Yes, you occasionally see them on Craig's List. New ones seem to all start at about $1,200.

 

Tractor Supply sells Winchester branded safes. The 30' wide model regularly goes on sale for about $549.

 

I recently purchased a 48 gun safe from Tractor Supply. Was $995 then $750 on sale. When delivered had a very small dent in the outside. Got another $250 off. Net cost was basically $500. 🙂. A nice feature is the interior light comes on automatically when the door is opened.

There is actually no way 48 guns will fit in it unless all pistols but. . . . . . . . it is sufficient for my # of guns.

 

I recently purchased a 48 gun safe from Tractor Supply. Was $995 then $750 on sale. When delivered had a very small dent in the outside. Got another $250 off. Net cost was basically $500. 🙂. A nice feature is the interior light comes on automatically when the door is opened.

There is actually no way 48 guns will fit in it unless all pistols but. . . . . . . . it is sufficient for my # of guns.

View attachment 147325 View attachment 147326

Every manufacturer claims WAY more guns can fit in their safes than actually do. Best advice I got is assume like 1/2 the advertised capacity and buy WAY bigger than what you think you need.

 

The capacity maker's claim does not include scopes pistol grips or similar items; so an AR with a scope will take up at least 3 of those spaces

 

I look at how much they weigh, and that tells me the quality of construction. There is a huge variation in fire ratings, steel thickness, number of locking lugs, etc.

If you want a 2-hour+plus fire rating as opposed to a 30-minute, you're going to pay for it. Unless, like I said, you can find someone who is moving and needs to sell.

Here is a top-of-the-line safe, but it retails for over $3,500:

Winchester Legacy 53 2.5 Hour 60 Gun Fire Safe

Protect your firearms and valuables with GunSafesNow.com’s wide range of high-quality gun safes for home, vehicle, and personal security. Shop durable, fire-resistant safes with advanced locking features designed for maximum protection and peace of mind.

www.gunsafesnow.com

The concern with a 600 pound safe is that thieves will steal the entire safe. To eliminate that possibility I bolted two of my 600# safes together with large, short bolts, one in each of the four corners. They aren't going to put those on a hand-truck and wheel them out.

 

That's a good idea--more so because of both the weight and the bulk or two safe connected

I hired piano movers to move my 1,000lbs safe. Two guys carried it with no equipment other than straps for part of the journey. You'd be shocked what pros can move. When I moved it from our other house, one guy with a specialized dolly was all it took.

That's why the safe needs to be bolted down too.

 

My recommendation is to build an armory closet.

Unless you're getting a real "safe" safe, or are contending with legal/ insurance considerations, putting all your valuables into a single portable container is a dubious strategy.

 

Lots of good feedback and suggestions regarding gun safes. Thank you!

 

Sentry sheet metal ones are a good value. A 20 gun for maybe $300 or so.

 

I bought my safe about 30 years ago. It is an AMSEC with a 24 gun capacity. I cut the shelving out of a closet, slid the safe in and bolted it to the concrete floor using lag bolts and anchors. When you close the bi-fold doors it is out of sight, out of mind. I do not worry about anyone carrying it out.

 

My first “real” safe looked like an upright freezer and lived on the built in side porch of a renovated farmhouse with a Gibson freezer logo epoxied to the front. It is beige but still blended in well next to another upright freezer

 

I have a 36 gun Winchester safe from Tractor Supply. They go on sale a few times every year so you can save over $100 by being patient.

 

I’m not sure this is an item I’d go cheap on, especially if there are concerns with unauthorized access to your firearms (ie kids in the house). Liberty safes are a good balance between quality and affordability.

 

Circumstance sometimes make the decision for us. I bought Sentry safes for three children and have been impressed.

 

As I recall the door cost about $800, 10 years ago.
The house I had to build around it cost a bit more.

 

As I recall the door cost about $800, 10 years ago.
The house I had to build around it cost a bit more.

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I love this idea, but what are the walls made of? Unless poured concrete not sure it would be much harder than a metal safe to breach, even cinder block wouldn't be too much of a challenge for a sledge hammer

 

Being realistic the average person doesn’t need an expensive bank vault quality safe to protect their shotguns.
Well equipped cat burglars with torches and specialized equipment go for high value break ins possessing gold bullion, diamonds and other high value gems , cash etc. Not your Mossberg.. The protection you need is for quick home invasion smash and grab. Lower cost under $1000 safes bolted down are adequate for that. Fire protection might be a more important quality consideration.

 

I agree. The typical home burglars are not going to have tools or the time to break into even an average quality safe or have the time and ability to move even a 300 pound safe. They want to get in and out quick.

 

Another thing to consider is if you want the old fashioned tumbler or electronic key pad.
Advantages and disadvantages to both.

 

I have had a safe with the dial type combination for 20+ years. The combination has never failed to work. The safe i just purchased has a key pad type. 🤞🤞🙏🙏🙏

My BIL has a keypad safe for years. I don't know the whole story (either he doesn't know or wouldn't tell) but the combination failed and eventually he had to have a locksmith drill the door to get it open. Now it's just a heavy storage cabinet. 🙄

 

MOSSBERG SA INTLNTL 20 GA & 28 GA. CHECK IT OUT

 

When my kids were small I just used a locking hardware cabinet in the closet of my office that also had a lock on it. No one ever knew it was there. I don’t have any expensive guns. AR’s that I built, couple AK’s, bolt action rifles, and of course a couple of working man’s shotguns.
I was going to buy the monster Liberty Safe, but I shied away with the cost to move it, etc.
I do have separate firearms insurance so if the house burns down I’m covered.
I now have most of them in two decorative gun cabinets with glass doors. I have handgun safes (Fort Knox with simplex mechanism..highly recommend) in strategic areas of the house.
It just depends on your priorities, budget, and living situation.
Good luck with your search. Let us know what you end up purchasing.

 

Look at the Winchester safes. I got mine from Tractor Supply, and for the price it beats everything in it's class. Zero issues with the electronic lock and key access is a simple backup solution just in case.

 

Get bigger than you think you need, and get as TALL as possible. The gun capacity is wishful thinking on all of them. Once you start adding scoped rifles, ARs, etc, it's cut in half. My liberty holds what I need it to, but there are only so many spaces for shotguns due to barrel length and hitting the upper shelves. Door organizers are nice for pistols.

Whatever you get, even if it's a cheap one, BOLT IT DOWN. A cheap thin gauge safe can be opened in minutes if it can be knocked over and a pry bar put on it. Smaller ones can just be carried out. It takes longer to get into a better safe, but these aren't bank vaults. Fire protection if you pay for it, and deterring a smash and grab are what you're hoping for.

 

Get bigger than you think you need, and get as TALL as possible.

I would add emphasis to the TALL part. Shotguns are a pain getting in and out. I keep rifles on one side, and shotguns on the other. I ended up cutting the shelf in half, with nothing but air over the shotgun side. Lost some shelf space, but worth it to get long shotguns in and out.

 

Tumblers can be annoying to get into quickly. Eventually they wear out, skip a number and now you're drilling. E locks work pretty well, are fast, allow for personalized codes, and aren't hard at all to change a battery, but do fail more often. On better brand safes, you get a new keypad, unplug the old one, plug in the new one. You're screwed either way if the mechanical workings in the door fail.

 

Saw this (3,000# gunsafe dragged off)

 

Saw this (3,000# gunsafe dragged off)

A dozen or so years ago the same thing happened here -- guy in a pickup dragging a safe down the road. However, some people saw it, called the cops and they stopped him.

You have to think about where you are going to put your safe. A shop with a big door like in the video is a bad choice without supplemental security. If the thieves can put a long chain around your safe, the concrete slab or wooden floor the safe is bolted to is not going to stop them from dragging it out. You will just come home to find your safe gone and your floor destroyed. I'm not saying there is no concrete floor that a safe cannot be ripped out of with a 1-ton, but I certainly would not trust the typical 4" slab you find in most houses. I've drilled a lot of holes in concrete slabs -- the penetrations themselves weaken the slab greatly.

 

A simple low end safe/locker will stop the vast majority of thieves. Someone who is willing to rip your safe out of a floor or away from a wall is determined and they are going to get your stuff no matter what. I don't have a safe full of Fabbris, Purdeys or uncut diamonds so not worth the hassle to high end professional bad guys.

 

I bought my 30-gun safe that couldn't hold 30 guns. I live in a house with a crawl space. So, I used Redi rod and bolted the safe corners between the floor joists into a 2X4 that was diagonal to the floor joists. If it were to be moved, one would have to break the lock in my crawl space door and then unscrew the nuts on the Redi rod. (all threaded rod if you haven't used them)

 

Yeah the whole point of a safe is to slow thieves down and slow fire damage. A dedicated thief will clearly be able to get into anything with simple tools and enough time. It's just trying to make it hard enough that they won't be able to defeat the safe in the amount of time they feel comfortable in your house.

 

Exactly, which gets back to my point -- rather than spend thousands on a very large, heavy safe (which did not work in the video anyway), I bought 2 used safes for about $600 each, bolted them together and changed the dial combinations to match. To steal the whole works like in the video, the thieves would have to knock down a wall of my house and risk being seen dragging 2 safes down the road. I'm counting on my neighbors to notice.

We don't have to worry about high-end professional thieves, but just about anywhere in the country anymore except the most rural areas we do have to worry about foreign criminal gangs or 4, 6 people or more -- the kind that can fairly easily lift even a thousand pound safe into the back of a pickup. That is the real concern these days.

 

There are some good videos on You Tube on safe quality also on bolting them down on the floor. A good thief can open most in less than 5 minutes. I would watch them and get an education before buying one.

 

I have had a cabelas or liberty safe for about 15 years. It has been excellent. I am thinking about buying my sons each a safe. Currently looking at the Remington safes sold by Tractor Supply or Browning. Liberty has gotten a little expensive for low quality safes. You might want to consider looking at gun shows and sportsman shows. I have seen some good used safes go for low prices at gun shows. Many of the gun safe dealers will offer great deals by the end of a sportsman show to avoid moving them. Sometimes 20-30% or more off of the show price.