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I'm actually safe hunting right now. My obstacle is the combo vs the electronic lock. During my research I've read horror stories about electronic locks failing and locksmiths having to cut into the safe to open. Safe destroyed. The flipside, I realize in an emergency situation I'd need to get into it fast but I would struggle with the combo due to stress. Now I've seen some that have a combo/key or electronic/key option. Is the only con with these locks the fact one would now have to secure the key somewhere or do you have to use the combo/electronic in unison with the key? I'm looking at about a 30 gun safe. These are the contenders; Liberty, Cannon, Browning, Winchester, Mesa, Stackon and Snapsafe.

Re-post from the Gun Safe Sticky page:

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urnoodle wrote:I'm actually safe hunting right now. My obstacle is the combo vs the electronic lock. During my research I've read horror stories about electronic locks failing and locksmiths having to cut into the safe to open. Safe destroyed. The flipside, I realize in an emergency situation I'd need to get into it fast but I would struggle with the combo due to stress. Now I've seen some that have a combo/key or electronic/key option. Is the only con with these locks the fact one would now have to secure the key somewhere or do you have to use the combo/electronic in unison with the key? I'm looking at about a 30 gun safe. These are the contenders; Liberty, Cannon, Browning, Winchester, Mesa, Stackon and Snapsafe.

A "30 gun" safe will hold about 1/2 that many scoped bolt actions "comfortably". If you truly want to safekeep 30 long guns, two 30 gun safes may be a better buy than one 60 gun safe.

YMMV and the operative word here is "comfortably".

Good luck!

PS: "comfortably" means in socks with room to breath and not getting the firearm all beat up upon entry and egress.

The 30 gun will be more than what I need right now. I like your thinking about 2 safes rather than one large one. I hope to scope some out at the gun show in Dallas this weekend just to firm up what I like and what I don't.

My next safe will be a mechanical lock - either combo, key or both. My current electronic safe's lock lost power today and it took me ages to scrounge the house for batteries.

DocV wrote:My next safe will be a mechanical lock - either combo, key or both. My current electronic safe's lock lost power today and it took me ages to scrounge the house for batteries.

I bought my safe last Thanksgiving and changed the battery this Thanksgiving - whether it needed it or not. (the original still worked)

I'm leaning towards the combination lock but it's always flexible until the last second.

I'm leaning towards a Winchester 24-gun safe. Although, my cache has increased over the past year I'm still at less than half of that and would store other things besides firearm related items. In case many of you have noticed or didn't know, the same model with out an electronic lock cost more than one with an electronic lock. Sometimes by more than a couple hundred dollars.

Liberty Fat Boy Jr. I got it for 1200 or so, plus about 300 for lights and a door panel for handguns. Electronic entry, 45 min fire protection and 700 some-odd pounds. Supposedly holds 48 guns. Looks great, and the added benefit since I live in a 70 year old frame house is that the safe will fall through the floor and out of the fire way before the 45 min window is up ;)