I'm looking for a gun safe that will handle up to 24 long guns. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I have a Liberty safe, al Lincoln series. I am very pleased with it.

Rusty
We band of brothers!

Heritage Safe Company (www.heritagesafe.com) makes some very secure gun safes at attractive prices. Another good bet is to find a used commercial safe if you can, more security and fire protection than most gun safes. If you now have 24 guns, get one that holds more than 24 guns.

[ 11-11-2003, 17:55: Message edited by: fla3006 ]

A really large safe is sometimes difficult to find a place for in an existing home. As an alternative, you can get two smaller safes. This has the advantage of not "putting all of your eggs in one basket", since two safes located in separate parts of the residence are somewhat less attractive and subject to break-in than a single larger safe. It takes about the same time and effort to defeat a smaller safe as a larger one, and the thief sees less potential reward. Just a thought.

I will make a few recommendations on safes/vaults, based on the one that I have and the research i did etc. etc.

1. if you have the option convert a closet into a vault, will cost you the vault door plus reinforcement to walls etc., but much more accomodating and allows growth in the collection. I could have gotten a few months ago the prototype for the first vault door the local safe company made for about 650, but I live in a mobile home and don't think the very heavy door could be supported.

2. BUY A BIGGER SAFE. and first look inside it and think about how guns will go in and out. my safe is fairly large and I took the inner rack that the rifle lean on out and cut it about a month ago. I made it one giant U rather than two smaller ones. Now I don't have to remove rifles from the front to get to the ones in back without banging things around. and except for the ones in the back corner I can just lean it to the center and pull it right out. My safe is roughly 24x32x60, and I can fit 18 long guns in there in a way that I am comfortable with. (I hate to bang the stocks and scopes unnecessarily pulling them out and putting them in).

3. Unless it is going to be on display don't pay for all the frills. There is a local company in Fresno where I bought mine that sells serious safes to the local law enforcement and some military, they are made to keep things from getting stolen. they have simple paint jobs, bare interiors with plain industrial type carpet on the shelves. Surely not as fancy as the Liberty, National and others. No spoked wheels. But the owner knows his stuff and will show you what makes a safe seriously reliable. I paid about 850 for mine which is 8gauge, and picked it up myself further saving money. (weighs over 600lbs!!) (oh, they also don't have them UL certified at the local company, although they more than meet requirements, but that saves a couple hundred bucks too!)

some other miscellaneous things. if you want it fancy buy one with a simple finish and have an artist create you something special, I heard of one that was painted like an old coke vending machine so well that until you got close you couldn't tell that it wasn't. :-)

And as far as them breaking into the safe, anybody good enough to get into it without damaging what's inside will get in regardless. the goal of the safe is to deter people who might try a crowbar, sledge hammer, drill etc.

Go to http://www.sturdysafe.com/ and take a look around, since you are on the other side of the nation you probably won't try to get one of theirs, but they have some good info that helps when looking.

Good luck finding what you want!!

Red

I just went through this decision. I opted for a safe made by Homeland Security in California. They have excellent customer service and made the safe to my specifications. I picked it up about a month ago and must say that I am extremely pleased with the quality, workmanship, and design. It was better than I expected. Drop me an email at dtwiebe@yahoo.com and I'll put you in touch with a fellow there that will make you a heck of a deal.

Good shopping!

Homebrew
I got my safe from Sportsman Steel Safe out off the West Coast. The damned thing is large enough for my girl friend and I to hide in. Teasing, it's huge, weighs 1350 pounds, 1/4 inch steel walls 3/8 steel plate door.
I bought it large enough to force myself to buy more rifles to fill it up.
Jim

Buy way bigger than you think you need, or 2 smaller safes, is good advice. I own a Fort Knox and think it's a great value for the $$. Mine is 66" tall and I really like the extra height.

Good luck.

Simple advice, If decide on one of those fancy safes that that looks good in living room, be sure and pick a model with "hiden door hinges" some safes have the door hinges on the out side and some are enclosed in the safe when the door is shut. This doesn't mean it's not a good safe (regular hinges), but theives as a rule are stupid people. They think if they can get the hinge pins loose they can get the door open. Of coarse this won't work, but they will mess the finish of the safe up trying to knock the hinges off. I've seen it happen
Terry

Whatever you decide to buy, think twice and buy the next bigger model. Even doing that, in 2 years you will need more space....

Nature abhores a vacuum... and evidently so do gunowners!

After reading this and thinking about it again, and with the problem of only being able to keep all my rifles in the safe by keeping some of them out for repair. :-) I have decided I will BUILD a vault when I move out of the mobile home. Sadly there is a great vault door for sale right now on e-bay, too soon, and too far away. the buidling I work in had an old safe in the basement for the old bank. they decided to use it for storage so some jackass that works in shipping and receiving took the door apart and took all the mechanism pieces out and gave them to a friend that "likes parts like that". Dumb f*#&!!

Anyways, what is everbodys opinion on the best/cost effective way to do it? Cinderblock or concrete. I was thinking make it part of the house somehow. If it were a house I built I could make it real sweet and have it hidden, but might have to just put in the garage or something.

In the meantime I think I am going to have to get a smaller rifle safe to hold things that are overfowing.

Red

Here's the ultimate in a vault door for someone with the capabilities, for sale cheap:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2570431276&category=11906

I' own a Browning 11/22 gun which fits inside the average closet since I did not want an eyesore standing somewhere where everyone can see. If you don't mind moving one gun to get at another it'll take well in excess of 22 long guns. You need to establish what you want it to do, how it will do it and where will it go and once you get it there will you be able to live with it.

I just bought my first gunsafe. From Sam's Club. It is a Winchester 11/22 gun safe that will stay at under 350 deg in a 1200 deg fire for 31 minutes. It is green with the Winchester name and rider on the front and very soft tan cloth in the interior and on the door. Best of all it was only $700. That is alot cheaper than I saw any comperable safe in a store, catalog or on the net.

I understand that many safes use sheetrock to retard the heat damage (i.e insulate). You have to remember that if the house burns and becomes fully involved, temps will reach 2000 degrees for more than an hour and you will also have water and worse yet, steam getting into your safe.

After observing the post fire contents of one such fire resistant safe, I gave up on hoping that any guns will come out whole if my house burns.

Here in Oklahoma we have tornadoes. Many people have started getting the above ground tornado shelters. They usually consist of a reinforced concrete room roughly the size of a walk in closet with a steel door. One year FEMA even reimbursed for up to $1000.00 on construction of these. Many are doubling as gun safes with the addition of an outside lock being made.

Get 2 14 guns safes.

Homebrew,

Lot's of good advise here. Ah, the joy's of gun safe ownership.

Here's some of my horror stories about gun safe's.

First safe was an 11 gun Browning. Once I got more than 11 long guns, needed a second safe. Got a 14 gun Treadlock. Filled up that sucker too. Started looking for a third.

(There is a moral here, no matter have much space you have available, you will fill it up.)

Moved and found I had no room for a third, and the second barely fit. So went with plan B. Sold both safes and bought a new top of the line Treadlock Fireproof, Tall and very heavy.

I call it my 8 scumbag safe. My two older ones were 4 scumbag safes. That is it would take 4 of them to carry it out.

Looked at the safe, measured it, and bought it. Now this is a 30.5" deep safe. Outside door is 32". No problem. However, did not measure inside gunroom door, which is 29.5". OK, so I don't put it inside the gunroom.

Now the new safe only holds 20 long arms, with scopes. Had 25 long arms. Problem solved, sold 5.

It is my built in inventory system. Have 20 long arms, want a new one, sell one. Makes the wife and the bank happy.

Regards,

Bob