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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;flintcreek6412, post: 1889479, member: 61025&quot;]First thing you need to assess is what are you protecting against?&nbsp; Most get one to protect from theft with fire as a secondary concern.&nbsp; Are you protecting $100K or more in coins that people know you have, or a personal collection of about $10-20K that you keep pretty private?&nbsp; For theft you will have 2 types.....the oportunistic ones and the pros. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>99% of burglaries(yes burglary, not robbery...pet peeve of mine) are low skilled ones trying to get what quick valuables they can.&nbsp; Most safes will deter them as long as it&#039;s BOLTED DOWN.&nbsp;&nbsp; Otherwise they will just carry it away and work on it later.&nbsp; Time is not on their side and they usually want in and out.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>You get what you pay for in a safe....most of the time.&nbsp; I have a gun safe that is older that I bought used for about 1/5 what a similar one would cost today.&nbsp;&nbsp; It&#039;s a tank. Not all the fancy bells and whistles of fancy storage areas like todays distract you with.&nbsp; &nbsp; Heavy 3/8 plate door with 3/16 double wall sides.&nbsp;&nbsp; Most burglars will attack the door and they won&#039;t get through this one.&nbsp; The new fancy safes(even expensive ones) have composite door which aren&#039;t as tough.&nbsp;&nbsp; Search google and learn.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Bolt it down in a corner so you only expose one side.&nbsp;&nbsp; The top, sides and back are the weakness.&nbsp; Given the right tools and time that is where a good burlgar will defeat your safe.&nbsp; Give them very little to attack with a small work area to make it tough.&nbsp; A closet is best but who really has the closet space to spare. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Garage, while easy to unload there and that&#039;s where the wife will want it, is the worst.&nbsp; Easy access to the safe, plenty of working room, tools likely handy and can back a truck in an take entire safe, even a 1000# one if determined enough. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>If fire protection is priority don&#039;t put in basement.&nbsp; That&#039;s the hottest area.&nbsp; I&#039;m not worried too much about fire since I live in town and it will be out in 30 min or less, even though my does have a 2hr rating.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I load my safe in such a manner that they will have to cut it open on the gun side.&nbsp; Even if they get a hole cut in it, they will have a heck of a time with the long guns.&nbsp; The coins/cash/gold/etc are on the far side inside another smaller safe.&nbsp; It&#039;s smaller but can&#039;t be lifted with one arm and likely can&#039;t be pulled through any hole they cut.&nbsp; This is where the expensive coins stay.&nbsp; If unlucky enough to get broken into I hope they are distracted by the guns and more common coins and don&#039;t even mess with this. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I have other measures in place that I won&#039;t discuss in a forum or even tell my friends about, but I promise it&#039;s failsafe and better than any security system you pay for.&nbsp; And no, it&#039;s not a booby trap......maybe.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Do your research so you don&#039;t regret what you buy.&nbsp; We discuss safes at work often as 95% of us have guns.&nbsp; We also investigate burglaries for a living and in 24yrs I&#039;ve only seen and heard about 1 professional cutting a safe in a residence.&nbsp; Literally thousands of B&amp;Es where they attack the door without success.&nbsp; The only ones that succeed are those that take the unbolted safes with them and have days to work on it.&nbsp;&nbsp; Most guys are happy with their $600 Winchester and Stack On safes, others spend big money on fancy Browning safes that are little better but still 11-12ga sides and composite doors.&nbsp; Me, I lost all my friends because mine killed 5 guys moving it.&nbsp;&nbsp; And I spent between the Winchester and Browning for a really solid safe.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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