Learn me gun safes.

So, as the proud new owner of a .38 5 shot, with a 7 year old, I need a gun safe. Currently stored in dad's safe until I purchase one.

Looking for dead simple to access in the dark while still asleep by either my wife or i.

Inexpensive.

Just needs to hold the .38

Will be secured to a large piece of furniture unless otherwise advised.

So, pretty much I am a noon when it comes to safes. My conscience dictates the purchase. Growing up, we had them in the living room, dad's nightstand, etc. We never touched them, nor did our friends. But the girl scouts meet at our house, and....

Anyway, learn me single pistol gun safes.

Can't help. Pistol lives in bedroom closet on top shelf so little hands can't reach.

Also it's a semi-automatic with the mag in the well but unseated and no round in the chamber. You have to know what you're doing to actually use it.

Hammer less revolver. Yeah, a long throw, but still...

can't help either. No little hands in the house to worry about. But I can say Menards has a decent selection of safes of all sizes and shapes. Wife got me a nice large one that was fire-rated to 1500* for 30 minutes.

I got a small gun vault brand for about $100. Holds 2 1911s, a box of shells, magazines, and cash (with Tetris loading). 4 buttons on top, you set the pattern. Speedy access, and mountable, with heavy duty enough furniture.

This one actually

I got it at Dunham sports, dicks, gander mountain, or whatever outdoors aspire you have local should carry them.

There are even smaller ones than I have, made for under a car seat, but last I looked they were more expensive

Only gun safe here is a Liberty HDX-250 I got on sale from Cabela's. It has a fingerprint ID, which is what she wanted and all the other models/manufacturers kinda suck.

Smith & Wesson Versa Vault

I use one of these in the bedroom:

http://www.costco.com/VelocityVault-by-Cannon-Handgun-Safe-.product.100140526.html?pageSize=96&catalogId=10701&keyword=GunVault&langId=-1&storeId=10301

I have it bolted to my nightstand. It has a touch pad to unlock and I can open it without even moving in the bed, it's pretty nice. I have a large safe for the rest of my firearms, valuables, etc., so this only needs to hold the one firearm.

FYI, It can be found on Amazon too.

RevRico wrote: I got a small gun vault brand for about $100. Holds 2 1911s, a box of shells, magazines, and cash (with Tetris loading). 4 buttons on top, you set the pattern. Speedy access, and mountable, with heavy duty enough furniture. This one actually I got it at Dunham sports, dicks, gander mountain, or whatever outdoors aspire you have local should carry them. There are even smaller ones than I have, made for under a car seat, but last I looked they were more expensive

Most gunvaults would work vs kids but not criminals(you can unlock the biometric ones with a paperclip)

Personally, if you have the space, I'd look at just getting a firearms safe, doesn't have to be giant, just large enough to store the weapons and give you enough space to put a smaller fire safe for documents inside it(makes them nearly impervious to fire)

KyAllroad wrote: Can't help. Pistol lives in bedroom closet on top shelf so little hands can't reach. Also it's a semi-automatic with the mag in the well but unseated and no round in the chamber. You have to know what you're doing to actually use it.

If the little hands see you put it there or retrieve it, you better believe they will eventually climb up and get it.

Friend of mine, Naval warrant officer, discovered a bullet hole in his freezer door one day, covered by a magnet (and frozen peas inside). His son did it when he was seven. It was discovered when the son was eleven. And this guy was meticulously careful.. but kids are curious. His gun was kept on the top shelf in a closet.

Please be careful.

""

In reply to WOW Really Paul?:

It held up well against the junky scum I lived with for a while in California. I never really tried to get in through the lock, but the door held up well against prying. Looking like a vending machine lock probably helped.

Now, my house is never empty, so I'm not as concerned with criminals but keeping the toddler away.

It's got the holes and stuff to mount it to anything though, it's currently bolted to the drawer in my night stand, out of site out of mind. The rifle safe is bolted to the floor, and weighs 300lb empty, if it can be taken out of the house, you earned the thing.

Reason why you NEVER keep a gun loaded or even close. Grew up around guns, Dad even stored some of the long rifles in my room in an open case. Ammo stored someplace else. And was taught not to touch them. Kept guns in a closet away from my kids with ammo someplace else and taught them not to touch them. Never had problems. Do have a couple easy load guns I keep hidden with a loaded clip also hidden in a different but accessible place. I like on top of the mirror of the dresser, up high and out of sight. Yes kids are curious, take them out and show them what a gun can do and teach them safety. Does go a long way if they understand what it can do. A coffee can or plastic bottle filled with water and sealed then shot gives a good demonstration when it blows the top of and sprays water into the air. Especially the small hole in and the big hole going out behind really gets the point across. Not meaning to imply just leave it out, by all means put it in some type of case. Out of sight. Trigger locks work also and are highly suggested.

I totally understand the desire to keep the kids away. You'd probably get DHS called on you today if you did what my parents did. My parents simply told me not to touch them, and I didn't. Dad always had a couple of long guns leaning in the corner of the bedroom.

Now dad would take me hunting/shooting with him, and let me shoot, so I learned about firearms, and to respect them. So it wasn't as if it was an appealing, foreign, forbidden thing that I had zero experience with.

By the time I was ~12 I had my own 20 Ga. and access to any of dad's stuff with his permission.

Like I said at the beginning, I get the want/need of a safe, but please also educate the kids.

This isn't telling anyone what to do or not to do, except that educate part, just my experience, I don't have kids, I'm far from an authority on the matter, so unless you're that dietcoke guy you shouldn't take offense.

There's a bunch of different options depending upon what you're looking for.

SV500 SpeedVault (Also comes in biometric versions)

Microvault (also available in biometric)

If you're going to do either of those options secure it to the nightstand or in the drawer so:
A) It can't be walked off with
B) It makes tampering harder
C) It's out of sight.

Another option would be a drawer type that fits under the bed

Wardog biometric

These are nice because you can put all the ammo, the gun, and the accessories in one place. Plus its much larger, so its harder to walk off with, and quite a bit more secure against little hands.

There are also a couple which require a RFID bracelet to get into. So you wear the bracelet to bed and tap it on the safe to open.

Hornady Rapid Gun Safe

All depends what you're individual needs are. I personally have a large Browning safe for most of my guns and a shotgun in a Shotlock in the bedroom. Another handgun is in a gunvault elsewhere.

bigdaddylee82 wrote: I totally understand the desire to keep the kids away. You'd probably get DHS called on you today if you did what my parents did. My parents simply told me not to touch them, and I didn't. Dad always had a couple of long guns leaning in the corner of the bedroom. Now dad would take me hunting/shooting with him, and let me shoot, so I learned about firearms, and to respect them. So it wasn't as if it was an appealing, foreign, forbidden thing that I had zero experience with. By the time I was ~12 I had my own 20 Ga. and access to any of dad's stuff with his permission. Like I said at the beginning, I get the want/need of a safe, but please also educate the kids. This isn't telling anyone what to do or not to do, except that educate part, just my experience, I don't have kids, I'm far from an authority on the matter, so unless you're that dietcoke guy you shouldn't take offense.

This. When the child is brought up around them and taught early it takes away a lot of the desire to play with it when no one is around. I too was brought up in a house were firearms were tools that were around. Rural life lends itself to needing these tools at times to deal with varmits and critters that bother livestock.

The more secure the safe, the longer it's going to take you to get it out. If you're scared, you won't get it out. You'll fumble and miss, and fail to draw the gun.

You might want to consider some unusual gun safes that are picture frames or mantles and such.

A pistol in the night stand and a clip over the door keeps things separate, which helps some folk feel more secure. It also adds time, which can kill you. Kids are also very good at climbing up on chairs and such.

You can also consider basic gun safety and training and experience with a kid. It's an unpopular and politically incorrect thing, to give kids access to guns and to teach them to handle them responsibly. But, many of us grew up that way just fine.

My kid has already been shooting. Her grandfather and I are making sure she knows gun safety. I still don't trust her when her friends are around, and trust her fellow children less. If their parents are any indication, these kids will mean well and make the worst possible decisions.

Additionally, my wife is adamant about locking them up. She is a city girl, though a dead accurate shot.

The safe RevRico posted is actually the one that came to mind. Simple, easy. My grandfather. 38 rifle, my .22 rifle, and any other long guns are stored at my father's house in the big safe.

Will the minivault do what we need?

Keys are easily found and used by kids. Especially when they are hung up for convenient use.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

Non pryable door, finger tip access, set your own code, i think you and the wife could even have separate codes, but my instruction sheet is long gone, bolt it to whatever. And more room than you need for now. It's not fire safe, which is it's only down side.

The key lock is questionable, as wowreallyPaul said, but if it's attached to the floor or drawer, no one should have time to find it and break in. It does come with 2 keys, but since you don't need them to get in, they can get lost in key rings instead of left out.

The0retical does have some nice ones listed, but I have no experience with those ones to say one way or the other.

http://www.ftknox.com/product/personal-pistol-box-2/

Steel box, no batteries, simple, will not fail.

tuna55 wrote: http://www.ftknox.com/product/personal-pistol-box-2/ Steel box, no batteries, simple, will not fail.

I've got a similar one. I've had it for about 20 years now and it's never failed me. My dad has gone through SEVERAL fancy print reader and/or electronic pushbutton safes in the same period of time. You can set your combination so that it takes a mixture of single and simultaneous multiple button pushes to open it. I can open mine in about 1.5 seconds, but with the single/multiple button pushes, it would be difficult, if not impossible to guess. Don't think the kids could ever get into it unless they see the combination and I don't ever allow them to be in the room when I open it. It has enough room for 2 pistols, extra mags, a flashlight and some cash storage. Its roughly 12x14x4 inches.

I'm curious if anybody has an experience with the Zorex

OHSCrifle wrote:

KyAllroad wrote: Can't help. Pistol lives in bedroom closet on top shelf so little hands can't reach. Also it's a semi-automatic with the mag in the well but unseated and no round in the chamber. You have to know what you're doing to actually use it.

If the "little hands" see you put it there or retrieve it, you better believe they will eventually climb up and get it. Friend of mine, Naval warrant officer, discovered a bullet hole in his freezer door one day, covered by a magnet (and frozen peas inside). His son did it when he was seven. It was discovered when the son was eleven. And this guy was meticulously careful.. but kids are curious. His gun was kept on the top shelf in a closet. Please be careful.

Oh, I am. My "littlest hands" are 11 and all the kids are schooled in the appropriate handling of firearms.

BTW mine stays in the safe, round in chamber. No safety. My kids know about it, and where it is, but they don't know the combination and it's nontrivial (with multiple simultaneous button presses required). The older ones can handle it, but only under supervision. They are 8, 6, 5 and 3.

If it takes more than 10 seconds to retrieve ready to fire when you aren't under stress, you won't have enough time to when you are.