Anyone with advice on a good safe?

From 1.5 cu ft on up. with at least 1-2 shelves. What do you consider the best buy available?

Thanks!

Nothing from a retail store unfortunately.

I really recommend Liberty Safes, they're the standard for home safes these days, without going a professional route (which they'll even do too).

Liberty puts their name on a few low end safes as well, but it's one of those "<Insert Name Here> by Liberty" deals. Avoid those...really high gauge sheet metal, no heat seals or real bolts...just bad.

They start at the $1000 price point, 2 models, but I recommend the Fat Boy Jr. with a 45 min, 1200 degree rating. The more features, the greater the price point, and the safes grow in price as they grow in style.

http://www.libertysafe.com/safe-fatboy- ... ps-10.html

sentry is good too. they sell them at walmart. #1 on consumer reports list for the last several years.

I worked as a security and threat analyst for a government contractor for some time; I've been involved with safe rooms and free standing safe installations for private customers. The one really important thing to understand is most retail store safes are made for one of two reasons: either theft prevention OR fire protection. Many retail models will do "okay" at one of the two, but there are very few true composite safes in retail chains that will do both with any kind of predictable success.

In all honesty, if theft and fire are both concerns, the Fat Boy Jr. is as low on the protection scale as I would go. It has 12 gauge steel and I would never go any higher than that. I honestly recommend nothing greater than 8 gauge. Another important facet is bolt design, 1/2 inch diameter bolts are as small as I'd personally go, and they MUST be located on both the hinged side and opening side of the door. Without that, no safe comes close to being a theft deterrent. Reinforced plating on locking mechanisms is also important, but there is typically at least minimal reinforcement, even on the cheapest of safes. For true protection, you're looking at 3 or 4 layers of low gauge plating...and that's just to stop some Joe Schmoe with a DeWalt and a pry bar.

Most of us will never have to worry about a collection so advanced that a professional thief would waste their time on us...those basic features will stop the rest.

In terms of fire damage prevention, insulation is king, shielding is queen. Another important factor is expansion seals to prevent smoke damage and hot spots. A good fire rated safe will evenly distribute its heat load inside of the safe. Obviously the more the better on almost all of those factors.

MojoDan said:

From 1.5 cu ft on up. with at least 1-2 shelves. What do you consider the best buy available?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I have this one in the store

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... dition=new

If you only have a few cards you want protected this might be your best option

http://www.asseenontvguys.com/security-briefs.aspx

yrocks2001 said:

If you only have a few cards you want protected this might be your best option

http://www.asseenontvguys.com/security-briefs.aspx

Click to expand...

Awesome :lol:

I love how it's out of stock as well LOL

scotty21690 said:

yrocks2001 said:

If you only have a few cards you want protected this might be your best option

http://www.asseenontvguys.com/security-briefs.aspx

Click to expand...

Awesome :lol:

I love how it's out of stock as well LOL

Click to expand...

I just made a few of those if you're interested