It's easier than you might think, unless you have stairs to negotiate with it. Mine weighs about 800 lbs empty and I used an ordinary two-wheel dolly with pneumatic tires. The safe has a smooth bottom, so it was easy to wheel it into the room where it lives and worry it into place across the carpet.
Just get a friend to help, owe him a favor, and watch your fingers.
Thanks for the offer, Bob. I might take you up on it at some point. It's on layaway at the moment. I've got a pickup. I just haven't figured out how to get 675lbs in and out of it without inducing a hernia.
I don't know if you've ever visited The High Road, but the professionals there won't let you call that thing a safe. It's just a glorified RSC. Apparently you have to spend at least a few thousand to get a proper "safe" i.e. something that an average thief who has some tools and knows some tricks can't enter in less than 30 minutes.
I have a nice little "safe" that works, and will at least keep a smash-and-grabber or neighborhood punk out, and will also show proof that there was a B&E to the insurance company. I think the extra $20 I pay per year to add firearms to my insurance is better spent than the money on the safe.
THe only thing I want a gun safe for, is to prevent unauthorized access; either from kids, or guests who get stupid (not that I've had any), or a casual breakin.
I expect that if I get hit by a pro, I'm not going to be stopping anything without a $3000+ cannon, mosler etc...
I don't need a glass relocker to protect my $20k worth of guns; and the level of fire protection necessary to really protect my guns in a house fire would cost more than the guns are worth, so why bother? That's what insurance is for.
I don't have any advice to give on getting it in and out of the truck, but getting it from the truck into position in the house is easy.
Just get 2 or 3 pieces of thick-walled 3" PVC, each one a little wider than the safe, and roll her in just like the Egyptians would. Worked like a charm when I moved my safe.
Don't forget to take the door off...they're usually easily removable, and have MUCH thicker materials than the safe walls, making it a substantive portion of the weight. An appliance dolly works nicely, too.
Methinks thou makest a mountain out of a mole hill. I've moved mine several times; it's now in its second house.
Use a dolly to move it to the back of a pickup, with the back of the safe toward the front of the truck. Lay a moving pad (about $15 at U-Haul) on the bed, extending over the lip of the tailgate. With one person on each side of the safe, lean it backwards onto the tailgate, then lift the bottom of the safe upwards and slide it onto the bed.
The key is that the mass is relatively evenly distributed throughout the whole volume of the safe. When it's leaning against the tailgate, it's center of mass is almost as high as it will be when laying flat on its back on the truck, and it's almost over the bed of the truck already. It doesn't take much energy or force to get it there.
You laugh. Mine is heavier than yours and I've done this five times now with my safe and a duplicate that is owned by a friend. It was easy, and I'm no Hercules.
Check at gun shows for people who have specific equipment to move safes. When I bought mine, a Sentry 14-gun model of the basic kind, I had to move it's 340# bulk up stairs into the house, then up to the second floor, then negotiate several sharp turns to get into the strong-closet built for it.
I made the following exertion: peeled off a $100 bill out of my wallet and hired a safe mover, who came over with a marvelous electro-hydraulic appliance dolly with a stair-climbing mechanism. It all ran on a itty bitty motorcycle battery. The machine was one to two the guy had in his huge moving van. the big one had a capacity of 3,500#. The job took about 15 minutes, plus about an hour of work steaming the carpet, since I forgot to look at the tires of the dolly, which were quite dirty, and they soiled the carpet.
My safe is now snugly bolted to the heavy 2X6 studs in the closet I had built in for this when I had the house built, and protected by the second-level alarm that covers just entry to the closet.
Even though my safe is not of the highest quality, it will defeat the usual 3-minute smash and grab B&E, and when the alarm company gets the special code, they know to alert the cops that a gun room is being penetrated, which generally piques the interest of the usual gendarme, to say the least.
BTW, I quit giving info on my weapons to the insurance company. It will cost me if I have a loss, but I have zero control of where that list goes if real pressure gets put on the Insurance Co. by the gov't. If any more gun bans go through, the guns I really care about couldn't be replaced anyway.
Rivrdog, just take copious pictures and videos of the whole setup, in gruesome detail, add copies (or the originals) of paperwork showing proof of purchase and such, and store it all off-site, such as in a safe depostit box at the bank. Your insurance adjuster doesn't know what you have, but he has to have something to cover his own caboose if he approves a claim on your behalf. Give him some tangible evidence, and he'll be on your side.
Lifting in/out of the truck with the moving blanket, as was said earlier is good. Go to UHaul and rent a "Vending Machine Dolly". It has a strap for going around the thing and a second pair of wheels on a snap-out stand for pushing it around once tilted back. A 170# man can easily move a 400# safe with one of those -- I know, I've done it! :)
I'm local, too..drop an email if you need an extra hand..small price to pay for reading the site.
When I bought my Wal-Mart safe I paid two kids that worked there $20 each to ride home with me and carry it up the stairs. It was a pain but we managed. And they seemed happy to have the extra cash.
My safe is around 700 lbs, and was set in place by the company I purchased it from the first time. Two BIG guy's with a huge moving dolly.
When I decided to move it from the first floor, to the second floor were were having some furniture delivered. I asked the three furniture movers if they could move it up the stairs, after hefting it, they said no. I wound up calling a local moving company, who sent out 3 BIG guy's and an electical stair climbing dolly. They made it look pretty easy, but I'm glad I didnt try it. :-)
Safe movers are really nice people; they come with lift-gate trucks, 6,000# capacity pallet jacks, serious 6' pry bars, and years of experience. The ones I have met are also remarkably close-mouthed.
The price for my safe included delivered and installed. It was sure worth it to me.
I noticed that Home Depot also sells Sentry safes (e.g., Sentry
GT8523 FIRE-SAFE Gun Safe with UL type 1 Electronic Lock--Black for $999 with shipping included). Shipping means dropping it off at your house, curb-side, though depending upon its final destination this can make installation much easier. Costco sells the same safe, I think, but for more $, though Costco will set it up for you for an extra $100. I understand that the electronic locks are superior to the combo locks, but I assume that any determined thief will be able to open the safe given a bit of time -- I always figure that the purpose is to dissuade petty thieves and kids.
Note:
All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost;
references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>
JS-Kit/Echo comments for article at http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/2007/03/i-finally-got-safe.html (19 comments)
Tentative mapping of comments to original article, corrections solicited.
If you need a hand I'm off Monday and Tuesday.
Got a Pickup, and live about 2 miles from the store.
It's easier than you might think, unless you have stairs to negotiate with it. Mine weighs about 800 lbs empty and I used an ordinary two-wheel dolly with pneumatic tires. The safe has a smooth bottom, so it was easy to wheel it into the room where it lives and worry it into place across the carpet.
Just get a friend to help, owe him a favor, and watch your fingers.
Thanks for the offer, Bob. I might take you up on it at some point. It's on layaway at the moment. I've got a pickup. I just haven't figured out how to get 675lbs in and out of it without inducing a hernia.
Just drop me an email, I work nights so I'm usually available during the week.
I need to replace mine (several) with a larger one.
My safes are Walmart purchases, I need to upgrade eventually.
I love Sportsman's Warehouse, I love to see a retail outlet that deals in those eeeeevil black rifles as well as catering to the hunting crowd.
I don't know if you've ever visited The High Road, but the professionals there won't let you call that thing a safe. It's just a glorified RSC. Apparently you have to spend at least a few thousand to get a proper "safe" i.e. something that an average thief who has some tools and knows some tricks can't enter in less than 30 minutes.
I have a nice little "safe" that works, and will at least keep a smash-and-grabber or neighborhood punk out, and will also show proof that there was a B&E to the insurance company. I think the extra $20 I pay per year to add firearms to my insurance is better spent than the money on the safe.
THe only thing I want a gun safe for, is to prevent unauthorized access; either from kids, or guests who get stupid (not that I've had any), or a casual breakin.
I expect that if I get hit by a pro, I'm not going to be stopping anything without a $3000+ cannon, mosler etc...
I don't need a glass relocker to protect my $20k worth of guns; and the level of fire protection necessary to really protect my guns in a house fire would cost more than the guns are worth, so why bother? That's what insurance is for.
I don't have any advice to give on getting it in and out of the truck, but getting it from the truck into position in the house is easy.
Just get 2 or 3 pieces of thick-walled 3" PVC, each one a little wider than the safe, and roll her in just like the Egyptians would. Worked like a charm when I moved my safe.
Don't forget to take the door off...they're usually easily removable, and have MUCH thicker materials than the safe walls, making it a substantive portion of the weight. An appliance dolly works nicely, too.
Methinks thou makest a mountain out of a mole hill. I've moved mine several times; it's now in its second house.
Use a dolly to move it to the back of a pickup, with the back of the safe toward the front of the truck. Lay a moving pad (about $15 at U-Haul) on the bed, extending over the lip of the tailgate. With one person on each side of the safe, lean it backwards onto the tailgate, then lift the bottom of the safe upwards and slide it onto the bed.
The key is that the mass is relatively evenly distributed throughout the whole volume of the safe. When it's leaning against the tailgate, it's center of mass is almost as high as it will be when laying flat on its back on the truck, and it's almost over the bed of the truck already. It doesn't take much energy or force to get it there.
You laugh. Mine is heavier than yours and I've done this five times now with my safe and a duplicate that is owned by a friend. It was easy, and I'm no Hercules.
Check at gun shows for people who have specific equipment to move safes. When I bought mine, a Sentry 14-gun model of the basic kind, I had to move it's 340# bulk up stairs into the house, then up to the second floor, then negotiate several sharp turns to get into the strong-closet built for it.
I made the following exertion: peeled off a $100 bill out of my wallet and hired a safe mover, who came over with a marvelous electro-hydraulic appliance dolly with a stair-climbing mechanism. It all ran on a itty bitty motorcycle battery. The machine was one to two the guy had in his huge moving van. the big one had a capacity of 3,500#. The job took about 15 minutes, plus about an hour of work steaming the carpet, since I forgot to look at the tires of the dolly, which were quite dirty, and they soiled the carpet.
My safe is now snugly bolted to the heavy 2X6 studs in the closet I had built in for this when I had the house built, and protected by the second-level alarm that covers just entry to the closet.
Even though my safe is not of the highest quality, it will defeat the usual 3-minute smash and grab B&E, and when the alarm company gets the special code, they know to alert the cops that a gun room is being penetrated, which generally piques the interest of the usual gendarme, to say the least.
BTW, I quit giving info on my weapons to the insurance company. It will cost me if I have a loss, but I have zero control of where that list goes if real pressure gets put on the Insurance Co. by the gov't. If any more gun bans go through, the guns I really care about couldn't be replaced anyway.
Rivrdog, just take copious pictures and videos of the whole setup, in gruesome detail, add copies (or the originals) of paperwork showing proof of purchase and such, and store it all off-site, such as in a safe depostit box at the bank. Your insurance adjuster doesn't know what you have, but he has to have something to cover his own caboose if he approves a claim on your behalf. Give him some tangible evidence, and he'll be on your side.
Lifting in/out of the truck with the moving blanket, as was said earlier is good. Go to UHaul and rent a "Vending Machine Dolly". It has a strap for going around the thing and a second pair of wheels on a snap-out stand for pushing it around once tilted back. A 170# man can easily move a 400# safe with one of those -- I know, I've done it! :)
I'm local, too..drop an email if you need an extra hand..small price to pay for reading the site.
When I bought my Wal-Mart safe I paid two kids that worked there $20 each to ride home with me and carry it up the stairs. It was a pain but we managed. And they seemed happy to have the extra cash.
My safe is around 700 lbs, and was set in place by the company I purchased it from the first time. Two BIG guy's with a huge moving dolly.
When I decided to move it from the first floor, to the second floor were were having some furniture delivered. I asked the three furniture movers if they could move it up the stairs, after hefting it, they said no. I wound up calling a local moving company, who sent out 3 BIG guy's and an electical stair climbing dolly. They made it look pretty easy, but I'm glad I didnt try it. :-)
Safe movers are really nice people; they come with lift-gate trucks, 6,000# capacity pallet jacks, serious 6' pry bars, and years of experience. The ones I have met are also remarkably close-mouthed.
The price for my safe included delivered and installed. It was sure worth it to me.
I noticed that Home Depot also sells Sentry safes (e.g., Sentry
GT8523 FIRE-SAFE Gun Safe with UL type 1 Electronic Lock--Black for $999 with shipping included). Shipping means dropping it off at your house, curb-side, though depending upon its final destination this can make installation much easier. Costco sells the same safe, I think, but for more $, though Costco will set it up for you for an extra $100. I understand that the electronic locks are superior to the combo locks, but I assume that any determined thief will be able to open the safe given a bit of time -- I always figure that the purpose is to dissuade petty thieves and kids.
Maybe you could use one of your gats to hijack a moving van and have the "hostages" install your safe.
Just kidding. Good luck.
Does your wife have any experience in training other wives?
No. And she doesn't have a sister, either!
Note: All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost; references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>