Safes and layout.

[HoLeChit]

So I’m looking to upgrade safes, for more storage. Trying to keep things under $2k, less money for more shit is definitely a big plus as I’m trying to save as much as possible for this baby coming. If I could just buy a big bear or something nice I would, but I fear that for my price point and storage capacity needs I am stuck with residential security containers.

So i am open to suggestions, as well as places to shop. Went to H and H today, found a few contenders.

I was wondering about features that ya’ll love, find useless, or extremely useful.

For example, one of the safes I was looking at has this rack on the front door. Seems useful, but you lose a good amount of space inside putting shit on the door. Worth it?



Another thought, how does height matter to ya’ll? A lot of safes in my price range have models in the short and wide size, and for a few hundred extra I can get an extra foot or 3 of height with the same width. Worth it? Or shorter=better for the short MFs to stack shit on top of the safe?

Delivery size/shape doesn’t matter, as it’s going into the garage for now, and the safe room I build into the shop eventually.

 

[JEVapa]

Hindsight being 20/20, I should have gotten a taller safe. It would have been well worth the extra few hundred. That way I could put rifles all on the bottom and pistols and stuff up high on shelves. I don't like the shelves going to the floor.
I do put my safe on furniture dollies, four to be exact with all swivel casters, one on each corner. Makes life easy for moving around and stuff.

 

[Pochanaquarhip]

If I am to do it again I’m probably doing a safe for guns and a safe just for ammo. My safe currently is like playing a game of fucking jenga.

 

[Ndenway]

Check Atwoods,

I got a decent sized one there on clearance price a while back,
It'd been there in the lobby for few years.

iircc it was normally $800, with clearance tag, price was not listed, cashier called mgr who looked in book and says we got to have this much,

clearance price + tax it was a bit less than 4 bills otd.

 

[Ndenway]

If I am to do it again I’m probably doing a safe for guns and a safe just for ammo. My safe currently is like playing a game of fucking jenga.

You're Goddamned short on ammo if it'll all fit in a gun safe, unless of course you got a gun vault to fill with ammo.

 

[Pochanaquarhip]

You're Goddamned short on ammo if it'll all fit in a gun safe, unless of course you got a gun vault to fill with ammo.

I’m mainly ammo and pistols. Not many long guns.

 

[JEVapa]

I keep ammo stacked in cans and boxes . I don’t put it in the safe. Only ammo in the safe is for one or two guns that are in there that I can lock and load faster.

 

[AER244]

I like taller safes.

I doubt they’re the highest quality, but Costco had “14 long gun” safes for $499 when I was there a week or so ago.

You might check out www.secureitgunstorage.com. Most of their stuff isn’t fire rated, but it will protect against theft. They’re modular and less expensive than traditional safes. I don’t own any of their stuff, but I like the idea.

 

[jakeman]

If I am to do it again I’m probably doing a safe for guns and a safe just for ammo. My safe currently is like playing a game of fucking jenga.

Sing it sister. My den flooded and I had to unload the safe to move it to put down new carpet. I've been sticking crap in there for 30 years, and I dreaded emptying it out. It was not without merit. It wouldn't all go back. Some stuff got tossed. Some stuff got stuck inside wooden box end tables. Some stuff got put into 6-8 shoe boxes and stuck in an antique trunk where I keep a bunch of old quilts and photographs. A bunch of loose jewelry and old watches and misc parts got dropped into Crown Royal bags, knots tied in the tops and hung on the hangers in the door that are probably supposed to hold hand guns.

No clue how I got all that stuff in there over the years. A piece at a time, over 30 years without ever throwing anything away I guess. What a cluster. Every time I wanted something off the top shelf, a bunch of crap would fall off the shelf and then I'd have to fish it out of the space between the door seal and the false bottom of the safe. I need another safe.

Getting long guns out is like trying to solve a rubiks cube. When I get another safe it won't have any shelves. It's just gonna have long guns around the sides, back & door where I can just reach in and get what I want without have to move the pieces around like one of those sliding picture puzzles. What a giant PITA.

 

[OkieJoe]

If the main objective is more storage, I’d say get a second safe. Like everyone else, I’m struggling with getting everything in my safe, and my ammo is stored in an old metal storage cabinet. I’ll be moving in a couple of months, and I’m still trying to figure out my safe issue. Right now, I’m leaning towards buying a second safe similar to my existing safe.

 

[HoLeChit]

I already have one small safe, which doesn’t hold all my long guns. I dont store ammo in it either. Ammo is stored in a closet and a room with a lock. I just need a safe for all my firearms. The end of next year I am building onto my shop so that I can have an office/man cave. The safe will eventually go in there, and I plan on having a locked closet with a large locking walk in cage for ammo.

 

[Glockpride]

I do like a door organizer on the interior, but not for long guns. More for handguns, keys, knives, papers, hard drives, etc. Also, I like safes that are 5’4” to 5’8” or so, as I like to use the top for storing range bags, etc. and to hold things like handguns that I want to pull out but then need my hands to close the door.

 

[Ndenway]

Ammo storage for me is loose are in full 50cal cans stacked & boxed ammo is on shelves I assembled from pt 5/4 deck boards.

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

Everyone is gonna be having Black Friday sales in just a few weeks. I'd hold off to see what you can find.

Tractor Supply has great sales on safes. Mostly run of the mill stuff but really good prices.

 

[HoLeChit]

Everyone is gonna be having Black Friday sales in just a few weeks. I'd hold off to see what you can find.

Tractor Supply has great sales on safes. Mostly run of the mill stuff but really good prices.

Yeah, I want to hold off, but time is not on my side. In 3 weeks I have friends staying with us, who have two kids. The week before thanksgiving our daughter is due, the week of thanksgiving we’ll have family show up to stay for the week, and at its peak there will be 5 kids in the house.

So I can’t wait until Black Friday. H and H is about to be having a safe sale where everything is 10% off though, according to one of the delivery guys I talked to. He also said that they don’t really mark safes down much for Black Friday. I figure I’ll check with tractor supply and atwoods, but it seems Atwood’s selection is much smaller and more expensive than it used to be.

 

[Ndenway]

iircc some Walmarts & harbor freights sell the stack-on style metal cabinets and safes at decent prices

 

[jakeman]

Yeah, I want to hold off, but time is not on my side. In 3 weeks I have friends staying with us, who have two kids. The week before thanksgiving our daughter is due, the week of thanksgiving we’ll have family show up to stay for the week, and at its peak there will be 5 kids in the house.

So I can’t wait until Black Friday. H and H is about to be having a safe sale where everything is 10% off though, according to one of the delivery guys I talked to. He also said that they don’t really mark safes down much for Black Friday. I figure I’ll check with tractor supply and atwoods, but it seems Atwood’s selection is much smaller and more expensive than it used to be.

You need to at least call Murf's in Duncan.

Your wallet, you do what you want, but I'd at least call Murf's.

 

[OkieJoe]

Yeah, I want to hold off, but time is not on my side. In 3 weeks I have friends staying with us, who have two kids. The week before thanksgiving our daughter is due, the week of thanksgiving we’ll have family show up to stay for the week, and at its peak there will be 5 kids in the house.

So I can’t wait until Black Friday. H and H is about to be having a safe sale where everything is 10% off though, according to one of the delivery guys I talked to. He also said that they don’t really mark safes down much for Black Friday. I figure I’ll check with tractor supply and atwoods, but it seems Atwood’s selection is much smaller and more expensive than it used to be.

With that many little shits running around along with the other family, I strongly suggest taking your guns and sleeping in the truck. You’ll be much more content and at peace. You’ve got time to figure out the safe situation with your daughter after she arrives.

 

[forindooruseonly]

As far as safe organization goes, I never found the door hangars to be all that useful except for the pistol holsters on the top half. The stocks on the rifles on the door stick too far out and I can fit more if I just put them in the main part of the safe. Also, if a safe is listed as a 48 gun safe, in reality it is about half that, unless you are putting 48 single shot shotguns in there are don't care about rubbing. Pistol mostly go on the top shelf. Only one shelf, all the pistols are in oiled rags or rugs and stacked. Makes it damn difficult to get things out, but that's the price of having it secure.

And for placement, if you live in a house with a concrete floor, drill and bolt them in place. I know of two safes that were stolen with a bunch of valuable things inside, including documents, family heirlooms, guns, gold, and artwork. They just manhandled them into a truck. Nothing is truly safe from theft. Mostly, it's just trying to slow them down or deter them by making it as difficult as possible.

 

[JCann]

Buy a safe tall enough for long barrel shotguns/rifles and at least double the amount of weapons you plan to put in it. With all the crap we put on our weapons nowadays you’ll appreciate the space