Gun safe

I finally got around to upgrading my gun storage.

Several years ago, I got one of those inexpensive sheet-metal cabinets for my guns. Good for keeping small fingers out, or annoying a smash'n'grab burglar, but no real protection. It filled up a long time ago, and my closet was beginning to show the effects.

I got a smaller safe for my pistols - that filled up much faster than expected as well. (Funny how that happens...)

I had replaced the closet door with something a bit heavier, and put a deadbolt on it, then put a home-made rack on the wall in there. That got things a bit more organized, but was still leaving my collection relatively unprotected.

We finally got around to getting a fire safe. I'd looked at options at Dick's, but didn't really like what they had for the money. Lowe's had a few, but all smaller than what I wanted. Over at Tractor Supply, they had Cannon safes, which were fire-resistant, well-built, had an internal outlet, and much better finished than the other stuff I'd seen.

I was going to go for the 21-gun safe, which would hold my collection with a bit of careful packing. MrsZ pointed out that the collection is bound to grow, so I might as well get the "wide body" gun safe and have room for it. Then she saw the "tall wide body" and realized that would give us room for the miscellaneous small important things we have.

TSC mailed us a ten-percent-off coupon this week, and I used it today. Basically, it saved us tax. I took down the trailer, and they loaded up this bad boy. I very carefully drove it home, with a stop at Uhaul to rent an appliance dolly. When I got home and opened it up to take the shelves out, I found that one of them had broken on the drive. I'll be calling TSC and Cannon tomorrow to see about a replacement.

Long story short: next time I buy a safe, I'm paying the money to have in-home delivery. It took me, my father, and the neighbor to get this thing into the house, with helpful commentary from MrsZ, my mother, and one of MrsZ's teammates. Next time, let the guys with the right tools do it. Seven hundred pounds is nothing to play around with, and we're lucky no one got hurt in the process.

It's in, though. Once we've cleared out the den and I've put a floor jack in the cellar, it'll move in there - but that'll be an easier sliding move instead of the headache we just dealt with.

In other news, some digging revealed that two LR44 batteries can be used in place of one DL1/3N cell. I grabbed some at Walmart this morning and found that the free Aimpoint works just fine. Now to figure out which gun to put it on! The Marlin is a leading candidate at the moment...