How to move Gun safe

[Killadocg23]

Me and my wife bought a new house and she is gifting me my first gun safe. Is there Anybody that you fellas recommend to use? Or should I just rent a uhaul pick up truck and get 2 other guys to help me move it.

Thanks

[Take Down Sicko]

I'm guessing it would depend on the weight of the safe you get. Some weight more than four hundred pounds. I recently bought one that weights just under three hundred lbs and it wasnt any heavier that a full size refrig. We didnt have any trouble unloading with a dolly and getting it in the house.

[strogg]

Yes, it depends on the weight. It is possible to do it with a couple buddies if it's light enough. If it's a bigger one, I'd just hire someone to move it for you. That's what I did for mine. I bought mine from a reputable locksmith who is a big gun nut himself. He doesn't contract out any work, and every one of his employees have been background checked.

If you really don't want to hire someone to move a heavy beast, I recommend investing in an appliance dolly and have a big friend or two. It will be a lot of work if none of y'all have any safe moving experience.

Also, be sure to bolt it down. If you hire a good company to deliver the safe, they'll throw in anchors for free installation.

[Soccerdad1995]

One other tip, especially if the safe is hard to get on a dolly due to it's shape.

I've had good results from cutting a PVC pipe into small sections and using those as "rollers" under the safe. Make alot of them so it's easier to pick them up behind the safe and put them back in front as you go. You'll also want another set of hands for that task (moving the rollers). But I've been able to easily move an 800 pound safe by myself using this method.

Of course you still need to get it home and get it off the truck.

[troglodyte]

I moved my 500#ish safe by myself. If you have hard floors 1 1/4 sch 40 pipe works well. The thicker the carpet the larger the pipe you’ll need for it to roll easier.

I was lucky that my front porch is tall enough to serve as a loading dock.

[jason812]

I've helped move a couple. After watching the safe guy deliver the first one I had, they are not hard as long as it's not a huge safe. My current one was too big 1k lbs.

I think my buddies was about 600 lbs and my father in laws was 400lbs. Both were loaded in the back of a pickup. My buddies was unloaded with a tractor and my father in law has an old pier and beam house so we didn't have to go all the way to the ground. With the tractor we were able to get it to the door frame and then rocked it to the side to get old blankets under it. One of us pushed the safe while the other pulled the blanket. On my father in law's, I used a pair of 6ft smooth steel ramps, a blanket, and slid it from the truck, through the front door and to where it was going. No dolly was needed but there was no carpet.

When mine was delivered, the safe guy put a couple 1/4 thick pieces of plywood under the corners to keep moisture from rusting the bottom of the safe. He said that way if you mop, any moisture can evaporate. I borrowed my brothers hammer drill to anchor mine.

[03Lightningrocks]

As others may have said, it depends on the weight. My safe weighed in at 1200 pounds, empty. I didn't even think about doing it myself. It has been about ten years but I think it was around 300 dollars to put it in place and anchor it to my slab. The safe itself was 3500 dollars so 300 bucks did not seem so bad. They made it look easy but had all the right equipment.

[Killadocg23]

Thank you gentlemen for the responses I was quoted by the store 270 just for delivery (yikes) and I think it’s just curb side. Got two of my family members who said they’ll help me safe was lighter than I expected on the label it says about 270lbs I believe so I think it’s doable. Going to grab a dolly from the uhaul store too.

Thanks.

[Oldgringo]

One other tip, especially if the safe is hard to get on a dolly due to it's shape.

I've had good results from cutting a PVC pipe into small sections and using those as "rollers" under the safe. Make alot of them so it's easier to pick them up behind the safe and put them back in front as you go. You'll also want another set of hands for that task (moving the rollers). But I've been able to easily move an 800 pound safe by myself using this method.

Of course you still need to get it home and get it off the truck.

This^ and a couple of buddies got my safe into the house a few years ago.

[SigM4]

As stated several times it all depends on size and dimensions. Of my two one is over 1000 lbs empty and a bear to handle. Even then though it’s doable on carpet with sliders under it. The smaller one in the closet is ~775 lbs but it had several tight corners and a stretch of tile to transit. In both cases the couple hundred $ I spent for delivery and install to their locations was well worth it.

All that said having moved them both myself before I wouldn’t feel bad about moving yours, that weight is easily doable for a couple guys.

[Take Down Sicko]

Killadocg23, Let us know which safe brand you decided on and how the moving went.

[03Lightningrocks]

One other tip, especially if the safe is hard to get on a dolly due to it's shape.

I've had good results from cutting a PVC pipe into small sections and using those as "rollers" under the safe. Make alot of them so it's easier to pick them up behind the safe and put them back in front as you go. You'll also want another set of hands for that task (moving the rollers). But I've been able to easily move an 800 pound safe by myself using this method.

Of course you still need to get it home and get it off the truck.

This^ and a couple of buddies got my safe into the house a few years ago.

Pretty slick. It worked for the Egyptians when they built the pyramids. Why not move a safe with the same technique.

[03Lightningrocks]

Thank you gentlemen for the responses I was quoted by the store 270 just for delivery (yikes) and I think it’s just curb side. Got two of my family members who said they’ll help me safe was lighter than I expected on the label it says about 270lbs I believe so I think it’s doable. Going to grab a dolly from the uhaul store too.

Thanks.

Be sure and anchor that safe to the ground. If they can turn it over and get it face up, leverage makes it easier to get the door open. I have even read stories of crooks hauling the whole safe off. Four anchor points will make it real difficult to turn over or haul off. I suppose any safe can be defeated but making the criminal work longer for it increases your chances he will give up and leave.

[C-dub]

When I moved my dad's, 880lb, safe after he passed I used his dolly. This one.


I loaded it onto the dolly by myself. Moved it to the moving truck with a lift, onto the lift and up by myself. I would have been able to do the entire thing by myself except the lift and truck bed di not match up just right and I couldn't wrastle that thing over the lip ( about 1" difference) without too much risk of losing the upper hand and having it topple off the lift into the driveway. The same issue once I got it to my house.

My own safe, about 1250 lbs, was moved by two guys and a short pallet jack easily. One guy probably could've done it, but two made it look easy. They used a low trailer to transport, not a truck with a lift.

I don't think I would move my 1250 lb safe by myself now even with a pallet jack and I'd be afraid of damaging to 1000 lb dolly I have. Two friends and a 1500 lb pallet jack would be good. The bigger issue I see isn't moving it around as much as the vehicle that will get it from one place to another. How do you get it into and out of the vehicle? That seems to be the bigger issue to me. Two or three guys are not lifting a 1000 lb safe in and out of a truck safely without a lift on the back of the truck. IMHO