100 Money-Saving Ways to Protect Your Guns

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5. Accessing Your Valuables

Once a burglar has figured out where your valuables are, you want to make it very time consuming to access them.  If your guns are in the back of your closet, accessing your valuables only takes as long as picking them up and figuring out a way to carry them out.

This stage is what gun safe companies are trying to sell you a solution for.  As you can see, this is already pretty late in the burglary process.

Bolt Down your Gun Safe

For the reasons covered in the previous article, it is extremely important that you bolt down your gun safe.

Anchoring your gun safe makes attacking it much more time consuming.  Taking the whole gun safe is made much harder if the bolts have to be ripped out first.  With the safe standing up, leverage to pry open the door, or the force of swinging an ax is reduced.  Access to the thinner metal on the top, sides, and edges of a gun safe is also made more difficult if the gun safe can’t be laid down on its side.

Bolting down your gun safe is one of the most important and cheapest things you can do to keep your guns secure.  For suggestions about what types of bolts to use and other factors, see Installing a Gun Safe.

Build a Gun Safe Anchor

If you can’t bolt down your gun safe, you’ll have to get more creative.  You could construct an anchor for the gun safe that won’t fit through the door unless it’s unbolted from the gun safe.  The most important thing is that the anchor can be securely bolted to the gun safe.

Concrete is cheap and weighs about 144 lbs per cubic foot.  You can pour a concrete anchor in a large pan or plastic storage container that will give the concrete a presentable shape.  Add some rebar, high strength mesh/screens, and/or other steel reinforcement to the concrete while you’re at it.  Steel can be welded into all kinds of shapes and then filled with concrete.   When the concrete cures, you can paint or carpet the anchor.

One guy on a forum made a steel box 1′ tall and 4′ long by 4′ wide and filled it with concrete, which made it weigh over 2300 lbs.  That is heavier than most people will probably need, but will make it very difficult to tip the gun safe over if you can’t bolt it down.  He might have been fine with just a 2″ tall x 4′ by 4′ steel platform, as long as it won’t fit out the doors with the gun safe attached.

Improvise a Gun Safe Anchor

Welded Down Gun Safe

Gun Safe Welded Down

If you can’t make a gun safe anchor, improvise one.

If the gun safe is near a support beam or pole, weld the gun safe to it.

You might be able to bolt the gun safe to your walls, although drilling holes through the fireproofing will reduce the fire protection.

If you can’t bolt it to the structure, bolt it to a big piece of furniture like a locked filing cabinet, a big desk, or your bed frame.

Build a Modular Gun Safe Behind a Small Doorway

If you’re looking at modular or take-down gun safes, you probably move a lot.  That means you’re probably renting as well and don’t have as much freedom to modify your house or apartment, although most carpet can hide screw and bolt holes (if the indentation in the carpet doesn’t draw too much attention).

If you buy a big enough modular gun safe, it may not fit through a doorway once it’s assembled.  Use this to your advantage and build it in a room that it can’t be removed from without tearing out the wall (not to say that a burglary won’t try).  Of course, there’s nothing to stop the burglars from tipping it over and attacking the sides, but at least they can’t take it with them.

Good modular gun safes can be assembled in tight spaces with walls on all sides.  Building it in a confined area will prevent the gun safe from being tipped over, and limit ax swings.

Lock Up or Hide Your Tools

Most burglars do not bring their own tools.  For one, they want to avoid getting stopped in “possession of burglary tools”, a crime in most places.  Burglars who do bring tools won’t necessarily have the right tool for a specific situation, especially if you’ve been hardening your home.

The majority of burglars use what they find outside and inside a house to commit their crime.  This means locking up your tools is as important as locking up your valuables. Lock up and/or hide your tools, especially:

  • Prying and Leverage Tools – pry bars, crowbars, big screwdrivers, curb pins, tanker bars, spud bars, metal pipes, hydraulic wedges and spreaders, etc.
  • Moving and Rolling Tools – hand trucks, utility dolly’s, plastic pipes, wooden dowels, strong blankets, etc.
  • Brute Force Splitting and Cutting Tools – axes, pickaxes, hatchets, mauls, matlocks, chisels, etc.
  • Hammering Tools – hammers, sledge hammers, punches, etc.
  • Power Tools – angle grinders, reciprocating saws (Sawzalls), circular saws, abrasive and diamond blades, power chisels, electric shears, etc.
  • Boring Tools – drills, drill bits, hole saws, etc.
  • Torches and Welding Tools – plasma cutters, cutting torches, welding torches, plumbing torches, etc.
  • Other Equipment – extension cords, compressors, air hoses, ladders, step ladders, stools, etc.

Think like a thief!  Just because your circular saw has a crosscut blade on it doesn’t mean some dumb burglar won’t try to use it to cut through the steel wall of your gun safe.

Divide the Stash

Centralizing your valuable firearms generally isn’t the best idea, for the same reason that the president and vice president usually don’t travel together in the same vehicle.  One reader commented that he unfortunately found this out the hard way. Dividing your collection into multiple gun safes multiplies the amount of time it will take to access your whole collection.

Even after breaking into the first gun safe, thieves will have to start from scratch breaking into the second.   For very valuable collections, insurance companies can require multiple safes for this reason. Instead of getting one really big gun safe and putting all your guns in it, plan to buy a smaller safe now and then get a second one later, or get multiple gun safes at once.  You can often get a discount on the sale price and shipping if you buy more than one at once from the same manufacturer.

If you hide or camouflage your gun safes, burglars may not even find the second gun safe.  The weaker gun safe should be put in the easier to find location and should have your least valuable guns, similar to the decoy strategy.

Get the Proper Safe for the Job

You wouldn’t bring a .30-’06 to a trap shoot.  Well, maybe you would if you’re Herb Parsons, but you get the idea.  Get the right tools for the job.

Centralizing your guns is bad enough, but centralizing all of your portable wealth in one spot is an even worse idea.

Instead of sizing your gun safe for guns and other valuables, buy a smaller gun safe and other security containers for the rest.  This approach will usually be cheaper than bigger gun safes, which have larger mark-ups.

If you want to secure jewelry, cash, gold/silver, and other very portable valuables, get a true safe designed for that purpose.  It will be easier to hide and more secure than a large gun safe.

If you want protection from fire for documents and media, get a UL 72 Class 150 or 125 Fire Endurance tested fire safe.

Customize Your Gun Safe or True Safe

Sturdy Gun Safe Reinforcement Options

Sturdy gun safe steel reinforcement options.

Most manufactures of true safes and some gun safe manufactures like Sturdy, Fort Knox, and others, will custom build a gun safe to your specifications.  You can use this to your advantage to save money and reduce the weight of your gun safe.

If your gun safe location will leave one wall exposed, you can have an extra steel sheet welded in on only that side.

Or to save money and weight, you can buy a gun safe with a basic thickness body shell, but have extra steel welded into the upper half of the walls.  This will add protection to areas most often attacked with axes, without adding weight or the cost of extra steel in the entire shell.

Buy a Used Commercial Safe

For all the reasons covered in the previous article, a gun safe just isn’t going to protect you from burglar attacks as well as a true safe, especially from power tool attacks.

Used commercial safes can often be found for less than a new gun safe, as this reader and others have found.  If you want a cheap gun safe with real protection, this is the way to go.  Commercial safes usually run smaller than gun safes, but some types of businesses like jewelers generally have safes plenty large enough to store long guns.

Start looking for a used commercial safe by contacting a safe technician or safe dealer.  They should be members of Safe & Vault Technicians Association (SAVTA) and/or National Safeman’s Organization (NSO).  You can find these businesses in this online directory, or by looking up “safes” in the yellow pages.

$100 Used Jewelry Safe Roadside

$100 Used Jewelry Safe Roadside in front of House for Sale

A safe dealer will probably have some used models in inventory.  If not, he/she can contact you when some come in.  The used models the safe dealer has will be a little more expensive than those in the classifieds, but will have already been checked out and serviced, and you won’t have to deal with the sellers.

Another source for used gun safes is the classifieds.  The first time I did a Craigslist search for gun safes I found a local used commercial safe advertised by a safe technician.  It was only $1000 and large enough for long guns.  I didn’t save that listing so I had to go back and find another example.

Craigslist Classified TL-30 Used Safe for Sale

Craigslist Classified TL-30 Safe for Sale $350

The second search turned up this nearby UL 687 TL-30 rated monster advertised for only $350!  That’s right, a true safe that new would cost five figures, has a serious burglary rating which can resist power tools, 1.5″ plate steel in the walls lined with high strength concrete, and is probably pushing two tons.  But, it costs less used than most RSCs at big box stores!  It’s basically free to the first person who comes and gets it out of there.

If you find a used safe in the classifieds, you’ll probably still need the safe technician to check it out, move it, install it, and/or service it.  If it doesn’t have the type of lock you want, they can also put another lock on a used safe.  That’s another benefit of talking to a safe technician first and building a relationship with him/her.

Used Jewelry Safe Roadside Interior

Interior of Roadside Used Jewelry Safe.  A safe tech could put an electronic keypad lock on it for quick access.

If your home or desired location can’t handle the weight of a full size commercial safe, get a smaller true safes for your handguns.  Handguns are the most frequently stolen firearms (sources).

Have a safesmith put an electronic keypad lock on a smaller used safe and use it for quick access to your home defense pistol, as well as your wife’s jewelry and other portable valuables besides guns.

Buy a Used Gun Safe

If you don’t want to spring for a used commercial gun safe, consider buying a used gun safe.  They can often be picked up for a fraction of the original cost, although you may not have as many options or have to wait to get one you want.

Check your gun or hunting club classifieds board.  Online classifieds like Craigslist are also great for this.

Build a Closet Around Your Gun Safe

Framing Paneling to Hide Gun Safe

Framing around a Gun Safe.  Paneling was put up over the framing.

Construction materials aren’t cheap these days but they’re much cheaper than a gun safe.

In addition to helping you hide a gun safe, building walls around the gun safe has a number of benefits.

  • If the gun safe is bolted down, walls built around the sides of the safe help protect the weakest parts of the safe — the walls and edges.
  • Surrounding walls also make it harder to get access to pry the safe bolts out of the floor and remove or attack the top of the safe.
  • If the gun safe is bolted down and the walls extend past the front face, it makes it much harder to get leverage on the door with a prying tool.
  • This section and graphic include recommendations for wall placement, including spacing of walls.

When you’re building the walls around the safe you can also put some extra layers of fire rated drywall (Sheetrock) or cement backer board on the inside and outside to make a legitimate building-code-approved fire-rated assembly.  This type of assembly is usually required in some areas of new homes, like the walls between an attached garage and a house.  You could also put some insulation in the wall before you put up the Sheetrock.

Build a Closet Gun Safe

Closet before owner turned it into a Closet Gun Safe

Closet before owner turned it into a Closet Gun Safe

Most gun owners just want to keep their children out of their guns, and some protection from novice burglars.  If that’s all you want, save yourself a ton of money by reinforcing a closet or pantry to make a Closet Gun Safe.

A great thing about a closet gun safe is that you have a lot more room to work with.  You can put your gunsmithing bench in there and gun cleaning supplies.  Your handloading equipment can be left out in the open in a closet gun vault.  Mount your guns on the wall where you can enjoy looking at them and tell instantly if they’re missing.  Household chemicals, tools, or other things that pose a danger to your children can also be locked up inside.

First remove the drywall inside.  Then line the closet by “screwing and gluing” up a couple layers of plywood.  “Gluing” refers to construction adhesive, which should be used between the studs and the plywood, and between the plywood sheets.  Use screws that penetrate at least 2″ into the studs.  For strength, lay out the plywood so that the seams don’t overlap.  You can also put some wire mesh between the plywood sheets if you wanted, but this may hurt cell phone reception in the room.

The hardening of the wall construction can be taken even further if both sides of the wall are sheathed in plywood. According to this book on home security construction, plywood-sheathed walls can be filled up with rough gravel to make them bulletproof against pistol and most rifle rounds. The gravel must be 3/4″ or 1/2″ rough, not smooth, and the floor must be able to handle the weight.  Additional construction specifications like steel studs and jambs can be found in that book starting on page 275. In addition to being much cheaper than other bulletproofing, this type is regenerating. As pieces of gravel are blown apart, more gravel falls down to take their place. This would convert your closet gun safe walls, or other strategic walls in your house, from “concealment” into “cover”. Your closet gun safe would then be a cheap panic room.

The door will probably swing out, so reinforce the door and/or hinges (as discussed above) and add a deadbolt.  For safety, you can choose a door knob that locks automatically and an automatic door closer.  Make sure you carry your keys on you so you don’t lock them inside.

A diversionary sign like “Danger Electrical Hazard, Please Keep Locked” or “Cleaning Products and Chemicals, Dangerous to Children, Please Keep This Door Locked” will act as a deterrent to anyone that might wonder “Why does this door have a deadbolt?”

Diversionary Chemical Signs for Closet Gun Safe

Diversionary Chemical Signs for Closet Gun Safe

The plywood walls of course could be breached with a power saw or an ax.  But these same tools would get into most RSC gun safes just as easily.  And a gun safe is much more conspicuous and more likely to attract attention than a closet.

Build Your Own Gun Safe

It’s not as crazy as it may sound.  Most of the cost in a gun safe is steel.  To make a cheap gun safe, the materials will cost more than you could buy one for.  However in the gun safe industry, higher end models with more steel have massive markups.   So you stand to save a lot of money if you make your own gun safe out of beefy steel sheet.

Old Vault Bolt Work

Old Yale Vault Bolt Work

If you’re handy with a welder and have access to steel stock and/or scrap, you could build a gun safe so secret that no one else will know about it.  If you come across scrap now and then you could build it One Piece At A Time like Johnny Cash.

The body of a homemade gun safe will be straightforward.  The door is a little trickier, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Look at the bolt work on this 100 year old Yale Vault.  The door is 1/4″ plate steel.  The locking bolt carriage frame is welded to the door.  The locking bolts are four horizontal 3/4″ diameter round bars (should be hardened) that extend as wide as the front lip of the door.  When the locking bolts are retracted, they slide deep enough into the hinge side of the door frame to open the door.  To lock the door, the bolt handle just has to slide the locking bolts out of the hinge side behind the other door jamb.

Buy a proper safe UL Group I or II mechanical dial or electronic keypad lock for under $100.  Fabricate a mount for the lock so that the lock deadbolt blocks the bolt work.  If you want, you could drop a hardened anti-drill hard plate or some ball bearings in front of the lock for good measure.   Sit back, enjoy a whiskey and cigar, and admire your handy work.

Build Your Own Gun Vault

Charlton Heston's Gun Vault Door

Gun Vault Door

Formal gun vaults have pluses and minuses.  On the plus side, they are part of the house and impossible to steal.  They can also be made very large and secure enough to keep most thieves busy attacking for hours.  If you have the money and don’t plan on moving, they’re a great way to go.

On the other hand, vault doors generally cost as much as an entire safe, and then you’ll still need to pay for the actual vault. Also, people who have had vaults built in new construction report that the subcontractors talk too much.  Every contractor that walks in the basement will ask “What’s the funny room?”  To which the others replied, “It’s gonna be a gun safe.”  Since vaults are unusual in most construction, expect people to talk about it.  Contractors are a small circle too, that know each other and share stories.  To top it off thieves and ex-cons are hired as day laborers in some trades.

Charlton Heston's Gun Vault

Gun Vault

Instead of trying to keep a secret with the dozens of tradesman who come in and out of a new home construction site, you can use another tactic.  Once your home is finished, or on your existing home, you can excavate an attached or unattached vault.  This will be easier to keep quiet because you only have to worry about the excavators and concrete guys talking.

Masonry block walls can be broken quickly with a sledge hammer unless you pour concrete down the holes after the wall is built.  People who know anything about concrete will be able to get through it straightforwardly.  For security you’ll probably want reinforced concrete at a minimum, possibly with some extraordinary steps like mixing bits of abrasives and metal chips in the concrete to eat up cutting tools.

Your gun vault doesn’t need to be so extravagant though.  You can improvise a vault in your basement by making a small closet, line it with rebar, high strength mesh/screens, and/or other steel reinforcement. Then use the closet as the outer form to pour the concrete walls.

One forum poster wrote about his father’s homemade vault, which was put in after the home was built.  He lived out in the woods with a 30 minute police response time and needed a place to store his guns.  So, he took an extra coat closet and moved one of the walls, then lined the closet with two layers of cinder blocks.  He went to the scrap yard and got some 2″ thick steel plates and cut them to go floor to ceiling inside the blocks.  He had his friend over who welded all the plates together and then welded a safe door on the inside.  When it was done the closet had a normal door on the outside that opened to an improvised vault door.  Interestingly he said that someone did break in years later and pounded on the vault door.  Then they broke through the wall and concrete block, but stopped when they hit the steel.

Time Constraint

Getting caught is a pretty good incentive for a burglar to want to get out of your house.  But if they know you’re on vacation, your neighbors won’t be home until at least 4 PM, you have no alarm system, and they just found a big gun safe, they’re going to be inclined to spend some time trying to open it.

Given enough time, any gun safe or safe can be broken into.  If you have a gun safe, it’s important to give thieves an incentive to hurry up and leave.

Get a Monitored Alarm System

Alarm systems don’t function well as deterrents these days.  Have you personally ever heard a car alarm and actually thought, “Someone’s stealing that car!”?

In many cases thieves have attacked gun safes for an hour or more.  The best use for a monitored home burglar alarm system, especially for gun safe owners, to give the thieves a time constraint once they’re in your house.

Many thieves know that most monitored alarm systems traditionally use phone lines to call the central station.  So smart thieves have cut the phone lines, set off the alarm, and listen to the police scanner.  You can get around this with a monitored alarm system with cellular backup. Many alarm systems today can also contact your cell phone when the alarm goes off.

Don’t Cry Wolf

In many jurisdictions, up to 99% of the residential burglar alarm calls are false alarms.

These false alarms fallow the Pareto Principal or “80/20 Rule” in that at least 80% of the false alarms come from 20% of the houses. If the police are called for false alarms they will begin to remember your address as the house with all the false alarms.  In some cities they will even start charging you. If a burglar alarm goes off on a house that’s never had a false alarm, it’s more likely to get fast attention.

Learn how your alarm system works and read the manual.  For my mother, getting her new system sorted out took three false alarm responses by the police.  Her burglar alarm system has a key fob, but pressing that button while the alarm is already going off puts the system in duress mode.  The same happens if the code is punched in on the keypad but you don’t hit the “Cancel” button.  In duress mode the siren inside the house stops, but the police are still called — a safety feature for home invasions. Also, when most burglar alarms are triggered, the monitoring system will call a phone number to confirm that this is a real burglary.  My mother initially used the house phone number for this, but the ringer was turned off due to telemarketers.  She then changed the confirmation number to her cell phone.  But, the next time the alarm went off, her cell phone was dead so she couldn’t cancel the police call.

Make sure the emergency phone numbers for your alarm system are up to date and you and your emergency contact actually can answer them. If there’s a fault in your alarm system which triggers false alarms, fix it immediately.

Once you’ve fixed any problems and figured out your alarm system, try regaining some credibility by apologizing to the neighbors, the police dispatcher, and the officers that come to your house.  You can say that you appreciate their responsiveness to the alarm, and regret if the false alarms have eroded some of their trust.  Then explain the steps you’ve taken to correct the issue.  The next time the alarm goes off hopefully their first reaction won’t be annoyance at another false alarm.

Alarm Your Gun Safe

You can also put an alarm sensor on your gun safe linked to the home alarm, or a separate alarm.

Make Burglars Uncomfortable in Your Home

There are lots of ways to make a thief uncomfortable in your home, and especially around your gun safe.

Obnoxiously loud alarm sirens are one, especially if they’re installed so that they’re hard to disable.  The thieves may attack the safe until the alarm gets so annoying that they go waste time trying to destroy the alarm.

Multiple sirens are even better.

Booby-Trap Your Gun Safe

A couple companies make pepper spray dispensers that you can mount near your gun safe in the ceiling or wall.  The Burglar Blaster mounts to a wall or other vertical surface.  It’s battery powered and will run up to 4 years on the “C” size batteries.  The integrated motion detector will trigger the pepper spray after an adjustable delay of 0 to 40 seconds.  A high pitched non-directional whine is let out during the delay period. This allows a forgetful owner to shut it off before getting blasted, but a burglar can’t trace the sound back to the source.

That same company also sells in-ceiling, outdoor, and even tripwire dispensers.

Burglar Bomb Pepper Spray Home Security System

Burglar Bomb Repulsar IV

The Burglar Bomb is another dispenser that mounts in the ceiling above your gun safe.  You can wire it to a gun safe alarm to distract any would-be burglars while they’re attacking your gun safe.  If they don’t just leave, they’ll probably waste time going to wash the pepper spray off.

You may have other ideas for booby-traps, but keep in mind that they might accidentally go off on you some day.  An anti-gun news outlet might love to make you famous with a story “Paranoid Gun Owner Critically Injures Himself With Own Gun Safe Booby-Trap”.  Any “booby-traps” need to be non-lethal and of course legal.

Make Burglars Nervous

One forum poster put flashing red and blue lights outside that could be seen from the gun safe.  In addition to attracting neighbors’ attention, it was intended to make burglars think the police had arrived.

Even if burglars didn’t take off when they saw the lights, they’d lose the ability to tell when the real red and blue lights arrive.   This is bound to make them nervous if they continue to attack the gun safe.  If they go outside to disable the lights, they waste time.

Yell “Fire!” Instead of “Help!”

This is advice given to women in self-defense classes, because fires are often responded to more reliably than crimes.

Put a smoke detector above your gun safe, preferably linked into the other smoke detectors in the house.  Many attacks on a safe, especially with power tools, will put off dust, sparks, and/or smoke which can set off the smoke alarm.

Having all of your smoke alarms going off is annoying, may attract the attention of the neighbors, and can make the thieves nervous if they think you have a monitored fire alarm system.

Make Thieves Think Twice

You can also make thieves nervous by putting a “Danger Explosives Beware of Impact” or similar sign on your gun safe.

Thieves might think twice before attacking such a safe with a sledgehammer, Sawzall, or a torch if they think it might blow up.

Hide Your Handgun Safe

Small inexpensive handgun safes offer minimal theft protection by themselves.

In order to be of any use in discouraging thieves or even children, handgun safes must be hidden.  Guidelines for installing small gun safes are covered in detail in Where to Put a Gun Safe.

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What do you think? Leave a comment below, your thoughts are welcome.

Comments

  1. store valuables says

    You are so interesting! I do not think I’ve read anything like that
    before. So wonderful to discover somebody with genuine thoughts
    on this subject. Really.. many thanks for starting this up.
    This web site is something that is required on the internet,
    someone with some originality!

  2. There is a major flaw in Job Box boxes. The locks can be drilled out easily. Its happened to friends. After showing someone how to do it when they locked the keys inside that very person drilled out the locks and stole their nailguns and purposed destroyed the collated nails that were also inside as they lost their job there.

    We used to get into the full sized containers yanking on the lock with a chain and a forklift since its hidden up inside to make it more secure. This also was done when a boss left his keys inside.

    • Great points, thanks for your comment.

      It’s important to understand the level of protection you’re getting for your money when you buy protection for your guns. As Framer points out, the weak point of job boxes is the lock(s). This isn’t an area you want to skimp on, so buy the best locks you can that fit your job box.

      He also pointed out the importance of locking up your tools, which the reader in the pictures did with a second job box (the combined cost of both job boxes was still about half of a basic RSC gun safe). Leaving drills or other tools accessible outside the job box hands burglars a way in.

      Job boxes are best for those just looking to save money on a cheap gun safe, keep their kids out, not draw attention to their guns, and avoid/deter basic burglaries. If you’re looking for more protection than that, you should consider something stronger than a job box as Framer noted.

  3. Sanjay Dutt says

    Job Boxes can be positioned so that there is only enough clearance in front of the locks to get a hand in with a key. Then fill the bottom of the box with 500 pounds of lead shot and tie it down with a couple of redhead bolts. Won’t stop a well-planned assault, but will stop most folks. Might as well force them to saw the box open, which is a long noisy job.

  4. Walt S. says

    The statement that a home invasion forcing you to open a safe is a robbery, not a burglary, is incorrect in Pennsylvania and I would suspect everywhere. Entering an occupied building with intent to commit a felony (robbery) is burglary.

    • Jeffrey Walker says

      In Michigan, taking property using force or threat of force against a person is robbery. Armed robbery has a max of life in prison. If a home invasion or burglary
      is involved, it does not matter, it’s still a max of life.

  5. That’s quite a list of tips there. Interesting to note the NRA insurance has to be activated. That feels a little sneaky to me, but maybe I’m misunderstanding something?

    • I wasn’t a big fan of the requirement for activation either. It’s moot now though as the $2,500 in free coverage (after activation) is no longer advertised.

  6. Michael says

    Very impressive list of ideas – some of which I have exploited and others that I’m definitely going to deploy soon.

    It would also be interesting to see a full inventory of collected breached/cracked/stolen gun safes, true safes, makes, models, residential/commercial, etc. Did anybody compile or maintain a list?

    • There are pictures here and there, but no central repository that I know of. Safe techs generally avoid posting pictures of breached gun safes and safes. One major reason is that from these images you can tell how a particular unit is constructed. Some of this information, particularly the lockwork, is useful information for other thieves to defeat that model. Another complication is that using images online involves getting rights or the permission of the picture owner. Since some people have posted pictures using emails/accounts that are no longer valid, it makes things even more difficult. I was able to share most of the interesting pictures I found and I linked to others. Thanks for reading!

  7. Was looking for good ideas to use to store cell phones and other important items within our store.It is a hassle to take everything home each day.
    I saw a great idea San Jay Duty had for using a job box.
    If there is a break in,I figure that the culprit will know that the devices are in the job boxes but I’m only concerned about them not being able to take the box or get inside before police respond to the alarm.
    Very good article and comments!

  8. #101
    On one of the bolts used to bolt down your RSC type gun safes, have someone weld a heavy duty eye bolt on top of it and use an open end wrench to tighten it down. Have a high strength, coated steel cable made with crimped loops in each end. A plastic coating will prevent scratching. Run the cable through each trigger guard and use a high quality lock purchased from a locksmith to lock the ends of the cable. Now even if they saw into the top or side they’ll have a devil of a time dragging the guns out. If they manage to breach the door they’ll still have to deal with the cable.

    No safe or vault on Earth is impenetrable. Even an ISM Treasury safe only buys time. Everything you can do to slow them down will help.

  9. Framer Dick says

    I have a real issue with the suggestion that a Jobox is suitable for a gun safe. It may work yet we find them unsuitable for tools. Perhaps it is not much worse than some of the cheaper gun safes. I have worked in framing many years and rarely ever stored my tools in a box. For years on job sites we put tools in common big blue walk in job containers that have the lock hidden up inside and difficult to get to. I remember a framing contractor locking his keys inside once. The method to getting back in involves… [redacted descriptions of ways people break in to job boxes on job sites]

    Of course the more stupid theives will try and pry it open rather than [those methods]. Its like my brother’s Ford F350 superduty. The internet is probably full of utube videos of how to easily break into one. Kinda of like Rangers are easy from under the handle. A company makes a anti theft plates that bolt inside that area someway in a number of trucks. But along came some idiot that attempted to turn the door key lock with a flateblade screwdriver most likely and just twisted out the locks metal so a key won’t go in anymore. Some are just low tech and low thought, low brow. In Seattle I used to see nice old cars with wing windows in the door broken just to get in when the door was left unlocked. Some of these ppl would not have survived long in the caveman days if dinosaurs were present.

    • Thanks for posting your misgivings about job boxes. You gave some descriptions of ways people have broken into job boxes on job sites, which I redacted. It would be a shame for anyone to learn any tricks here which would wind up putting readers’ guns in jeopardy.

      Your comment reiterates the importance of not getting a false sense of security about job boxes, or any security measures. Job boxes are great for those wanting something cheap to keep guns away from their kids, for not attracting attention like a gun safe, and for low brow burglars you described. They are not high security. But, they are not worse than cheaper gun safes as you point out.

      One difference I would mention is that a job box locked in a basement or garage is more secure than a desolate job site. Job sites generally have very little security, no one around to see/hear someone breaking in, they attract vandals and thieves, and most of the passers-by have pickup trucks and/or tools — which could be used to take or open the job box. We never used them on a site, either, although we moved around a lot anyway. For a home though, they have many uses if the guns outgrow the box.

      Thanks again Dick!

  10. Eddie Sinclair says

    Awesome article. I’ve been through the flood disasters. I 100% agree with all your good advice. Seems very complete. Thank you. People should follow this advice.

  11. Personally i would get an average to cheap safe, store a couple cheapest guns in there and the really good stuff in a hidden wall (behind book case / etc)… This way they find safe, they find guns and think thats it.

    Also like mentioned in the article with contractors, etc… OPSEC is very important, if people don’t know you have guns, right there you solve a HUGE potential problem. I myself am a cable tech and go into many homes and you would be amazed what people let me see or don’t go through the trouble of concealing… oops, a 1911 mag there on the counter, a box of .308 over there… on many occasions… lucky for them I am an honest person!

  12. A lot of very useful information and a number of excellent but practical ideas. Some of the information and videos are concerning enough that I am re-thinking my gun storage strategy entirely.
    Thanks for putting together a wealth of information in one place. I stumbled across your article when researching gun safes as I am about to upgrade to a larger safe. A lot of food for thought here.

    Hugely helpful.

  13. Jim Kimball says

    If there are trees close enough to your driveway you can place a relatively inexpensive game camera on one of the trees. Set at the right height the camera may catch a license plate number and possible picture of the driver/burglar either coming onto or leaving the property. A license plate number will increase the possibility of the police tracking down a suspect.

    • AGREE! I have two Cuddeback game cameras. One set up to take pics of the wildlife crossing my property at night (mostly deer and bear) and the other camera is set in the trees facing the driveway. Get perfect HD pictures with a time stamp of vehicles and persons entering or leaving the property.

  14. Eric Wood says

    GREAT Article! Packed with practical, helpful advice and scores of ideas. Thank you!!!

  15. Great site, sucked up every one of my lunch breaks over the last 2 weeks. Easy to see you’re a passionate industry expert who cares more about helping consumers than making a buck or pitching a particular product. Wish there were many similar blogs out there, run by SMEs. Shared over 4 Survivalist FB forums and personally to a dozen similarly-minded friends.

    Questions:
    1) Is there any sort of dedicated Gun Safe Forum? I’ve found sections on anandtech, 1911forum, survivalistboards, ar15.com etc but nothing dedicated to the topic. Maybe a good opportunity for you?

    2) After reading your blog and visiting a local safe showroom (NW Safe co in Enumclaw), I’ve come to the conclusion that a vault/armored closet would be best, supplemented by a something small in the bedroom. My question is about the “Closet Vault” door: – Does anyone have any good ideas about where to buy/how to make a decent metal door/jam/locks? My space is only a few feet wide/high so best idea I have come up with so far is to buy a wall safe big enough to crawl through and grind the backing off.

    3) Does anyone make a “hardened” (i.e. wood-appearing steel and Plexiglas) gun cabinet like the Amish one? I have several older gentlemen friends who are adamant about wanting this style. Have scoured the Internet with little luck so far. Yes, I’m aware it wouldn’t hold up well to a determined attack.
    Links:
    https://thefiringline.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-75702.html
    https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/gun-security-wood-cabinet-vs-steel-safe.729953/
    http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php?topic=122507.0
    https://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=8&f=9&t=336564 “To answer the OPs question, about ten years ago there was a company that made “glass” gun cases that were really bullet resistant plate glass and steel under a wood veneer. The company is out of business now, but you might find one used on Ebay or something.”
    http://www.dashatm.com/Clearview%20Gun%20Safe.htm

    Unsurprisingly, Google Trends reports a ~7x volume of searches for “gun safe” than “gun cabinet”. The later still has significant volume but is steady while the former is steadily increasing. https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=gun%20cabinet,gun%20safe

    4) FYI the “indiana jones” comment above is spam.

    • Hi Carl,
      Thanks for the kind words. Glad you’re finding the site useful, and thanks for sharing it!

      1) There is no gun safe forum that I know of. Before I put this site together I thought quite a bit about the most effective way to get information to gun safe customers. I concluded that for most gun owners, gun safes are one time purchases. People do some research, buy one, and then move on to other concerns. Also, much like gun technology, sound safe and gun safe designs don’t change that often. So, I figured that other topics lend themselves better to frequent member engagement and forums. Instead I structured GSRG more like a reference than a blog or forum with constant new material.

      Speaking of forums, glad you patronized NW Safes. One of their safe techs has contributed a lot to ar15.com.

      2) A reader sent me pictures of his similar approach to what you described. He took a floor safe, cut off the door, and cast it into a masonry feature in his house. He used a liner and waterproof membrane to protect the interior from moisture. The floor safe door opens to reveal a deep chamber sized for long guns. And since the chamber is built into the structure, it’s well hidden.

      Some brands of true safe use the same door frame for multiple grades of safe. E.g. the door frames for their B-Rate and C-Rate are actually the same. If you decided to go this way, you could buy the one with the thinnest walls, as you’d just be cutting them off anyway. Of course if the area you’re trying to protect is wood framed, this could be overkill without significant reinforcement to the walls.

      Another option is to build it yourself. As you saw from the construction of the old vault door, the construction of a custom safe door can be relatively simple. The Graffunder pictures and cutaway show that the door frame of a true safe is primarily lots of steel. Of course DIY building a vault door, it’s not everything aligned and operating smoothly. But, if you’ve done some fabrication, you’ll have an intuition for how hard it would be for you to do.

      3) There are hardened bed and couch products and lots of hidden furniture options. Some of the furniture diversion safes are lightly hardened, but I don’t know of any like you’re asking about.

      4) Thanks, “indiana jones” snuck in but has been sent back to the Temple of Spam.

  16. This morning I’m reading about the shooter at Ohio State and finally decided it’s time to exercise my 2nd amendment rights. I’d figure out how to secure them first which is what led me here. Excellent ideas. The main problem around here is drug fueled break ins for which a hardened closet is probably best. Thanks.

  17. Three 100+lb dogs is all I’ve ever really needed to keep people from looking too closely to my house…….Especially Dori, who broke through the side window of my van to get at someone who was being a pest.

  18. Hey, just a quick note on clothing and books for hiding. It’s not very secure! When I was broken into the thieves stole guns & ammo, knives, etc. They went through all my cloths (took some too), stripped the bed, upended the mattresses, used pillow cases and sleeping bags to pack stuff off, went through every book and drawer, picture, and adding insult to injury, stole my leather bound bibles off the bed stand. Seriously, bibles???!!!

    Another note about clothing and books, just a few days ago, saw a news item on a local retired Sheriff that was burgled. They showed him in his living room. Every book and painting visible in the room was overturned. Looked a lot like my master bedroom 15 years earlier. Thieves are much smarter about looking for firearms and valuables, so really think the hiding strategies through. If it appears handy to grab near your chair, door, bed or not near a window easily observed from the outside, it will be searched!

    I am really enjoying the information on gun safes though. You have given a lot of food for thoughts! Thanks!

  19. James Russell says

    Be careful with some job boxes. The long hinge pin can be removed from the back unless it is tack welded or stored in a location where the thief cannot drive it out. Great article and lots of good ideas for safe storage.

  20. Bruce Gibson says

    If you have a home alarm system, run a contact wire, through the electric hole. Wire it to your system (you can do this yourself, or hire a professional installer), and place a contact at the inside frame. This way, even if they get into the house without setting off the alarm and try to pry the door open, the alarm is set off.

    Thanks for all of the other great ideas!

  21. Avid Reader says

    Thanks for this great repository of safe information etc. I’d note the importance of turning off geotags when posting smart phone pictures of firearms or your security measures online.

  22. That wasn’t Charlton Heston’s gun vault in the pic. Just saying.

  23. Fire extinguishers . . . Kidde has just (12/17) recalled 38 million fire extinguishers made from January of 1979 to September of 2017. Any Kidde or similar brand (sold under about 130 different labels) with plastic handles needs to be checked on the Kidde website. They will send you a brand new one for free, and a shipping label for the old one. These extinguishers are found everywhere, homes, businesses, workshops, even boats and RVs. Problem is the trigger gets brittle and breaks off, so the extinguisher won’t work even if it is fully charged. Again – replacement is FREE. You’ll need the model number (lower left side of label), and the serial number (lower right side of label). Takes about 14 days for the replacement to arrive. Check you extinguishers NOW before you need to use one, then it is too late. Again, FREE at Kidde.com

  24. Mr koolio says

    What about good hiding places instead. I have used the rafters in my garage for rifles and ammo. Not mentioned was the fact that if they find ammo, they know you likely have a gun. If you dont keep the riifles in boxes/cases, what are thr odds guys are going to climb around your garage rafters. I took an old mattress, slit the sides and it held 4 rifles. The i piled old clothes, photos, and other junk….up to the roof….so they just cant push it all off on to the floor….oh snd inscrewed the mattress down and put other rafters (using old dark wood…not new, so that it was all kind of wedged in there. Kind of a pain to get at for me….but with my ladder locked up outside….hard for them to get up there….whst do u think?

  25. David Bell says

    Thanks for all the work you’ve done on this website. It’s the best! One thing you said that I would like to reiterate and stress is your statement, “Any ‘booby-traps’ need to be non-lethal and of course legal.” People really need to check their state laws before installing even a pepper spray booby trap. I like the idea but it’d be really said if it could get you in enough trouble that you would no longer have a need for a gun safe.

  26. Matthew Kerr says

    Thank you for your efforts in making this long article. I really appreciate this! I was searching on how will I protect my guns without using a pot of money and less hassle, then I discovered your link. A friend of mine recommends your website. This article helps me a lot. I’m starting to like your content.

    Best Regards,
    Matt

  27. Corey Naylor says

    I love how you enumerate the possible tips on how to protect guns. Your article helps gun owners have the ideas, tips and advices. My husband told me that I will search on what are the possbile ways of protecting a gun and then I saw your article. This is perfection! I will show this to my husband so that he will also get the ideas. Thank you so much for this article!

    Best Regards,
    Corey

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