Posted on 10/20/2012 10:42:42 AM PDT by TurboZamboni
looking at the option of a modular gun safe. I like the idea of being able to get a big , heavy safe without needing to deconstruct the house to get one in or hiring 5 guys to move it.
I'm wanting one that's "fire safe" for 30+ minutes and weighs at least 500 LBS.
anyone own a modular safe or have experience with them?
Saw them mentioned in American Rifleman. Do not know anything about their stuff, only modular safes I have heard of.
A few years ago, I purchased a modular SnapSafe (Titan model). It weighs a total of 310 lbs., with the door alone tipping the scales at 195 lbs. It is located down in the basement and sits on a concrete floor. Very easy to assemble. You might want to check out the SnapSafe website to see if they have heavier models to fit your needs. They were very easy to deal with, both by phone and email. So, regarding customer service, I’d give them an “A.” As for fire proofing and flood resistance, thank G*d, I can’t vouch for those features.
No experience with modular safes, here, but don’t depend on weight alone to secure your safe! What can be carried in can be carried carried out.
It would have to be some amazing safe for me to change my mind from wanting a Graffunder safe, I can tell you that much.
That’s because there’s a difference here:
What you have (a Graffunder) is a *safe*. Graffunder makes safes. Period. Plate steel welded into a box, filled with their fire insulation and so on. Very expensive, but they’re among the very best in the market, hands down.
What most “gun safes” are isn’t a “safe.” They’re a “RSC” - Residential Security Container. RSC’s are made from sheet metal, bent into a box-inside-a-box. Most RSC’s now no longer have a plate steel door, they have a door made of sheet metal bent and welded around fire insulation.
If someone is asking me on what *safe* to buy, I point them to American Security B&F rated safes, and Graffunder (in order of expense). If they just want a locking box with some fire protection, then we move into the realm of most “gun safes.”
Don’t know about modular safes, but until I lost all my firearms in that boating accident, I kept them in a Liberty Safe (http://www.libertysafe.com/) which weighs about 500 pounds.
No deconstruction of the house was required and I’ve installed it two houses. Fits through standard doorways without any problem. At my current house, the movers were able to put it on a dolly and roll it in into a closet.
The retailers for safes have all kinds of equipment to get a safe into a house, including gadgets that “walk” a safe up or down stairs.
Don’t know about modular safes, but until I lost all my firearms in that boating accident, I kept them in a Liberty Safe (http://www.libertysafe.com/) which weighs about 500 pounds.
No deconstruction of the house was required and I’ve installed it two houses. Fits through standard doorways without any problem. At my current house, the movers were able to put it on a dolly and roll it in into a closet.
The retailers for safes have all kinds of equipment to get a safe into a house, including gadgets that “walk” a safe up or down stairs.
zanottiarmor.com
I wonder if it’s possible to just buy a door, and build the safe cabinet in place from (say) reinforced concrete.
Yes, it is.
I remember seeing a safe door and frame for sale from one of the gun safe vendors, but I no longer remember who offered it.
A little research should provide the answer.
I ordered a catalog. Gander Mountain here in MN sells them.
Worth a look , I suppose, if they haul it in.
Is that a crate of plastic-pack Aussie F4 I see at top left?
That’s South African surplus (R1M1) in the battle packs. Good stuff, though I suggest spot-checking the ammo in the battle packs over time. Some of us got burned to varying degrees with German and Portugese surplus (same packaging—cardboard boxes in rubber packs) that didn’t react well with the cardboard packaging over the years.
I finally unpacked all my 1994 German surplus, culled the worst of the corroded rounds, and repacked it loose in ammo cans.
Thanks! I will open the packs, check them and transfer to either ammo cans or plastic containers w/ silica gels paks, and get rid of the cardboard.
Did yours get wet or was it just moist, ambient air while in storage? Do you know what actually caused the corrosion? Just curious...
What I was told, regarding the German ammo, was that some of the cardboard was not quite up to spec (slightly acidic), and caused corrosion where the brass contacted the cardboard. It was restricted to the immediate contact areas only; you’d have corroded rounds all around the perimeter and clean-as-a-whistle in the middle.
Green corrosion can usually be wire-wheeled off; if it’s turned pink, look at salvaging it for components. The pink supposedly means that the zinc leached out of the brass and only copper was left, which could cause case failure on firing. Real shame; people sought that German surplus almost as intently as Australian for its accuracy.
The Portugese battlepack ammo, on the other hand, apparently did get wet along the way. OTOH, if you can find Portugese ammo on machine gun links, that stuff’s clean and reliable, though it seems to hit a bit low.
I went thru all 10 cases of 50 battlepacks, plus the cases of blisterpacks, and they’re 100% dry, clean and useable. The cardboard hasn’t deteriorated at all, so I left it in-place. I also checked all ammo cans and they’re 100%. I have 360,000-rnds for 8 calibers; a LOT of crates, cases, cans and boxes, but all is okay. Spent 5hrs on it, today.
Thanks very much for your tip and advice.
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