This is why you invest in a solid safe and implement layers of security

[7.62NATO]

...........................

[Eurodriver]

No doubt. I wonder if he has kids or family that blew up Facebook about their vacation.

As far as a safe goes, if you get a bunch of guys and power tools in your house for a few hours there is literally nothing you can buy that will keep them out of it, practically speaking.

The best things are insurance, nosy retired neighbors, and OPSEC.

[Frailer]

No doubt. I wonder if he has kids or family that blew up Facebook about their vacation.

As far as a safe goes, if you get a bunch of guys and power tools in your house for a few hours there is literally nothing you can buy that will keep them out of it, practically speaking.

The best things are insurance, nosy retired neighbors, and OPSEC.

This.

Want to secure valuables while you're on vacation? Put them in the bottom of an old Christmas tree box.

[Voodoochild]

No doubt. I wonder if he has kids or family that blew up Facebook about their vacation.

As far as a safe goes, if you get a bunch of guys and power tools in your house for a few hours there is literally nothing you can buy that will keep them out of it, practically speaking.

The best things are insurance, nosy retired neighbors, and OPSEC.

Look into Brown safes those things are freaking damn near nuke proof. Your going to need more than a few power tools to break one of those. But I do agree OPSEC is key and most people don't understand it and how it can really screw you over when you don't practice it.

[7.62NATO]

This.

Want to secure valuables while you're on vacation? Put them in the bottom of an old Christmas tree box.

Won't work for 45 firearms plus additional valuables. A solid, bolted-down safe (read: not an RSC) is a must in this situation, but only when additional layers of security are present: monitored (using cellular) home security system, dog (or signs of), alert neighbors, OPSEC (to include no BCM/Magpul/NRA stickers on your truck). If you follow this recipe, they're not getting your stuff. In this case, it likely was an inside job. Loose lips, sink ships, as they say.

[SeriousStudent]

Look into Brown safes those things are freaking damn near nuke proof. Your going to need more than a few power tools to break one of those. ......

I want to install this: http://www.brownsafe.com/monument-vault-door/index.html

here at Rancho Serious and imagine the look on the thief's face when he sees it. :cool:



I'm a big believer in the methods mentioned previously. Plus, I am very fortunate to have three neighbors that are officers with the local PD. I let each of them know when I am out of town, and they make a point of checking the house while I'm gone.

The Bourbon and cigars involved are well worth the investment.

Plus my shootin' friends come over twice a day to feed the big GSD here at the house, and see if he has found a stray leg or arm to gnaw on. If he has, they double his ration of bacon and cheese.

[MBtech]

No replacement for the highest quality of protection.. Period... But outta sight, outta mind goes a long way.

[TXBK]

It sounds like purchasing a house near Rancho Serious would be a good security measure to implement. Other than that, layers of protection are vital.

[nate89]

I want to install this: http://www.brownsafe.com/monument-vault-door/index.html

here at Rancho Serious and imagine the look on the thief's face when he sees it. :cool:



I'm a big believer in the methods mentioned previously. Plus, I am very fortunate to have three neighbors that are officers with the local PD. I let each of them know when I am out of town, and they make a point of checking the house while I'm gone.

The Bourbon and cigars involved are well worth the investment.

Plus my shootin' friends come over twice a day to feed the big GSD here at the house, and see if he has found a stray leg or arm to gnaw on. If he has, they double his ration of bacon and cheese.


That's one of the many benefits of being friends with the local officers. I don't have any living too close, but I have the opportunity to work with several of them, and it's nice to know they will stop by your house when you're gone while on patrol.

[MBtech]

I know several LE officers inluding the Sheriff. I live out in the sticks. LE would probably be too late to the party in my neck of the woods but is good to know.

[SteyrAUG]

If you bring the right tools, and you have the time, you can get into any gun safe. We've all seen the videos. If this guy had anchored his RSC he would have made things a lot harder.

Additionally layers of security are a bid deal. A house like that, I'd have hired some neighbor kids to house sit for me. Be a lot cheaper than the 20k reward he hopes might get some of it back.

I've found the best plan is to have dogs, and somebody always has to be there to feed the dogs. Even if they don't get to my guns, people with plenty of time can screw up a lot of stuff in your house. They typically do more dollar value damage to your home and contents than the total cost of the items they steal.

I've seen what a house looks like when it's been ripped through looking for valuables. Worst of the worst are irreplaceable family items with no real dollar value that just get destroyed when they get tossed aside while they look for the gold coins they hope you own.

[Eurodriver]

Look into Brown safes those things are freaking damn near nuke proof. Your going to need more than a few power tools to break one of those. But I do agree OPSEC is key and most people don't understand it and how it can really screw you over when you don't practice it.

http://www.brownsafe.com/tactical-safe/model_range_6018.html

$5000 and 700lbs for their smallest rifle safe without any "extras" like fire protection? It better be nuke proof! Lol

[ralph]

No doubt. I wonder if he has kids or family that blew up Facebook about their vacation.

As far as a safe goes, if you get a bunch of guys and power tools in your house for a few hours there is literally nothing you can buy that will keep them out of it, practically speaking.

The best things are insurance, nosy retired neighbors, and OPSEC.

You don't even need a few hours.. A 6" grinder and a handful of wafer wheels and you could cut a very large hole in the side of most gun safes in about 20-30 minutes.. Most gun "safes" are basically just a sheet metal box (10ga steel) with a really strong door, and 1" thick drywall for "fire protection" If I were going to break into a gun safe, the last thing I'd try, is to break open the door. The sides are much thinner metal, and easily cut with said grinder and wafer wheels. I know, I worked for 32 yrs as a pipefitter and used a grinder and wafer wheels daily, I've cut Sch 80 pipe easily with a wafer wheel, so a 10ga sheet metal box would be no problem. If one does some research, you'll find there's a huge difference between a real safe, compared to a "gun safe"... The Brown safe in the link above is my idea of a "real" safe..

[The_War_Wagon]

No doubt. I wonder if he has kids or family that blew up Facebook about their vacation.

REASON #892,731,643,798,910,437,856,473,014,880,457,036,574,6170,647,056,170,560,604 to ditch the FAZEbook. Don't have it, never needed it, DON'T want it.

[austinN4]

I looked up this property from the owner's name in the county RE records. It is in a very nice neighborhood in W Austin just off 360 with lots of neighbors close around it.

[SomeOtherGuy]

If I were going to break into a gun safe, the last thing I'd try, is to break open the door. The sides are much thinner metal, and easily cut with said grinder and wafer wheels. I know, I worked for 32 yrs as a pipefitter and used a grinder and wafer wheels daily, I've cut Sch 80 pipe easily with a wafer wheel, so a 10ga sheet metal box would be no problem.

I've been wondering if coating the sides of the safe with bedliner material or something else that's soft and sticky would slow down an attack with angle grinders - hoping the soft material would gum up and coat the disc and prevent it from cutting on metal. Any thoughts?

I have a better safe and security setup than the victim here and I'll leave it at that.

[brickboy240]

Probably an inside job or done by someone that has previously staked out that house.

I have a cousin that had his house broken in to by guys that cased it out while cleaning the carpets the week before. They stole things that were hidden and you would only know about their location IF you had been in the house and doing something like cleaning the carpets and noticed his heavy safe built in to his end table.

I have a huge safe bolted to the foundation. It is also located in the corner of a room in an alcove - making it impossible to get a grinder on the sides. I also have an alarm with motion detectors, glass breakage detectors and cellular and battery backup. The controls are hidden as well. I also have a dog, live on a very busy corner and have nosey neighbors that know us well and know our cars and habits. It would be VERY hard to get in and spend a ton of time working on our safe or finding our other hidden places we hide non-gun things.

It is also rare that we go out of town for long periods and when we do...I pay a neighbor's kid to feed the dog and look out for the place.

Couple this with the cacti and other prickly things I planted under the back windows, outdoor lighting and the fact we do not do Facebook...I think there are MUCH easier targets in my neighborhood. Two of my neighbors have much nicer cars in their driveways, little outside lighting and no alarm systems.

-Brickboy240

[Jer]

$200k in cash & prizes and no cameras or alarm system? Man, I've got layers upon layers and my collection isn't approaching a quarter million dollars either. Over a dozen security cameras all DVR'ing (locally in a secured drive & cloud back-up) 24/7 with email alerts to motion as well as a complex system that alerts me to window/door tampering & opening as well as many other layers all on battery back-up and what I believe to be a pretty solid design if I do say so myself. How anyone can have this much stuff, leave the country for an extended period (likely posting exact days/times weeks in advance on some form of social media) and NOT have even the basics is beyond me.

[ralph]

I've been wondering if coating the sides of the safe with bedliner material or something else that's soft and sticky would slow down an attack with angle grinders - hoping the soft material would gum up and coat the disc and prevent it from cutting on metal. Any thoughts?

I have a better safe and security setup than the victim here and I'll leave it at that.


Soft material probably wouldn't do much, maybe melt.. Hell I've even cut wood with a wafer wheel didn't slow it down a bit.. One thing one could do.. check out gov't deals.com you can taylor the search to your state, and look around.. In the past I've seen "real" safes that were being sold by different countys for a steal.. These were made my Mosler, Diebold, etc, It's a auction type of site, and it's up to you to pick up, I saw one safe awhile back, that was a double doored (Diebold), that was about 4' high(door openings) on wheels, the sides were about 2" thick and it weighed about 3-4000lbs, this was a serious safe, with a little work it would've made a excellent gun safe.. I think it went for under $1000...

[CodeRed30]

Also, don't forget fortification of the home (solid core doors and steel frames or antikick devices, security screen door, security film on windows, upgraded door looks, sliding glass door protection, etc.) in addition to the opsec and camera/alarms/dog ideas.

[austinN4]

$1,263,284 is the value TCAD had on the house & land for 2014. How can you not have a security system?

[sevenhelmet]

Probably an inside job or done by someone that has previously staked out that house.

I have a cousin that had his house broken in to by guys that cased it out while cleaning the carpets the week before. They stole things that were hidden and you would only know about their location IF you had been in the house and doing something like cleaning the carpets and noticed his heavy safe built in to his end table.


This is exactly why I am uncomfortable with door-to-door salespeople selling ANY service that involves them coming in my house. When we moved in, we had 2 door-to-door folks trying to sell us an alarm system (the house already has one, and there are signs up all over the place), and my favorite was the 2 guys without uniforms trying to sell us a "carpet cleaning" gig when all we have are tile and wood floors. One guy even started asking my wife all kinds of questions about how long we had lived in the neighborhood and what I did for work. I jumped in front of her and all but shut the door in his face. He apologized and showed me his merchant I.D., but I took down his license number anyway, just in case.

I posted a "no soliciting" sign that afternoon. Not playing that game any more.

[Moose-Knuckle]

This is exactly why I am uncomfortable with door-to-door salespeople selling ANY service that involves them coming in my house. When we moved in, we had 2 door-to-door folks trying to sell us an alarm system (the house already has one, and there are signs up all over the place), and my favorite was the 2 guys without uniforms trying to sell us a "carpet cleaning" gig when all we have are tile and wood floors. One guy even started asking my wife all kinds of questions about how long we had lived in the neighborhood and what I did for work. I jumped in front of her and all but shut the door in his face. He apologized and showed me his merchant I.D., but I took down his license number anyway, just in case.

I posted a "no soliciting" sign that afternoon. Not playing that game any more.

There is absolutely no reason to open you door to a solicitor. I only answer my door to people I know and they call/text before coming over. In this day in age it surprises me that people still open their door to complete total strangers. There is a bill introduced somewhere that contractors should have to have a background check prior to going into a home to perform work. How ludicrous, a woman was raped and murdered by a day laborer and now her family demands the government do something so this doesn't happen again. As with gun control murder is already illegal on the books but hey we need more feel good laws because people don't have the sense to have family/friends home with them when they have work scheduled and or arm themselves.

[Averageman]

It didn't matter so much what kind of safe that guy had. What's more imporatant in this case is that he alerted his neighbors to check the house once in a while and to be on the look out for activity in and around it. That he had a functioning alarm system that he kept prying eyes and ears away from his important information.
If you're in Cancun for a week and someone knows you've got a safe full of guns and money, if they have a week to open it, it will be gone. That goes double if you have no home security or a friendly neighbor to look out for you.
A couple of years ago as I was finishing putting a red dot sight on a pistol I got a ring of the door bell. I answered the door to a guy in a uniform selling home security. I looked the guy over and saw a couple of things that made me send him on his way without opening the door much. When I went out to my truck he was still in the neighborhood, just one house down.
I put the pistol (in a case that looked like a day planner) on the front seat and took off for the range.I got a block down from my house and didn't feel right about things and turned the truck for a spin around the block.
There he was peeking in my windows. After I had left he went back to my house and was casing it.
It went a bit sideways for him after that.

[223to45]

It went a bit sideways for him after that.


Just the thought of what might have happen makes me smile.


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