Thousand dollar safe opened in under 2 minutes. VIDEO

[MechAg94]

I have a $1000 or so safe. That one is not a $1000 safe IMO. Looking at the edges of the door, it looks like the metal is pretty thin. Also, it only has a few and rather small locking lugs that didn't appear to stick out from the door very far. Mine appears much more robust by comparison.

Regarding fire ratings, you are going to have to determine what you are worried about most. Theft or Fire or both? IMO, you should figure what minimum theft deterrence you want/need and then look at those models are better for fire ratings.

Its the fat boy jr, about an 1100.00 safe.

I guess it depends on what and where. Mine was about that price also (Champion I believe). I finally got it bolted to the floor recently.

[glbedd53]

Are the digital locks supposed to be a lot better than the old type S & G locks? I've heard that there are some tricks that will get the old ones open that shouldn't be able to work on a digital. I might be willing to change it out for a digital.

[frazzled]

Drill, hosepipe and a few ounces of C4...

I doni't have a safe so forgive the ignorance, but how do you bolt it to the floor? Its something I have thought about getting.

[glbedd53]

The guy from Pony Express delivered mine and did it all with a roto-hammer. He went through the safe and the concrete in one motion and in another used some kind of concrete screw with a thick flat washer on it. If I had to do it myself I guess I would have used lead heads. That's the only way I've ever bolted anything to concrete.

[frazzled]

The guy from Pony Express delivered mine and did it all with a roto-hammer. He went through the safe and the concrete in one motion and in another used some kind of concrete screw with a thick flat washer on it. If I had to do it myself I guess I would have used lead heads. That's the only way I've ever bolted anything to concrete.

Interesting. Thanks!

[OldCannon]

This video is amusing, but it seems nothing more than an amusement. Now, I'm not claiming to be an expert, but it seems:
1) A safe should sufficiently deter "smash and grab" criminals. That means it's out of casual visibility, bolted to the floor or wall, and has the door side (perhaps) along a wall or in some other position to prevent pry attempts.
2) Unless your items are incredibly valuable, you probably don't need a vault room or similar Charlton Heston-like fortress :)
3) A professional thief that wants your gun collection is likely to go through the extra effort to get your valuables in your safe because that's their high value target. If this happens, you're hopefully already smart enough to have those things insured, because he's going to rent a plasma cutter for $100, smash your door down, and be in and out of your house before the cops arrive. Yeah, he already knows how long the police response time is, how much work it will take to ingress, and where your safe is. The good news is, this really only happens in the movies

Seriously though, get your safe out of sight and bolt it down, or have somebody do it. Otherwise your safe can just be construed as a heavy shopping cart for the bad guys.

[The Annoyed Man]

Ditto. I've seen this video before.

I have a Liberty Colonial. Sure it can be broken into. So can Fort Knox if you have the right crew. But my safe is definitely going to slow them down.

1. The darn thing weighs nearly 565 lbs empty, and it's got 6 rifles and 6 or 7 handguns in it, plus ammo, parts, accessories, etc. Total weight has got to be near 650 lbs.
2. It's bolted to a concrete floor, backed up against a brick wall, and one side of it is up against a built-in floor-to-ceiling cabinet. It cannot be pushed over backwards. It can only be pulled over forwards, landing on the door.
3. So yeah, with a cutting torch and a sawsall, the thieves will get into the safe... ...eventually...
4. ...IF the dog doesn't eat the seat out of their britches first... and that's just the beginning of their pain...

In the meantime, they're all shot. The meatwagon is on the way, and so are the local constabulary.

Oh, and no safe is 100% fireproof. There are only degrees of resistance to heat. Mine has an 80,000 BTU rating, and is certified to withstand 1200º for 45 minutes. No, it's not perfect, and yes, you can probably buy a better safe — but you can also buy a much worse safe.

The truth is, most people will buy as much as they can afford, and it is not very nice to lecture them about not having spent more than they can afford. Go ask people how they feel about Obama doing that with their tax money. You don't belittle someone's buying decisions, as long as they were fundamentally responsible decisions. That safe was as much as I could afford. It was just about $1,300 delivered, carried into the house, and installed. It's a good safe and I'm not going to apologize or feel bad about it to someone who is really only interested in my money.

But the real problem I see with that video, is that a lot of people who can't afford a $2,000 safe are going to be discouraged by seeing that one in the "$1,000" price range get torn apart, and they're going to ask themselves, "why bother buying one at all? I can't afford the good ones, and the lower priced safes are a waste of money;" and they'll either buy a $150 gun cabinet at Academy, or buy nothing at all and keep the guns in a bedroom closet.

[Marty Graw]

and they'll either buy a $150 gun cabinet at Academy, or buy nothing at all and keep the guns in a bedroom closet.

If they put a lock on the closet door, that's not a bad solution for people who don't have an expensive collection. It keeps the guns out of the hands of children and random smash and grab burglars, exactly like the car lockboxes.

[glbedd53]

I think if I were doing it over I would forget about how pretty a safe is and concentrate on thickness, lock quality, and fire rating although I've read the fire ratings can be a joke. I have our important papers, car titles, wills, etc. in 2 fireproof boxes inside my fire lined safe and just hope that's good enough.

[jackj87]

Safe installed in closet. Actually little than 3/4 inch space around the corners.

I couldn't agree more with attaching the safe to the ground or wall. I bought a safe in college to deter any friends during a party of would be burglar from snatching any firearms I had. I went to Baylor, and Waco has its share of criminals that hang around the neighborhood. Having to use three of my roommates as free labor to move it upstairs, I installed in one of my closets where there was little room to be able to pry or move the safe. Also, I looked for the most dead and live bolts when looking at safes. The Sentry was a good safe and it held some valuable items in there, but its not my end-all safe.

I bought mine at Academy on sale but only after doing some research of the safe and decided where I would install it. Now that I have finished, the safe is at my parent's house being used for ammo. And somebody posted about having an alarm around their safe in their house. What about the people that do not have their safes in their house? I know people that have attachments on their house where the safes are located and drilled into the concrete when built. My opinion, with the amount of guns stored in there plus the bolts, no way they would be able to penetrate it.

[Mike from Texas]

My next safe is going to be a Sturdy Safe. http://www.sturdysafe.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's going to cost me about $4500.00. It will protecting about 8 times that value in guns. It will be in a dedicated safe room in the house, 2 hour fire rated enclosure and alarms and security out the wazoo. I will be living out in the sticks where Fire or Police response will not be quick. Some will say I am crazy for spending that much on a safe and to just make sure there is enough insurance to cover them. Well, there will be guns and other things that can't be replaced in that safe and I want to do everything I can to protect them for getting taken in the first place.

[The Annoyed Man]

My next safe is going to be a Sturdy Safe. http://www.sturdysafe.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's going to cost me about $4500.00. It will protecting about 8 times that value in guns. It will be in a dedicated safe room in the house, 2 hour fire rated enclosure and alarms and security out the wazoo. I will be living out in the sticks where Fire or Police response will not be quick. Some will say I am crazy for spending that much on a safe and to just make sure there is enough insurance to cover them. Well, there will be guns and other things that can't be replaced in that safe and I want to do everything I can to protect them for getting taken in the first place.

I your case, that's a good idea if you can afford to do it. For me, in suburbia, it's not so much of an issue.