Strange gun safe

The local police force here requires its officers to qualify with firearms once a year. The minimum passing score is to hit the target (not the bulls eye, but the paper target) at 20 yards 70% of the time. The pistol range I shoot at has a rule that any civilian* not capable of placing ALL their rounds on the target may be asked to leave the range.

*From time to time, the police/sheriff/DEA/INS/FBI/Federal Marshals take over the range for practice and qualification. Some time ago, when I passed by and saw the sign 'Reserved for Law Enforcement', I went back home and logged on to their web cams. Its frightening. The SWAT guys aren't too bad. Some of the uniformed officers are OK, some are pathetic. But the people who I assume are undercover (they look like a bunch of dirt bags) couldn't hit the side of a barn. But then, neither can most gang-bangers, so it makes sense to maintain their cover.

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Paul Hovnanian     mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com
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"A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only
advise his client to plant vines." -- Frank Lloyd Wright

I have a safe I bought used really cheap (brand mane, maybe a few years old, tops) because the keys were apparently locked inside, with a tube type key (like what's used on pop machines, at least around here - round tube with 6 or 8 tumblers), and an electronic keypad lock. It took about 5 minutes to pick and open, including looking for a screwdriver to modify with the dremel. With out going into much detail, those mechanical locks, or at least this one, are a joke to pick, the tumblers are even exposed. This lock even has a hardened steel domed shaped insert in the middle of the lock to help prevent someone from drilling it. To open the electronic lock, all I did was open the battery compartment, and noticed that the keyboard would likely pop off if I pull on it, which it did. This exposed two wires going into the safe. Shorting the battery to one of the wires with a screwdriver or a piece of wire allowed me to push the handle down and open the safe. Unfortunately, no keys inside, or anything else.

Ha, had a co-worker once who went on and on about his guns, the gun shows he attended, etc. They, he went out and bought a 'fireproof' safe to hold all these valuable.

After a few weeks, he opened the safe, and found rust on all his valuable collector guns. It seems this brand of 'fireproof' safe had and inner lining of some sort of soft, porous rock, like soapstone, that was saturated with water to protect the valuables from fire. This of course raised the interior humidity, and thus, rusted the guns very quickly.

It was funny, since it had cost him a bundle (even used!) and he had regaled us for weeks on all the trouble he had moving it and installing it (he built it into a wall... 8-) ) and now it was worthless to him!

Charlie

I doubt if the stone was saturated to protect the contents. More likely, if the safe was second hand, that it had stood outdoors for some time. Most fireproof safes, have fibrous layers inside the outer skin, which will get soaking wet if the unit is left outdoors. An industrial dehumidier stood inside it for a week, should dry it perfectly.

Best Wishes