Sturdy safe is not an option, so which one?

As the title says sturdy is not an option. The wife says its not pretty enough and I agree. This will be in our basement living area so cosmetics do come into play. As of now I am thinking about either the liberty Lincoln 50 or even the rhino 7142. Could be talked in to the liberty presidential 50. If its worth it. Any advice will help which would you pick and why or is there one I'm missing?

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When I got my Sturdy, I saw the tight tolerances around the door, heavy framing, ingenious locking mechanism and fairly heavy steel and I couldn't have been more pleased. You can change the color and gold hardware to a Sturdy to "pretty" it up if that helps.

If you are dead set against the Sturdy then I guess the Liberties are probably the way to go.

Fort Knox, You can build it anyway you would like. And way beyond what Sturdy builds if you would like. I had the same thing with my wife so I have a Fort Knox on order. Should be here in 3 weeks. 3/8 inch plate steel door, 1/4 plate steel body, 3 10 gage liners, Gold package external hinges with gold acorn caps, light system etc.

Ft. Knox, or if that breaks the budget, American Security.

Liberty, Summit EX, or a Superior safe are the nicest looking in my opinion.

Be careful to not buy a safe and pay extra for the name and just looks. Get something with a good balance of security, fire protection, functionality, and appearance.

I actually had the same issue. Was ready to pull the trigger on a Sturdy, then met some people who owned them and they were very disappointed with the finish and function of the Sturdy Safe they had purchased.

Got a Fort Knox and could not be happier. Did get a stainless liner, external hinges and lights. These upgrades really have paid off in ease of use, pride of ownership, and appearance. I really think that Fort Knox is the best value in a box made specifically for holding gunz.

Isn't Fort Knox the one with the inside of the door open or has glass on it so you can see a gear type looking device? I wish more would do that. The inside of my Liberty is not worthy of plexy or glass.

They just do that on demo safes. The liberty factory has plexiglass door models finished inside as well that they use as demos. When safe companies make demo safes with plexiglass door panels, they always doll up the inside of the door when they do this.

I'm curious what the function issues they had were, Mine functions like a dream and while the finish isn't dazzling it's definately not ugly (they also have a few color choices).

Same here. Absolutely no complaints about function whatsoever, and in fact, it is clear that my Sturdy has been built to very high tolerances.

As far as having a pretty safe, well, I guess that there are prettier safes than a Sturdy just like there are prettier guns than a Glock. The recessed door might not be attractive to some, but it is a security feature that I value. The handle type and placement is to eliminate the need for linkages that can fail, so again, form follows function. Besides, if you don't like the standard speckled gray paint, you can get ivory, green, or black semi-gloss enamel with gold hardware for less than 10% more and a decal package is free.

You loss.

Did a lot of my own research over almost two years and as far as a non-TL or TLRL rated safe metal storage cabinet goes, Sturdy is about as good as it gets. Ft. Knox and Liberty both offer prettier looking safes metal storage cabinets, but I don't think they're anywhere near the security Sturdy is.

Quick question? Why do you feel that Ft.Knox does not have the security of the Sturdy, I feel after my research that you can get the Ft.Knox alot stronger than a Sturdy. 1/4 inch body vs 5 gauge at best. Up to 4 10 gauge liners with on SS and a 3/8 inch plate steel door with a 10 gauge outer shell on the door?

You can absolutely get a Fort Knox built like a sturdy but, by the time you get it configured you could have 2 Sturdy's LOL

If you just wanted a plain looking steel safe, there are a few manufacturers that build B rate (1/2" door, 1/4" bodies) cash/coin "lockers". They're about the same price as the Sturdy, maybe even more plain looking, and don't have an interior, but they are built heavier.

Companies like Fort Knox do give more attention to the details and appearances. This doesn't always add to the protection, but always adds to the price. If you have to have a good looking safe, that's just the way it is.

This ^^^

Ft. Knox builds a beautiful safe, nobody disagrees with that (that I know of). But it all comes at a price, and to find a Ft. Knox model that has similar levels of security, you are going to pay more.

To find a Ft. Know model with a similar price, you are sacrificing security. That's just the way it is. Those flashy bells and whistles don't come free.

Sturdy puts a priority on function and puts the flashy bells and whistles aside on the their baseline models to keep their price-point lower for the same level of security. If you must have the bells and whistles they can be purchased at a very reasonably price. If you don't like the offset door handle.. then get something else because that is a functional design of the Sturdy which eliminates costs (ultimately passed on to the consumer) and also eliminates unnecessary failure points.

Well said Sig, additionally Sturdy has a fire liner designed specifically for fire protection; with Fort Knox you get Dry Wall.

As far as 5ga thickness being the limit on Sturdy wall thickness, that's not exactly true. They will add additional plating to your specification it's not a problem since they fab their safes on site. Terry already has put standard reinforcement plate options in the places he thinks are the most vulnerable or most likely to be attacked but if you want to double plate the entire safes with stainless, I'm sure they'll be happy to give a quote of what the cost would be.

You guys need to realize that all this talking is not going to get him to buy a safe that he or his wife considers homely. As a safe sales person, I can tell you one sure thing. When someone has to buy a safe that looks good, you will never talk them out of it. You cannot talk them into something that is not of furniture grade quality. Especially when the wife is involved. So don't take his decision personally, it is not an attack on you guys or your advice. I am sure he is tired of being ridiculed about it. Just help him find something that looks good so he can be happy, and he can make the wife happy.

This one is pretty:

http://www.frontgate.com/traum-heirloom-safe/20812

Well I don't take it personnally that some folks think Sturdy safes aren't "pretty". I actually painted my whole safe a "hammered" grey to make it look less safe like because I thought it looked too pretty.

I agree with you Snop, Summit safes look better than Fort Knox and they also have a 1/2" steel plate door standard as well as a simplier and more robust (IMO) locking mechanism with better fire protection for less money than Fort Knox,. Actually, as someone else mentioned, to get up to a similar level of security to a Sturdy or even a Summit with a Fort Knox you are going to spend a lot more money. For myself, I'd be looking at Brown or maybe even Graffunder if I get up to those prices.

I wish I have the funds to purchas a Graffunder the one that I looked at was 2.5 times what I paid for my ft.knox. Maybe some day.

Yes, I forgot to mention thickness as well. I was looking at a vault door for a while until that project got put on hold. Terry said was willing to layer a 5/16" SS plate on top of the normal 3/16" door plate, then add an additional 5/16" SS plate over the locking area. Giving an overall door thickness of 1/2" and 13/16" inch over the locking area. Terry can and will do many things that aren't listed on his website.



We're not trying to talk the op into buying something he or his wife don't want. We're tying to make sure he is making a well-informed decision. Many people aren't well-informed on the options they have with Sturdy because only the base models are listed online. IMHO, if the OP can get past the single spoke handle and the fact that it is off-center, Sturdy can make a very pretty looking safe with better security and less expensive than the Ft. Knox by adding on a few paint/trim/hardware upgrades. We're just suggesting that the OP check into those upgrades before completely ruling Sturdy out of the equation.

Tell him to call them then.

And that helps future buyers learn the available options, differences, and similarities how?

Last time I checked the entire reason for this forum is not only for the person asking the question to get his/her answer. It's for everybody else to read the answer and learn.

If we merely tell him to call somebody else for answers then what is the point? Why even have a discussion forum?

Not to mention that he wouldn't receive the opinions and thoughts from the wealth of knowledge here, a wealth of knowledge that is mostly unbiased or at least has no financial interest in Sturdy or other manufacturers. We're comparing the cost vs. benefit of going to another manufacturer based wholely upon how the safe looks. If he doesn't like to read beneficial comparisons such as those within this thread then he can tell us directly or he can just ignore them.

IMHO, I like to have AS MUCH information as possible when making a large decision like this. I'm definitely going to dismiss some of the information as faulty, biased, etc based upon my conception of the providers. And I'm going to disregard some of the information for a multitude of reasons. But none-the-less, the information was presented to me, and took it in, and resulted in a decision that I made myself and I will have to live with. Ultimately, some time later some new information will come along and either corroborate my decisions, or give me that wonderful feeling of buyers remorse. In the latter case wouldn't it have been nice to know that information up front? I sure think so. Whether the OP wants the information or not, he now has it in addition to everybody else that has read this thread. And now those people are responsible for choosing what to do with that information.

People need to talk to safe professionals when they buy safes. If you guys had told him to call Terry, I am sure Terry would tell him a lot more than what was said here. Not to mention, Terry can probably come up with a resolution for getting one of his safes in a gloss finish.

Instead every body argued with him about what he wanted to do.

Take at look at the AMSEC BF Series RSC's. Mine is sharp looking and every bit as good as the Sturdy RSC's.

Old video on them

Because well-informed people can't make statements about things like that? You must be a "professional" in order to "know" anything about a safe? Tell me, what makes a "professional" in the safe industry? Somebody that designs them? Somebody that builds them? What about somebody that sells them? Or, how about somebody that has absolutely scoured a multitude of safe designs out there and has scrutinized every one of them in the search for the "best" safe? Or what about the criminals the break into them? What exactly constitutes a professional in your own biased mind? We mere "consumers" wouldn't dare call ourselves professionals, or even refer to ourselves as knowledgeable in the presence of a professional safe salesman like yourself right? Is that what you're implying?



We must have very different views on what "arguing" is then. I didn't see one bit of arguing. The guy asked for suggestions, and he got them. He also got a lot of statements as to why he may not want to completely eliminate Sturdy from the running. None of it was arguing, merely presenting facts, opinions, and INFORMATION to make sure the OP made a well-informed decision. The only person arguing here is you.

I didn't see a single person pushing hard tactics to talk him into a Sturdy, just pointing out the fact that they offer more than what was advertised on the website, and that Sturdy safes CAN be made to look nice.

I think you have made a great point inside of that statement.

My opinion is that the more hats the person wears, the more they know about safes or any other product for that matter. For example, somebody who designs, builds, breaks into, sells, repairs, moves, etc, will have a broader understanding of safes than somebody who simply builds them for a living. The burglar is always looking at a safe differently than a guy who's selling them. The more angles you can see first hand, the more you really do understand.

I had to drilll open a gun safe a few years ago. It wasn't really that difficult of a job, but I had a specific question about a measurement. I thought a quick call to the manufacturer would be the best source of this information. I call the manufacturer, and they tell me that they will fax me the information. They fax me a copy of a page out of a book written by a safe tech that I am familiar with. I was shocked. That certainly gave me the impression that the manufacturer knew less about what they were building than somebody like myself knew.

Safes tend to have a mystical appeal about them, and everybody who's worth their salt in the business tends to hold the security secrets close to their vest. This is a bit different than other products where you can really disclose everything without the fear of your customers experiencing a loss. That's certainly what got me interested in this business. I wanted to know the secrets. I wanted to know how to be smarter than the guy who's trying to keep me out.

The problem is that this also allows an environment where bad information exists. It's hard to tell the real from the fake, and the truth from the lies. That's where the consumer in your statement comes in. Research will get you information from all of the others mentioned. They can then put that information together to see a much larger picture, and make an educated buying decision. Not everybody will agree with that decision, but at least it was based on a solid base of knowledge. It's certainly better than making a snap decision based on something you heard or something you read in a sales flyer.

If you want someone to sell the guy on a sturdy, Terry is going to be the guy for the job.

I like the looks of the American Security Safes.

Look at Summit Safes.

Copyright © 1996 - 2013 :: AR15.Com LLC :: All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.