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cloudcroft wrote:I'm not knocking ANYone's choice of safes/brands here -- unlike some safe "experts" often do in gun forums (unless you have one of their "superior" safes of course). I'm just making an observation...

I have to admit that I don't understand a serious (higher-end with great protection/build-quality) safe having such a heavy door, heavy enough to cause the safe to tip forward...makes it sound like the body of such a safe is too lightweight then (non-serious, if you will).

I disagree. While I bought the Fort Knox Defender series, I bought the upgrade for the body to 3/16" body and 3/8" door, the very same as used in their top of the line Yeager series.

Here is the description of the reinforced fire door:

Reinforced Fire Door
Our Reinforced Fire Door adds 2 layers of fire protection to either the 3/8� or 1/4� solid steel plate, then reinforces the door with additional 10-gauge steel for added security (Over 30% thicker steel than other composite type doors). This nearly doubles the standard fire protection from 1450°F in 50 minutes to temperatures of 1680°F in 90 minutes. The Reinforced Fire Door is standard on the Yeager, Titan, Executive and Guardian Series as well as the Executive and In-Swing Vault Doors.

I'm going to go ahead and recommend my dealer, even though he's in Houston. He delivers all over Texas, so North Texas shouldn't be a problem.

http://www.safesrus.com/

He gives fantastic customer service and backs up what he sells 110%.

I don't know how often you expect to be moving, but I highly recommend paying your safe dealer to relocate your safe. Then you are free to consider a larger safe. My dealer charges a very fair rate.

I bought a 60"x30" safe about ten years ago. Last year, I added a 72"x41" 'cause I had been out of room for a long time. The 72"x41" has a heavy body and weighs in excess of 1500#. The smaller safe weighs about 750.

Safesrus used to carry several brands of safes. Some years ago, he lost his home to a fire and his personal gun collection in his home safe was destroyed. He now sells only Fort Knox and every safe he orders includes the reinforced fire door.

Fort Knox offeres two options for handguns, a rail system that mounts to the door and uses coated hooks and velcro holsters that adhere to the interior fabric. I got both. My longer barrel handguns work best hung on the rails while smaller handguns work well in the velcro holsters. When I ran out of room on the door, I also bought another set of holsters as they can be stuck anywhere on the safe interior.

The rest are on the shelf in foam pistol racks that I got from Sportsmansguide.

The fire protections on cheaper safes is typically 1200 deg /30 minutes.

The rating on my Fort Knox is 1680 deg/90 minutes.

Skiprr wrote:Or both! At least with one of the 1,200 lb. jobs you wouldn't have to worry about bolting it down.

Not always the case! The door on my Fort Knox is heavy enough that my safe will tip forward when the door is fully opened. Bolting down was necessary.