Looking at a Canon Challenger 24 gun for 3 reasons
1.  It weighs about 325lbs which makes it a mangable weight to get it where I want to place it(upstairs of house)  
2. It's narrow enough that I can get it up the stairs without much shoe horning
3.  It's narrow enough by a 1/2" that I can push it into a deep closet,secure it and add a little more theivery protection with walls tight on 3 sides and secured to the floor
 Problem is it comes with the electronice lock and have read/heard stories about it.  Can they be changed to mechanical?  Should I chance it or keep looking for a comparable safe?  Any recomendations for a no more than 26" wide/ not too heavy safe?  thanks!

Old fashioned mechanical locks only for me.  What if you need to get into your safe after an EMP or the battery is dead?

What would you suggest in the price range?

Just did this dance myself over the past 6 months or so.  For mostly the same reasons as well with a couple of variations.  What I wound up with fit within my budget, and the weight was manageable enough that i could push/drag/shove it to where i needed it by myself.
Is the safe I got the best one out there?  I've got no delusions - no doubt it's not.  
Is the electronic lock going to be a problem down the road?  I'll be shocked if it isn't.  
Can you get an E-lock swapped for mechanical?  Short answer seems to be yes, at least from the locksmiths I talked to.  On the other hand, wasn't a cheap proposition either.  Might be easier/smarter in the long run to hold on and get a mechanical lock safe out of the gate if that's a real concern.

In any case, I'm still in a better spot than before.  'Cause I had NOTHING.

I, too, was thinking about an electronic lock recently.  Talked to the safe guy I've done business with for the past several years.  He took me back to his shop and showed me his "history" with locks.  The problem is, when the lock goes tango uniform (not if, but when), the safe has to be drilled to recover.  So, at some point, you're gonna have to spend a lot of money to recover your guns.  Buy a better safe to begin with is my conclusion, since you're gonna have to spend the money eventually.  And, only consider a mechanical lock.

After agonizing over this decision for a while I went with the electronic lock for several reasons. I actually swapped a mechanical lock for an electric lock when I got my safe.

One my safe manufacturer offers a lifetime warranty on the lock, others do as well, but read the warranty carefully. Cannon will send you the parts but not pay for the locksmith to open and reinstall the lock. Some safe manufacturers will warranty the lock and pay for the locksmith to drill the safe.

Two, electronic can actually be more secure given that they have a lock out period. When a mechanical lock they can keep trying open the lock.

Three, it is very convenient to get into the safe versus a mechanical lock.

Also regarding EMP's, in my opinion the safe should shield the majority of the pulse. In reading a bit online I decided I was willing to take the risk, this post in particular, the post to pay attention to is backwoods_engineer.

http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=30078.0

I bought a Stack-On Elite 36 gun fire safe with an electronic lock. I know it's not the best but it was what I could afford at the time.



Anyway, the battery is easy to swap out even in the dark and the safe came with a key that will unlock it when you remove the electronic lock or it melts off in a fire. I don't know about other company's safes but with mine I feel confident that I can access it in most cases.







 

That's what bugs me about the Canon..No key backup so SOL if it craps out.. Idk I guess more research before I pull the trigger ...I'd love a huge fort knox but no budget for it or space so I really wanna stick with a 26" wide or less for where I want to locate it

In terms of lifetime locks, including the locksmith, it would have to be between champion/liberty or fort knox that I could find. Champion you'd have to spend another 100 bucks for the lifetime on the locks.

I bought a cannon during TSC's black friday sale but the fact that the lock could crap out, and I'd end up spending more on the locksmith than the safe cost bothered me enough to return the safe back to TSC. Great service from TSC btw.

A good friend has a Cannon with an electronic lock.  He told me today that all but one of his guns is in his safe and he cannot get it unlocked.  If he is lucky, only the keypad has gone bad and that is a relatively cheap fix.  If it is the electronic lock motor, it will cost him about $500 to have a locksmith drill his safe and fix the problem.  BTW, the safe is only 1 1/2 years old.  I won't be buying a safe with an electronic lock.

The thing is technically even mechanical locks are supposed to be regularly serviced and they can fail as well.