Posted on 09/23/2009 9:37:19 PM PDT by KoRn
Just a question to those FReepers with knowledge of gun safes.
I recently purchased a gun safe. I was wondering if anyone has bolted their to the floor. If so, how would one go about doing such a thing. I have a concrete floor where the safe is, and I've never bolted anything into concrete.
My safe weighs nearly 700lb, and I wonder if it's worth the trouble.
Thanks!
I want! Too bad they’re banned in NJ.
In CA M-1 Carbines and Garands are legal to buy. Good enough for the 82nd Airborne is probably adequate for any mess that I will see. Lots better than a hinge action shotgun. Of course a hinge action double barrel coach gun with number one shot puts 50 each .30 caliber projectiles down range before you reload, which kind of makes the 10 round magazine limit kind of meaningless.
I have seen too many gun safes compromised in my time to feel comfortable having one. I opted for a false wall, where a thief, crook or otherwise bad person didn’t recognize it as a place to steal from.
Come on down to VA. We can use more folks here like yourself, since you are a FReeper and into owning firearms. I'm sure we have just as few jobs down here, but the mountains are pretty. :)
My remark about anything more than the hinge action shotgun in CA was sarcasm.
I have used the anchor/epoxy kits before. use the correct size and tip bit and the correct hammer drill type tool. follow the hole depth numbers per instructions and be SURE to vacuum and clean out the holes prior to mixing the epoxy up and setting the anchors. when done correctly the ‘pull out rating’ is incredible. and as others have mentioned tonight, one of the bad guy’s SOPs with these things is to get ‘em tipped over on their backs to allow a better shot at prying (and other methods) that door open and also that thought of a safe tipping over on yourself was a good thing to consider. it could happen. extra peace of mind? you bet and the cost of an anchor kit is nothing really when you have already spent good $$$ on that safe and your weapons/ammo etc inside of it. nice lookin’ safe KoRn.
It is very easy.
Too many people look at a metal box as tho it were impenetrable, when, with the right tools, you can open it quite easily.
A cold chisel and a hand sledge will hack a sheet metal safe open quickly. This is the majority of safes. If you want to deter this type of attack, you need to consider investing in a safe with at least 1/4” thick steel plate for the sides, top and bottom.
Putting the safe on its back allows the use of crowbars on the door. The right bar can compromise the locking bolts pretty quickly, especially (again) when the sides are made out of sheet metal instead of plate steel. A door opening that is made out of plate steel with additional channel steel to reinforce the door opening would be much harder to pry the door out of.
These are all very commonly known techniques by thieves, there’s nothing new here.
The two biggest things you need in a safe are thick metal and bolting it to the floor and possible the wall behind it. With this done, the most commonly used attacks against a gun safe are stopped cold.
Thanks for the info!
Given what you and other have said here, I’ve decided to bolt it down. It came with the hardware to do it, and doing so seems to be well worth it.
Things are quite bad enough here.
The good news is the local definition of firearm only includes metallic cartridge weapons. Your cap and ball Revolver is unregulated, and is every bit as effective (mine is in .44) as ever they were. In fact, more so, because the locals are not expecting the cloud of blue smoke!
Wow. You are seriously low on ammo.
You can still use a gun safe to distract someone from looking for your real stash. When they finally get the safe cracked open after an hour and find it filled with survival food or whatever, they will just say screw it and leave. On the other hand, if someone knows you own guns and doesn’t see a safe, they will start tearing up everything to find where they are hidden and cause more damage than the guns are worth.
I’ve decided to bolt it down. It came with the hardware to do it, and doing so seems to be well worth it.
Actually, about 5000 rounds of 7.62 Nato would make it damn near stationary without the trouble of drilling anything but targets.
as someone already pointed out, you’re seriously low on the 7.62 NATO.
;>)
I'm working on it. lol
Yours does not appear to be a flood resistant safe, but if it were, it needs to be bolted down to keep it from leaking. You would use bolts with rubber washer gaskets. Also bolting it down would keep the safe from floating around in a flood.
Actually, it is. The documentation stated that it would withstand a few feet of water for a few hours. The manual read that if enough water was around it, it could float and tip over, and because of this they recommended bolting it to the floor.
Is the beer bottle part of your alarm system? lol
Of course it is. If it gets knocked over, it will throw a switch and detonate 2,750lb of C4. I have the kids trained to not touch it. One city block around my house rides on that bottle not getting knocked over. If the neighbors only knew..... (yes, that was all a joke)
Before you bolt that sucker down, you might want to put it up on a raised platform first and then bolt down through that. I put mine up on a frame of 2x12s on 10 inch centers covered with 3/4 plywood and then carpeting. This raises up the safe so that if you have a fire and the room is filled with several inches of water by the FD, it won’t get into the safe. It also raises it up to a height where I can see into it easier. It also makes it harder to tip over or pry against the softer wood. You can also bolt opposite corners just to the wood frame and the other 2 corners all the way to the floor. So even if they can pry the safe off the floor, the platform is still bolted onto the bottom of the safe and this makes it hard to take it through a door or to tip over.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.