I am considering a winchester safe that seems almost too good to be true.  It is the western model W-592822-7-E.  The specs seem pretty good, fire rated (1hr), UL tool rated, UL LaGuard lock,  12 active bolts - 5 on the sides, one top , one bottom, 12 gauge (I know, a bit thin).  The price is $599.  I know it is not a $2000 safe, but ....

If there is a thread I should look at please le tme know, a search did not turn up much.  Thanks

A cheap safe is what it is. It will stop an honest person, thats about it. It will slow down a dishonest person.
If you decide to go this route, bolt it down well. If you intend to have this safe to protect your investment (as with any safe) you really should have a home security system.
Its better than nothing if its all you can truly afford, however its not what I would want to depend on for a "safe"

They are stitch welded bodies, I doubt they even fire tested them. I think they also use a formaldahyde sheetrock in them, it corrodes steel. You can see the shelf standards in them rusting. Its a chinese made safe with a pretty horrible electronic lock on it. I would never own one.

Thanks Snopczynski, the corrosion issue alone is enough to steer me away.

How does the Winchester safe compare to a Cannon?

Cannon Patriots are just as bad in my opinion, minus the nasty sheetrock. You get what you pay for when you buy a safe. If its cheap, there is a reason why.

This should be tacked in big bold letters.....although there would still be nitwits that don't get it.

Perhaps a better method would be to compile a mini database of information on the different product lines out there. It might slow down the constant deluge of "Hey is this $500 'safe' good?" threads.

Probably wishful thinking.  I'm constantly amazed by threads like "Need opinion on Brand X safe" and the thread right below it is "Review of my new Brand X Safe"  But I agree it might be useful and might deter 1 out of 100 potential new threads

 

After much research and thought, I purchased the Winchester safe from the Santa Maria COSTCO yesterday afternoon. It is still in the bed of my truck.

There are many worse and better safes out there. But you have to weigh your security needs and expectations.

I figured if this safe was strategically placed and anchored it would deter most would be burglars. (ie. gangbangers, junkies, and roaming teens)
It will not stop a professional. But, If you have a gun collection worthy of a professional 'hit' ,then you should be able to afford a better safe.

If it is anchored to the floor, in a corner of a room, with the back and non-hinge side against the walls, it would be difficult to gain any leverage to attempt to pry it open.

COSTCO sells a Winchester 19cf gun safe.
30 minute fire rated @ 1400*
59" x 28" x 20"

540LBs.

Costco sells it for $499
Winchester # WC-5928-11-E

6 more in stock at the Santa Maria store.

The Costco Winchester Gun Safe WC-5928 is California DOJ and UL RSC approved.

I have it inside the garage awaiting its permanent location.  It should be placed and bolted to the floor tonight...

http://www.n6vmo.com/Links/DSC_0075.jpg

http://www.n6vmo.com/Links/DSC_0079.jpg

That's a nice safe for the money.

I have two friends who had crack heads go through their houses.  The first friend had one of those light, steel boxes they sell at wallmart.  No attempt was made on it.  

The second friend kept all his guns in a locked closet.  No attempt was made on it.

I also have a friend who left his guns out in the bedroom, after a recent match, and came home to find the guns that were out stolen (along with other stuff).

My conclusion from this limited sample is: Any safe is better than none and has the potential for protecting your guns.

That Winchester safe looks like it would stop a casual attack.  In conjunction with an alarm system, it ought to save the day from any casual, drug motivated punks out there –– your most likely visitor.

Congratulations on your new safe!!!

There are not many safes that are worse in my opinion. They have horrible locks on them, they have horrible body construction, and the fire liner in them is actually caustic and destructive. I can't recommend one of those to anybody, and there are better options out there. You can still get in one with something as simple as a hammer, even if it is bolted down. Im not being a downer, but its alarming that people go out and buy these safes from a store where there is no trained safe sales staff, and you can also buy a 500 pack of condoms while your there. There is info on here that tells you all the stuff is a bad idea.

What safe manufac/models do you recommend? You seem to have a lot of safe knowledge and I am sure others are also interested in your recommendations.

As far as construction, if you have to spend under $1k you have Liberty, Dakota Safe, Amsec, Browning, etc..... The real bad ones in my opinion are Cannon, Winchester, Sentry, Stack on.

If the interior sheet rock is really leeching corrosive gases that will destroy the guns inside it, IMO, the safe is worse than no safe at all.

I've seen the effects on metals of "Chinese Drywall" firsthand.

There are two lines of Winchester-branded safes. One is is made by the Granite Safe Co in the U.S. The other is either made for Winchester directly, or farmed out by Granite to the Chinese. The $599 Sam's Club/Costco one was made by Granite in the U.S for some time. Now I don't know. If you can verify on the body of the safe anywhere that it says "Made in U.S.A." then it's probably still a U.S.-made Granite.  

If it IS the U.S.-made Granite, It's still kind of low-end as far as RSC's go, but it's got great bang for the buck, offering what would be about a $800-900 level of protection from other brands.

And besides simply bolting it down so it can't be moved or knocked over to be pried by someone standing on the door for maximum leverage, put it in a tight corner or closet with ideally both sides hemmed in by walls, or at least the opening side against a wall, so a prybar can't be moved more than a few inches.

I recently bought the safe that we beat apart on the box edge seams from Costco. There was also an axe test done on the sidewalls and the roof.

Holy smokes! Scott at Dakota told me about being able to do that, but very neat seeing it happen.

Will have to see about doing that at my store later this year.

Well the one good thing here is it didn't cost you much to show it's just Chinese made junk.