A gun safe after a fire!
- Thread starter Mus408
- Start date
bogus bill
Hunter
That was very disappointing. I have a nice safe but my biggest concern for buying it was to make theft harder. In fact I doubt I even considered the fire protection aspect. Even so I would have expected better fire protection.
Rook
Blackhawk
Gun safes are not fire proof they're fire resistant and only for a short period of time. They're better than putting your stuff in a closet. Mainly they keep common criminals out of it.
My dad bought a safe that was in an old jewelry store that went out of business that would withstand a fire such as in the video that destroyed that safe. My dad had to hire a wrecker service to drag the safe out and haul it to his house. It weighs around 3 tons. It's not a gun safe like you'd buy at the gun store.
My house is located 200 yards away from a fire station and that would be the only reason my safe would survive a fire. I depend on my safe to keep common thieves out and nothing more.
My dad bought a safe that was in an old jewelry store that went out of business that would withstand a fire such as in the video that destroyed that safe. My dad had to hire a wrecker service to drag the safe out and haul it to his house. It weighs around 3 tons. It's not a gun safe like you'd buy at the gun store.
My house is located 200 yards away from a fire station and that would be the only reason my safe would survive a fire. I depend on my safe to keep common thieves out and nothing more.
Just over 4 years ago we had a garage fire at our house when our 1976 Chevy pickup torched off at start up. My son was stationed in England so he had left his gun safe at our house for those 3 years. It was setting right in front of the pickup that went up in flames. Ironically I had kept it covered in a U-Hual packing blanket just so it was not so obvious if someone looked in the garage windows. The fire melted the truck, blew the windows out of the garage and the pictures of the garage looked like the towering inferno. Amazingly, the blankett did not burn or melt and the safe with all his guns survived unscathed. I had the insureance company paya to have all the guns professionally cleaned to make sure there was no damage from any smoke that made it in the safe but I would have neve believed the safe little lone the blanket would have survived. I do not know what those blankets are made of but for it to only be 4' from the front of the truck and not melt or burn is amazing. There was less damage to the guns in the safe than to the interior of the hosue form smoke damage.
I wouldn't call that box a "safe". Looked like a typical $300 box store
"security" cabinet. Notice how light it was when they laid it down.
The back looked like about 12 to 14 gauge sheet metal.
Considering how cheap it was it did better then I thought it would.
Might keep the crackheads at bay for a bit.......
Dave
"security" cabinet. Notice how light it was when they laid it down.
The back looked like about 12 to 14 gauge sheet metal.
Considering how cheap it was it did better then I thought it would.
Might keep the crackheads at bay for a bit.......
Dave
When you read fire proof or fire resistance of anything. Read the small print, it will say it is at xx temperature for xx minutes.
The other thing is remember even if the fire does not burn though. It could have been hot as a oven inside and just plain cooked everything, not burned.
A buddy on my rifle team had a house fire and he had a real gun safe. He drilled a hole through it for a light. Just that allowed the super heated air inside and cooked all stuff inside the fire proof/resistance safe. Not sure if any of his guns were ruined. The ones I seen had to be refinished.
The other thing is remember even if the fire does not burn though. It could have been hot as a oven inside and just plain cooked everything, not burned.
A buddy on my rifle team had a house fire and he had a real gun safe. He drilled a hole through it for a light. Just that allowed the super heated air inside and cooked all stuff inside the fire proof/resistance safe. Not sure if any of his guns were ruined. The ones I seen had to be refinished.
Colonialgirl
Hawkeye
Wish they had used a different camera or BETTER camera control.
What I didn't understand is why cut through the back. Why not just open the door or cut the hinges.
The back of the safe was about as thin as a soup can.
The back of that safe is typical of many. The soft under belly of the unit. Just one reason to have a safe bolted down & "against the wall".
One of the last gun grabs in my town had the thieves turning over an unsecured safe & chopping out the back with a wood splitting maul. I can't recall the brand of the safe but it wasn't a cheap one.
Oh, & those splits in the seams & corners? While a bit of them might have come from steam pressure inside the safe when possibly the fire was put out with water, most are indicative of poor welds & too much grinding after welding to make the safe look pretty.
One of the last gun grabs in my town had the thieves turning over an unsecured safe & chopping out the back with a wood splitting maul. I can't recall the brand of the safe but it wasn't a cheap one.
Oh, & those splits in the seams & corners? While a bit of them might have come from steam pressure inside the safe when possibly the fire was put out with water, most are indicative of poor welds & too much grinding after welding to make the safe look pretty.
powder smoke
Hawkeye
Get a safe PLUS Insurance that's the key right there.
A rider on your home owners is cheap especially if you have a lot of
firearms you care about. There is not a safe on the planet that will save
guns in a fire! Least wise none I'm aware of! The heat will get them
there like an oven! ps
A rider on your home owners is cheap especially if you have a lot of
firearms you care about. There is not a safe on the planet that will save
guns in a fire! Least wise none I'm aware of! The heat will get them
there like an oven! ps
The safe is likely insulated with drywall board, a common "fireproof safe" practice. Drywall is essentially gypsum trapped between two sheets of paper. Drywall contains water in its makeup, and when it is heated to the boiling point of water the water is given off as super-heated vapor that tends to retard fire . . . but it also affects everything within the safe and that's what causes the rust we always see in a burned out safe. The fire department's water applications really don't have much effect unless the body of the safe is seriously breached.
These guys apparently aren't aware of this.
These guys apparently aren't aware of this.
ptypegreen
Single-Sixer
Mike Griffin has some very informative videos:
https://www.griffinsafes.com/youtube-video.html
https://www.griffinsafes.com/youtube-video.html
the problem with any mass.. whether it be thin metal and dry wall or even thick steel is once it is heated up to a point where it can't absorb any more and there is still heat on the exterior it will actually pass all that heat straight through....
The clip shows a bunch of cooked off ammo that was in the safe.
Pretty sure that contributed to the interior damage.
Tip:
Store the ammo in it's own lockup.
Pretty sure that contributed to the interior damage.
Tip:
Store the ammo in it's own lockup.
contender
Ruger Guru
As the old saying goes; "You get what you pay for!"
I did a lot of research and chose a ValutPro. Tony,, the owner was super helpful,, and offered a lot of detailed information on his safes,, and their fire rating. To get rated "higher" than most,, the expense of the testing was a lot more than he was willing to spend. BUT,,, his stuff is very well built,, NOT cheap,, but I trust it more than many of the other options I was considering. Both for theft design,, as well as his fire rating,, certified and otherwise.
I did a lot of research and chose a ValutPro. Tony,, the owner was super helpful,, and offered a lot of detailed information on his safes,, and their fire rating. To get rated "higher" than most,, the expense of the testing was a lot more than he was willing to spend. BUT,,, his stuff is very well built,, NOT cheap,, but I trust it more than many of the other options I was considering. Both for theft design,, as well as his fire rating,, certified and otherwise.
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My opinion. Is the best thing to do is to build a concrete rebar room around the safe. Use cinder blocks and fill them with concrete. Then a steel door for the front. Just another layer for thrives and fire to have to penetrate. To slow them both down. Nothing stops either.
