gun safes

J

jmac

New member
i am looking into getting a larger gun safe. i have been looking at the cabelas maximum security safes by champion, and at the browning medallion fire safe. does anybody know anthing about these safes? does anyone have advise on other model? any help would be welcome on safes. i dont want to dump 2,000 to 3,000 dollars on a pos safe. neighbors were robbed last week and his gun cabinet hit:)
 
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Try your local locksmith, a lot of times they have great deals on high quality new and used safes.
 
I'm not sure there is a POS safe. Any safe is better than a gun cabinet. They are like Cadillac and Chevrolet. One is nicer but the other still gets the job done. The high cost comes with the extras including fire rating. I have a large safe I bought at Academy years ago. 600 pounds plus I put 8 bags of 8 shot in the false floor and loaded it with guns. Short of a forklift, it's going nowhere. Good luck in your choice. Maybe you could sell your old one to your neighbor.
 
My advice is "Buy Right and Buy Once" Many of the bottom end jobs are little more than metal storage cabinets. My safe is bolted down into a cement floor- its not going anywhere. I've heard of people having problems with the electronic locks ie. they go bad and they cant get in themselves!:mad:

NB
 
Bought this for 1100. It was on sale and mis marked. They did not want to sell it to me. I like it very much!!!


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thank you all for the information. i am still looking at the browning, it has a digital lock. natty am cocerned about this and may look around some more. bleu does your safe have the elctronic/ digital lock? if so had any problems gitting into the safe? jim your right about safes vs cabinets. dont think the neighbor is in the mood to talk about buying my old safe yet, as he has no guns to put into it.;)
 
Sorry Jmac, it is old school!! Hope you find the one!!!!!!
 
Jmac, I think this was from a thread on the Shooting Sportsman BB. Those guys have some pretty nice guns and gun safes to match. I know there were more than 1-2 guys who said they had major problems with those things getting stuck and not being able to get them open. Had to get a whole new unit from the mfg and then have to have it professionally installed too. They were not happy campers. Thats all I know.

NB
 
bleu, thanks , from the pic you sent i didn't think it was new school. i would like to have the model you have in old school. cabelas doesn't have this model and " cant get one". natty thank you for your advice i agree with you. thanks to all, i will shop around. the money is not a factor. i got it to spend, however i dont what to get riped off, and have to do it twice. quail hunter i am looking into your advice no luck so far, but great suggestion. thanks one and all.:):):):cheers:
 
thanks for your adive. got one like blue has and installed it myself. bolted ,welded, and cemented. its not going anywhere. thank for your advice one and all.:):):) :10sign:
 
Congrats Jmac , You get time , show us a photo!!!!:cheers:
 
I have basically the same safe, been happy with it other than now I wish it was bigger!

It has a small browning label but the rest is old world scroll with big letters promoting FN....not being a huge fan of all brownings but loving their old belgian guns, I went for it.
 
Electronic lock

I have a Browning Silver safe that's close to 30 years old. It had a combo lock on it when I bought it and it worked fine for years but after awhile it became difficult to get into the safe. I would have to enter the numbers mulitiple times and it scared me into action. I called a locksmith and he told me the normal combo locks have plastic gears that wear quickly if used alot.
He offered me a exact replacement, a better combo lock or an electronic lock. He sold alot of them and recommended the electronic lock. It was about $25 more than the better combo lock and I took the door to him and he installed it.
It had a Duracell copper top 9 volt battery that lasted for years. One day when I came into the house I noticed a flashing red light on the bottom of the lock. I found the booklet that came with the lock and it said the battery was going dead and told how to replace it. I had an industrial 9 volt that we put into smoke detectors and put it in.
The battery was brand new but I couldn't get the safe to open. I was in a panic but had to go to work. I worried and fretted until I got home and had time to mess with it but when I got there I still couldn't get the lock to open. I finally called the locksmith that I bought the lock from and the first question he asked was what kind of battery I put in the lock. When I told him he said those industrial 9 volt batteries were junk and would ruin electonic equipment.
He told me to take that battery out and go get a coppertop Duracell. I thought he was full of crap but I was desperate. I pulled the industrial battery, drove to the store and bought a coppertop, installed it and the lock worked just fine. I tested the industrial battery in a couple other devices and it worked just fine so I know it wasn't dead. If this hadn't happened to me I never would have believed it!!!
Since then, if something electronic recommends a specific battery that's what I put in it.
Ironically I found out just the other day that our PASS devices reccomend only Duracell batteries and specifically say not to use the cheap industrial ones.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy a safe with an electronic lock but I would spend the money for a good battery to replace the dead one. It's funny, we spend thousand on guns and equipment but want to cheap out on a battery for our gunsafe.
 
airmedic1, great advice, thx:) it is funny how we spend lots of dough on somethings, guns etc. and go cheap on other things like, batteries. :D
 
Its already been said that any safe is better than none at all.

The problem with gun safes is that they fill up to quick. I found a company called Store More Guns several months ago and their rifle rods will increase your safes capacity about 50%.

http://www.storemoreguns.com
 
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