Are gun safes a safe investment?

[bonefish]

I remember a post on this earlier, but I can't sem to find it. I'd like to hear opinions of gun safes. Are they worth the investment? I need a secure place to store my guns (from kids), as well as a spot to put important documents and other items. Is spending $1,500+ on a gun safe worth the money? Or, should I just by a lockable gun "cabinet", let my homeowners insurance cover the guns, and rent a safety depsoit box for the documents?

[harvey lee]

I have 2-10 gun cabinets and a few other guns.I keep them in the cabinet and put trigger locks on all triggers so if one of the grandkids do get in there then the guns cannot be fired.The cabinets are also locked.

I keep all important papers in a safety deposit box so they are safe.I also carry a insurance rider on my homeowners policy for the guns.All guns with serial numbers are listed.

You use to be able to go to your local police dept and get free trigger locks through a federal program.This might be worth checking out and it would save you some cash.

I have always thought of buying a gun safe but I have I done is working and probably cheaper.

[Eric Wettschreck]

In all honesty, you want option #2. If you're worried about kids (Rightfully so) get a cheaper safe and a deposit box.

As a firefighter I can tell you that gun safe claims are a bunch of hooey. Plain and simple if your house is blazing away whatever is inside that safe is a goner.

[chucker34]

I am going to get a gun safe soon as my son is now past the 2 year old mark and getting into anything. I only have 3 guns so I am going to buy a fairly inexpensive safe from Fleet Farm for about $100 (holds 6) that screws into the wall or floor. That seems like a great investment to me from a safety stanpoint. Will probably still use the trigger locks, etc. We have a safety deposit box for documents. I doubt most gun safes would help you there unless you shelled out a lot of cash.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Smart thinkin. I do know of a fella that bolted his gun safe to the floor and the whole safe got stolen and a big chunk of his floor ruined, but what's a guy to do. It's apparent it took a while and my buddy was gone for a while and it was just plain bad luck.

I honestly feel the only thing a safe will do is keep the kids away from the guns, which is a darn good reason to get one. Even a huge coin safe isn't going to stop thieves, fire, tornadoes, Armageddon, etc from ruining your guns.

[deepportage01]

My Dad had one mounted in the wall at his house and not a cheep one. When they broke in the !@#$ took the chain saw out of the shop and cut it out of the wall, What a mess!

Now we both have the elcheepo ones just to keep the kids out. I would get the cheep one and buy one or two more guns with the $$ you save,

Just my two cents...

[Powerstroke]

I agree with Boilerguy, as a firefighter, they always tell us that no homeowner type safe will withstand a house fire. I had a guy at a safe shop tell me that If I was really serious I could put a safe box inside one of their fire/gun safes and that would be 99% fire safe, but that he could still not warrenty that they would be fireproof.

They all have fire ratings but most would damage with a campfire.

I bought a cheapie (~$200) and it keeps everything locked up.

One thing I suggest is having a safe with a seperate cabinet for the ammunition and they are different keys. Mine is one safe unit with 2 doors. They also have them with 2 sections you can keep in 2 different places. Its safer with kids around. My wife does home daycare in Hennepin County and this is required by law to get your license. I think its a great idea.

[irvingdog]

American Security = Contents guaranteed.

[Chasingame]

I also will agree with Boilerguy. I am also a fireman, and last Feb 18th (I know this cause we just had our baby 3 days prior) we had a house fire in the basement of a 2 story house, the homeowner asked us after we had everthing contained if we could go down and check out his gun safes. they were very expensive safes (3) full of guns we got 2 of the 3 open and from everything i could see every gun in there were toast and unshootable. I would save the money on a safe and buy a lockable cabinet, then take the leftover money and go and buy a new gun!!!

[Powerstroke]

Contents may be guarenteed, but don't put valuable and irreplacable contents in there if you're not willing to lose it. Insurance and guarentees are fine but it does no good replacing a one-of-a-kind item.