gun safe/vault.....(and squirrels)

[JohnRoberts]

I don't like talking about this, but I just purchased a cheap pistol lock box. I don't have kids or strangers inside my house but I would hate for some creep to break in and become armed with my legal firearm.

I am not investing in a huge safe/vault but a small steel box with a cable to secure it. I don't expect this to work against a serious thief, but it should slow down the casual miscreant. I will be sure to put away my crimping tool that could easily cut the cable.

Any experience with these?

JR

 

[pucho812]

california law

a gun must be stored in a lockbox at all times when not in use. It must be stored separately from ammo and magazine/clip if your pistol or rifle has a detachable one. California has a lot of gun laws beyond this but that is the basics. So yes, familiar with a lock box. I have also used the steel cable in installs to prevent theft of computers, iloks and other audio accessories. Never would think of a steel cable on the lockbox as when I go to the range the box by law comes with. But I can see how this would be a good idea and sounds like a good solution to prevent any issues.

 

[JohnRoberts]

MS is not remotely like CA... I am probably going to loop the cable around my bed frame, that will just make it a little more difficult to easily carry away the lock box.

I did send an email asking my brother who lives in lala land about his vault rig... Knowing him he probably has a substantial structure.. He is not a gun guy, but shares part of my genome, and is big on concrete..

JR

 

[pucho812]

tis true, it is not like MS, you people are a bit more sane.

 

[shabtek]

mine have holes to screw the box to something as well as the cable option


but how can you be prepared when the bad guys attack...run to the lock box!

 

[analag]

I was looking at one last week.

 

[pucho812]

on a side note to this, we have been thinking about converting a used gun safe, one of the big ones, into a mic locker for the studio. Not only would it make mic theft nearly impossible, might be able to customize so mics are in a almost clean room environment when stored between sessions.

 

[AnalogPackrat]

A lock box screwed to heavy furniture or a closet shelf is good for when you have company (especially kids). Otherwise fast accessibility beats locking it up. Another of many reasons we left California were their increasingly idiotic firearms laws.

I gave my brother one that used four mechanical only push-buttons for access (no batteries to die at inopportune times). He hasn't complained about it, so I guess it has worked for him.

 

[AnalogPackrat]

Like this

https://www.pewpewtactical.com/best-bedside-gun-safe-quick-access/#h-1-fort-knox-ftk-pb

 

[JohnRoberts]

mine have holes to screw the box to something as well as the cable option


but how can you be prepared when the bad guys attack...run to the lock box!

I keep my Gamo air rifle by the door (in case I see a squirrel) and while that won't drop somebody crazed on PCP it will sting them pretty good. If they are doing PCP these days they are probably already dead from fentanyl poisoning. Most of my neighbors keep serious firearms handy by the door JIC.

I keep my personal protection device near my bed and plan to stay with that plan.

Of course I don't need another password to remember but this seems like a simple enough combination lock... If somebody is crazy enough to break in while I am home and trying to sleep they will get dispatched. I am too old to run or fight them, so I will just have to shoot them.

MS has pretty good laws in that regard. A man's home is his castle. In fact a man's car is his castle.

JR

 

[Rusan]

I second screwing the box down to a wall or heavy furniture. I have one of the small "Union" brand safes from Harbor Freight, that comes with mounting holes in its back wall. I removed the feet and placed it on a solid hardwood shelf, and ran bolts through the floor into hurricane nuts set in the underside of the shelf, plus lag screws through the back wall into the wall stud. It's not going anywhere.

I keep my Gamo air rifle by the door (in case I see a squirrel) and while that won't drop somebody crazed on PCP it will sting them pretty good. If they are doing PCP these days they are probably already dead from fentanyl poisoning. Most of my neighbors keep serious firearms handy by the door JIC.

I keep my personal protection device near my bed and plan to stay with that plan.

Of course I don't need another password to remember but this seems like a simple enough combination lock... If somebody is crazy enough to break in while I am home and trying to sleep they will get dispatched. I am too old to run or fight them, so I will just have to shoot them.

In a home invasion scenario, I fear you likely wouldn't have time to unlock the safe, especially when adrenaline is flowing and fine motor skills go out the window. Also, keep in mind, that anyone breaking in while you're at home is almost certainly armed. Don't begin the game by stacking the deck in the criminal's favor. It's a common error, that often only carries one opportunity to make.

A shotgun is your best home defense choice, and the only thing I'll trust to protect us. It's an emergency response tool, whose function is analogous to a spare tire or fire extinguisher; I hope to God I never have to use it, but it's infinitely better to have the right tool and not need it than to need the right tool and not have it. I shudder at the nauseating thought of having to discharge a firearm into another human being, but it's a much less unsavory thought than them stabbing / shooting / bludgeoning us while we're fumbling for a gun in a drawer or safe. And, the undeniable fact stands, that they fully knew the risk incurred by their decision to break in.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Thanks but I consider my risk from home invasion to be extremely slender.

The gun safe is mainly to make it harder for some petit thief to get lucky and accidentally armed. I really wouldn't want to be responsible for arming some miscreant.

JR

PS; I managed to make it 7+ decades without killing anybody (so far), including a stint serving in the army. I have killed several squirrels with my Gamo but they were eating my pecans so needed killin.

 

[rock soderstrom]

I have killed several squirrels with my Gamo but they were eating my pecans so needed killin.

The relationship in my country is so different to firearms, you wouldn't believe it.

Shooting any animal is also much more regulated.

For example, shooting at squirrels can cost up to 65000€ depending on the state you live in. I don't know anyone who shoots squirrels.

 

[moamps]

I don't know anyone who shoots squirrels.

You obviously haven’t met American squirrels and how aggressive and dangerous they are. Almost like brown bears. Once in the Grand Canyon, two such figures stole my sandwich. True, the ones in NY Central Park are a lot more peaceful , they let you take pictures of them and don’t ask for a quarter for it. Just a bag of snacks.

 

[rock soderstrom]

You obviously haven’t met American squirrels and how aggressive and dangerous they are. Almost like brown bears. Once in the Grand Canyon, two such figures stole my sandwich

I admit, the common North American squirrel is much more impressive than our version. No comparison to these blood thirsty monsters

 

[Rusan]

For example, shooting at squirrels can cost up to 65000€ depending on the state you live in. I don't know anyone who shoots squirrels.

Wow.... In my home state, you can buy a hunting license for $10.50 USD and legally kill 12 squirrels per day from May 15 to February 28, which is nearly 3500 per year. I figure I've shot well in excess of 200 in my lifetime. However, you're legally obligated to dress them for consumption, or you can be cited for wasting edible portions of a game animal, which carries a $250 to $2500 fine and up to 60 days in jail, plus 12 violation points. Accruing over 18 points within a 5 year period results in a minimum 1 year suspension of your hunting privileges.

The exception is if the squirrels (and/or several other listed species) are destroying your crops or property, in which case you can obtain a special Depredation Permit from the State Game & Fish Commission, that allows you to shoot them year round, without any daily harvest or possession limits, and without having to dress them for consumption. Whack 'em and stack 'em.

The squirrels are so plenteous here in the city limits of my town of 30,000 that you'll see up to a few dozen per day while just driving around and going about your normal routine. Oak, hickory, pecan, plum, pear and peach trees are EVERYWHERE, and at least one house per block on all the back streets has a small garden, so the entire city is an all-you-can-eat buffet for squirrels. Like JR, I also have a huge problem with the little demons eating my pecans.

 

[rock soderstrom]

Wow.... In my home state, you can buy a hunting license for $10.50 USD and legally kill 12 squirrels per day from May 15 to February 28, which is nearly 3500 per year. I figure I've shot well in excess of 200 in my lifetime. However, you're legally obligated to dress them for consumption, or you can be cited for wasting edible portions of a game animal, which carries a $250 to $2500 fine and up to 60 days in jail, plus 12 violation points. Accruing over 18 points within a 5 year period results in a minimum 1 year suspension of your hunting privileges.

This is interesting. The whole hunting topic is regulated completely differently here.
Only trained and licensed hunters are allowed to hunt, and that costs real money. Even if you are a licensed hunter, you can't just go out and hunt animals. You need permission from the landowner, whether privately or state owned. (...means even more $$$).

I think these restrictive rules and the fact that many forests here belong to nobles and the church, have caused the USA emigrants from Europe in the past to do it differently in their new home. For me this is understandable especially when you consider the vastness of the landscapes on the North American continent.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I don't shoot squirrels for food or sport, they are pests. I have security cameras covering 4 of the 6 pecan trees in my yard. No squirrels this morning.

1) I had one squirrel try to set up house in my attic. He chewed through an eave fascia to get in. After I got him out (they don't like mothballs) I sealed it back up with tin sheeting.

2) A couple decades ago I had one try to shelter in my air conditioner housing. I stuffed a bunch of fiberglas insulation into the housing hoping there would be no room left for the squirrel. I didn't realize that I had trapped the squirrel inside the housing. When I came home from the gym that night after playing basketball I had a bushy tailed new roommate inside my house. It is not easy to just shoo a squirrel out of your house. If you corner them they will jump straight at you. This was before I owned my pellet rifle, and wasn't going to fire 9mm rounds at him inside my house, that would make too much of a mess hit, or miss. This was in the winter time so I couldn't just leave my door open. I eventually got him trapped inside my kitchen cupboards under the sink. I put a rat trap in there with him and retired for the night. The next morning I found him down but not in the trap. I moved his lifeless body outside to my driveway with plans to dispose of him later. When I returned to deal with the body, he was gone.

3) I have killed multiple squirrels while up in my pecan trees or in my yard. My Gamo pellet rifle is not a toy. I only shoot squirrels in my own yard.

JR

PS: reminds me of the hunting joke.... Two hunters are walking through the woods. They come upon a clearing with a tree in the middle of it. A little man is staring up at the tree and making ugly faces at the squirrels causing them to drop dead and fall to the ground. When asked what he was doing by the hunters he said that he was "uglying" them out of the tree. He used to let his wife do it but she tore them up too bad.

 

[rock soderstrom]

european squirrel



american squirrel



JR squirrel

 

[JohnRoberts]

Tree rats with bushy tails.... My neighbors tell me they cook up good. I was surprised by how heavy they are after I killed my first one. My neighbors declined when I offered to give them my next kill.

I got one who was up in my tree perhaps in a feeding frenzy (or sick), because he didn't run away after I missed him with my first couple shots. If a squirrel is just going to sit there and give me extra shots on target, I will drop him eventually, and I did.

JR