On another forum these were listed http://www.zanottiarmor.com/features1-3.html and http://www.corporatesafe.com/news/gun%20safe.htm

These look very interesting. My present safe was a real bear to get down stairs...this would be easy! I like the Zanotti ones the best, but would like to have seen the prices listed in the brochure...or did I miss them? Anyway, I am going to call the company and get some more information. Thanks for posting.

All well and good but how much are they? I couldn't find a price for the Zanotti. At least Gun Guard lists a price.
Frank

These do not look like they are built anything like the one piece safes as far as thickness and rigidity. Lookw more like the "sheetmetal" types.

Don't know the thickness of my standard safe. The second calls the walls 1/8" with 1/4" door. Seems a little on the light side to me.

I believe most of the good safes have a 1 in. door, and 1/4 in. walls, so they would be pretty lightly constructed. If you had to keep some upstairs, they would be a lot better than standing the guns in a corner of a closet however.

There may be some gun safes that have a 1" thick sheet of steel in the door, but I have never seen or heard of one on the North American market. Most that I am aware of, such as Browning, etc., have 1/4" to 3/8" thick steel panels for the doors, and somewhat thinner steel for the walls. The less expensive ones are often thinner even than that.

Not even most bank vault doors that I have seen on the used market (available from the tearing down of bank buildings), have single sheets of steel as thick as 1".

Though the complete doors are usually at least that thick, and sometimes a great deal thicker, the insides are usually hollow (and maybe any excess space filled with "fire-proofing" material), to contain the lockwork, the sliding locking bolts, one or two automatic re-lockers, etc.

My door is 7/8" thick. It appears and sounds solid. It may be hollow but if it is it is filled with something. The sides are 3/8".

I suggest you find either the web-site for the maker of your safe, or the specs in their published advertising material. Then, look up what they say the thickness of the steel is.
I'd almost bet the rent money that it isn't half an inch of solid steel.

If you want to post the brand and model, I'll even try to look it up for you.

I just looked up the specs on three popular and typical safes on the American market....Browning, Ft. Knox, and Liberty brands.

In their top-of -the-line models, their web-sites say Browning & Ft. Knox use 3/16" steel plates in their doors. Liberty doesn't say what thickness their steel is, but that the total thickness of the "composite" door is 5". Presumably their steel in the door is no more than 3/16", as that is what their safe bodies are, and they do list that. Their composite door is apparently primarily to prevent fire damage.

All three brands have 3/16" thick steel bodies.

Browning makes a point of their "duo formed" doors, where part of the door is pressed into two layers (with a gap between) of 3/16" steel...though I had long thought they were one of the few on the mrket which was actually using 1/4" steel.

The more expensive of the Ft. Knox safes (the Yaeger model) shows on their website as having a 3/16" steel layer in their door, backed by a 1/8" stainless steel "liner", for a total entry protection thickness of 5/8", including the space between liner and main plate....but there's still only 5/16" of actual steel included in both layers together. The whole door, including air space and everything is, of course, much thicker than that.

Many makes also have an internal hardened plate set an an angle to protect the lock, so it can't be "punched", nor easily cut.

When I was a LEO attending "Safe & Burglar Conferences", it became apparent to me that if a guy wants a really strong vault, he has to build it himself, using 8x8x16 building block, re-rod in every block hole, and grouted solid, all sides and top, on a poured, re-rodded floor.

Then he has to obtain a really good door from an old bank or from a company that supplies doors to bank vaults.

And that still doesn't keep a burglar/robber from sticking a pistol up one's nose and saying "Open the door, M-F...."

quote:

If you want to post the brand and model, I'll even try to look it up for you.

It's a Champion Victory. I had back calculated the 3/8 sides. But now that doesn't look correct. I used to be good at math. I measure 7/8" they call it 1" You are probably correct and the door is a sandwich of somekind.

All I'll go on record to now is that the door opens it holds my guns and locks.

Ramrod -

From their website, "Champion" brand looks as good as any on the market. At least, with their safes, you can get the optional 1/4" thick walls, which is 1/3 thicker than most of the rest. so, one would have to assume that with their "double" thickness door (two layers) the door is probably available with a good honest 1/2" thickness of steel.

The standard models, though, have less than 3/16" walls if one doesn't order the optional 1/4" walls.

Anyway, I wasn't trying to knock any AR members' safes. Only trying to make the point that they just don't come with 1" thick pieces of steel for doors. They're like anything else these days....a guy really has to read the specs carefully, or the hype will mislead even the best of us.

All of the safes I have seen in person where a side view of the door is there for display are running 12 gauge steel with either Fire-Rock (gypsum) or concrete between the two sheets to act as the fire block.
Frank

You guys should check out Homeland Safes. Mine has a 1" door, 3/16" body (upgrade over standard), 2300 degree ceramic fire insulation (not gypsum), a great interior with lighting and pistol hangers, and a nice S&G lock. They also have vault doors for those interested in a really big gun safe. Pricing is competitive with the other big manufacturers, and I found the product and service to be excellent.

quote:

Originally posted by DesertRam:
You guys should check out Homeland Safes. Mine has a 1" door, 3/16" body (upgrade over standard), 2300 degree ceramic fire insulation (not gypsum), a great interior with lighting and pistol hangers, and a nice S&G lock. They also have vault doors for those interested in a really big gun safe. Pricing is competitive with the other big manufacturers, and I found the product and service to be excellent.

I checked it out. It isn't a 1" thick piece of steel. The thickness of the whole door is 1", but that includes the locking mechanism, the insulation, the sliding bolts, the relockers and everything else. You can tell by the pictures it is a folded or welded hollow contruction. If you check out their vault doors on their same website, which are heavier duty items intended for purchase to add to a built-in vault, you will find those doors only have 3/`16" frames, and though 1-1/2" thick, likely do not have any steel sheets in them thicker than 3/16", MAYBE 1/4". Folks just don't hang doors made of two or more individual sheets of metal thicker than the frame, to a frame. Otherwise, with earth & floor movement, etc., sooner or later they find the doors won't open even when unlocked.

Alberta Canuck,
I just measured mine, it is by K&E safes. It is 42" wide and about 5 foot tall. The doors (it has 2) are 5.9" thick and the sidewall and top and bottom are about 4.5" thick. It is of course not solid, it is filled with Asbestos, the real stuff - shudder. The frame for the door is built of 1/2" material.

I will snap a few photos and get it on here. I bought it from an insurance company for $400.

quote:

Originally posted by Customstox:
Alberta Canuck,
I just measured mine, it is by K&E safes. It is 42" wide and about 5 foot tall. The doors (it has 2) are 5.9" thick and the sidewall and top and bottom are about 4.5" thick. It is of course not solid, it is filled with Asbestos, the real stuff - shudder. The frame for the door is built of 1/2" material.

I will snap a few photos and get it on here. I bought it from an insurance company for $400.

Chic -

That sounds like a really good safe.

I had a similar one once that I got free from a company I used to work for....they sold their major warehouse and the safe had to be removed. They gave it to me for removing it. Took a BIG forklift and a low-boy semi.... It had been used primarily for storing data for that major health-care corporation back when they used reeled tape data storage.

When I sold it, the purchaser paid for the fork lift and semi rentals, and gave me a brand new Steyr Professional and $200. It was probably worth 3 or 4 times that, even used, but then I thought my profit % was pretty decent anyway on that deal.

There are good safes out there, no doubt about it. Just not too many people need them or are willing to pay for them, so not many are about.

Like everything else, it pays to be an informed buyer.

Another advantage of a Zanotti is that you don't have to hire a haulage and drayage firm to install it. No telling where those guys got their muscles and crude tattoos. Take delivery at the common carrier's dock, borrow a two wheeled dolly, and only you and the friends who help you build it know you have a gun safe in the closet.