So I have a crappy little gun cabinet right now. I was a renter so I used to move every few years but I bought a house last december and I'm looking at getting a big giant freaking gun safe. I live in a townhouse and I want to have the safe put on the bottom floor so I can lag bolt it to the foundation.

I want to buy the largest strongest safe I can afford, I was thinking about spending $3000-ish. However I do not want someone that will just drop the safe at my door, I want them to move it to my back room and drill into the foundation for me. So I went looking for local shops.

The only safe shop near me deals in Liberty and Browning safes. Their Liberty safes are nice enough but after looking at this website
http://www.6mmbr.com/gunsafes.html
the Liberty leaves a lot to be desired. (11 gauge steel doors on their Franklin models)

So what safe makers should I be looking at that makes a great safe that will actually deliver and install to me in southern Maryland?

What part of Maryland are you in?

I highly recommend looking at Champion, especially the Crown Series. There are one or two on this forum who don't like Champion, but specifics are never mentioned when asked why. If you look at their construction, they are built very well for RSCs...3/16" construction, multiple relockers Their fire rating is very good (perhaps one of the best in the industry...even though there are no industry standards). Do your own research...I think you'll find them to be very good...plus three dealers in MD.

Champion

Bought one today in granite for $3,500.00...being delivered and installed Monday.

Rely less on anecdotes and opinion (even though I highly value opinions here), and compare for yourself.

I'm just a consumer, but I looked at construction first. 7ga (3/16") steel in the Crown Series...Sturdy, Liberty, and Fort Knox all offer this as well. Champion's body is continuous welded, as is Sturdy and Fort Knox...not sure about Liberty. Number of active bolts was next...24 1.5" bolts for Champion...fewer with Sturdy, fewer with Fort Knox Titan and Executive, comparable with Liberty National and Presidential...the corner bolts on the Fort Knox are very nice and I think a huge plus.

Then you can look at weight for size..Champion is heavier than Sturdy, slightly less than Liberty...unsure about Fort Knox - too many variables.

Then look at fire rating...no industry standard, but you can look at their testing methods.

Champion sent me pictures of their bolt construction/support as well as their mechanism...some other RSCs are more robust, some are less robust.

Aesthetics - Champion is nicer than Sturdy, comparable to Liberty, not as nice as Fort Knox.

Dealer support if necessary...Champion, Fort Knox, and Liberty are all supported locally while Sturdy is not.

Then look at price...Champion is slightly less than Sturdy, substantially less than Liberty, and 1/2 the cost of Fort Knox.

Sturdy was my second choice, but it came down to local support. I thought Liberty was too expensive for what it is. Fort Knox was simply out of the budget.

There are other considerations, but you can figure those out and decide what is important to you.

Good luck.

When comparing the models I would be most interested in both the Sturdy or the Champion would be 4K which is more than I'd planned on spending. I need to see what it will cost to get the Sturdy moved and then installed to my house though.

Hmmm. That's definitely without fire protection. Just a comparable Sturdy WITHOUT any upgrades was still a couple of hundred dollars more than Champion. Sturdy is definitely a good safe though. OP should compare several safes.

From Sturdy website: $3,034.00 for the 4827-6 without fire lining. Add $945.00 for fire lining. Champion Crown 50 is the comparable size with most of the security features you mentioned at $3,600.00...fire lining is standard. Again, I think Sturdy is great. Champion just happens to have a factory here, and I think they are very nice as well. Both are good deals and offer A LOT of safe for the money.

Ipurchased a 32X whatever Sturdy safe, 7 guage steel walls plus stainless steel wall extra reinforcements total wall thickness of 3/8 thick. Heavy sucker at about 800 lbs plus its bolted to concrete... At about $2k the level of resistance it provides with a solid contruction is a good value IMHO.

I realy like my Champion

Crown 50 was delivered last week. I love it. It is built very well...considerably beefier/sutrdier/tougher/more "tank-like" than the Champion Challenger 25 I also have. Again, the only knock I have against Champion is that their interiors are no where near as nice as Liberty or Fort Knox...but if I were that concerned about it I could easily cut custom shelves and upholster with much nicer fabric for less than $200.00. I feel confident you will be very pleased in Champion...again, there are plenty of good safes out there.