I don't really know where to post this so I am going to try here and a few other forums and would appreciate your comments.

What is the best way of making a safe fire resistant (since nothing can really be made fire proof) to an extent which the items inside would most likely be able to survive a normal house fire with minimal or no damage?

I have recently acquired a Class 6 M&P GSA Safe that I want to turn into a gun safe and also be able to store papers and others items inside. The safe has a Mosler MRK 302 combination lock which has recently been serviced and has the following outside measurements:

38"D X 22"W X 57.5"H

There appears to be no evidence of fire proofing/resistant material in the safe at this time. Someone once told me that the reason that there is not any evidence of fire proofing/resistants is probably because the government would rather have seen the material inside destroyed than chance someone being able to get their hands on whatever was inside and it be in useable condition.

The safe also has minor scratches to the outside in which the paint has been scraped off to bare metal. I would like to have the safe repainted to something besides the ugly gray that it currently is.

How would you recommend that it be painted, for example - taking it to someone who has the facilities to paint cars or what?

Thanks

K. Hendo

Consider fire-rated sheetrock (gypsum). In the construction trade it's called "X rock" and is code for many commercial applications.

You might line the inside of the safe which of course consumes space but is simplest. Or more involved would be building a sheetrock enclosure for the safe which has the added benefit of concealing it.

As far as painting goes the sky's the limit: prep it and roll it with an industrial enamel or spray it with lacquer.

[ 05-10-2003, 08:24: Message edited by: steve y ]

The safes I've poked around the inside of had what appeared to be three layers of 1/2" sheetrock. These safes were advertised to be rated for 1200 degrees for x amount of time.

Check out some paint and body shops. If you can find one that isn't obsessed with doing only insurance work, they'll likely be able to help.

Hope this helps,

Joe.

It has been quite a few years since I bought my "fireproof" gun safe but to the best of my recollection, the manufacturer (Canon) cautioned against relying on the gunsafe's fire retardant (which appears to be sheetrock, as someon previously stated) to protect papers in a house fire. Their explanation, IIRC, was that gun safes, in order to prevent sweating and moisture buildup inside, were designed to breathe where paper safes had much tighter fittin doors.

I resolved that problem by purchasing a small fireproof drawer about the size of a safe deposit box and keeping it inside the safe.

Regards,
hm

Fort Knox safes this year at the SHOT show had one finished in a brushed metal, sort of what like the old DeLorean sportscars were, that looked pretty cool. I also saw one from a different company that had realtree camo or something similar put on it that didn't look too bad either. Are you planning on putting the safe in a closet or will it be more or less stand alone?

A co worker, back when I worked for a living, had a nice safe with the fire retardant option. About 20 or so guns inside, some nice original Pre -64's, one from the first year of production.

He worked night shift, 11PM to 7AM. Had a nice house, with a full basement, gun room in the basement.

He was ironing a shirt just prior to leaving for work, in the upstairs bedroom. Left the iron turned on, and sitting on the ironing board. (He later remembered this, and the fire inspector managed to find enough evidence to back this up and said the fire was caused by the iron).

Went to work, then got a phone call at about 5AM from neighbors, his house was on fire. Totally consumed.

Several days later, he managed to get the safe opened. All wood stocked rifles had charred wood stocks, the fiberglass stocks sort of melted. Scope finishes disappeared, lenses cracked. The rifles that were in wood stocks, the bluing was gone above the wood line, just left a dull pitted gray color. Anything made of plastic melted, all papers burned, leather and nylon slings burned.

A couple of morals here: One, if you have a real fire, no conventional gun safe safe will protect the contents. Several hours in a hot fire gets the heat past the "One hour ratings" of the insulation.

Two, this guy was a bachelor (recently divorced). Moral No. 2: If you are a bachelor, don't iron shirts.

My safe is a walk in made from solid concrete. With a Fort Knox Bank Vault door. Formed up and poured the thing with a concrete pump truck, it is full of rebar, 8 inch walls, 12 inch roof. Wired for lights, and a dehumidifier. If you have the room, I strongly advise going this way. Got about $6000 in labor and materials in mine.

PS, makes a nice tornado shelter, if I lived in tornado alley, which I don't.

JR is right, there really is no way to "fireproof" a safe. Two layers of 5/8" gyp is good for 1 hour per UBC ratings. The problem is the inside temp. of the safe will get high enough to cause damage to your guns as previously mentioned. Your best bet is a (3) layer enclosure w/ a firesprinkler directly above the safe.