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Agreed.

 

I guess it also bakes down to what you can live with and what you can afford. Not everyone can drop $1k on a safe (or justify that expense, if they have the $).

 

I lived with a tin can for better than ten years, then had a (it can't happen to me) house fire...luckily the fire never reached the safe, and it was also lucky I emptied it that night cause someone broke in and ripped it off the wall thinking it was full. It was held onto two studs by six 1/4x4" lags...they pried it right off the wall.

 

That is why I bought a big heavy fire-resistant safe. Live the experience through someone else...

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Something like/similar to the liberty revere 23 is a good starter safe that may take awhile for you to out grow. Strange how having a safe increases your purchases and you will find other stuff to put in the safe. Electronic locks are reliable and much quicker if in a rush.

 

Budget will dictate, as my first one was not fire proof and had a combination dial lock. Traded for upgraded safe on first move. I find it best to go a grade over that if at all possible.

 

Do not forget the gold rod for humidity control.

 

Local is better if you can find a good safe at a good price. Moving can be an issue. You can pay or get a very good large appliance cart/ dolly and some strong friends. Once off the dolly, you can use a large piece of carpet under the safe to move around and turn etc.... the safe.

 

Even Before I had a house, I had a gun safe in the living room of my apartment. In the living room, as that is as far as my friends would/could move it....I paid for moving and delivery on my next safes. If you have guns and or valuables a good safe is a must.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I window shopped for years. Even have a Liberty Safe scratch and dent dealer not far from me (Liberty is only 2 hours away) that has stuff you would struggle to call out any imperfection on for big money off retail - still way more than I want to spend. While Liberty does better than most on prying, they are only slightly better on cutting the sides open with a cutt-off wheel on a grinder. The only safes I have seen that do a good job at protecting against this start in the $3k range, and are as heavy as a truck.

 

Ran across this one day: http://www.samsclub.com/sams/36-gun-safe/prod20595288.ip?xid=plp:product:1:1

 

First, it is a 75 minute safe, not a 30 minute as the initial description says (full description and box say 75), second, value wise it is better than anything I have found.

  • Heavy enough that it will not walk away (mine is secured, but still), and not so heavy that is must be in the basement or have the floor reinforced
  • Great burn rating (time/temp)
  • Backup key (gets me past the fear of the digital lock)
  • Already has electrical outlet installed
  • Door organizer
  • Waterproof to 2' (floats if you don't bolt it down)

It looks better in person. The only gripe that I would put out there, even considering the price, is they mounted 2 of the shelf rails about 1/8" higher than the others so you can see the tilt in the shelves if you stare at it.

 

I added a $30 PEET Safe Dryer, and $25 of LED lights and called it good. Mine is now full, but for the money I can justify buying another and still be ahead of where I would be if I bought a lower end Liberty of the same size.

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Keep in mind that the location of the safe can sometimes be a bigger deterrent to theft, than the actual safe itself. If you limit the space in front and on the sides of the safe, that will go a long way to keeping the contents safe.

 

Also, anyone that has their safe in their basement, probably shouldn't worry too much about fire rating. The contents of the safe will more likely be damaged due to all the water that will end up in the basement after the fire fighters are done fighting the fire.

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Keep in mind that the location of the safe can sometimes be a bigger deterrent to theft, than the actual safe itself. If you limit the space in front and on the sides of the safe, that will go a long way to keeping the contents safe.

 

Also, anyone that has their safe in their basement, probably shouldn't worry too much about fire rating. The contents of the safe will more likely be damaged due to all the water that will end up in the basement after the fire fighters are done fighting the fire.

That depends on your basement layout...they put around 35000 gallons on our house during the fire (seven 5k gallon tankers worth, plus whatever they had in all the trucks on scene), made the basement floor wet and puddled but not standing water.

 

I have a PEET dryer in mine, had golden rods and burnt one of those up (the other is still cooking just fine). The main thing is to have something for moisture control and check things once and a while.

 

I echo the sentiments of buying smaller then buying a second safe as needed...that's my plan as well. Not to mention some of these large safes take a lot of real estate and having two gives you some flexibility.

Something like/similar to the liberty revere 23 is a good starter safe that may take awhile for you to out grow. Strange how having a safe increases your purchases and you will find other stuff to put in the safe. Electronic locks are reliable and much quicker if in a rush.

 

Budget will dictate, as my first one was not fire proof and had a combination dial lock. Traded for upgraded safe on first move. I find it best to go a grade over that if at all possible.

 

Do not forget the gold rod for humidity control.

 

Local is better if you can find a good safe at a good price. Moving can be an issue. You can pay or get a very good large appliance cart/ dolly and some strong friends. Once off the dolly, you can use a large piece of carpet under the safe to move around and turn etc.... the safe.

 

Even Before I had a house, I had a gun safe in the living room of my apartment. In the living room, as that is as far as my friends would/could move it....I paid for moving and delivery on my next safes. If you have guns and or valuables a good safe is a must.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

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That depends on your basement layout...they put around 35000 gallons on our house during the fire (seven 5k gallon tankers worth, plus whatever they had in all the trucks on scene), made the basement floor wet and puddled but not standing water.

 

I have a PEET dryer in mine, had golden rods and burnt one of those up (the other is still cooking just fine). The main thing is to have something for moisture control and check things once and a while.

 

I echo the sentiments of buying smaller then buying a second safe as needed...that's my plan as well. Not to mention some of these large safes take a lot of real estate and having two gives you some flexibility.

 

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

 

For moisture control, I have one of those plug in silica gel things that I have to recharge about every 3 weeks or so. I like having to recharge it because it helps me remember the combination. Ask me how much fun that was when I had temporarily forgotten the combo. :nonod:

Edited by bndawgs
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For moisture control, I have one of those plug in silica gel things that I have to recharge about every 3 weeks or so. I like having to recharge it because it helps me remember the combination. Ask me how much fun that was when I had temporarily forgotten the combo. :nonod:

 

Okay, I'll bite. How much fun was it when you temporarily forgot the combo?

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Okay, I'll bite. How much fun was it when you temporarily forgot the combo?

lol, not much fun at all, since it had the title to my truck that i needed to turn into the insurance as part of the settlement when it got totaled. couldn't find the combo card anywhere either which sucked. it was about a week of trying different combinations of what i thought the code was before i doing some random task and i suddenly had the combo pop into my head.

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lol, not much fun at all, since it had the title to my truck that i needed to turn into the insurance as part of the settlement when it got totaled. couldn't find the combo card anywhere either which sucked. it was about a week of trying different combinations of what i thought the code was before i doing some random task and i suddenly had the combo pop into my head.

 

No stress involved there! Funny how we remember things by not thinking about them. I am guessing you considered testing the integrity of the safe at some point - I was kind of hoping for some story about how you opened it like a sardine can :-P

 

We ran across a small Sentry safe at work that nobody knew the combination for. We paid something like $25 for them to send us the combination only to find a few empty plastic cases inside. I keep the backup keys for my digital pad in locations outside my house. Worst case it is only a couple hour round trip drive.

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No stress involved there! Funny how we remember things by not thinking about them. I am guessing you considered testing the integrity of the safe at some point - I was kind of hoping for some story about how you opened it like a sardine can :-P

 

We ran across a small Sentry safe at work that nobody knew the combination for. We paid something like $25 for them to send us the combination only to find a few empty plastic cases inside. I keep the backup keys for my digital pad in locations outside my house. Worst case it is only a couple hour round trip drive.

 

 

I had the form ready to fax in to the safe company the following day.

 

I have mine written down within easy access to the safe in case memory fails me...at least you didn't have to have the safe company break into it.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

I have mine written down now as well, but I don't keep it near the safe. Just in case.

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What works for me is to pick a date in your life that you (and spouse if such) feel is significant and will remember. July 10, 1998 becomes 071098. Military folks may call it 100798.

 

Or you could use Dr. Pepper. XX1024 or 1024XX. Only two #s to remember. Or for some, Cell phone # can be used to develop a combo.

 

This combo stuff can be an issue. I find the digital locks to be easier to remember/work. No two left, one right plus the combo stuff. My friend developed Alzheimer/ dementia and we and family never thought about the safe till way too late.

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