Safe & Firearm Recommendations

[CodeJockey]

All, I've been putting off posting this for a week, because I've been so mad that I can hardly see straight. I figure I've calmed down enough to post this without breaking forum rules. On April 3, my home was broken into between 10:30 and 11:30 am. My wife was home until then, and she left to go to the grocery store, but returned an hour later. She went to unlock the door and it was kicked in. She had sense enough to run back to the truck, lock the doors, and call 911. She then called me. I work 45 minutes away, and left immediately, staying on the phone until I got there. First of all, we live in a big city, and The police beat me by 5 minutes. This is unacceptable to me, but that's another story. As it turns out they were already gone. Well, they bypassed nearly all of our electronics, including a brand new computer (less than 1 week old). What they did take was our jewelry box, some golf clubs, and my entire gun safe (full of guns and ammo, of course), and a few other odds and ends. Now, it was not a locker, but it also was not a full size gun-safe. It was a Sentry Safe, so it was fairly low-end. Because I'm an idiot, it was not bolted to the slab. They caused a significant amount of damage to the house in the process of removing the safe. They also had our kitchen knives from our butcher block spread all over the house. I can only assume this was in case the house wasn't empty or in case they were disturbed. The police did not take any fingerprints, and that really annoyed me. I specifically asked him to do so, and he said they don't do that for residential burglaries (apparently even if several firearms were stolen).

My advice to everyone. First, bolt your safe to the floor. Do you not have a safe? Get one, then bolt it to the floor. Secondly, make sure you have photos of every gun, serial numbers, and any other documentation for the police report and insurance purposes. Thirdly, check your homeowner's insurance. I am going to take a serious hit on my insurance because of limits on firearm and jewelry coverage that I was unaware were there. This is nobody's fault but mine, but it was an expensive lesson to learn.

I just thank God that my wife and kids were not home at the time. My brain simply cannot process the outcome of that had they been there. I'm equally sorry that I was not home at the time, but that is another story.

Now, all of that aside, I am in need of some new firearms, and a safe. Can anyone provide to me a safe recommendation. My budget is pretty open on this, but I don't want to spend more than is necessary to accomplish my goals. I'd think a safe that holds 14 long guns and 10 or so handguns plus ammo and such would be more than sufficient, easily covering both my short-term goals, and leaving room for growth. Things I'm curious about include electronic or dial lock, fire resistance, brand name, and place to order from.

As for firearms, I have one handgun (which I had with me at the time, or they would have gotten that too). I want to replace my shotgun with a tactical or defensive style shotgun. I have limited experience here. As for handguns and other long guns, I know what I need there. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[AEA]

Definitely DIAL Lock.

Sorry to hear about your loss. You learned the hard way.

[Tactical_Texan_CHL]

Man, I'm really sorry to hear about that! My gun safe is a Cannon safe from Academy. It's by no means top of the line, but it's pretty good. I drilled holes in the garage floor and put lag bolts into the concrete and bolted that sucker down. I'd have to recommend a similar safe if you're on a reasonable budget. It'll "supposedly" hold 28 long guns, 14 plus shelves for handguns and other stuff if you leave those in, which I did. It's a dial lock, not electric. It's fire safe up to 1200 degrees for 45 minutes if I remember correctly. We also have another small floor safe from Sam's in there with important papers, social security cards, and birth certificates. It's fire safe as well, so our important papers are double protected. That's the only recommendation I can give. If I had the money, I'd get a super safe too, but I think it's a good one. Here's a link to the one almost like I have, the one in the middle http://www.cannonsafe.com/safesamericaneagle.nxg. Here's a pic inside mine for you to compare. It's not the greatest, because I didn't actually take it to show the safe, but it's the only pic I have that show's the inside.

F.Y.I. Don't lock your key and tag with the combination inside the safe accidentally. I had a friend do that and he had to call Cannon Safes, who then sent him a form he had to take to Academy where he bought the safe along with the reciept. He had to get the manager to sign the form stating that my friend was indeed the original purchaser of the safe so Cannon could resend the correct combination to get into it. I, I mean my friend , was locked out of his safe for a month!!!

[Eagle72]

I've been pleased with the one I got from Liberty Safes of Texas. They're generally at the local DFW gun shows & also have a showroom in Garland. The Pistol Pockets they show on their accessory page work really well for handguns without taking up shelf space in the safe. When I got mine I paid to have them deliver it & they bolted it to the foundation for me.

[tboesche]

Man, this really stinks. Sorry to here about the break in and loss of you guns. Very glad that your family was not home at the time.

Maybe you can post a list of what guns were stolen so people can be on the lookout for them at pawn shops and such.

[rm9792]

I have a Fort Knox model 6637 that i like. It is probably 1500# with all thats in it and bolted to a concrete slab. Safe with delivery and install was about $2400. Has electronic lock and internal lights.

[The Annoyed Man]

My sympathies. I hate to hear stories like that.

I bought a Liberty Safe, Colonial model. It has a total gun capacity of 25. Right now, mine has 4 rifles and 6 pistols in it. There would be room for more, but I also store all my ammo in it. It is fire resistant. It is bolted to the floor. I bought it from Euless Guns & Ammo. The price was $1195.00, which included delivery, installation, and bolting it down to my floor.

[rm9792]

Champions are nice too, see those at gun shows a lot.

[srothstein]

I am sorry to hear about the burglary. There may be an excuse for the police taking so long but it is not going to be good. Make sure that if any of you are in the same situation you specify that you think there is someone in the house right now. If you say you came home and found it broken into, they will assume the burglars are long gone and handle it as a report, which is much lower priority. If you think someone is in there still, it becomes burglars in action, which is usually a hot call.

Also, if the agency has a policy of not taking fingerprints in residential burglaries, you need to work on getting this changed. Write the Chief, and if that does not get it changed, then go up the chain to the city manager, mayor, and city council. This is a denial of the service you pay for and is inexcusable.

Having said that, I want to also caution that there will be many times you do not want things printed. It is very hard to get prints off many surfaces (though it is getting better with technology). If the odds of getting a good print are slim, you might not want the powder mess that goes with it.

One good example of something that should very rarely be printed is your car. In the case of a break-in, there is very little that will take a good print inside the car, and prints outside the car are not good evidence. And, the powder is designed to stick to surfaces and is really hard to clean up. Believe me, you don't want the inside of the car printed for minor burglaries. Stolen cars are a little different because there is one place we almost always get good prints from. Everyone reaches up and readjusts the rear view mirror, even the thief does this without thinking about it. This will almost always give us prints from the back of the inside mirror.

And, in most decent cities, we are finally getting tot he stage of Joe Friday in the 60's. We can solve a crime from a single print, or even a large enough fragment of one. Computers do the searching now and are very good at picking matches for the examiner to verify as the suspect. Small towns may not be able to afford it yet, but big cities have the $2.5 million that automated fingerprint services cost to set up.

[rm9792]

Pasadena refused to print a home burglary till we told him firearms were stolen and was even a little reluctant then. Rothstein is correct, printing is not like on tv. We couldnt get prints off of glass, wood, wall paint, dvd cases, nothing. I always assumed glas gave excellent prints but the officer said it is too slick.

[Mike1951]

Like Steve said:

An oldy, but goody.

HOW TO CALL THE POLICE WHEN YOU'RE OLD AND DON'T MOVE FAST ANYMORE.

George Phillips of Meridian, Mississippi was going up to bed when his wife told him that he'd left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window.

George opened the back door to go turn off the light but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.

He phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house?" and he said "no". Then they said that all patrols were busy, and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be along when available.
George said, "Okay," hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again.

"Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed Well, you don't have to worry about them now because I've just shot them." Then he hung up.

Within five minutes three police cars, an Armed Response Unit, and an ambulance showed up at the Phillips' residence and caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the Policemen said to George: "I thought you said that you'd shot them!"
George said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"

A friend's house was burglarized (ok, he knew somebody!) and the deputy stayed nine hours taking prints. Burglars later caught, everything retrieved except for $40 cash and an hierloom 'long tom' shotgun. It's amazing what they can do when they want to!

[troglodyte]

I picked up a scratch and dent safe at my local gunshop. Might check around. It's the back of the closet so who cares what it looks like and I saved a couple of hundred bucks.

American Security LP serieshttp://www.amsecusa.com/gun-safes-LP-main.htm

A good middle-of-the-road safe, IMO.

12 ga steel, 45 min fire rating, 672 lbs empty. DIAL LOCK!

I too have a small document fire safe (Sentry from Wally) in the bottom with the really important documents in it. (Check the dimensions before you buy ) This doubles (or more) the fire rating.

As for firearm recommendations, I'm getting ready to outfit the family with XD subcompacts. I'm still trying to decide between the 9 or 40. I want to keep the same caliber for all four (wife, 2 boys, myself) but may get a 9 for the wife and us boys will carry the 40s. (One son is still a couple of years from his CHL and the youngest is 7 years. With the distinct possibility the Dem's will win, I'm trying to get ahead and provide for their future. If the gloom and doom doesn't happen, I haven't really lost anything.)

For a shotgun, Remington 870 express shotgun, just your garden variety. Birds to bears to bad guys, all one gun. Mossberg 500 are good also.

I'm also looking at the AK and SKS route for any civil unrest that may develop in the next few years. AK with 30 round mags for volume, SKS for back up or other family member. If you want to read some good articles on the AK wander over to http://www.warriortalk.com. Not as glamorous as an AR but (usually) cheaper and arguably more durable and reliable. Not trying to pick a fight folks just giving some food for thought.

I'll probably save my pennies for a Savage 308 (or 3006). Economical, basic rifle with a good rep. Double duty as dear rifle and longer range defensive rifle.

Lastly, ammo. This plays into some of my choices also. All handguns one caliber you only need to stockpile one caliber (don't get me wrong, I'm not giving up my .41 or .45, just not planning to stockpile 1K rounds for them). Another reason for the 7.62x39 platform. Ammo prices are also a consideration, at least for me.

So there, you asked for some recommendations and I gave you my thoughts. I don't have money to burn so my choices are good, reliable, and economical guns in calibers that are easily available and reasonably priced.

Good luck and sorry about your loss. Glad you and your's were safe.

[stevie_d_64]

Add me to the list of folks here who sympathise with you "CJ"...

I think you have it well in hand what you need to do...Get a larger (heavier) safe with the "dial" tumbler style of lock...Document, and keep records of your property, and keep that backed up off site...

You'll be fine, don't let this get you down either...I know its easier said than done, but you do have a lot of folks here supporting you in recovering from this crime...

Good luck...If anything, be jealous of all these "neat freaks" and their carefully laid out and organized gunsafes! Geesh!!!

Bunch of show offs!

[rm9792]

Bunch of show offs!

He he he!

[Skiprr]

Good luck...If anything, be jealous of all these "neat freaks" and their carefully laid out and organized gunsafes! Geesh!!!

And did you notice in rm9792's safe that only one handgun hanger was empty? I'd wager that was his carry pistol that he had on his hip when he snapped the photo...