Home security for gun owners

guns4fun

I have been away and just caught up with the latest stuff.
Just thought that this thread could be used for gun owners to share security tips for their homes.
Apart from the new secure accommodation orders there are plenty more ways we can secure our homes and impress the fo when he/she calls.
Feel free to share these tips here.

GOOD LUCK WITH IT.

Jumpy

You could buy a gun. Have it sitting beside the front door when they arrive. That will show them you are serious about security.

daveob007

just be careful what you put here also,,the scumbags read these forums also and you dont want to give them any ideas or new things to look for if they enter your house

cavan shooter

Appart from alarm and cabinet I have chamber locks (Cam type) for all my shotguns once there in its very difficult to take them out without the screw device out.

Got a "Hidden" camera which I installed myself.

Next to disguise the cabinet.....:rolleyes: struggling with this one thinking of turning it into a tree:D

pullandbang

I remeber a photo in Irish Shooters Digest( I think!) from many years ago. It was a window of a terraced house in Wexford (again I think) and they had a sign which read;
"Protected by shotgun three nights per week - you guess which three!":eek:

daveob007

Something a lot of people seem to ignore is the security of the outside of their homes.
Make it as hard as possible for anyone to gain entry to your back garden.
I have climbing rose bushes all over the back which would tear you to shreds if you tried to climb them.
Keep sheds locked so no one can get tools to use on your house.

lock ladders,tables,chairs,wheelie bins so they cant be used for access.

spike the top of your walls with glass.

hidden cameras are great but its better to prevent entry rather than record it.

jonnieb

Hi guys,
I work in the securty industry so a few tips to help you out.
Install a good alarm system with both central station monitoring and text messages.
Install a backup GSM if the phone line is cut. i.e. like a mobile phone for your alarm.
Have your gun cabnet alarmed either with your house, on a block system or totally seperate on an individual zone.
Install a good cctv system with a hard drive recorder. Place this recorder in a locked alarmed cabnet also. Most of these recorders start at inputs (cameras) from 4 all the way up to 32.
You can expand all these sytems once they are installed, e.g. addeing external point to point beams around your house so you will know if someone has entered your property, garden, farm etc.
Hope this helps and if you want more advice, just reply!

Sparks

How about this for a tip:
Lock your doors and windows when you go out.

That's around 90-95% of burglars defeated right there according to the Gardai I've talked to.

daveob007

Sparks wrote: »

How about this for a tip:
Lock your doors and windows when you go out.

That's around 90-95% of burglars defeated right there according to the Gardai I've talked to.

However windows can be broken and doors kicked in.
Better to keep them out in the first place.

big dog also just make it too hard in the first place and hopefully they would move on to something easier.

rrpc

If you are going away for a while (on holidays for example), lock your internal doors. This means that if someone breaks in through a window, they're confined to that room until they break through the door and have to go through the same process to get into other rooms.

Really slows them down, and also if your alarm panel is in a different part of the house from where they broke in, they can't get at it until they've got through those internal doors.

You need to hide the keys obviously

pajero2005

rrpc wrote: »

If you are going away for a while (on holidays for example), lock your internal doors.

You could also go the extra mile and take off the door handles on the inside of each room. This will mean the thief will have nothing to grab and pull to try force open the door (if it is opening towards him, if it opens away from him the rebate on the frame will stop that.)

Rew

daveob007 wrote: »

However windows can be broken and doors kicked in

Ever see someone try kick in one of the multipoint doors? Forget it.

derek_g34

rrpc wrote: »

If you are going away for a while (on holidays for example), lock your internal doors. This means that if someone breaks in through a window, they're confined to that room until they break through the door and have to go through the same process to get into other rooms.

Really slows them down, and also if your alarm panel is in a different part of the house from where they broke in, they can't get at it until they've got through those internal doors.

You need to hide the keys obviously

NO, DO NOT LOCK YOUR INTERNAL DOORS, unless you want them kicked in. I've been to too many break-ins over the years where the biggest expense was the reapir/replacement of internal doors.

ranger4

derek_g34 wrote: »

NO, DO NOT LOCK YOUR INTERNAL DOORS, unless you want them kicked in. I've been to too many break-ins over the years where the biggest expense was the reapir/replacement of internal doors.

wouldnt mind replacing a few doors (average price 120e) which could slowdown-deter scum from obtaining thousands of euros worth of equipment, could also wire up door handles to mains, now that should give the scum a lift.

Grizzly 45

1st off, you would neeed proper doors.
By that I mean anything that is not the std plywood with cardboard filler that passes as an internal door in an average irish house.This doesnt mean you need bank vault doors for doors either.But there are specially made security/fire doors that will fit in your average house,and IMO should be,and come standard fitting at strategic points internally in the house.

cavan shooter

Lads couple of things to remember....

1. Glass your wall and the plucker cuts himself you can be sued and it was done successfully if i remember right

2. The last guy that rigged the mains to the shop window grill to deter burglars was succesfully prosecuted.

3 Make your house harder to break into than the one next door

Bananaman

If you are going away for a while (on holidays for example)

Give your gun(s) to a Firearms Dealer to hold onto for you.
Just keep the Barrell/Bolt/Fore-end at home

That way your gun(s) are not accessible to anyone until you return from Holidays
No matter what they break into.

B'Man

Sparks

daveob007 wrote: »

However windows can be broken and doors kicked in.

Not my point. 90-95% of burglars are just opportunistic, usually kids, who see an open window or unlocked door. The bulk of the remainder see one of the patio doors that can be levered open with a screwdriver or a glass-panelled back door.

The point was that the vast majority of the security tips are aimed at the remaining 5-10% of burglars who are not opportunistic - and with them, there's no real deterrent, it becomes a different game entirely, where you're trying to slow them down long enough for an alarm to get the Gardai on the scene.

Which means that for the vast majority of people, the real folks that the gunsafe is there to keep away from your guns, are your kids. (Which is why they're still a good idea even if you don't legally need to have them).

J.R.

In some cases the entire gunsafe, with guns still inside, have been stolen & removed from the home.

When I installed my gunsafe it was in a wardrobe up against a block, plastered wall. As the wall wasn't 100% dead straight when safe was installed I ran a bead of silicone around the edge & top of the safe where it touched the walls.

I had to move the safe last year as I was converting the attic & needed wardrobe space for stairs so I had to move the safe. After removing all securing bolts it was impossible to shift - silicone got an amazing grip! Eventually I had to get a long hacksaw blade, cut off the lugs, and cut the bead of silicone...very slow, awkward task.

When reinstalling it again I put the bead of silicone around it again.....makes it impossible to wedge a crowbar between it and the wall to attempt to remove the entire safe.

Sparks

ranger4 wrote: »

could also wire up door handles to mains, now that should give the scum a lift.

I'm going to assume you forgot to put in the smiley to let everyone know you were joking, and that you weren't actually advising people to booby-trap their homes so that you electrocute the fireman who broke in to put out the fire while you were away...

And B'man and Grizzly had excellent points there - if you're off for a fortnight, just leave the lot in the local dealers. If you'd put your dog in a kennel for the fortnight, why not do something similar for your firearms?

cavan shooter

J.R. wrote: »

I had to move the safe last year as I was converting the attic & needed wardrobe space for stairs so I had to move the safe. After removing all securing bolts it was impossible to shift - silicone got an amazing grip! Eventually I had to get a long hacksaw blade, cut off the lugs, and cut the bead of silicone...very slow, awkward task.

When reinstalling it again I put the bead of silicone around it again.....makes it impossible to wedge a crowbar between it and the wall to attempt to remove the entire safe.

Thats a great tip, keep it coming lads because I'm about to box in my cabinet, speaking of which anyone any decent pictures of a boxed in cabinet if you dont want to post here PM me please

guns4fun

Rew wrote: »

Ever see someone try kick in one of the multipoint doors? Forget it.

i have indeed they just kicked in the botton panel and gained acess

Rovi

Forget about regular 'bathroom' silicone sealers, these are the lads you want:
Tigerseal
Tec7

Both available from good motor factors.

If the wall is good enough, bolts are probably an extravagant extra.


Seriously though, use the bolts too!

Rew

guns4fun wrote: »

i have indeed they just kicked in the botton panel and gained acess

Interesting. Seen a couple of those police shows raiding houses with those doors. The last one withstood two guys with a ram taking it in turns going full tilt in the end the door broke in half. Like anything else comes down to the quality of door and frame I suppose.

guns4fun

I once seen a guys safe where he installed it in his attic then built up each side with those small red bricks and cement,basically a room within a room.
when he moved he had to leave it behind because it was impossible to remove.

guns4fun

Rew wrote: »

Interesting. Seen a couple of those police shows raiding houses with those doors. The last one withstood two guys with a ram taking it in turns going full tilt in the end the door broke in half. Like anything else comes down to the quality of door and frame I suppose.

Agreed,it comes down to the quality.
My friend has those multi locks on his front door (very secure) but the problem is that his door and frame are both pvc and when you push the door the whole thing moves, mine are all aluminium and i dont have that problem, also pvc can be heated with a blow torch making it easy to break.

rrpc

derek_g34 wrote: »

NO, DO NOT LOCK YOUR INTERNAL DOORS, unless you want them kicked in. I've been to too many break-ins over the years where the biggest expense was the reapir/replacement of internal doors.

Most internal doors open into the room they access which means that anyone trying to get out has to kick against the door stop rather than just the lock.

It just takes more time.

Rew

I put the safes in to a corner and bolts in to the 2 sides touching the walls. If you crowbar one way you are going against the opposite bolts as well as trying to pull the ones facing you from the wall. I also used the ammo safe to block access to the main safe so that it would have to be removed first.

steve-hosting36

Visible external security is the best first step. Discreet but 'obvious' CCTV around the entire property, good monitored alarm with GSM backup, put a steel plate over the phone line too for good measure, ensure all doors and windows are secure / multi point, and fix additional security locks on the windows and patio doors. Then a good safe, bolted into concrete somewhere not so obvious...

daveob007

Got a tip from a garda once.
Don't throw out those broken phones,playstations,xbox,psp,cameras etc.
If they look ok then leave them around the house when you are away and since 90% of burglaries are young guys who just take the chance,they just go go in and take whats lying around and get out fast.
Hopefully they will be happy with your rubbish and leave in a hurry,,probably wont have time to check them out either.
And when you go on hols,presuming your guns are at a dealer,use your safe to store your valuables like jewes and cash and valuable small items.

rrpc

Putting your safe under the floor (where possible) is also a very good way of hiding it. This only really works in houses with suspended floors where there's a concrete subfloor to bolt the safe to and a trapdoor access which can be easily hidden with a rug.

Virtually impossible to remove by crowbar due to retricted access, even if it is found.

Half-cocked

Mate of mine has a sticker reading 'Danger - High Voltage. Do not attempt to remove' with lightning symbols etc. stuck it to his safe. When the FO came to inspect his safe he explained that there was a pressure switch in the wall behind the safe that sent the whole lot live if it was pulled out a quarter inch from the wall. The FO wasn't too impressed but declined the invitation to test the strength of the bolts:D If I was a burglar I wouldn't risk it either.

MIDLAND

guns4fun wrote: »

I once seen a guys safe where he installed it in his attic then built up each side with those small red bricks and cement,basically a room within a room.
when he moved he had to leave it behind because it was impossible to remove.

thats exactly what i done , red bricks, cemented around box , 6 raw plugs with hilti sealent,
box is in a walkin warbroke, clothes hanger rail in front of box, then a dummy wardrobe door , then a main internal door (locked) house alarmed of course,

mid

pajero2005

Since we are talking about doors, if you are getting new doors and frames in your house, insist on a solid frame rather than one with "applied stops".

A solid frame is machined from a solid lenght of timber, giving the door someting strong to close against.

One with applied stops is just a frame made from a flat lenght of timber, door is hung, and stops/jambs are pinned on afterwards.

These would open if you fell against them let alone offer any resistance to a kickin from your local scumbag.

Not the biggest security improvement you can make, but every second you delay the thief helps!


P.S. Make sure the gap between the frame and ope (the one that the architrave covers) is packed solid. This is most important right at the level of the lock. I've came across doors at work (carpentry, not burglary!) that could be opened with a slight push seperating the frame from lock, even when locked.

kakashka

Poured 14/18''reinforced conc walls for my gun room,not finished yet but theft/bomb proof imo.

4gun

pajero2005 wrote: »

You could also go the extra mile and take off the door handles on the inside of each room. This will mean the thief will have nothing to grab and pull to try force open the door (if it is opening towards him, if it opens away from him the rebate on the frame will stop that.)

ever hear of a cro-bar,. I' not a thief but unless you have some seriously solid internal doors (not pine, red deal or an engineered laminate) ihave em opened in lees than a minute Internal doore usually have only two lever lock which aren't worht a damn for security after a thief went through you'r house you'd have to replace all your internal doors:mad: ,give me a call I'd give you a good quote in replacing them:Dexcept i wouldn't travel as far as your place:D:D

4gun

[quote=

...
And B'man and Grizzly had excellent points there - if you're off for a fortnight, just leave the lot in the local dealers. If you'd put your dog in a kennel for the fortnight, why not do something similar for your firearms?[/quote]

I always thought that would be standard practice in regards to owning guns especially if you were away for anything more than a weekend

rrpc

4gun wrote: »

I always thought that would be standard practice in regards to owning guns especially if you were away for anything more than a weekend

Depends on how good your security is.

There's also the whole transporting quantities of firearms from your house to the main street of whatever town you live near and carting them surrepetitiously down the street and into the shop... not. :eek:

4gun

rrpc wrote: »

Depends on how good your security is.

There's also the whole transporting quantities of firearms from your house to the main street of whatever town you live near and carting them surrepetitiously down the street and into the shop... not. :eek:

most people according to a recent poll have only 3-4 guns and if your that confident about your home security why bother with this thread:rolleyes:

rrpc

4gun wrote: »

most people according to a recent poll have only 3-4 guns and if your that confident about your home security why bother with this thread:rolleyes:

I'm not most people

To give people advice of course

4gun

most robberies are opportunistic for startersl ike Sparks said earlier, the small percentage that are not well they know exactly what is inside your house and when to get it . If you house is targeted by a professional burglar he already has a market for the items that he's going to take .If he wants your vast collection of heavy, cumbersome target and hunting rifles, he'll knock at the frout door armed with a sawnoff. The theft of guns from a house is by and large done at random if they took your gun safe i'd bet they would have been disapointed to find only guns inside :eek:

4gun

rrpc wrote: »

I'm not most people

To give people advice of course

I know, most people stoped using a negative at the end of a sentance ..oh.. like, ten years ago
and I was only giving my opinion..:rolleyes: of course

rrpc

4gun wrote: »

I know, most people stoped using a negative at the end of a sentance ..oh.. like, ten years ago

That wasn't the end of a sentence, it was the beginning of a new one. Dratted shift key wasn't working

4gun

"....not."

rrpc

4gun wrote: »

"....not."

You're misquoting me. There was a space :mad:

4gun

rrpc wrote: »

You're misquoting me. There was a space :mad:

.. yeah... yeah ....yeah:D
had an extra full stop too:D

pajero2005

4gun wrote: »

,give me a call I'd give you a good quote in replacing them:Dexcept i wouldn't travel as far as your place:D:D

I'd say after about 9 years at it I'd manage hanging a door by now but thanks anyway