Gun safe question, are they really safe?

[JerryK]

I would think the thief would take stuff and run. If he knew about a gun safe, and came prepared with a cutoff wheel.. not much you can do about it. Most small safes seem to be just carted somewhere, and the police find them opened up out in the woods somewhere.... Best you can do is chain it down, and slow them down some more.... But in the long run, if they want it, they can get it......

 

[turnkey4099]

They are very good at preventing theft, preventing kids from getting a gun and preventing you from getting a gun when you need one instanter.

Harry K

 

[Garycw]

That's a interesting question. The electronic key pad just twists off. This so incase of dead battery there's access to a mechanical lock. those types usually come with two mech keys. That would be a good question for the mfg. likewise , you could just cut the wires and energize the coil to the locking mechanism ? Hopefully mfg is smarter than that.
Securing to floor and placing in concrete corner wal helps too. The weakest part of a safe is the back.
I looked at buying a used John Tan safe once. It was rated 6x30. That's 30min each side plus top & bottom protection against torch or anything else. It weighed 10,000 lb

 

[bumperm]

Well, they are better than that. The keypad and sometimes battery holder is the only thing outside the safe. Those wires go inside via a small hole and connect to the logic board that has the output relay to unlock the safe. The only thing going in is logic info on the numbers pushed and power, none of which can be manipulated by shorting or cutting wires from outside the safe to unlock the door.

I once bought a safe that did not have the digital lock properly grounded. When walking across a carpeted floor and touching the lock, the static discharge would make the lock go goofy so as not to open. It was under warranty, so they sent a tech out to fix it. He had a template to drill the door, but I gave it a few more tries as it had been intermittent before. Finally got it open and he simply swapped out the board and grounded it properly - had done a bunch with the same problem prior.

 

[k0ua]

When I was a cop in Oakland, back in the 70's, Leroy and Tyrone went down to Laney College and first broke into the auto shop, where they absconded an oxy-acetylene rig. Hauled that over to the office and set to work in the back room a burnin' the safe. Next morning, when staff opened up, they found the mess left behind. Safe still in one piece, but black soot everywhere, as was most of the room. Seems the bad guys didn't quite know about turning on the oxygen.

Now that there is funny. In a pathetic sort of way.:laughing:

 

[Steppenwolfe]

When it comes to any safe, you get what you pay for. The more that's in it, the more the safe should cost...

 

[Sprinklerman]

I have a good friend who has some nice guns . He has 2 safes , one real fancy sitting in his man room , it has nothing but junk in it . The real safe is incorporated into the house and so well hidden that someone coming in as an in and out bugler would never find it . I tried , It took me 45 minutes and a tape measure to measure the difference in rooms

 

[Pirate]

Not sure if they are good or not. How long will it take you to give him/her the combo when they are beating your wife with a crow bar? Read too where the robbers knocked a hole in the wall from outside (think how easy it really would be), wrapped safe in chain, hooked to truck, and dragged it through the wall to the outside. Entire safe is theirs with time to open.

 

[5030]

Well, I have lots of guns and quite a few are in a 'gun safe' but it's unlocked all the time. They are all insured through the NRA so, if stolen I get reimbursed. I look at any gun safe as nothing more than an organizer for guns. Nothing 'safe' about it. Someone is almost always home and everyone in this house knows how to use a handgun.... huff said.

Has a good friend who had a large safe in his unstairs bedroom. Went on vacation and got broken into. The perps shoved the full safe down the stairs...it broke the stairs, when through the floor into the basement where the perps dragged it out the basement entrance and loaded it into a truck. Safe gone, guns gone, house wrecked.

 

[/pine]

Sage thieves are as likely to just take the safe if they've anticipated their crime...
IMO...the heavier the better...
A couple years ago I helped move a very high quality gun safe (weighed 1700#'s) and with a pallet dolly and a tilt trailer it was not difficult...(with 3 guys)...