If it's small and/or light weight, thieves will just take it with them to force open later. Best to secure it down to something if that's possible. I like the idea of adding 100# of weight to the inside of a larger safe, but that takes up space. Should the safe be pushed over, the weight inside might cause damage to the contents.

Sure, locks “keep honest people honest”. It’s not the honest people you have to worry about.

I was in college a LONG time ago. My room mates were friends of mine from high school, and as honest as they come. Physics majors. Smart fellows. If I had a safe in the room they would have had fun playing with it until they figured out how to open it. Not to steal from it, just for the mental challenge.

And that was long before Al Gore invented the internet (to provide tutorials on mischief like safe opening).

Is your daughter going to have room mates?

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
You do realize with a simplex lock someone can go through all the combinations in a few minutes

Notice the key lock? It deadbolts the Simplex lock so even with a correct code it won't open until the key is in neutral position. Just an extra optional feature if you feel like you need it.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
Sure, locks “keep honest people honest”. It’s not the honest people you have to worry about.

You're not going to stop the dishonest ones.

Same principle behind banning firearms. Ban them, and the criminals still have them.

My wife spent an inordinate amount of time worrying about how to best lock the rear sliding door in the living room. I kept pointing out to her that someone who wanted in wouldn't care much about the lock, and would simply break the wall to wall glass...

A smaller safe's best protection is concealment. Once its found, even if someone doesn't wish to take the time to open it on the spot, they can simply take the safe.

Dorm? You buy a decent safe that you can hide in a closet or some other hidden place. Buy a decoy small safe on Craigslist ($20-$100 all day long) and keep it out in the open. Any thieves will waste their time with the decoy safe while the real goods are stashed hidden away. Load the decoy safe up with useless paperwork and heavy stuff, so that if they carry it away, at least make them work for it. Plus, if they carry it away they might give up and just take the decoy.

Why doesn’t she just setup the Mac to dual boot?

quote:

Originally posted by F12517:
She and her mom came up with this plan, my job is to make it happen. They wanted a small box to lock things in. If I can find one that will secure her computers, so much the better. My spawn loves her Apple mac book, but her engineering program wants a Windows based laptop, thus the two computers.

quote:

Originally posted by funnymech:
Why doesn’t she just setup the Mac to dual boot?

quote:

Originally posted by F12517:
She and her mom came up with this plan, my job is to make it happen. They wanted a small box to lock things in. If I can find one that will secure her computers, so much the better. My spawn loves her Apple mac book, but her engineering program wants a Windows based laptop, thus the two computers.

I briefly explored that and decided it wasn’t something I wanted to try. And basically the college said if you do that and have problems you’re on your own to sort it out.

It’s not always about theft protection. More often then not it’s about kid or dumbass protection.

I am sure many of us have had our fair share of parties or get together’s. I am sure many of us have had our fair share of drink. Say drunk dumbass friend goes to use your master bath for whatever reason and comes across a pistol on the nightstand, being your dumbass friend (we all have em) he picks it up and sends a round through the wall or his foot. Conversely he comes across a pistol safe. He’s not gonna steal it or break into it and just goes about his business.

I view safes/lock boxes/ etc. as 99% deterrent against children, the uninitiated or the ignorant and 1% against theft as even big “safes” are pretty laughably easy to get into with a little time and know how, unless you are talking about real Professional grade stuff.

If it is for handguns, suggest checking with the college. The one my son went to had a policy that they locked up everyones weapons in a common secure area, you could have it anytime you just had to ask and get the person who had the key, say if you wanted to get out hunting for the weekend etc.

It was a school where they didn't seem to care if kids drank as long as they weren't assholes and didn't drive. Don't think they wanted drunk college kids to be able to fast access firearms. I liked the policy and the place was safe enough that there were trucks with rifles visible then in the parking lot.

This is what I would do.

And then get a fire box safe thingy from Wally World...

I have read that a simplex lock has 1,084 possible combinations. Numbers can be separate or combined to be double digits.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
You do realize with a simplex lock someone can go through all the combinations in a few minutes.

quote:

Originally posted by gocatgo:
Fort Knox pistol box with Simplex mechanical lock. Designed to be bolted down, but with a little ingenuity you can rig up a security cable.

Actually, you can even press 3, 4 or all 5 at one time. The problem is having the dexterity to push more than 2 at a time consistently and especially when under duress. Most people's ring finger doesn't work that well. I would recommend limiting your combination to no more than 2 at a time.

quote:

Originally posted by Fundman:
I have read that a simplex lock has 1,084 possible combinations. Numbers can be separate or combined to be double digits.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
You do realize with a simplex lock someone can go through all the combinations in a few minutes.

quote:

Originally posted by gocatgo:
Fort Knox pistol box with Simplex mechanical lock. Designed to be bolted down, but with a little ingenuity you can rig up a security cable.

Amsec BF1512.

quote:

Originally posted by cslinger:

I view safes/lock boxes/ etc. as 99% deterrent against children, the uninitiated or the ignorant and 1% against theft as even big “safes” are pretty laughably easy to get into with a little time and know how, unless you are talking about real Professional grade stuff.

That's how I viewed my safes. With kids in the house, the rule was firearms could be handled in my presence, but then went in the safe. The kids all owned firearms, but the rule applied, and any firearms out of the safe were for use at the range then put back, or ones I was carrying/using.

I have a son in the USMC who still keeps some of his firearms in my safe at home, though he's elsewhere; when he comes home, we take them out and shoot them.

A safe in a college dorm falls into better-than-nothing protection.

Almost all of my gun safes come from GunVault (if you're an NRA member, your free ExpertVoice membership will get you major discounts!). I have a small, one gun safe tethered in the trunk of my car, and a small safe mounted in a drawer in my office desk (I'm allowed to carry at work). At home, I have a number of GunVault safes to store my short guns.