One big safe, or two smaller safes?

Varminterror

Varminterror

New member
The time has come again to "upgrade" our gunsafe. Things are just getting too crowded, and we're tired of having guns get "landlocked" in the back where we have to take 10 guns out to get to the one we want.

Last wknd, my wife said "eh, I'll just shoot my .45-70 instead," since her .300WSM was in the back (musta put them back in the wrong order the weekend before when I dug her .22lr out from the darkness).

Plus, it seems that none of them are really well set up for storing a lot of handguns, so it takes up more longgun space than it intuitively should.

It's time...

I'd usually just replace the safe with a larger model, but I'm starting to think having 2 safes would make more sense at this point. Sure, the bigger they are, the harder it is to steal the entire safe, but also the harder it is to move for me also, and I have a job/career that means I'll move every so many years.

I'm considering getting another safe and migrating all of the handguns into that one, opening up more room in the existing safe for our long guns.

So would you rather have one super-sized safe, or two smaller units? Purchase price for the two ends up being more than one big one it seems, but I'm trying not to focus on financial considerations for this.
 
Two safes will eventually end up the same way. You need to build a safe. Walk in style. Doesn't have to be huge, but big enough to walk in. That is a solution you can grow with and not be back at the well in 2 or 5 years.
 
Originally Posted By: FurhunterCount me in on the one big one crowd!




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a buddy of mine has a very nice walk-in built into the house, someday I will get there....someday.
 
I'm partial big safes myself. And when that gets full. . . . you get two big safes!

Furhunter, what are theIt's walls made of on that thing? Does it provide fire protection?

Right now I've got a smaller built in safe (not walk in), but I prefer the fire protection of a steel safe. And It's time to expand my firearm storage capacity.
 
Originally Posted By: NV Bill
Furhunter, what are theIt's walls made of on that thing? Does it provide fire protection?


Its 8" block with 5/8 rebar in each cell. The lid is 5 inches thick with 3/4 bar on a 12" square pattern. We poured the lid and filled the cells at the same time so its monolithic all the way to the floor. I even designed the poured floor in the cave to support the weight. Its completely inside the exterior walls of my shop so its in a controlled environment with exception of the ceiling which you can see.

I got tired of jamming rifles into safes. So it was either buy a couple more safes or build a vault. I ended up trading out some of the work so the only real expense was the door at 2500 bucks and material for inside finish trim work. If I had to pay for all of it the masonry and concrete work would have run another 3000 bucks or so. I've never regretted spending the money, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
 
Originally Posted By: tt35That's your shop?
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I was thinking I'd like to have a living room like that!

I call it a shop..... More like man cave. The building is 24x40 and its split. On one side the cave with reloading equipment etc. The other side would the the shop I suppose. I have my lathe, welder, air compressor and other misc tools over there.
 
Originally Posted By: FurhunterCount me in on the one big one crowd!




I have drawings and specs for a similar vault, designed either to be poured outside of the exterior wall of a basement or built into the back end of a tornado shelter "safe room".

BUT...

The bad part, for me, as I mentioned, is mobility. I don't have the luxury at the current time of knowing I'd be here much longer. I'd be looking at maybe another 5yrs in this spot, then 5-10yrs at the next two spots before I'd get somewhere that a vault would make sense.

So until then, I'm stuck somewhere between two "pretty big" safes, or one monster (64gun+).
 
I couldn't afford a nice shop as pictured above, so I just bolted two safes together. The sides of most are just soft steel and a sharp drill bit will do the job. Get some really good bolts of appropriate size (1/2 to 3/4) and a large washer or a good size plate (3X3)for each inside. I won't say it can't be moved, but I can't move it.

Tom
 
Big safes are a pain to move, unless you hire it out, or have a few good buds to help you. I've found that you can cut PVC pipe 1.5"x 3' and roll the safe where ever you want.

I've moved a Liberty Fat Boy Jr (48) and Liberty Fat Boy (64) with the method above with a few guys.

If I ever build a house in the future, I'll be making a vault like "FurHunter".
 
SuperSeal,

Is there a weight capacity for your 1 1/2" PVC method? I was thinking I needed black pipe. I have a
700# safe sitting in the garage waiting to come in the house.
 
Someday I hope to have this problem you guys speak of: too many guns! Until then I'll just keep my few in my wooden gun cabinet
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But, in my experiences moving my cousin's safes around, I would say one big safe would be a pain to move around all the time. He recently acquired another 32-36 gun safe beacause he was tired of digging for his rifles. He now has it set up to where one safe is his "collectors rifle" safe and the other is filled with his "working rifles". My opinion is get two similar sized safes that are manageable to move arund.

*** BTW I love that vault Furhunter
 
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Yep used golf balls here to move mine. The nice thing is that you can turn it on a dime to go around corners. You will have a problem if you have a heavy pad under your carpet or longer carpet. I took a buddy of mine and about 10min to get my 32gun safe in the house and set in place and it weighed 800lbs.
 
Originally Posted By: DoogerSuperSeal,

Is there a weight capacity for 1/2" PVC method? I was thinking I needed black pipe. I have a
700# safe sitting in the garage waiting to come in the house.

Dooger,

I'm not sure what the weight cap would be on the PVC pipes I used.

I used on a Fat Boy Jr = #735 & a Fat Boy = #880.

I have hardwood flooring throughout my entire house. This for me, was the easiest method. YMMV.
 
I have some 8" round furniture moving plastic disks that slide on carpet real nicely that work if I need to move my safe.(Just moved it 2 weeks ago)
 
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