Ways to secure your gun safe

[WokMaster1]

I've been reading about members & their friends getting their whole safe stolen because it was not bolted down.

I am reaching out to those who are very knowledgeable to help teach other members on how to secure their safes by bolting it down to the floor. A tutorial if I may.

Now obviously there are different floor materials. From concrete to wooden floors, etc. What type of bolt to use & what tools you'll need.

There's rental apartments & such to consider. Post your situation & questions & hopefully someone will chime in.

Can anyone help? Pictures would be great too. Once we get enough info, we can hopefully get it stickied for reference. Thanks.

[Librarian]

See the youtube series by Sturdy safe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bU_lFYr7Pk is one of them.

[chim-chim7]

Nail it down on a pallet. 2 part 5 minute epoxy. Hook up 120v straight to the safe door. Put a bear trap in front of it. Trap door under rug. Oh wait those are all bad ideas your looking for good ones right. Big slab of 3,000 psi concrete with steel I beams and rebar. Bolt the safe down with anchors to the steel I beams in the concrete. It really is the best way.

[MrExel17]

Best advice I can give is stop-by home depot and tell them what you'll be doing and they will good you the right materials and equipment if you dont have them already, just be sure to talk to a specialist not a teen that cares only about a check. You can even call the safe manufacture they can also recommend the specs in what to buy!

[Burbur]

#1 If you don't have a hammer drill, seek someone who does, and can do the work for you.

[shmeare]

I'm renting... The best I can do is to make it as heavy as possible w/ ammo.

[jak77]

#1 If you don't have a hammer drill, seek someone who does, and can do the work for you.

Or you can rent one from home depot for like $40. Thats what I did and got mine bolted down.

[dg29]

Hammer drill, drop-in anchors (much better than redhead anchors), bolts and washers. Place safe in location to be installed and mark holes. Slide safe out of the way, mark with tape on drill bit for desired depth, and drill holes. Vacuum holes and install anchors, slide safe into position and then install bolts. If installing on conventional wood floored structure, you'll need steel stock all-thread, nuts and washers. Steel stock needs to go across at least two floor joists.

[kemikalembalance]

i hate to burst the bubble, but the bottom line is if they want it, they will get it. mine is lagged down with four bolts. i have a post-tension slab so they arnt deep. a 1/4 ton pick up and a tow strap at the highest part of the safe will pull it out. so to help counter that (a little), they will have to pull it out face down. that will bust everything all to hell and slow them down from getting in. i also placed semi-perminent structures in the direct path out. that will help slow them down as well. IMHO, i run off the simple car thief theory. if they want it, they will get it. if they get slowed down or are forced to make alot of noise doing it, some one will hear them. hopefully before they succeed.

[Rob454]

I have bolted in a few safes for friends
Concrete- use redhead bolts or similar. I would go on the excessive side and use 1/2 inch even 3/4 bolts. You can always drill the holes in the safe bigger.
One word of advice to anyone is to make sure you CLEAN out the holes after drilling. get as much of the concrete powder out as you can.
Wood-Personally I would use a piece of 1 inch plywood as a subfloor and secure that to the joists and then bolt the safe to that using lag bolts. The flooring plywood that is used for floors is actually a weak material in the sense of if you had a bolt going through it and add leverage to pry. It could simply be ripped out.
The other thing to do is to remove the base board so the back of the safe is as close to the wall as possible and then also bolt the back of the safe to the wall studs because this way they cannot use the safe as the pry tool by simply moving it back and forth or side to side. nor can they get a strap around it to use a vehicle. Well at least without some major labor on their part.If you put it in a corner and are able to bolt it on one side/ back and bottom that safe will probably never be moved.
Fixing a few holes is not a big deal.

My suggestion is also to get a alarm system. yes while they are not full proof and guarantee that they will not break in there are plenty of good wireless systems that can be installed by the average homeowner. Get the system monitored. There are monitoring companies besides the big ones ( ADT pro1 and brinks) and have better rates. hell make the system call your phone if you want. Some systems have a direct connect to the monitoring station where they use the alarm system phone line to call back and speak to you. its literally almost instant ( basically two way comm)/ For the people that are afraid of what central station does when calling you can give them specific instructions on how you want the procedure to work. Say you want police dispatch and then call premises or you have where two or more zones are tripped and in that case call PD without notifying the residence. There4 is a ton of stuff you can do. Either way layered security is the best way to keep people away from your property. DSC wireless system would be my choice for residential. No matter how well you bolt in the safe if you give someone enough time to break into it they can. Now you add a alarm they are on a timetable. Make sure that if you are having the system installed the installer does not lock you out of programming.

[RollingCode3]

Rule #1. Never ever leave all your firearms in one place (safe)

[WokMaster1]

Good advice & how-to so far. Keep them coming.

[Briancnelson]

Best way to secure a safe is if they just don't know it's there.

Get a wall gun safe. They have a lot of models out there. Then tell noone but your immediate family that you have it, or where it is. hide it behind a piece of removable drywall.

The person I know who does this has had their house robbed and thoroughly trashed while on vacation, but they never found the guns and valuables in the two hidden safes, because they were in very unlikely places and well covered.

I have neither the space, the money nor the authorization from my landlord to do this, so I leave my guns with him when I'm on vacation :P

[cabinetguy]

concrete floors, use anchors. wood floors, use grade 8 lag bolts. ditto for the wall. location is also important. a small closet helps as it can negate leverage on the safe. also if it is harder to find, the less the chance of it being ripped off.
one thing to consider, is the fact nothing is permenant. a motivated crook with time and tools can work around any measures you take. thats why places like fort knox, impenetrable as it might be, also has armed guards 24/7.

[joefreas]

When I moved into my house there was a safe that was actually glued down. We had to jackhammer the slab around it to get it out. We tried everything from crowbars, sawsall, and even a hydraulic (jaws of life style) ram. I couldn't believe it when I found out it was glued.