Gunowner's house burglarized -- thieves carted off his 500-lb gun safe

[Oil Lady]

This happened on Thanksgiving Day, a few mles from me in the neighborhood called Sixteen Acres, a pretty modern suburb.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/11/thieves_break_into_springfield.html

Thieves break into Springfield home, steal 500-pound gun safe containing 15 weapons

By Patrick Johnson, The Republican  -- November 27, 2012

...

... The guns were locked securely inside the safe, Delaney said, but the safe itself was not anchored in place. When the robbers could not open the safe inside the house, they picked it up and carried it out of the house, he said....
 
... The safe was later found, broken open and stripped of any weapons or ammunition, he said...

...

The news item doesn't say WHERE the cracked-open gun safe turned up. 


And just for clarification's sake, the local newspaper here in Springfield used to be called the Springfield Daily Republican. It later got shortened to just The Republican. So the reporter named Partick Johnson who wrote this article is being identified up above as a staff member at that newspaper. (In other words, he may or may not be a member of the GOP, which is entirely irrelevent here.)

[ag2]

A lesson for all of us.  There are four holes in the bottom of these safes to anchor them down!

It is rather easy to throw a bucket of golf balls on the floor, tip the safe over and roll it out the door.

[ncjeeper]

A lesson for all of us.  There are four holes in the bottom of these safes to anchor them down!

It is rather easy to throw a bucket of golf balls on the floor, tip the safe over and roll it out the door.

Yep. Purchase a quality safe also.

[luke]

What is the proper way to anchor a safe to the floor? If the floor is accessible underneath via a basement, couldn't the thieves just break off the bolts or unscrew the nuts? Maybe some Loctite or weld the nuts on?

[The Professor]

What is the proper way to anchor a safe to the floor? If the floor is accessible underneath via a basement, couldn't the thieves just break off the bolts or unscrew the nuts? Maybe some Loctite or weld the nuts on?

Well, once again, most people opt for convenience rather than security, like many other things.

A safe in the basement isn't convenient.  After all, you might have to walk down all those stairs, open your safe, get  your guns out, walk back upstairs and then do it all over when you're done working (playing) with your favorite weapon.

Secondly, if you DO mount the safe on a floor that is accessible from underneath, you would put the bolthead underneath and the nuts inside the safe.  It's much harder to access from beneath, that way.  And no, you wouldn't weld them into place.

The Professor

[luke]

Well, once again, most people opt for convenience rather than security, like many other things.

A safe in the basement isn't convenient.  After all, you might have to walk down all those stairs, open your safe, get  your guns out, walk back upstairs and then do it all over when you're done working (playing) with your favorite weapon.

Secondly, if you DO mount the safe on a floor that is accessible from underneath, you would put the bolthead underneath and the nuts inside the safe.  It's much harder to access from beneath, that way.  And no, you wouldn't weld them into place.

The Professor

the reason you mentioned is the primary reason I'm NOT putting it in the basement! Uh, hypothetically speaking. What safe? I meant that the floor I'm putting it on could be accessed underneath in the basement. I will put the nuts on the inside, why didn't I think of that? I must have failed that engineering class in college. Just had a DUH moment, thanks The Professor!

[ag2]

That's why we call him The Professor.  He's puurrdy smart, so we keep him around.

[flippydidit]

Well, once again, most people opt for convenience rather than security, like many other things.

A safe in the basement isn't convenient.  After all, you might have to walk down all those stairs, open your safe, get  your guns out, walk back upstairs and then do it all over when you're done working (playing) with your favorite weapon.

Secondly, if you DO mount the safe on a floor that is accessible from underneath, you would put the bolthead underneath and the nuts inside the safe.  It's much harder to access from beneath, that way.  And no, you wouldn't weld them into place.

The Professor

Some people wouldn't.   

I find that a small tack weld is sufficient to secure the nut to the bolt.  If I need to remove it, I have a grinder or Dremel that will quickly separate them.  Additionally, I keep all my reloading powder in my gun safe as well.  I have insurance.  If they want to use a torch to get into my safe, then I've done my job to keep that scumbag from breaking into someone else's safe.  Then I get to go buy new guns with the insurance!  It's a win/win proposition.

[Oil Lady]

That's why we call him The Professor.  He's puurrdy smart, so we keep him around.

But he STILL never got anyone off The Island.  


(Just kidding, Professor. We luvs ya'. )

[Oil Lady]

Two observations I've made over the years about safes that get bolted down ...

1) Think long and hard about WHERE you bolt it to the floor because you wanna make darn sure you will have no future need to rearrange the furniture in whatever room it's now bolted into.

2) Be wary -- be VERY wary-- of your own proclivity for laziness when it comes to a very small safe which needs to be stooped down to with backbreaking inconvenience. I nannied for a (very strange) lady who was totally into her clothes and shoes. She had a magnificent walk-in closet in the master bedroom JUST FOR HER (her husband's clothes were kept in another room in the house because she edged him out of the closet completely with her endless shopping for clothes). In that closet, she had a 2-foot-high safe bolted to the floor, and in that safe she kept her REAL jewelry. She was very lazy about closing the safe. I frequently walked into that closet with the clean laundry to put away, and the safe door was always hanging wide open (I don't ever recall seeing it shut).  It was just way too low to the floor for her to be bothered with getting down on her knees and spinning the dial. So she left it open all the time.

[DrJohn]

I think safes are one area where you should not skimp on quality.  Really good safes weigh in at over 1000 pounds for a small safe.  but they cost 2 to 3 times as much at a cheap one.  Mine weighs over 1500 pounds.  This has to be in the basement, but you also do not need to bolt it down.  It took 5 hours of careful rigging to get the safe in place, its going nowhere.  If you bolt your safe to a wooden floor, all you need is a chainsaw, and bolt down is defeated very quickly...

[flippydidit]

Mine's bolted into a concrete slab floor.  Which is great until someone invents Star Trek teleporters....   

[thewarriorhunter]

my safe isn't the heaviest, but it wasn't in budget to get a really big/heavy safe. i did bolt it down though. got the impact drill and put four holes in the slab of the house and dropped some of the expanding bolts down there... i can't think of their technical name. i also put the same into a corner so it is very hard to leverage it out.

my safe is mostly to keep curious people out and keep the guns safely away from my kids. if a pro came in i would be toast, but i knew that when i bought the safe so i'm OK with that. in fact any safe can be broken into, it's just a matter of time and tools. i'm playing the odds that the common criminal won't want to waste the time messing with my safe and just take what they can get.. .which isn't much anyways. i do like the black powder idea... i may have to get some...

[microdevil45]

  Then I get to go buy new guns with the insurance!

Not to hijack, but tell me more bout this insurance.  Is it gun or home owners?

[The Professor]

But he STILL never got anyone off The Island.  


(Just kidding, Professor. We luvs ya'. )

Well, everyone ASSUMES that the Professor wanted to get any of them off the island.

For all anyone knows, it's a clever, yet extremely subtle, sociological experiment.

Besides, where else is a geek going to have his choice between a Movie Star and Miss Idaho?

The Professor

[microdevil45]

Well, everyone ASSUMES that the Professor wanted to get any of them off the island.

For all anyone knows, it's a clever, yet extremely subtle, sociological experiment.

Besides, where else is a geek going to have his choice between a Movie Star and Miss Idaho?

The Professor

Don't forget Mrs. Howell, she looked naughty....lol jk

[flippydidit]

Not to hijack, but tell me more bout this insurance.  Is it gun or home owners?

There's an insurance sponsored by the NRA.  They don't ask for serial numbers or pictures.  Or at least they have never asked for mine.  It's one of the few things that I have liked the NRA doing.

http://www.locktonrisk.com/nrains/ArmsCarePlus.htm