Homemade gun safe advice please

I'd like to weld up a box to keep at my bedside. I'd like to use a finger print reader also. Anyone else do this?
Thanks

Galaxy S4, Slimkat
If I wasn't married I'd quit fishing

Some on the market for low price
Google

michiganbuck said:

Some on the market for low price
Google

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I don't know the intent of the "google" reply BUT I, of course" priced several units. I'd still like to gauge the idea of making one. Anyone can buy shit right? I like to make things personally.
This isn't a shopping forum BTW.

Galaxy S4, Slimkat
If I wasn't married I'd quit fishing

As far as gun cabinets go, 1/8" thick steel should be just fine. It would make a good project, and just ab ordinary padlock will be suitable.

Now if you want an actual safe that has minimal fire protection, buy one that has been tested.

Sent from my XT1053 using Tapatalk

If you fabricate a bedside safe, I assume you are considering a one gun box. How are you going to secure it so that it cannot be picked up and carried away?

Bob
WB8NQW

blcksmth said:

If you fabricate a bedside safe, I assume you are considering a one gun box. How are you going to secure it so that it cannot be picked up and carried away?

Bob
WB8NQW

Click to expand...

I'd say that's the easy part, bolt it to the floor or wall.

From the inside of the box of course!

I'm building a pair right now, they bolt to the wall in an out of sight place, open from the end and use the simplex push button combo lock:
Simplex 966 Cabinet Lock For Sheet Metal 14 To 2 Gauge Door Thickness - Simplex Lock

onshape file: Onshape

I wasn't able to find anything as compact as this with the door opening like this, and I can make it as compact as possible to fit. Not super theft proof, just to keep little kids away. Pistol will fit on a nylon pin in the barrel to suspend it inside the box.

The idea of having a loaded handgun handy and available quickly and quietly is a good one.
I think Michagunbuck was just thinking the way many of us do who don't have extra time, and for us making something that is available cheap is not the best way to use our time.

I know some people like to make common things with their own hands though.

Several things have occurred to me, a panel spring loaded so that only tapping at the right point will pop it out, or even a holster in a place where few would ever think of looking, especially kids. But if I were going to do what you are planning I'd buy the best commercially available one and use it's locking works in my design, because I'm not an electronics engineer.
Alternatively a keypad with three keys requiring a certain progression could hold up a crook or a kid for a long time, while the guy knowing it could type it out in two seconds.
Something I'd think of is sounds, my gun safe is pretty quiet when I use the 8 key inputs and the lock opens, but at 3 AM it might sound pretty loud.

One other thing is a common entry key for it for when the batteries die, so you can get around the fingerprint eye.
parts

Like Partsproduction, I have a commercial single pistol safe. I practice opening it in the dark every few months and it works perfectly.

Until last week when I woke to a noise and a light in the hallway. In my groggy and yet excited state I miskeyed once, twice, three times, and then on the 4th try it disabled the lock for 5 minutes and set off an siren. Sigh. I need to practice more often.

I want to make a safe with a similar design to hold all the rest of my handguns just to slow down the casual thief. I don't need a 200 pound hunk of steel since it will be hidden from sight and anchored to the building. I'm thinking a 1.5x2x3 foot cage of 1/8 inch bars on 4 inch centers with a thin sheet metal skin. I plan to use a commercial lock. The lock will release a pin that allows me to withdraw a bolt to release the door.

I've not gotten around to getting a lock yet. I like the electronic ones that sound a siren and go into lockdown simply because of kids. When I was a kid I'd happily spend hours trying combinations till a lock opened.

Dan

Going off topic here, somewhat, but I've often wished I could display my small P-08 collection. The first thing I thought of was that it is advertising to thieves that I have such nice looking handguns!
Today it occurred to me to have them secured to the board with a hidden switch that sets off a loud alarm outside if any fool tried to remove any of them from the board or the board from the wall. A secret switch, maybe with combination, would need to be triggered to deactivate this alarm, and everything would need a backup battery, all hidden. In the same way any handgun could be nearly instantly available for use during an attempted break in, but if we were gone my neighbors would be alerted if a despicable thief tried to pull them off.

Fingerprint scanners are not really reliable, secure, or foolproof, and never work when you really need them to. Even the Mythbusters did a bit on how easy it is to bypass one. The most reliable and useful lock is one that is innovative and unexpected. If no one knows where the 'keycode' is then they can't even attempt to solve it. I saw a shop safe that was welded shut from the inside. Only the owner knew that opening it was as simple as putting an air gun up to the hole in the middle of the knob and the entire thing would raise from the floor allowing the side to swing out. In medieval times some farmers would have sliding bolts on their doors that could only be moved by putting a curved metal bar through a small hole in the door, which was quite convenient since they carried a curved bar with them in the form of a sickle. Easy to open if you happened to be carrying the right tool, but quite difficult to bypass otherwise. Something as simple as a concealed remote cable pull could frustrate a thief long enough for them to give up if they can't find it. And a concealed button that drops a weapon rack from the ceiling is for better than an obvious gun safe in the night stand.

dbsuthe said:

Like Partsproduction, I have a commercial single pistol safe. I practice opening it in the dark every few months and it works perfectly.

Until last week when I woke to a noise and a light in the hallway. In my groggy and yet excited state I miskeyed once, twice, three times, and then on the 4th try it disabled the lock for 5 minutes and set off an siren. Sigh. I need to practice more often.



Dan

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SO, What happened? You can't leave us hanging! Did you live?

Thanks for the replies. Lots of good things to consider.
I'd like to think I'm more than a casual gun owner. I'm not putting down the casual gun owner BTW. By "casual" I mean a gun owner with one or two home protection handguns. By casual I don't mean careless or less qualified etc etc. What I'm saying is that I feel I've been around long enough AND been around enough experienced people that I've been educated in areas that the casual gun owner probably has not been. Please don't think I'm saying I'm smarter or better or any other adjectives that would make me seem superior. That's NOT what I'm saying.
All that being said I'm pretty sure I'll cover the all bases. Not just the ones that save/vault retailers want you to believe need to be addressed. The idea for adapting a finger print scanner, after additional research, is out. Bad idea imo. The idea that a small, or even large/extra large, retail store safe is going to prevent a thief from opening it is a myth. I'm sure there are some out there that are far superior than the box store/big store safes but these are not the average sage and they cost lots. For a small nightstand unit, such as the one I'll be making, the prices run well over a hundred bucks and they are garbage imo. Mounting one of these is pretty simple. Bolt it down so it can't be simply picked up and carried off. The bolts will slow this down. If a motivated thief has the time to pry it off the bolts then making this impossible IS impossible. A detergent is adding a cable as a secondary point of frustration. Making the unit close fitting is important so I'll modify the cabinet it's going in so a pry bar can't be easily used. The bottom will have a separate rim that the unit will sit in so there will be no way to place a bar under it without prying off the rim. All this is to just slow down a dirt bag. A secondary cable lagged into a stud won't hurt and would require another tool. I'll bolt a cable or two to the box and feed the other end through a plate used for cable TV coax and finally lag bolted into a stud. I have no intention of using any fire protection in this unit.
As far as the design considerations of a good sage there are many. Unfortunately the glitz afforded by many big store safes overshadow the lack of proper design. Look at the gaps in most gun safes and it's obvious. If there is a gap wider than a dime (a dime it's too wide imo) the safe can be pryed open in seconds. I can go on about the false sense of security these popular safes. Hopefully others, with more (or better?) opinions than mine will chime in on the myth of gun "safes" sold at major retailers.
The more I thought about it the more I feel like a small nightstand safe is a prime candidate for a diy project. I'll be able to size the safe to a specific piece of furniture and customize it in any other way as well. The major consideration being safety. The store bought units are safe no doubt right? Still they can't rig up the type of release that I can without having the lawyers say, "oh no no, that will never do". I'm now thinking of using a magnet to release a multiple stage latching system. I use a magnet to open my shop door. The magnet is drilled into a "stick" and the contact is hidden.


Galaxy S4, Slimkat
If I wasn't married I'd quit fishing

challenger said:

I'd like to weld up a box to keep at my bedside. I'd like to use a finger print reader also. Anyone else do this?
Thanks

Click to expand...

I have an old box looks like it has some type of finger opening mechanism, missing door I believe.
Your more than welcome to it, maybe study it for ideas.
Probably mounted to or under a bed.
Yours for packaging & shipping costs.

I feel for all of you that have this need for all this protection in your lives. Makes my life so much less stressful not having to deal with all these what ifs.

challenger said:

I don't know the intent of the "google" reply BUT I, of course" priced several units. I'd still like to gauge the idea of making one. Anyone can buy shit right? I like to make things personally.
This isn't a shopping forum BTW.

Galaxy S4, Slimkat
If I wasn't married I'd quit fishing

Click to expand...

Sorry that was the wrong google.. was to be the on the market brands but I must have not copied the right search.
My hand guns are in the basement so I would be dead meat if someone came to attack.
I remember back in the 60s when it was common to carry a piece just going to work.

Looks like one could get in trouble with a kid finding a gun and taking it to school or went popping squirrels in the back yard.

From what I know about Brookshire, I'd have multiple guns within reach at all times. That's a rough little town.

I couldn't live with myself if there was an accident with a gun I'm responsible for. I also couldn't live with myself if my wife was hurt by an intruder since I'm legally allowed, currently anyway, to provide protection with a personal fire arm. I'm confident I can safeguard the weapon but I'm less confident that I can control dirt bags so I'll put one within safe reach knowing I'll likely never need it.
A couple of points related to keeping fire arms safe that I see people "getting wrong" :
A gun safe of any kind shouldn't be visible to visitors. Many people have had their guns robbed due to having their safes in full view of anyone that comes in. Even visible by the pizza guy if you will. This is an invitation to getting your shit taken. Maybe people think others will see how "well armed" the "bad ass" with a cabinet full of guns is and steer clear. That's a complete myth.
People may buy a safe, or ANY gun related item, and simply throw the packaging in the trash. Even dumber, put the packaging outside the garbage container by the street. Now any number of people can see they have guns in the house.
Some people yuck about the guns they have. These buffs are asking to get robbed imo. I know it's one thing to talk with trusted friends about such things and another to do so with complete strangers so I'm referring to the later. If you don't think this happens just go to a gun store or a sporting goods stores and hang around the gun counter. Invariably a dude will be around that's giving free "advice" about guns, ammo, or whatever. Usually the advice is accompanied by a bragging session about what guns Joe Buff has or has had. Mr dirt bag follows Mr Buff outside and back to his house for a visit another time.
I don't talk to anyone about my guns unless I know them VERY well. Even then the info is limited. People don't know I carry a firearm nor should they. Maybe I'm too careful?.? Nope, that's not possible.
I don't know anywhere that's completely safe from dirt bags anymore.
Thanks for the offer on the finger reader but I'll pass. I'm not going to use that technology.

Galaxy S4, Slimkat
If I wasn't married I'd quit fishing

Some cool ideas here:
Custom Furniture, Firearm storage | Hampton, NJ - N.J. Concealment Furniture
Joe

challenger said:

I'd like to weld up a box to keep at my bedside. I'd like to use a finger print reader also. Anyone else do this?

Click to expand...

You have obviously never worked with biometrics. I'm not sure I would want to trust my safe to a fingerprint reader, there are all types of false positives that surface....sweaty fingers, greasy fingers, even dry fingers...

I saw a safe with a fingerprint reader in it at the local pistol range and asked them about it, they said it worked pretty well. However, being that I work with biometrics and know what problems crop up, I'm not sure I would want one to protect a firearm.

You would also need to program the fingerprint reader and have some type of electronic opener on the door of the safe, I think that would be a fair amount of work. This sounds like a project you really are not sure of what you're getting into.

The only gun crooks worry about is the one you have in your hands or within reach. There are many problems involved in making sure that one or more of those two conditions exist 24/7, the one most worrisome being access by children. My wife and I are in our sixties and it's been years since children visited, so that's not much of a problem for us.
The worst thing would be to be aware of an intruder and knowing you have a loaded weapon near but not available without alerting them, the sweetest thought being that they will come upon you to realize that they are looking down the muzzle of a shotgun, and that instead of you being in their hands they are in yours.
I sleep with a 1911, condition one, and have two others hidden where a thief would not look. But then I live in an area with a low probability of violence. My carry gun is a measly .380.