Inexpensive Security for Guns

Old CW4

Old CW4

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Sep 8, 2006
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I ran a sizeable gun repair shop here on my property for years, also did a lot of ordering and sales. I have a quite large Winchester safe in which I keep all my and customer's firearms. The Winchester cost me about $2300 years back and I'm sure the prices haven't gone down....

Okay, a while back, one of my customers who liked my big safe bopped in and said he'd come up with a large and good safe on the cheap, about $15 bucks. Clever fellow. What he'd done was haunt yard sales until he found one of the old type refrigerators for sale. One of the models with the really thick walls and door. The owner was asking ten bucks for the beast and probably would have paid my customer merely to haul it off.

Okay, my guy proceeded to strip out the insides, drill/cut some ventilation holes, and weld three big lock hasps on the door. Presto, he had a large capacity 'safe' which would challenge even a professional thief and surely the little gangbanger punks and junkies that do a lot of our local burglaries.

Subsequently, a number of my customers converted fridges and freezers into pretty darned secure gun safes. Why not? So far I don't know of any of them with these 'do it yourself' vaults who've been robbed.
 
Like the old saying goes, "locks are to keep honest people honest."

I would think that a refrigerator would be a lot easier to get into then a real safe, but I guess they are better then nothing. Padlocks are not secure at all unless they are the security types that can't be cut.

My old Cannon safe has 1/4" plate all around. If someone really wanted to get into it, they could, but it would take a while. It cost $600 about 15 years ago.
 
A friend of mine used an old Montgomery Ward water heater. It has a long, thin (about 6") access panel and one of the pipes is centered. Looking at it, it's all wired and plumbed, but removal of the panel reveals a lazy Susan with pistols around the top and rifles vertical around the bottom.
 
A friend of mine built a safe into his basement while the house was under construction. He has a small machine shop, and stuff like a torch and welding machine for steel fabrication, too.
The safe is built under the stairs, like a walk-in closet, with steel plate permanently anchored into the concrete. The lock is a simple padlock IIRC, but can't be cut, because you can't even see it. There's a cubby hole built into the door where you have to reach in and up to attach the lock. Huge safe for the price of half a dozen steel plates that he probably got at cost from his work, plus his own labor. Guess it would make quite the tornado shelter, too.
When he first bought the lot, the property was undeveloped, so he had a generator and a well with a pump. They came in later with city water and power, so he has a backup system already in place. He's not one of these types that preps for the end of the world or anything, but it's a pretty smooth setup.
 
Thats a good idea. I have been thinking about alternatives to traditional gunsafes, which are expensive and incredibly heavy and difficult to get down basement steps.

I have considered the flavor that comes in 6 pieces that gets bolted together, but it is just as spendy as a regular gunsafe. The fridge idea is something good for me to cogitate on.
 
I like the water heater idea- who's going to try to break into a water heater, or steal it? Of course, you can't let anybody know about it, and you know you'll want to!
 
TKAZ, I have considered that as well (truck bed box).

Also thought about installing fake HVAC ducts in the basement, and storing guns in there. Mine current duct work is up between the floor joists, so its basically one sheet of aluminum to box in the duct between the joists. It would not protect against fire loss, but it would hide the guns theft, which is what I'm after.
 
In the lesser part of a nearby town, I have been to a house that had a plumbed water heater stolen.
 
I just leave mine around the house...I'm not too worried about being robbed. Gun safes are either

1. POOR quality
2. HEAVY AS HELL
 
OwenM said:
A friend of mine built a safe into his basement while the house was under construction. He has a small machine shop, and stuff like a torch and welding machine for steel fabrication, too.
The safe is built under the stairs, like a walk-in closet, with steel plate permanently anchored into the concrete. The lock is a simple padlock IIRC, but can't be cut, because you can't even see it. There's a cubby hole built into the door where you have to reach in and up to attach the lock. Huge safe for the price of half a dozen steel plates that he probably got at cost from his work, plus his own labor. Guess it would make quite the tornado shelter, too.
When he first bought the lot, the property was undeveloped, so he had a generator and a well with a pump. They came in later with city water and power, so he has a backup system already in place. He's not one of these types that preps for the end of the world or anything, but it's a pretty smooth setup.
Click to expand...

THat's cool, my only concern would be if it was built in house and the oxy/acetylene torch was there wouldn't be much work to drop the lock and open her up.
 
You can also get warning stickers that read something like Danger: Black Powder. Might give a thief second thoughts about torching it open. Especially if you really do have BP in it. :D
 
A friend of mine is a locksmith/register safe opener. He installed a false wall to his cedar closet operated by a magnetic reed switch. No visible lock.. you touch the right spot on the wall with a magnet and the door opens. Another used his den...end wall was of shake shingles and the overlap was almost impossible to detect. He used steel pipe thru the 2x6 studs, and had sections of cold rolled rod separated by marbles to deter cutting with a saw (the inner rod will spin). Another owned a hotel and just pushed up a section of ceiling tile to stash firearms when we traveled to shooting events and would leave the motel.. regards Les
 
UffDa said:
Like the old saying goes, "locks are to keep honest people honest."

I would think that a refrigerator would be a lot easier to get into then a real safe, but I guess they are better then nothing. Padlocks are not secure at all unless they are the security types that can't be cut.

My old Cannon safe has 1/4" plate all around. If someone really wanted to get into it, they could, but it would take a while. It cost $600 about 15 years ago.
Click to expand...

First off a angle grinder will go through just about anything like butter. Unless it's specifically hardened that's issue #1.

OwenM said:
A friend of mine built a safe into his basement while the house was under construction. He has a small machine shop, and stuff like a torch and welding machine for steel fabrication, too.
The safe is built under the stairs, like a walk-in closet, with steel plate permanently anchored into the concrete. The lock is a simple padlock IIRC, but can't be cut, because you can't even see it. There's a cubby hole built into the door where you have to reach in and up to attach the lock. Huge safe for the price of half a dozen steel plates that he probably got at cost from his work, plus his own labor. Guess it would make quite the tornado shelter, too.
When he first bought the lot, the property was undeveloped, so he had a generator and a well with a pump. They came in later with city water and power, so he has a backup system already in place. He's not one of these types that preps for the end of the world or anything, but it's a pretty smooth setup.
Click to expand...

Issue #2 (for both quoted) is what are you using to lock up this fridge / safe? Master locks rake open in a matter of second even for someone without training. You're going to spend more on decent locks then you are on the safe.

There is no such thing as "inexpensive" security. Pick two of the following: Good, Convenient, Cheap.
 
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