The gun safe maze

Guns Magazine, Jan, 2003 by Holt Bodinson

Willy Sutton, the notorious and colorful safecracker of the 1950s, was asked once why he robbed banks. Willy responded, "Cause that's where the money's at." Safe makers and safecrackers have been playing a cat and mouse game since time immemorial, and for once, we are the direct benefactors because firearm safes continue get better and better.

In the gun world, gone are those beautiful glass door gun cabinets that showcased so well the blued steel and oiled walnut they contained. They have become the stuff of antique shops.

It really is a shame. Having to lock away fine firearms in diminishes our sport and our pride of ownership. I often hear a comment that runs something like, "Well, you know, I stuck that gun in the back of the safe and I forgot all about it. I haven't even fired it in 10 years."

New Reality

Unfortunately, times do change, and stout steel gun safes are an important part of any gun owner's home today. They protect our firearms from theft and fire and prevent misuse.

The better models cost as much as a quality firearm, but they are worth every penny of it when you consider the cost of replacing possibly irreplaceable firearms, or preventing an worse, allowing the parasites of our society to arm themselves illegally at our expense.

When gun safes first appeared on the market, they were made of thin gauge sheet steel with rudimentary locks and were so light you could move them around from room-to-room by yourself.

Priced Right, And Easy To Place

Lightly built, foot locker-type gun safes are still available, but now they're called "security cabinets." Their redeeming virtues are that they are inexpensive and when properly secured to the floor or wall will provide some degree of resistance if burgled.

The brands in this category most often seen in large discount stores and advertised in mail catalogs are Homak and Stack-On. Homak's and Stack-On's 8-gun cabinets, for example, weigh 90 pounds and retail for between $150 and $180. Need more space? Homak offers a 12-gun and Stack-On, a 16-gun security cabinet that runs about $265 and weighs 110 pounds.

These entry level security cabinets might offer additional advantages other than low cost. Where load bearing qualities of the flooring is unknown, such as a second floor, apartment, or manufactured home, or where the placement of a heavy safe is physically impossible, these light weight units may prove to be essential.

They can also be used as supplemental security cabinets to a primary safe for the storage of less valuable firearms. An obvious use is for storing ammunition safely under lock-and-key. Homak and Stack-On offer a variety of security cabinets, safes, and pistol boxes at various price points so check them out on the web.

Most Novel Safe In The Business

And speaking about safes to fit in difficult spaces, Zanotti Armor offers a high quality hybrid safe that is assembled at home from six interlocking panels. At the moment, Zanotti offers five models that range in weight from 400 to 925 pounds and hold from 16 to 52 long guns. The panels consist of a top, bottom, three side walls and a door.

The panels are interlocked by 3/8 inch, nickel-plated steel "L" shaped pins that slip into steel tubing sections welded to the interior surfaces of the panels. The slip fit is held to a tolerance of .003 inch, and the safes are completely assembled and hand fitted at the factory to insure the panels will align properly when delivered.

The body is made from 1/8 inch and 3/16 inch steel; the door from 3/16 inch steel; the locking bolts are 3/4 inch steel; and there is a triple relocking system if the combination lock is tampered with.

Shipped in three or four boxes from the factory, a Zanotti safe can be delivered and installed without anyone knowing you have a safe. Because their safes can readily be disassembled and relocated, Mark Zanotti tells me that their safes are very popular with law enforcement and military personnel and gun owners whose jobs require them to move often.

I asked Zanotti what the single heaviest panel in their safe designs is. He indicated that the door is always the heaviest component and weighs 110 pounds in their 16-gun, 400-pound model, and up to 175 pounds in their 52-gun, 925-pound safe. Zanotti models retail in the range of $1,000 to $2,000. They have just created a Website and also have a dealer network.

Stepping up to the security of a more traditional safe, what features or characteristics should you be looking for? In short, what makes a good safe?

Voice Of Experience

No one knows safes like a Certified Locksmith, so I asked Scott Warren of Roadrunner Lock & Safe, the largest gun safe dealer in Tucson, Ariz., how a consumer should shop for a safe. Warren is a Liberty safe dealer. Liberty, considered the number one selling safe company in America, also manufacturers the National Security brand of gun safes.

Whether a safe carries the Liberty, National Security, Fort Knox, Browning, Remington, Sportsman Steel, Zanotti, or other name brand label, there are some basic considerations and design characteristics that a consumer should be aware of. In a capsule, here's what Warren emphasized.