AMSEC PS1210HD Heavy-Duty Pistol Safe

Probably you’ve noticed that the industry of firearm safety products is largely an industry of electronic gadgets. Handgun safes are often little more than toys.
So, in response to complaints I’ve received about unreliable electronic safes, I recently looked at AMSEC's Heavy-Duty Pistol Safe, model PS1210HD, which features a mechanical lock.
In one sense, I could summarize my findings and state simply: "It’s great. If you need a handgun safe, buy this one."
The safe has outstanding features, including a scratch-resistant finish, a protective housing for the lock, and reinforcement for the hinge at the back.
The entire box is made of 10-gauge steel. The lock is a KABA Simplex lock, designed to withstand years of steady use.
The safe also has a handle to allow for portability, and it has pre-drilled holes for mounting.

Now, I need to clear up a misunderstanding I created a couple of years ago regarding the KABA Simplex lock.
In a 2016 video I pointed out that, given enough time, a person could stumble upon the combination of a Simplex lock.
What I failed to explain is how difficult that is. If you need convincing, look around online for a video showing someone banging through all 1,082 possible combinations in one long, sustained attack. You won't find anything. Read the rest of AMSEC PS1210HD gun safe here.

... and can be carried off and zipped open with a Harbor Freight $20 grinder and a couple of discs. If you want a gun safe, these fancy-dancy gun safes for sale everywhere really don’t offer any real protection, however they do keep your weapons out of the hands of people around the house that you don’t want getting into trouble.

I never used to think this way until I saw some vids on YouTube which made it quite obvious that the run of the mill gun safes were a totally inferior product, and, saving actually buying a bank quality or jewelers quality vault that weighs 4000 pounds the only other recommendation that I’ve heard that made any sense was to find or make some really good hiding places in your home. Hiding places that are especially constructed and not observable or known except to the owner of the domicile. There are a lot of great ideas on the internet that the common B&E Thief, (70% are teenagers), Will never even pay attention to.

A good B & E team will be in and out of your house from 90 seconds to roughly 3 minutes they are taking observable items that we keep laying around (laptops,jewelry Etc). But they are not going to spend a half a day trying to figure out where your hide is at.

I have an eccentric friend that was given a run of the mill, big box store, floor safe and he loaded it up with bricks and put it in plain sight... Just to make any thief work for it. He was thinking about buying some lead ingots and spray painting them gold but he said it would have been cost-prohibitive for the sake of the joke.

You have no idea how spot-on you are, but just slightly missing the greater picture.

Op-sec. It’s even displayed on the page every time a FReeper posts a comment: “Loose lips sink ships.” Same goes for guns & valuables. Can’t tell you how many people are FAR too reckless with their own personal security.

Secondly, you are correct on burglars, particularly those of opportunity. I recommend to gun dealers I know that they should be collecting appliance boxes - refrigerator - from stores to use for delivering gun safes. Why advertise to your neighbors that you have something of value to put inside a large safe being hauled into your house?

False safe. I have a client who has both guns and silver. When he found out what it would cost to insure both I looked at the guy - an engineer - and asked him, “*****************” He got the joke. Tip: If there’s nothing valuable in the diversion safe, the burglar(s) are likely to return. Spray-painted lead bars is the same as an obvious poker tell.

3rd, I’m especially critical of these idiots marketing products & techniques in open forums & social media on how to conceal valuables & firearms in the home. If you want to know how to burgle a house, now all you have to do is view some youtube videos on concealing valuables. Now your best security is good (scratch that: EXCELLENT) neighbors and round-the-clock occupancy.

This information USED TO BE the domain of security professionals and shared only with clients. Thank you very much useless idiots and lazy, faux professionals more interested in a buck than their clients. If someone openly advertises products or methods to prevent theft or ensure the security of occupants of a home, they have no credibility whatsoever and deserve righteous condemnation for publicizing formerly confidential methods to benefit concerned, paying clientele.

On the latter, I have done so openly and will continue to do so in the future. Ironically, I have seen such social media posts diminish to nearly zero; perhaps people aren’t as dumb as I thought (see my tagline).

All that stated, a person who does not have 100% control of their residence has challenges. Each case is different.

Insofar as the OP topic goes, at a bare minimum such safes afford the owner liability protection in the event that their weapon is stolen. You CANNOT BUY better insurance for when you absolutely-positively cannot keep your pistol on your person and must stow it temporarily, vehicle or otherwise.

Footnote: A vehicle CANNOT be made to be secure with the presence of safety glass. In my experience a POV which is “unkempt” is far less likely to be broken into for a ransack and the trunk is useless if anyone sees you place any valuables in there (I recommend to clients to do so blocks ahead of their destination, backing into a parking space against/facing a building at any retail establishment). To that end, I hate SUVs/Xovers without any internal storage compartments, aka “trunk”).

Jimmy Carter commissioned a professional B & E convict to write a book. The book came out early 80s, and had a lot of very good information in it. So much so, I still employ when I’m taking a trip. I think the bottom line is for me at least, and especially now, if someone wants in your house they will find a way to do it if it’s a teenager, chances are a good lock front and back door will probably suffice... However there are very professional people out there that take battery operated saws Etc and just cut through the walls from the exterior and gain entry. there’s all kinds of subterfuges the thwart an attack, and I’m pretty sure most of us have a good idea of how to look around at various resources and come away with our own novel ideas.

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