Re: Best choices for gun safes?

In article <de23il$7dp$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Gryff <gryff@xxxxxxx> wrote:
#Who do you recommend for a stand-up gun safe? I need one that is a
#good value for its features. I need storage for 10 rifles and about a
#dozen pistols (all User Grade, nothing Collector Grade). Fire
#protection would be desireable. Also, I am inclined towards a
#traditional dial lock rather than an electronic keypad lock because of
#long-term reliability.
#
#I have heard of Cannon, Fort Knox and Wells Fargo, but nothing about
#how these (and other brands) compare to each other, or even how each's
#product lines differ.
#
#Since this is a significant purchase, any input would be appreciated.

The short answer is that they are all pretty much the same. The
warrenty is what you care about. Read the warrenty carfully.
What it boils down to is that all insurance companies treat the
lowest end RSC rated safe the same as a high end Fort Knox/Liberty/
Wells Fargo, unless the high end safe has a rating other than RSC.
And there is the matter of fire rating.

Long answer: Say there is a fire/burglary...

Will you have to pack the safe up and ship the thing (and everything
in it?) across the country to have it opened? You are going to escort
it there all the way, since it has your stuff in it, right? Will you
have to pay for shipping? Or will they send a safe tech out to you to
open it up and determine if it is salvagable for free? Keep in mind
that if you have a safe that is made in CA or some other place that has
banned certain guns and you have one of those guns in the safe, you are
now in a catch-22 situation if you have to ship the unopened safe to the
factory to have it cracked. So now you need to pay out of pocket to have
it opened up at your house and that may void the warranty. And if the
safe was made in a gun friendly place like Texas, what's to keep it from
electing someone like Queen Ann again and becoming gun unfriendly later
on?

There are different rating systems for safes. One system rates from B1
to B6, with B6 having the better attack resistance. There is a lot of
gray area with the B3 rating. Another goes from B, C, E, ER, F, and G.

Then there is the UL rating systems which has specific and separate
requirments for different areas (fire vs. theft w/ torch tools vs.
theft w/o a torch, front face only vs. all 6 sides, etc.)

The most common UL rating for gunsafes is the "Residential Security
Container" (RSC) rating. That means it takes a professional
safecracker at least 5 stopwatched minutes to break in the front face.
No blow torch or explosives allowed.

Stopwatched means that they get safe blueprints, get to come up with
a plan of attack based on those plans, use whatever tools they have
or can come up with that fit the rating restrictions and if they
want to stop after 30 seconds, they can stop the clock and rethink
the plan out. So 5 min for them could be two or three days straight
for people who have no idea about safecracking.

Then there are the ones which are rated for storing large amounts
of silver, gold, jewels, cash, etc. for insurance purposes. TL-15,
TL-30, TL-15-6, etc. The first number is stopwatch minutes and the
2nd number, if there is one, is how many sides the rating is for and
it is almost always 6--otherwise it's only for front face/door. Other
ratings include the use of a torch and/or explosives in breaking in.

Fire ratings include the basic 1/2hr to 2hr+ and other things like
paper documents (350), impact (floor fall-through) while heated,
sudden changes in temprature, etc.

The most secure safes are in-floor safes--ones that have a slab of
cement poured around 'em that you cover up the opening to with a ***
of plywood and a rug. Some safes have cement poured into the walls
and door for added weight to keep it harder to cart off. If you have
a lighter safe, you can bolt it to the floor to keep it from being
moved. If you have a safe with little or no fire protection, you can
make some with doubled-up sheets of fire rated wallboard around the
safe.

/herb


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