Any tips on buying a gun safe to fit about 20 long guns and a few handguns plus other valuables. What is the best brand and how did you move it? I think it will go in my walk-out basement. I can get a pick-up truck to the basement sliding door but off-loading it and moving it inside would be the problem.

Also, any thoughts on the electronic dials/keypads? I think it would be much faster but What if the batteries go dead?

You will learn who your friends are when you have to move stuff.

The battery on a keypad safe installs from the outside. My Canon has had its 9V battery for the last three years and is still going strong. I open the safe nearly daily to fondle inspect the contents.

My safe weighs in at nearly 800 pounds empty and that's more wieght that you can get enough men around to move safely (pun intended). Mine sits in my garage having been moved there on a pallet jack. Removing from the pallet and mounting to the floor is a one way operation.

BTY - only move a save flat on its back with the door sticking up - or straight up - never on its side as the stress of the door (the heavy part) can warp the frame.

When we moved the safe into my apartment in Everett Washington four men and a pallet jack were used. The professionals moved it down from Washington using two furniture dollys and four men. Here in California its been moved twice - I wrapped it with a chain and used my truck to pull in across the garage once and when I moved into the house five men with a pallet jack.

PS: Don't buy a safe that holds only 20 rifles - get the one that holds 30 or more as you find other things to store in there other than guns.

PPS: Don't give your friends the beer until after they've helped move the safe.

Keypads are way faster than dials and meet the same strength requirements as dials. Easier to see in low light too.

buy the biggest safe you can afford,they fill up fast.
i have a liberty safe and i am happy with it.i dont know if there is a best brand. look around and buy one you like.

I bought a Zanotti knock down safe. It comes apart in fifteen minutes. The heaviest part is the door. They ain't cheap.  

The door comes off of most safes for moving. Be sure to ask before you buy.

Use a appliance dolly to move the door.

Whatever you get make sure you bolt it to a concrete floor with good heavy duty anchors. A couple of big guys with a dolly can ruin your whole day.

I got a safe about 5 months ago and when two guys showed up with it and no dolly I figured I was in for a sore back. I offered my help but they refused and said they would handle it.

What they did was pull out a golf bag with 3 different sizes of 2' long thick wall PVC pipe. They used 1 larger to roll off truck onto porch, Next size down they used to match-up with door threshold and simply rolled it across all these obstacles. Once inside the house they used the 3 smaller pipes (1-1/2") to roll thru house placing one pipe in front of safe, while it was rolling on the other 2. When you rolled so far pull the pipe out from behind safe and place in front and keep on going.

When they needed to rotate or turn safe they balanced it on 1 pipe and one guy would turn it wherever he wanted. It wasn't their first rodeo, to be sure.

Damn, why didn't I think of that.
Edited to say this safe weighs over a 1000lbs.

I have 4 safes in my home, one fireproof in the floor, one fire rated safe from 1910, and two AMSEC gun safes.  The one in the floor is poured in place, the others range in weight from 350 lbs to 800 lbs.

In my workshop I have a 2000 lb Bridgeport milling machine and a 4500 lb Southbend Lathe.

I have moved all the above items with 3 or less people, a little wisdom and careful planning.  BTW - I'm an Electrical Engineer by trade so I don't do this all day long.

A good "Rigger" (usually a team of 2) can move any safe just about anywhere you want it as long as the openings and passageways are physically large enough to handle the safe.

If you are spending > $1500 for a large, well built, firelined safe and you are not confident that you can move it without damage, then you should pay the $250 - $400 to have a pro move it.

Note: 1000 lbs is unforgiving if it gets loose, especially if you are moving it on an incline.

Ryan

Thinman is absolutely right. I bought 2 large Fort Knox safes (each on a different occasion) from the same guys. They used PVC pipes in the manner described, just like the Egyptians moved those huge stone blocks to build the pyramids. They made it look effortless. Anyone who sells you a safe and then tries to hump and grunt it into your house with a pickup truck, a floor jack, and an army just doesn't know the tricks of the trade.

What Thinman said. The pipes work wonders. Definitely get the biggest that you can. When they say it's a 30 gun safe, don't believe it. Maybe if you have 30 Winchester Model 94's, thin and not much height. When you start tossing in AR's and scoped rifles, it fills up fast. I guess you could stick them in gun socks, and have them leaning against each other.

I've heard that golf balls on the floor can also be helpful,especially if you need to take corners or make sharp turns.

When we moved my fort knox (900#) in to the basement, I screwed 2, 2x4's to the stairs to act as rails and prevent the safe from splintering off the front of the steps. We wrapped a rope around the safe, under the handle to prevent it from slipping off.  The rope went between the 2x4 tracks so it didn't slid on the rope.  Then we stood the safe up on more 2x4 rails we had laid out on the floor like railroad tracks.  The trick is to rub the 2x4's with bar soap before the safe is on the rails.  We then pushed the safe on the 2x4 rails, one guy pushing and the other steering.  Moved smooth as silk until we got to a section that I had missed with the soap.  Stopped us dead in our tracks!!  A little bit of rubbing with the bar of soap and we were back in service.  This method worked very well for me, and as I had plenty of 2x4 scrap around I didn't need to buy any PVC pipe.   YMMV

Tim L.

This link helped me a lot when i was looking into getting a safe. Ended up with a Ft. Knox.
I paid the extra 200 bucks to have the seller deliver it to my basement. He showed up by himself, asked me to be just a spotter and used the pvc pipe trick to move it around and position it where i wanted it. He did have a motorized gizmo/robot with a wired remote control that was pretty neat. It was on a pair of rubber tracks and it took my 800# safe down the concrete stairs without any problems.
DD
edited to fix link

Quoted: This link helped me a lot when i was looking into getting a safe. Ended up with a Ft. Knox. I paid the extra 200 bucks to have the seller deliver it to my basement. He showed up by himself, asked me to be just a spotter and used the pvc pipe trick to move it around and position it where i wanted it. He did have a motorized gizmo/robot with a wired remote control that was pretty neat. It was on a pair of rubber tracks and it took my 800# safe down the concrete stairs without any problems. DD edited to fix link

This is almost exactly how I got mine delivered and the money it cost me was worth every penny.  

The safe guy had two kids along but only because I got a discount on the delivery for waiting until he was dropping off a load of safes at a local gun store.

He used the motorized crawler to get it down the basement steps then used the rollers as previously mentioned.  The kids jsut watched and fetched things.  I suppose they did some work making the big delivery later in the day though.

Quoted: What they did was pull out a golf bag with 3 different sizes of 2' long thick wall PVC pipe. They used 1 larger to roll off truck onto porch, Next size down they used to match-up with door threshold and simply rolled it across all these obstacles. Once inside the house they used the 3 smaller pipes (1-1/2") to roll thru house placing one pipe in front of safe, while it was rolling on the other 2. When you rolled so far pull the pipe out from behind safe and place in front and keep on going. When they needed to rotate or turn safe they balanced it on 1 pipe and one guy would turn it wherever he wanted. It wasn't their first rodeo, to be sure. Damn, why didn't I think of that. Edited to say this safe weighs over a 1000lbs.

It just occured to me that if you could get it in that way, someone could get it out the same way pretty easily.  Think I better go back and bolt my safe down after all.

What about this safe from DPMS: www.shooterstore.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&DID=90&Product_ID=12874&CATID=1174

..."Knock down design (6 piece) ships UPS and bolts together from the inside of the safe - no need for a piano/safe mover"...

Quoted: This is almost exactly how I got mine delivered and the money it cost me was worth every penny.   The safe guy had two kids along but only because I got a discount on the delivery for waiting until he was dropping off a load of safes at a local gun store. He used the motorized crawler to get it down the basement steps then used the rollers as previously mentioned.  The kids jsut watched and fetched things.  I suppose they did some work making the big delivery later in the day though.

HP,
Seeing that you are from VA, we prolly used the same guy, Steve LOL. He sells Ft.Knox's and frequents the gunshows in the N.VA area.
DD

Get a Fort Knox, never look back.  Have the company that sold you it agree to future moving prices...

There are lots of good options.  Whatever you do, DON'T buy from Sportsman's Steels Safe Co. in SoCal!!  Buyer beware.