First Safe Questions

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JemalakaScatty

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Looking for information in safe for starting off I have one rifle handed down and looking to get maybe 2-3 more rifles and a few handguns. Any recommendation on where to buy safes from that are good quality safes and what to look for. Thanks in advance for helping a newb out.
 
Great question.
I'll be doing almost the same thing.
Like everything there are varying opinions on safes. From what I've read on this forum, many consider the standard Canadian Tire gun safes as adequate. You just have to check the interior volume carefully for the size you think you will eventually need.

I'm looking at a total of 2 (maybe 3) rifles and 1 (maybe 2) handguns. But I can already tell that those numbers could change!

I'm hoping for others to chime here with other recommendations too!

Good luck in your search.
 
Get one of the Stack ON cabinets when they're on sale at Crappy Tire. It will be enough for legal requirements. If you're asking about an actual safe, then get the Costco one when they have it on sale, good buy for the money.
 
It depends if you want a safe that meets the rules for "adequate" or if you want to spend a bit more for something with some security and fire rating to it. For about $370. at costco you can get a solid, quality 250 lb safe thats not getting stolen or broken into and is fire rated.
 
Depends on the level of security you are looking for, a simple safe from canadian tire made by stack on is really all you need (their "safes" not the "cabinet") they're not rated for a fire or anything and they're just shy of 200 pounds but with 3 bolts and interior door hinges will keep your average robber out and you need not worry about anything else.

as for fire rated safes, well depending on the size and what not they're generally more expensive as compared to the one noted above. and really the extreme heat from a fire is going to warp your guns anyways and you should have house insurance in the first place so from a personal stand point I think a stack on is more than sufficient for a persons needs and definitely wait for them to go on sale, when canadian tire starts the sale they usually start from the lowest size safe and cycle up to the larger ones week by week.

just my .2 cents since you're diggin for info! but to each their own
 
1- what do you want this safe to do? Make it hard to steal, make it hard to burn or both?

2- how many guns to EVENTUALLY plan to have? A safe is a big investment. Make it once.

3- where do you plan to PUT this safe? If you EVER plan to move it, such as if you're in a first home, an interim home or there's a POSSIBILITY that you'd be moving, don't make it unreasonable (such as putting it in an open space and building around it) to get out.

4- whatever your answer to 2 was, DOUBLE IT. then add some.

5- the heavier the safe, the better. Remember that no safe will stop 100% of all burglars. I make a decent living breaking into safes.

Last, and in my professional opinion, the most important: Buy local. If you buy a safe from Costco or Canadian Tire, and something goes wrong, what are you going to do? I would hope that your local locksmith/safe tech can service it for you, but you never know. If you buy it from the same guy that would service it, he will know how to service it. If not, you're kind of hit or miss if it needs to be serviced: hopefully, but probably not as fast as you'd like.
 
Advice on a safe/cabinet; buy big.

If you plan on owning 4-5 rifles and a couple pistols, buy a 12 rifle cabinet. The reasoning behind that is, a 12 gun cabinet is labeled that for marketing, it sounds like you might be able to fit 12 guns in it, right? wrong! If you put 10 rifles in a 12 rifle cabinet and want the one in the very back, you need to pull 6 rifles out to get to it.

Put yourself in the guns place. If you're say, a nice handed down bolt action, would you want some commie semiauto jamming ya in the muzzle 24/7? No, you'd want some space. Tell me if I'm wrong...
:D
 
I got a Stack on safe, it holds 8 riffles. My reasoning for getting a safe was more for safety of guest's with children visiting. If a thief wants my guns a safe would hardly stop them, they can alway just steal the whole safe. Atleast I know when my nephew is over for a visit he won't get at my firearms whith out me supervising. I also bought the safe to show my girlfriend I am serious about safety as I am still waiting for my paper work and PAL to arrive.
 
I got a 14-gun Stack On safe...and it's not nearly big enough (I should have got two). Bear in mind that when they say it'll hold 14 guns, it will actually hold 5 or 6 without damaging them. As 9X19P said, "buy big". You'll be much happier down the road...
 
Bought an 8 gun safe from can tire on sale for 99 bucks. What I really want to do is get the 36 or 24 gun safe, which is fire rated. Apparently the 1300 dollar 36 gun safe goes on sale for 700 bucks, so just wait for it.

And yea buy big, especially if you're in your own house, you could put all your documents and important stuff in there too. If you're renting and moves around the big heavy ones might not be too good.

Anyone know how much costco puts their safe on sale for?
 
9x19p said:
Advice on a safe/cabinet; buy big.

If you plan on owning 4-5 rifles and a couple pistols, buy a 12 rifle cabinet. The reasoning behind that is, a 12 gun cabinet is labeled that for marketing, it sounds like you might be able to fit 12 guns in it, right? wrong! If you put 10 rifles in a 12 rifle cabinet and want the one in the very back, you need to pull 6 rifles out to get to it.

Put yourself in the guns place. If you're say, a nice handed down bolt action, would you want some commie semiauto jamming ya in the muzzle 24/7? No, you'd want some space. Tell me if I'm wrong...
:D
Click to expand...

Been there and found that out the hard way. Good advice here.
 
Stack on gun safes (yes the cheapie "cabinets" are safes) is all the you need to comply with the law. If it is locked and you have the key, no unauthorized kiddie is going to get in. If a criminal breaks in, they are going to get your guns no matter what they are in. Recall the incident a couple years ago where a guy named Mike Hargreaves had an actual vault, they still got in and stole his guns. And yes if you are wondering they did charge him with unsafe storage.
 
Tuco Pike said:
Stack on gun safes (yes the cheapie "cabinets" are safes) is all the you need to comply with the law. If it is locked and you have the key, no unauthorized kiddie is going to get in. If a criminal breaks in, they are going to get your guns no matter what they are in. Recall the incident a couple years ago where a guy named Mike Hargreaves had an actual vault, they still got in and stole his guns. And yes if you are wondering they did charge him with unsafe storage.
Click to expand...

Amen. Save your money for ammo......or lawyer bills......no safe is safe enough not to be charged so.......:ar15:
 
Not familiar with the case, but if he had a UL listed VAULT, then the badguys were at it a LONG time to get it open.

Let's be completely clear here: a safe is not an end, it's part of an overall security SYSTEM, that starts with proper design of the outside of your house: keeping bushes low and lights on to make it hard for the sheetheads to get into the house in the first place. Then good locks on good windows and doors: force them to make noise for the neighbours to see. Then a good, properly designed, monitored and tested alarm system: let someone know that there's a problem. If they get past all of that, they've got all the time in the world to go after your guns. Don't let that happen. My gun safe is my LAST line of defense, and they'll have to spend a LOT of time messing with it to get it open/dislodged from its home.
 
If someone is able to break into your safe or steal it you'll still be charged?
I guess from a responsibility stand point it makes some sense but that still doesn't seem quite right. How do you prevent theft? If we had that answer stores and banks would have applied it.

Edit: I found an article that mentions the Hargreaves situation @ canadafreepress.com/2006/weinreb021006.htm

Mike Hargreaves had his home broken into and 35 guns stolen while he was vacationing in Florida. The Toronto Police Force under the leadership of Chief Bill Blair, who puts political correctness and group hugs above solving violent crime, have charged Hargreaves with unsafe storage of a firearm under the Criminal Code. If Hargreaves ever returns from the sunny south it should be an interesting trial; he had stored his guns in a 900+ pound concrete and steel safe that took the thieves some time to pry open. But of course, the crime is his fault.
 
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If someone wants your sh_t no safe is gonna keep them out. I remember a true story about a guy right here in Manitoba. It seems that he went on a three week vacay down in the States, and when he got back there was a giant hole in the side of his house the same size as his safe. The crooks just backed up a truck and pulled it right through the wall. An 800 lb safe that was bolted to the concrete floor gone in 60 seconds. Sad but true. If they want your sh_t they are going to get it.
 
This is quite true, There was a guy who's house I worked on a few times over a few months- every time his house got broken into (he lived WAY out in the country and had a LOT of money), we'd make the doors stronger, the locks bigger and the alarm louder, brighter (we put strobes everywhere to make it distracting while they were inside. Eventually they drove through the garage door, then through the inner wall.

With the exception of Toronto, most jurisdictions take 'reasonable efforts' and even 'extraordinary efforts' into account, or at least they should.
 
My Canadian Tire store has 8 of the 10 gun stack on cabinets for $150 which is a great price. I bought the 16 gun safe that's on tomorrow at the same store for $400 tax included today. The manager did me a favor as the item had to be ordered in and the store is closed tomorrow. Great deal for the money cause they are regularly twice the price.
 
Costco safes go on for $350. They're 16 gun rated, probably hold 8 without damage, 275lbs and have fireproofing. You MUST mount this to a wall - 300lbs is easily put on a dolly and rolled away, but it's still good for the money. There's a 36 gun safe from Canadian Tire that goes on for $700 (from 1400). I believe that runs about 700lbs and needs at least 4 guys to lift.

The Costco safe is the best entry-level solution IMO.
 
Appreciate all the info y'all where able to give I was just looking for general opinions as I had no where to even start. Hopefully someone else finds it as helpful as I did.
 
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