I was recently in the market for a gun safe after noticing that crime has been steadily rising in my once quiet neighborhood and after a lot of research I decided on a Sturdy Safe. The model I bought was the 48wX24dX72H, fire lined, that can hold about 35 to 40 scoped rifles.

The first thing I noticed when it arrived is that this safe can be called a "Safe". Even though I had never seen a Sturdy Safe up close until I bought one, I went to several local stores comparing safes and the majority in my price range felt flimsy with very thin metal. Since I didn't want to spend over 4k on a comparable sized safe, my choices were a bit limited and none offered the thick steel I was looking for. I will admit that almost all of the safes I did look at were cosmetically superior to my Sturdy in that they were fully upholstered with interior lighting.

Upon opening the safe, you will immediately notice that the interior is very, very plain compared to a Browning or Amsec. The interior pretty much consists of four shelf rails, two on each side, with two pieces of plywood covered with gray carpeting. The actual gun rack is just plain square shaped tubing welded together with foam inserts glued on for the gun barrels to rest on. The exterior is painted gray with black speckled paint applied. Over all, the safe is very plain and cosmetically will not compare to the two brands mentioned above. Sturdy does offer a paint upgrade for an additional $200 but I did not choose to do it since I only cared about keeping my guns safe.

Now for what I feel are the positive attributes to this safe. The thing is literally built like a tank, it weighs over 1300 pounds and feels more solid than any safe I previously saw. The door takes a very hard pull to get it open and once open, it has a very slow swing because of all of the weight. I haven't weighed the door but I'm willing to bet that it is over 600+lbs and I might be underestimating a bit. If you hit the side of the safe with your fist, you will notice that you will barely hear any sound and it almost fills like hitting a concrete wall. It definitely doesn't feel like a tin can and does not have that tin can sound to it that some of the models I saw had. The safe door is also recessed and has about a 1/32" gap around it and makes it impossible to get any sort of pry bar in. From a mechanical finish stand point, the level of craftsmanship put into the safe is excellent. All welds are extremely clean, well placed, and overly thick. The outside of the safe has no visible seams and from what I can tell, seems to be one entire piece instead of several welded smaller pieces.

Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase and I feel like if I got a lot for my money. What I gave up in cosmetics, I gained in actual security which I feel is more important anyway in the purchase of a safe. I have no doubt that it will keep my guns safe from all but the most experienced burglars and even then they'll have to come prepared to get in it.

Also, in case any of you are wondering how I got a 1300 pound safe moved from my garage into my house. The secret is golf balls. After getting the safe into my house using a ramp and four friends. I simply put 3/4" plywood on the floor to protect the tile and rolled it on golf balls. The thing rolled like if it was on ball bearings and this made coming around the corners a snap. Just have two guys behind the safe and two in front feeding the golf balls. From start to finish it took me about two hours to get it done working very carefully. Hope this helps and I do not work for Stury Safe, just a happy customer.

Glad you like your safe. If you aren't on a slab, I can tell you with absolute certainty that you're going to need to support that safe from below. Sistering a joist isn't going to be sufficient. You're actually going to have to built a weight distribution column to a what essentially will be a weight bearing floor joist. Failure to do this will have your floor joists bowing in no time. Especially if some moisture were to hit your basement.

Dang that thing is heavy.

Tom