This isn't a thread about what size, type, or brand to get. What I want to know is who here hides or conceals their safes. How? Ideas? Photos of how you did it?

My big safe is in the open. Fully loaded, it is 1K+ pounds.

My "security cabinets" with cheaper guns inside are in closets, and bolted to studs.

No matter how big and fancy your safe is, a determined and prepared attacker can still get in. Everything is a compromise.

Much like Rogue my big one weighs over 1k with contents, smaller but still large boxes have thousands of rounds of ammo and the smaller ones have 100s of magazines. All are out in the open or in closets, which doesn’t offer much concealment. If you have room to hide a nice size safe then you’d likely be better having a safe room.

Anything short of a safe room with reinforced rebar and a nice safe door is gonna get broken with time.

Mine is more for someone kicking in my door and more importantly for kids.

I have two, one is in the open near my reloading bench, but my principal weapon holder fits nicely in a double door closet in an office room, out of site, but readily accessible. Fully loaded, both would be heavy to move.

Not a true safe, but it was very clever. I was on a dope raid and was in the basement when one of the investigators noticed that there were two hot water heaters for the house. One was warm to the touch, the other was not. Turns out the cold one was hollowed out and inside it was some cash and an AK. It was still hooked up to the piping but isolated from the water.

I would suggest also getting out a good flashlight and exploring your house and observing the construction. Most house floorplans are horrible wasters of space.
Contractors are concerned with building a house economically and it’s rare to have them utilize hollow areas and dead space. Check attics/side wall spaces and basements.

I discovered in our present house that behind the master bathroom the builder had left almost a pantry sized closet space beside the shower/bath wall. It was approximately two and a half feet wide and six feet tall. Lots of potential concealed storage. Same for under staircases and in walls above laundry rooms. Stairways often have a locker-sized dead spot above the angle for the headspace. I also discovered a two foot wide-sized horizontal space in the basement ceiling over a complete beam which allowed a fantastic storage space for fishing rods and sports gear.

(It would be wonderful to have a new build house where you could integrate these storage possibilities with proper safes and hidey holes, but I had to take what I could get with an old house).

Just sayin'

Came with the house, but it's a nice discrete setup

That's nice. And, I don't have a large collection, and won't in the future. A 60inch by 24 or 30 safe is exactly what I'm after. Right now I made a locker years ago that I have hidden below the stairs behind a door. It has a 3/16 plate on the door, sides, and top. 16 gauge back and bottom inside an 1 1/2 x 1/8 angle frame, but its up against the foundation in a corner bolted down. I imagine it wouldn't take much to pry this thing open.

My Sturdy Safe sits in the basement out in the open.

In my old house I took the door and frame off to slide a safe into a closet under the stairs. Replaced the frame with real wood cause the crap prehung doors are made of split and came apart. No one is getting that safe out w/o a sawzall and a pry bar. I glued and naile the framing…..which is why I sold it with the house


A friend has a false wall in his closet. It’s a large cedar closet. We took all the boards off an end and framed up a new wall. He’s got enough room for a 50 cal ammo can sideways, and his guns hang on hooks. The whole wall swings after you remove the hanging clothes and bar

My large safe used to be in my office in the open. It annoyed me that when we had contractors in the house it was noticed and sometimes commented on. I’ve since concealed it in the master closet where we would retreat if threatened. It is an 1100 lb. safe that would be hard to move and when we have company or have people watching our house the door to the closet is locked. The only loaded guns in the house are in quick access safes/pistol boxes or on my person.

My safe thoughts:

Keep it out of main rooms in a side room at least, make sure you do the impact drill and have it bolted to the ground, don't recommend up stairs for that reason.

Also things I've seen are safes bolted in garages where they are "papered" with outside of cardboard boxes to appear as though they are stacked cardboard boxes.....

I have a Liberty Fat Boy Jr. and it is in the open in my room. It is bolted to the floor with some pretty heavy duty bolts/anchors. I have a few hiding spots around the house but no other safes.

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:
....What I want to know is who here hides or conceals their safes. How? Ideas? Photos of how you did it?

I do not other than them being in a room almost no one ever goes in except me.

And as others mentioned it helps if the safe is simply too heavy and large to drag out of the house.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ridewv,

^^^
I've seen canvas covers over safes in garages.

My Fort Knox has a really good fire rating, it weighed over 1800 lbs empty. bolted down in my computer room. My old steel safe has a lot of gun related in it........

The first step in hiding a gun safe is not to tell everyone on the internet that you even have one in the first place.

The second step is not telling your friends, neighbors, barber, etc.

What is your goal in hiding it? Who are you wanting to hide it from?

In my research of course I've come across the video of the two guys prying open a safe in 90 seconds. And, another of a guy showing two safes where the sides were broken into. One with an axe and one with a cutting tool I'm guessing a grinder with a cutoff wheel. Working with cutoff wheels it took more than one to do that kind of damage. According to Forbes magazine the average burglary lasts 8 to 10 minutes. If it takes 5 minutes for them to find the safe that's less time they have to work on it.

I am going through the trouble of concealment because my budget isn't going to allow me to drop 5k on an Amsec. My budget is 2 to 3k including delivery and placement. So, I'm going to settle for a lesser safe that I don't want to display in the center of a room.

My safes are in the basement storage area. They're in the open but it's an area that nobody really goes. Someone getting into my safe or stealing my safe with contents in it is pretty low on my worry scale.

quote:

Originally posted by goose5:

...I am going through the trouble of concealment because my budget isn't going to allow me to drop 5k on an Amsec. My budget is 2 to 3k including delivery and placement. So, I'm going to settle for a lesser safe....

If interested in a quality safe for less money I suggest you consider used ones. The larger safes often go for well less money than smaller ones because most potential buyers are concerned just how they will get it picked up and delivered.

As an example I picked up this 3,700# Mosler safe from a jewelry store that closed down. I had it moved to my house by a furniture company that really did it more as a favor, the safe including delivery was well under $3,000. When I relocated and had to move it again I used a towing company and they actually did it more efficiently and cheaper, I think I paid them $500.




The walls of the safe within the safe in the lower left are solid 1" thick steel.