156 lines
5.9 KiB
Plaintext
156 lines
5.9 KiB
Plaintext
<<The following was posted by Wayne Eckert 72720,131 in response to a question
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which I ( Sean Flynn 76665,3573 ) posted to this forum in early 1991.>>
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Safes come in three flavors, burglary, fire and combination burglary and
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fire. They also install two ways, above ground and below ground. The below
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ground safes are he** to install and usually have a small capacity, so I will
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limit this information the above ground type.
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Burglary resistant safes have an outer wall of steel plate sometimes
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hardened to complicate drilling and usually a 1/4 thick or more. On the door
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and frame, hardened steel plates protect the lock and the bolt mechanism. The
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inner wall is of similar construction to the outer wall. The frame (the part
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the bolts and pins go into) will be solid bar often hardened. The liner (the
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part between the walls) varies depending on the manufacturer. Some use a
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material similar to concrete with reinforcing bars. Others use drill rods,
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ball bearings, hardened plates or a combination of all the above. The liner
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may also contain wiring for connection to an alarm. The goal is to make the
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safe resistant to drilling and/or torching. The locking mechanism(s) will
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include a relocking device. That way ifsomeone tampers with the combination
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lock, the relockkicks out and locks up the bolt mechanism. Burglary safes are
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rated by Underwriters Laboratories as to being tool or torch or tool and
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torch resistant. This rating reflects how long it takes one of their
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professionals to open a certain size hole in the safe. Burglary safes are very
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heavy for their size and expensive.
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Fire safes are constructed of sheet metal, the frame may be solid or sheet
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metal. The liner is a material similar to plaster, it retains a certain amount
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of moisture that's released when the safe is exposed to fire the idea is to
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keep the interior below the burning point of paper. Fire safes are rated by
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U.L. by the number of hours they can withstand a fire and keep the interior
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below a certain temperature. Fire safes are lighter and cost less than the
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burglary resistant safes.
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Which to use.
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If the weight and the price of a burglary resistant safe is not a
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problem,they are the best for storing guns or anything else of value. It's
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your decision. I use a fire safe and consider it enough for storing my guns.
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Apartment dwellers and others who don't live on the ground floor may find a
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fire safe is the only option they have. A burglary resistantsafe large enough
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to hold rifles, may exceed the weight capacity of their flooring. Keep in mind
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if your safe was to drop in on your neighbors uninvited, it may cause themto
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become upset. As for gun safes, some of the ones I have seen at gun shows are
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nothing more fire safes. I'm not saying there's no good ones, but quite often
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a person can go out and pick up a good used safe for a lot less money.
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What to look for.
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Weight, the heavier the safe the harder it is to steal. If it has wheels
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remove, them when you get it where you need it. If the safe is light enough to
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be carried by two people or less bolt it down or build it in, preferably with
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tamper resistant hardware, If you build it in make sure it can not be rocked
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or moved around otherwise you may find it used as a battering ram. If you bolt
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your safe to the floor or a wall don't allow enough clearance that someone can
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get a pry bar in and pull out the anchors or the entire safe. Be sure to use
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the right anchors for the material you plan on mounting it to. The locking
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mechanism. It should have at least two bolts opposite the hinge that extend a
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minium of two inches into the frame. The bolts should not be centered on the
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locking mechanism. For example if the lock is halfway from top to bottom on
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the door. The bolts should be one third and two thirds down from the top this
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helps to prevent drilling and punching back the lock. There should be bolts or
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pins on the hinge side, this protects the safe if someone cuts or punches the
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hinges. There also should be pins that extend from the door into the frame of
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the safe towards the rear of the safe, this helps to prevent someone from
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spreading the frame away from the door and releasing the bolts. The bolts and
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the lock should be protected by hardened inserts.The safe should have a U.L.
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listed lock with a relocking device. The safe it self should be U.L. listed as
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to it's type and rating.
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If your storing guns in a safe and find moisture to be a problem I suggest
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using more oil or some other rust preventative. I have seen fire safes where
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people have installed heating rods to reduce moisture inside the safe. Two
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problems, one the rods dry out the liner reducing the fire rating and two a
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hole must be drilled to feed the wire through. Unless the hole is filled with
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an approved firestop compound surrounding the wire, the fire rating will be
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reduced or lost completely.
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Finally remember no safe can keep someone out, it can only slowthem down.
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If you have an alarm system, be sure to have your safe connected to it. Make
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sure the installer uses a contact that is U.L. listed for safe protection, all
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too often installers use regular surface contacts, installed on the outside
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thy are easily compromised. To install one on the inside requires drilling the
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safe, with all the problems associated with installing heat rods. If you don't
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have an alarm consider installing a basic one, starting with the safe and
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later expanding it to the entire premiss and connecting it to a monitoring
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center. Well that's about it, if you have any questions let me know.
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Wayne
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