Browning Safes

[fabsroman]

I am looking at buying a gun safe for my place and leaving my other safe at my parents' place. While I do not care for Browning's guns, I have been looking at its safes and they are pretty nice. The one I am interested in is the wide body Medallion that fits 49 guns in it, with 10 of them going on the front door. I want to get it in charcoal grey, so that it matches my garage, with a pair of ducks on the front.

The reason I am writing this thread is to see if any of you know where I can get a good deal on one. I did a little searching on Google last night and I think I found one for about $2,100 +shipping. Anybody else out there have any ideas on where I can find one? I am going to check my local Dick's out this afternoon to see if I can avoid the shipping charge.

[M.T. Pockets]

That sounds like a deal to me. Just yesterday I was looking at the Browning safes in a Sportsman's Warehouse store, they are usually pretty competitive pricewise. I'm not familiar with the sizes they come in, but the one I was looking at would probably hold 20 guns, it weighed 600 lbs. and listed for $1,999. The Browning safes were my favorite that I saw among all the different brands. Shipping costs could be a big item.

[rick savage]

i still like keeping mine handy, but my kids are grown

[fabsroman]

I think I am going to break down and pay $2,400 for the Browning Medallion safe delivered to my door. I'm getting the one that holds 39 guns on the interior rack and 10 on the door. That should be enough room for all my current guns and future acquisitions, until I end up buying a single family home and can fit another safe in. I really like the door (i.e., Duo) option that lets me take a single gun out of the rack without having to move any others.

I too like to keep them handy, and that gun is a HK USP Compact 9mm. However, where I live, it is asking for trouble to keep guns laying around where thiefs can get to them easily. Right now, I have an SBE and o/u in a closet, and I worry about them enough, not to mention that a fire would really cause a problem. Granted, the house does have a sprinkler system, but I figure I can never be too safe with my guns (no pun intended).

[gumpokc]

I know you've probably already made up your mind Fabs, but you might checkout the following too.

http://www.armorvault.com/default.htm

and

http://www.bearsafes.com/products.html

Granted both are in oklahoma, and I have no idea how much shipping is ( i bet it ain't cheap) but both are quality products.

I've actually been through both production areas.

If it were closer to you, i'd recommened either to you in a heartbeat, but with the distance, prolly not a good idea for you.

The armorvault guys got a lil scare a year ago last january when our warehouse burned down, they are less than two blocks from the old site.

[fabsroman]

I checked out both sites, and it doesn't appear that the Bear would meet my needs gun capacity wise and the ArmourVault is just as expensive as the Browning and it has a couple things on it that I don't like. For instance, the ArmourVault has two locks on it, whereas the Browning has 10+ locking lugs on it, which means that somebody would have to be cutting for quite a while to get the door off the Browning safe.

I also looked at Liberty Safes and American Security. My dad and I bought an American Security safe about 7 years ago and I like it a lot. I would buy another one if they offered the duo door system like Browning. I just find it to be a pain in the rear to get guns out of our current safe because they all end up stacked behind each other. With the Browning, I will be able to store my 10 most often used guns on the door so that I can take any single one of them out without having to move any other gun.

Trust me, I spent a couple hours agonizing over this decision because I really do not like Browning. Problem is that they have the dang door patented.

[gumpokc]

Heh I understand, just pointing out options is all.

BTW wanna really put the fear into anyone who would think of using a torch on your gunsafe?

put stickers on it stating "safe contains black powder and explosive materials", they will think twice of ever putting a torch to it :)

[billy ahring]

When shopping for a safe I settled on the Fort Knox because of the internal hinges rather than external hinges such as those found on the Browning and other similiar makes. Haven't looked at them in a while. Does Browning still use externals. By the way prices have sure gone up!!!!!!!! I paid way less for mine and I think it is a nicer unit than a Browning

[fabsroman]

No doubt about it, the Fort Knox is one heck of a safe, but it also carries one heck of a price. Maybe I'll buy one of them when I finally get a single family house and might actually need a second safe and have room for a second safe.

I started thinking about the interior hinges, and would have sworn that the American Security safe at my parents' place had interior hinges, but looking at their website it appears that that safe model has exterior hinges, but some of the AMSEC safes do have interior hinges. Maybe my parents' safe actually does. It cost me about $1,700 7 years ago and it is 72" tall, 40" wide, and 26" deep and it holds something like 40 guns. I'm going to leave it at their place because 1) I don't want to bother with moving it and 2) I really like the duo feature on the Browning safe. That will make my life a lot easier and it will also prevent a lot of scratches on guns from moving them all over the place to try and get them out. None of the Browning safes come with interior hinges.

By the way, I could not believe the number of locking lugs on those Fort Knox safes. Utterly insane, but good.

[muledeer]

All I can tell you is that whatever size you buy it won't be big enough. I have a Halls safe made in Auburn, Ca. Bought it at a gun show in Reno. Now I'm looking at a larger safe from the same company. They will buy back the old safe, less some depreciation, as a credit on a new safe. Not a bad deal. I'm still considering.
muledeer

[gumpokc]

Ya know Fabs, I had an idea! :)

You might ought to just build you a 8x10 rebar reinforced blockhouse :) plenty of space there :)

run some electric to it, and you can have you dehumidifier and lighting in it too :):D

[fabsroman]

muledeer,

I completely agree that no matter how big a safe one buys, one will eventually need a bigger one. When I bought the one at my parents' place, I initially thought it would be big enough forever. Then I bought somewhere close to 10 guns over those 7 years and it is looking pretty crowded in there. This new safe at my place will relieve some of the crowding in my parents' safe.

gumpokc,

That isn't a bad idea and I have already received the okay for such a thing when the wife and I build our own house in the future. In fact, the agreement is that we will have a 3 car garage on the house and a 2 story, 3 car garage, that is separate from the house. The second story of the detached garage will be my gun/reloading room and it will have no windows, a vault door to it, and it will be rebar reinforced concrete on all 6 sides (i.e., 4 sides, top, and bottom). I should be able to keep plenty of guns in that room. However, that probably will not take place for another 5 or 6 years, so in the meantime I am going to have to make do with a safe.

Now, I just need to figure out where I am going to buy the safe.

[Jack]

Ya know, Gumpokc, that's not as farfetched as you might think.
From at least one of the gun safe companies, you can buy a vault door- just the door, like on one of the big gun safes. You use that on exactly the kinda vault room you're describing.

[gumpokc]

Hehe Jack and Fabs, I know it isn't far fetched, I know a guy who did it. Eventually when i can build the place I want too, I fully intend to do something along those lines, but it won't be anytime soon :/


I have another friend who liked his new "saferoom" for tornados so much, he had another put into his Barn/garage, and he uses it as his gunsafe/security vault.
That's actually what reminded me of it, caus ei asked him about it and he always says his regular gunsafe is always "too small".
:D

[Jack]

If you live in tornado country, combining the tornado safe room with the gun room makes a lotta sense.....

[8X56MS]

I have three Liberty Safes. They have internal hinges, and a good fire rating. Two are Franklin models, the other is a smaller safe that my wife uses for her jewelry. Darn things are 'bout full though.