doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Residential walk-in vault

The Browning gun vault door works very well.

When I built my house 20 years ago, to keep on the right side of the law I made an 8 X 8 space behind a clothes closet with door, lock and key. Inexpensive, convenient with plenty room for 15-20 guns and the stuff that goes with them. My guess is there are many residences with opportunities to retro-fit a safe place for guns.

Most gun safes will take less than five minutes for a person with a crow bar and decent hammer to get into. Do a youtube search and watch it. Do not watch the sellers fake "attempt" to break into their safes on youtube. It is like watching a video of OJ trying to put on the gloves. Fake and a farce. Metal can be bent and pried open given time and muscle.

I have seen a safe that was busted open. First thing they did was drop it on its back. Then they worked a pry bar into the crack between the door and frame and worked it around until the safe opened. I thought it must have take a long time but they, the police, figured less than ten minutes. Made me give up in using safes as my primary means to store guns.

Now I have a "safe" in plain sight that holds klunkers and deactivated guns. Nothing to give a thief a decent score. Each gun has a name and missing owner information under a recoil pad of stuffed under a buttplate. Maybe someday the information will be found if they ever are stolen. The decent guns are in another end of the house behind a large safe door that is hidden behind a fake closet wall. This should keep out kids and morons but a real thief will get in given enough time. Walls can be smashed and re-enforcing rod cut given time and equipment.

Leaving as little to chance as I can I do not post on the internet using my real name or correct address. Not to be too paranoid but the more information you let out the larger the target you make yourself. Giving a photo tour of your gun room does not sound like a smart idea to me.

A security guy I know told me that the best low budget gun storage for a DIY-type is to pull off the plaster or drywall on an interior closet and cover the studs and ceiling joists with a layer of chain link fence material, then shear panel with 3/4" plywood and plaster or drywall over the plywood. Add a fire-rated steel door in a steel jamb, with two deadbolts (differently keyed) or a deadbolt and a combo lock. Not perfect, but quite functional.

Quote:
"Walls can be smashed and re-enforcing rod cut given time and equipment.
Leaving as little to chance as I can I do not post on the internet using my real name or correct address"

I have a security systen plus video filming equipment which is as far as I will go in discussing my own personal security. Will either of these deter a determined crook? No of course not and given enough time and ability they can defeat any security measure. However; The point is to make your house more difficult to rob than others. Most crooks will move on to easier pickings when they run into this situation.
A far as your second point goes this is the reason I DON'T post on forums Like the Parker Forum which insists you use your real name. This to me is the same as mounting a search light on my roof to make it easier for the gun thiefs to find and rob me. I fully expect that one of these days that's exactly what's going to happen to one of their members.
For the Record: Two militaria/firearms dealers were robbed in the past couple of years. This resulted in the death on one of them.
Jim

I've said it here before, but I'll say it again.

A magnetic drillpress with a concrete coring holesaw and a sixpac of beer and a thief will be refreshed and in your safe. Plug in the magnetic drillpress to your wallsocket, turn on the auto-feed, sit back and enjoy a beer. In a few minutes, it'll cut thru a common 1/4" steel safe door and the lock will fall out. Just reach in and push the bolts over and open the door.

Or, a portable $500 plasma cutter running on 120V will cut 3/8" steel plate at 17"/minute.

There's gotta be a lot more to your security plan than a steel door if you have a high investment collection.

Seems to me that I can get 99% security with an alarm system and a well-constructed safe in the basement (remember burglers don't want to be trapped in the basement with only one way out) rather than spend lots more money to raise the security level to 99.5% (or whatever) I'm going to invest in more/nicer guns and the shells to push thru them. I get a lot more pleasure looking at the guns than the safe.

Well, then I should be OK.

No system is going to stop a professional thief if he has time, knowledge and the will to break in. Spend 50K if you want and they will still get in the long run. Do not make yourself a target. Do not make it easy for them. Do make reasonable precautions. Past that you are mostly fooling yourself.

Buy good insurance if you are worried about your investment. If that does not make you feel safe, with your other efforts, then sell your guns and bank your money. I read today the the Bank of New York is charging some depositors 0.13% interest to hold their money. Stock market dropped 500 points and the banks are charging you interest to hold your money. Times are getting real nasty and may get worse soon. Load two and be ready, change is happening and I do not like it very much.

Can we expect a picture a SxS you own before the world comes to an end ?