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by HankB
Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:38 pm
Forum: General Gun, Shooting & Equipment Discussion
Topic: How secure is your safe?
Replies: 17
Views: 3527

Re: How secure is your safe?

I am not in the "safe" business, but here's my layman's understanding of safes . . .

Category 1: Cheap safes from places like K-Mart. They'll keep out small children and inquisitive (but not malicious!) teens, but are not much more secure than a school locker.

Cat. 2: Typical gun safe - S&G combination lock, 10 gage sides, door up to 1/4" thick. Will stop most casual attacks, including the majority of residential "smash and grab" burglaries. But if the bad guys come with a cutting torch, Sawzall, or are simply allowed to beat on it for a while with pick, sledge, or fire axe, they're likely to get in.

Cat. 3: Cat 2 with some level of fire protection.

Cat. 4: REAL safes, which will weigh something over a ton, maybe two, and have walls around 1" or more thick. Will resist all but a determined assault by a skilled & well-equipped bad guy. Not very common among your typical gun owner.

I have one in category #2. It's in the back of a large walk-in closet - out of the view of casual visitors - with no exterior walls. And it's loaded with enough "stuff" to make it pretty heavy. I live in a "low crime" area and have a monitored alarm, so it provides a reasonable amount of security.

But I don't believe it's absolutely secure, so I still carry insurance.

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