to visit where they know there is something they want. Part of your security plan is not to brag about what you have, or any part of your security arrangements.

[AKman]

I keep a little irritating surprise in my safe that is activated when the door is opened all the way.

[berto]

A pro with enough time will defeat your safe but is probably not the guy that will be in your house while you're at work.

A tweaker will likely grab the easiest way to his next high.

[RANGER295]

Door:Body:Fire Endurance:Locking Mechanism:Locks:Auxiliary Key Lock: