Liberty safe question

[rufrdr]

The black tape type fire seal that runs around the inside of the safe door frame has about a quarter inch gap at a corner. Seems like the pieces should butt against each other for a proper seal. I'm going to call Talton's on Monday about it but wondering what others know about this material and how it is supposed to fit.

 

[BowWow]

I can't remember the name of the material or a spec for the gap, but it's supposed to swell up to make a seal when it gets up to a certain temperature. A few safe manufacturers use that material..

 

[BowWow]

Gun Safes With Palusol Seals: Part 2 - Tom Ziemer

Most gun safes have Palusol seals that expand when subjected to fire, but a smoke seal is also required for the best possible protection.

www.tomziemer.com

 

[rufrdr]

I contacted Liberty, they are sending enough material to do the complete door. They said it is upgraded/thicker than what is on it now. Fast response and no quibbling about the issue

 

[FarmerJohn]

I thought about a Liberty several years back, but our local dealer at the time told me that there were none available with a key backup. He said it made it harder to get into (crack). Said the electronics have a lifetime warranty, but what good is that if in the meantime I can't get inside? I have some nice guns, but nothing that would attract the kind of talent that can crack a good safe, Liberty or otherwise.

Has that changed?

 

[Catfish]

If you have a sawzall you can get inside

 

[FarmerJohn]

If you have a sawzall you can get inside

And a wheelbarrow full of blades?

 

[JimP42]

And a wheelbarrow full of blades?

Just one. Small safes that are rated by UL to take 15 minutes to enter with tools are TL-15 rated. Look up what those cost and what they weigh.

What we mostly have at home for guns are RSCs - residential security containers, not safes, and are generally pretty easy to get into or just haul away and open elsewhere if not bolted to a concrete slab or steel I-beam.

If your safe weighs less than 600 lbs for a small one (24x20x60 outside, or so) and proportionally more for larger sizes, and doesn’t have 1/4” of steel minimum everywhere, a sawzall will get into it pretty quickly unless you place so that it is inaccessible to tools.

Most cheap safes (under $2k-ish for small, 3k-ish for larger) are just 14 gauge or thinner steel (and drywall fire insulation) and can be opened easily with a big pry bar (or sawzall).

Sturdysafe.com sells pretty high end RSCs. They have lots of videos showing how easily the cheap safes are entered. Low end TL-15 probably starts with americansecuritysafes.com’s amvault tl-15 or so.