Sentinel safe, rated for 30 minutes of fire protection. 19" W x 55" H x 20-1/4"

[Bosshoss]

https://www.secureitgunstorage.com/gun-safe-industry-exposed/
Interesting viewpoint that makes you think about what you read/think.
I feel any of the cheaper safes would do what he talks about in the video to a point.
That being said I have 1500# safe that was very expensive $4k+ because of my business(keeping customers guns while I work on them).

 

[bocefus78]

I second asking the insurance agent what your specific firearm coverage is.

I had to buy a second policy that covered anything over my homeowners policy covers. This second policy also covers ammo, reloading supplies, the safe itself, and anything else gun related such as parts, holsters, hunting clothes, etc.

Hell, just my hunting clothes more than maxes out my homeowners "coverage" of firearm related stuff.

I'm also against safes in the garage. Way to easy to spot with door open. Way to easy to drive a car thru the door, chain it up, and drag down the road, or load in truck.

With all that said, when I was a child, I watched a house go from standing to smoldering rubble in 9 minutes. There was nothing salvageable from that home. Not even the contents of the fireproof safe. That specific house fire was the reason my town built a new fire house to decrease response time.

Summary, buy what safe you feel is sufficient, but make damn sure you have all your stuff insured because **** happens.

 

[99zhuggerz99]

I will not be joining in the safe vs cabinet debate. But will say anything is better than stuffed in a closet or top shelf of dresser. My driving force was simply out of the little people’s hands. That being said; in the same brand you mention but slightly larger (read heavier) menards has one they have discontinued. I did not want to plug it with a link and it is harder to find on their website. But if you search it then select a store it will show inventory. After current rebate it is under $300
.Sentinel™ 28-Gun Convertible Fire SafeModel Number: FSS-28-BP-E
Menards® SKU: 4828979

 

[doddg]

Thanks for all your input.
I will call my insurance agent and find out what coverage is for my guns, if any.
I still want a safe to simply lock up my guns b/c I don't want them just in the closet.
I am not going to get a $200 safe at Cabelas that is just a cabinet; I believe that I have file cabinets at school that are locked down better with full-length bars and a padlock.
I looked at the safe in question tonight: thick walls, thick door, nice space to put all my guns and some ammo.
At 300# I can still manipulate it, not too heavy; I'm old, but not dead yet.
2 keys for manual opening. Programmable electronically (I did so 3 times).
It will do fine for my purposes.
I am not putting it n the garage but inside the house.
If I understand correctly, I don't need to use a humidifier in a house with consistent temps.
My best friend has expensive hunting rifles and handguns and an expensive safe b/c he's not a cheap-arse like me and he has hasn't used any dehumidifiers or anything like that in decades of ownership in his big safe and he likes his arms more than me.
I am having it delivered Wednesday.

 

[bwframe]

Just under $150 a year gives 10 or 12K (don't remember) coverage on top of the 2K NRA member coverage through ArmsCare Plus.

Icing on the cake is a lot less worry about leaving a few thousand $ worth of firearms in the vehicle, when having dinner after a match or class.

 

[doddg]

Thanks for the info!

 

[thunderchicken]

Like some others have said, you get what you pay for. Now, that being said it is better than leaving all that shooting iron in a closet.
Food for thought- find somewhere inside to keep it, away from a window that is open regularly. Bolt it down and if possible bolt it to a wall. As your collection grows (and I suspect it will), consider upgrading to something more substantial for your guns and maybe use this one to secure accessories and ammo.
I have a safe I bought from Tractor Supply. It is a Cannon that I keep a few guns, ammo and a number of shooting accessories in. It was quite affordable and IMHO it was a step or two better than the smaller Sentry safes..now even my Cannon isn't as good as I would have liked but at the time I had to lock up more than my guns to keep my stepson from getting into things and money dictated my options.

 

[doddg]

Like some others have said, you get what you pay for. Now, that being said it is better than leaving all that shooting iron in a closet.
Food for thought- find somewhere inside to keep it, away from a window that is open regularly. Bolt it down and if possible bolt it to a wall. As your collection grows (and I suspect it will), consider upgrading to something more substantial for your guns and maybe use this one to secure accessories and ammo.
I have a safe I bought from Tractor Supply. It is a Cannon that I keep a few guns, ammo and a number of shooting accessories in. It was quite affordable and IMHO it was a step or two better than the smaller Sentry safes..now even my Cannon isn't as good as I would have liked but at the time I had to lock up more than my guns to keep my stepson from getting into things and money dictated my options.

1. That's why I bought a safe not at Cabelas, or Rural King, or ordered at Menard-type places, b/c I couldn't find any thing that was fire-rated with thicker walls/doors and other construction features, but spent more than I intended (from $150 - $200, in my ignorance) and waited till I could find a used one (that wan't $800).
2. I am keeping it inside, and I will keep a "drap" of some sort over it, but I do have a fence at my new home that is a small deterrent to someone looking in a window.
3. My collection is not going to grow (much), what would give you that idea? I'm saturated: need nothing else. Well, in theory at least I'm to a point (almost) of upgrading a model I have and selling the other one being upgraded. Did I say that was the theory?

 

[ifmurphy]

IMPORTANT: Cement anchors, wall studs, if possible, place in corner.

Seconded; no one likes a stolen safe, gun-safe or otherwise.

 

[doddg]

Seconded; no one likes a stolen safe, gun-safe or otherwise.

1. I keep reading about people hauling away the safe.
2. I figured that anyone professional enough who would want to load up a safe in your driveway and take it would have the tools to get it out of the floor (I'm on concrete) and the studs in the wall, or just get it open inside and carry away all my "cheap" guns.
3. I figured they would be beating it up and prying with a good tool from my garage inside.
4. I really am just wanting to deter the casual/convenience/opportunistic thief or neighbor kids when they grow up to be teens (my new neighborhood) from wanting some items to sell off for drugs, which is why I didn't buy a $2000 safe or the $200 kind: hopefully I bought just enough to be a deterrent.
My last house I had a teen next door who is doing time now b/c of a "theft ring." What's funny, they got into my outbuilding (just crap and lawnmower) and he took the old Jeep top that I put in there (after buying a new one and just kept the old for an emergency if anyone cut open my new one). I'll bet he didn't get $10 - $25 for it; I had to laugh.
5. Fortunately my wife is home most of the time, so if I could just get her to put some 410 shells toward the front door I would feel better, but she lives in a protected world (me) and won't learn: bummer. I had friend and his wife over a couple of weeks ago and he has a revolver (38 I think) that his wife knows how to use, and she says she doesn't think she could use it, and he told her just put some shells into the door and they'll go elsewhere.

6. If you would have told me last May (or this past Jan. even) that I'd be buying a safe for my $200 handguns, I would not believed it, but it does ad up, and there is a "few" that cost more. Especially paying as much for it as I did, which is unacceptable for most of you diehard mature gun aficionados, but as you know: I am soooo immature and thrify/cheap.
7. My wife hasn't said anything about the safe yet; I haven't told her what it cost b/c her mouth will hang open in disbelief.
8. But, if I need to liquidate, it can go along with everything else, but I like the idea so it will be the last thing to go.
9. Now I have to completely rearrange the "secret" room that will be embracing it, at some inconvenience, to make room for this 19" wide, 20" deep and 55" high (not matter, wish it was 6 feet tall).

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I am not going to get a $200 safe at Cabelas that is just a cabinet

That's what you just bought. A security cabinet. It's better than nothing, but it's still just a reinforced cabinet.

1. That's why I bought a safe not at Cabelas, or Rural King, or ordered at Menard-type places, b/c I couldn't find any thing that was fire-rated with thicker walls/doors and other construction features, but spent more than I intended (from $150 - $200, in my ignorance) and waited till I could find a used one (that wan't $800)

Again, that's exactly what you just bought. Well, Wal-mart instead of Menard's. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sentinel-18-Gun-Fire-Resistant-Safe/589609012

1. I keep reading about people hauling away the safe.
2. I figured that anyone professional enough who would want to load up a safe in your driveway and take it would have the tools to get it out of the floor (I'm on concrete) and the studs in the wall, or just get it open inside and carry away all my "cheap" guns.
3. I figured they would be beating it up and prying with a good tool from my garage inside.

Mounting it to the floor, and in a corner, keeps them from tipping it over and moving it so they get more leverage to pry. I've seen gun safes stolen, I've yet to see one dismounted from the floor. Give them enough time, they'll get in. Any safe/cabinet/lock is a delaying tactic only. Without a layered security system it's much easier to defeat.

 

[doddg]

That's what you just bought. A security cabinet. It's better than nothing, but it's still just a reinforced cabinet.

Again, that's exactly what you just bought. Well, Wal-mart instead of Menard's. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sentinel-18-Gun-Fire-Resistant-Safe/589609012

Mounting it to the floor, and in a corner, keeps them from tipping it over and moving it so they get more leverage to pry. I've seen gun safes stolen, I've yet to see one dismounted from the floor. Give them enough time, they'll get in. Any safe/cabinet/lock is a delaying tactic only. Without a layered security system it's much easier to defeat.

1. It was so much more than what I saw at Cabelas which weren't fire-rated at all, and the door thickness was non-existent.
2. I'll have to do pics, I guess, to show thickness of the door.
3. In my inexperience, and not finding the deals that everyone was referring to when I went to multiple sites/manufacturers, and I thinking I would get more for my money used than new (like I buy my handguns).
4. Rest assured that I will torture myself by continuing to look till I come across one like mine for the same money ($300), since I'm gettting no verification that I got a $500 or a $400 or even a $350 safe tax free, shipping free, but apparently I paid too much: Bummer!
You know how that has to hurt since I like "the deal" the "value."
If I missed it, it will be a first.
5. I didn't find it, but if they have 50% sales on safes then I will be sorry, very sorry indeed, but right now, living in my ignorance: I'm OK.

 

[doddg]

I can't seem to find the exact type I bought when I check on links people have sent me or try to put the specs in and try to find it myself.
Everything someone has sent isn't an 18 rifle, 300# with outside AND inside dimensions, but usually a thin-walled version.
Mine has a 4" - 5" disparity between the outside and inside dimensions, which would dictate 2" thickness of the walls.

Oh well, just trying to verify I'm not an idiot.
Someone put it in my mind to buy a safe, and I thought it was the right thing to do.
I would not pay extra to buy a new one: no magic or mystery there: it is a tool.

 

[Trigger Time]

Just some info for anyone who didn't know. I just joined the NRA and as a member you automatically get insurance coverage against loss or accident and injury just with a basic membership. I have a life membership so I don't know if mine is any different or more but just the basic for me is $2500 in coverage. I opted to get additional coverage by paying for it and it was $500 per year for an additional $30,000 of coverage I believe. I also have other insurance on my firearms specificly as should anyone with guns.
Anyways I believe the value of what the NRA offers it's members just in insurance and also legal representation is worth a membership

 

[Vigilant]

Buy’em books, and buy’em books, and all they do is eat the pages?

 

[BehindBlueI's]

1. It was so much more than what I saw at Cabelas which weren't fire-rated at all, and the door thickness was non-existent.

If I have two plies of tin foil and 3" of cardboard in between them and two plies of tin foil with 10" of cardboard between them, is there a difference in anything other than thickness? In the price range you're looking at, thickness is purely marketing.

To steal a quote:

Instead they got rid of the “thin-looking” 1/4″ (0.2500″) outer door and replaced it with thinner sheet metal wrapped around a sheet or two of gypsum drywall (Sheetrock). This made a door which looked like it had an outer plate of solid 1/2″ to 1″ steel like the real safe above. Unfortunately though the composite door was just 12 gauge (0.1046″) thick steel–2.4X thinner than the “thin-looking” door it replaced! Note that the 12 gauge (0.1046″) steel outer shell and door of most gun safes is thinner than the 3/16″ (0.1875″) inner fire shell of the C-Rate safe above.

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

My ammo is stored in a metal cabinet, separate from the safe. The cabinet is lined with sheet rock and has a hasp and lock on the front. Inside are heavy wooden shelves to hold the weight of full ammo cans. Ammo is segregated by caliber and put into cans.

 

[Itchytriggerfinger]

Are you starting to realize that you should have had a concrete bunker poured around a $10,000 safe? Have you considered fire suppression? What about armed guards outside the bunker? You really don't want to keep your guns safe do you?

 

[doddg]

Are you starting to realize that you should have had a concrete bunker poured around a $10,000 safe? Have you considered fire suppression? What about armed guards outside the bunker? You really don't want to keep your guns safe do you?

1. Not at all; I never intended to have my $50,000 worth of guns that protected. Especially since my house only cost that much.
2. I just wanted a deterrent, not the full-blown full-proof protection.

 

[Itchytriggerfinger]

1. Not at all; I never intended to have my $50,000 worth of guns that protected. Especially since my house only cost that much.
2. I just wanted a deterrent, not the full-blown full-proof protection.

To me, the most important feature of a safe is keeping the Mrs from finding all the impulse buys I haven't told her about yet.