I am in the market for a gun safe I have a stack on file cabinet it can easily be broken into with my hands
unfortunately my budget is weak right now as I am in the process of moving and in need of new furniture too

I have looked at a few places including looking at liberty's and Ft Knox's at the gun show last weekend but they are out of my budget.
I know when it comes to gun safes always buy bigger.

few safes I am interested in and want your opinion are:

Canon 32 gun safe from TSC $800
Winchester 24 gun safe from TSC $700
Browning yukon gold 23 Sportsmans Warehouse $950
Browning yukon gold 20 sportsman's warehouse $750
and my LGS said they could order me a fortress 24 gun safe for $750
These are interesting also Iowa company!
Zanotti price?????

I want to keep it under $1000 really like the $800 mark though

I stopped at midwest lock and security off of merle hay and they had AMSEC there they are really nice but a tad out of my price range
If you have opinions please post I don't want big gun safe as I am moving into a smaller apartment but hopefully be getting a house in a year or two so a good in between safe but not to heavy.

I my opinion a great budget gun safe is to find an old double door bank or post office safe. Pull the shelves/doors out, line with carpet and with a little creative wood working with a saw and some hole saw's you can have a pretty huge decent safe for not a lot of money. If you look, you can usually find them around the $500 range.


Here's one in Cedar Rapids  (http://cedarrapids.craigslist.org/for/4760252275.html)

I've got an older model of the Winchester 24 gun safe that has always worked well for me.  It was a Sam's Club special.
There are steel balls on both sides of the pin in the hinge, so the door opens smoothly.  
Just don't loose them if you take the door off, which works great if you have to move it.
My next one will be larger and heavier, tho this one is manageable, fits through doorways, and provides decent protection for a person that may move.  
I see that TSC even has an online only price of $599.99 on them right now.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/winchesterreg%3B-gun-safe-24-gun-capacity

Zanotti is nice but delivery is close to one year.

Might check costco as well.

If you have an orchelens farm store around look there.  I got a 24 gun liberty fire protected  safe at the perry store for around $600.

I would do that but I am moving into a smaller apartment really don't have the room and I don't know if an apartment could handle a heavy safe

Nice! I wish I could buy this right now but I don't want to move the safe twice within two months

damn

Do you have to have a membership to check out safes?

Fleet farm has a Liberty Revolution for $750 I think the brownings or winchesters are nicer.

I have been researching there but wanted input from your guys locally. I can ask Septic about safes my problem is size, weight, and price is a bad issue right now unfortunately

Nope and as someone else stated might check Orschelns. I think they are having a sale on them right now 150.00 off.

If you have a Farm King in the area, I would keep an eye on their sales.  I just picked up a Liberty Revolution 24 gun safe for $489, that was a Hell of a deal and they have sales often.

damn that is cheap. fleet farm has them for $750 I'm guessing that is retail greedy capitalists!

I get the feeling I'm going to be in for some heavy labor helping you move your new safe....

actually the liberty dealer we might go see wednesday they deliver and install in the price if you buy a safe!

I think what will happen is I am going to get a more expensive safe than I planned one

You in DSM?  What dealer?

I believe he is talking about the dealer but is always at the fairgrounds gun shows I do not know his name but he's not in dsm specifically

One of the dealers from the show is in Prairie City, near DSM. I can't remember which though.

I thought they were only 8 weeks out? I just moved one a few weeks ago, great safes if you have to move it up or down stairs.

ferhle safes out of corning IA SW from des moines about a 90 min drive

If you're going to be in an apartment you might consider a smaller safe. I have a Sentry mid size one that is about 200 lbs., light enough to move up and down stairs by myself.

I think it's a 12 or 16 gun safe or something, but I have close to thirty guns in there. I think I'm just going to end up getting another smaller one for the overflow, rather than get one huge safe that I can't move.

meh I have seen videos or sentry safes they no better that my file cabinet stack on elites are a little better but come into the price range of liberty safes

i've got news for you all...

you can have a $2K safe and it isn't any better than a gym locker if you don't place and mount it right...  you're all worried about saving a buck, but nobody has mentioned location, mounting, which way the door needs to face, etc.

i'd be worrying about that long ahead of the difference between two safes that WILL NOT stand up to a raging house fire (no matter what the claims are, as i'm the guy who goes in afterward to evaluate and assess the damage for the insurance company)...

after you get one picked out, you'd better have a plan on where it'll go before you drop the coin.  if the door opens the wrong way, in terms of theft, your safe won't mean dick.

Kinda hard to bolt/secure a safe in an apartment building.
Tip that bitch over and start attacking those sides.

I've met some stupid people, and I wouldn't be surprised if your neighbors didn't find the noise odd. They'd probably assume it was just building maintenance

Ditto I don't think I can bolt it down I have the plan of where it's going and how I can make it more secure from theft again this an in between safe until I get a house I will get a sturdy safe or an old post office safe and the budget is limited unfortunately being a college student and all that jazz

if you can't bolt it in, then place it in a closet and block off the base and sides with lumber or something that disallows tipping it over or out of the closet without tons of work.

i understand not everyone can bolt it down or to the wall, but you can place it somewhere, hopefully, that makes it tough for a thief to proceed.

that is the plan to put it in the closet!

picked up another fortress 24 gun safe for a guy today.  pretty popular unit and well made.  lots of features for a good price.

What does something like that run on average

ditto my LGS said they can get them for $750 but I saw them on Brownells for like $600

Septic, just put so many guns in it that it takes a forklift to move it!

Call Mark at Zanoti and say you have cash!

What's shipping though?

As bad as a failed trip to Corning?

you guys are worried about all the wrong shit.  

you buy cheap, you get cheap.  is the storage for your collection the place to skimp?  granted, if the same model is way cheaper elsewhere, that's a solid consideration.  having sold LOTS of safes from various brands, your warranty and their reputation is a big deal.  in bhouse's case, he's in an apartment, and much like us all at his age, will move six times in the next 10 years.  how is that safe going to handle being jostled around, moved on it's back, or side, etc.?  locks rod pins going to fall out?  then what?  a $400 bill to the locksmith to get it open and now it has a big hole in it?  

we've got a member here that bought a safe from me and something just about like that happened.  while his case was a bullshit hassle getting some of the logistics arranged for the repair, by the time the locksmith came out, got it open, etc. that bill was covered and they ended up sending the customer, DIRECT, another replacement while he kept the old one.  the brand was canon.  granted, we don't get in a twist over stuff like this often, but that type of thing counts for a lot.  the process in that case wasn't pain free, but he was well taken care of overall from my purview...  

i had another canon customer with a similar issue.  different safe of much higher cost, and they paid for a locksmith to come out and repair it on the spot.  no charge.  the next logical question?  do canon safes 'fail' that often?  well, at the time, i was selling an average of four safes a week and they were all canon.  so our sample size is too small to say so and heavily weighted with canon product.  considering i've not been hearing this from other retailers or pockets of product concentration, i don't notice what i'd call a product problem.

delivery?  most of the smaller safes can be gently laid over on their backs into a pickup bed for transit.  most of the 24 gun units or similar in the $1k range and below come in at 400lbs or less, so a couple of stout guys can do it just fine.  an appliance dolly is your friend for those.  hell you can rest those too from hardware stores for $20 for an afternoon.  save the $250 in freight or delivery and do it yourself if you want...

i'm for buying local whenever i can.  the pella security safe i had built is still the very best i own.  it is far more well made than the others i have.  while never having owned zanotti, i've seen them and they are pretty trick too.  both are in higher budget ranges than the OP is leaning however...  the ONLY safe i've worked with, sold, owned, or handled/changed combinations, and/or been inside the doors of was amsec.  that's some pretty serious safe construction and about the best before you climb into dedicated custom safes/vaults that start at $5K and go up.

i've got a remington (made by liberty) that i use and like and a few others like fortress, knox, etc.  i've never really seen what i'd call a piece of shit.  but that is relative to what they're used for.  to be frank, you're never going to get 'fire protection' in a cheap safe and it won't matter anyway.  if your apartment complex building burns down it'll be a raging inferno with all that lumber.  your safe contents WILL NOT survive at all.  i promise it.  probably not even with the best safe.  it'll be too hot, too long.  so you're really buying it to keep the morons out.  if your safe will do that, you place it correctly (as best you can) within your dwelling then you've done more than many and that is a stress relieving and responsible direction to go.

hope the perspective helps.

give me a holler.

greens make the difference don't they theron?  

i have been drooling over one of the AMSEC BF series safes a bit out of my price range $1400
I don't have a problem moving one I can easily get three or four guys to help me any given weekend
price is a killer right now if a payment plan is in the process hell yes sign me up for a $2k safe
but two small safe stores I went to were pay up front

I will get a better safe once I get a house three safes I like in the upper echelon are Ft Knox ( great options), AMSEC, Sturdy

Winchester

winchester is on sale again

I wish i could buy it

It needs to be January 30th right now

I know of a guy who has a few modular safes if interested... You're looking at about $999 + 6%.