Bedside Pistol Lock Boxes

[O2HeN2]

Many solenoid-opened (electronic) lock boxes will spring open if dropped just so. Be careful about that.



O2

[mackbamf]

For me, locking everything up in the safe pretty much 24/7 was what I did. I'm not going to look up any statistics but I bet the chance of my house being broken into in the middle of the night while I'm asleep and me needing immediate access to a firearm to remedy that situation are about 4,000,000:1.

In my mind, that kind of risk was minimal and one I was willing to take versus the thought of one of the kids getting their hands on one of my firearms if I turned my back for two minutes.

Agreed... For a while I kept mine in a high location with a loaded mag but empty chamber. As small children it would have been impossible for them to rack the slide if they could have even found their way to its location. Now that they are older it stays locked up.

[Teufelhund]

I used to just keep my CCW on the headboard at night (it goes with me when I leave the room). My little one turned 1yo in December though, and is a running, jumping, climbing, whirlwind of destruction. Leaving it on the headboard just isn't an option anymore. After reading a lot of reviews, I opted for the GunVault SV500 with the keypad (I don't trust the biometric scanners). I don't have a nightstand on my side of the bed, so I mounted it to a stud inside the closet, about 3 feet from my side of the bed. Now I keep my CCW in the big safe downstairs, and a .45 permanently lives in the GunVault so it's always there in case the wife needs it while I'm at work. I've had it since October; I test it once a week, and it's been flawless so far.

TL;DR: GunVault SV500 with keypad, mounted to a wall, out of sight, but within a few feet of my side of the bed. Test often. Works great.

[BuffCyclist]

Many solenoid-opened (electronic) lock boxes will spring open if dropped just so. Be careful about that.



O2

Thanks for posting this, but I've seen this and while the child may have been shown how to open each box a thousand times before the video was filmed, it is still a design flaw and I want to avoid it (even if it's been fixed). This is why I'm moving towards the simplex style lock.

Agreed... For a while I kept mine in a high location with a loaded mag but empty chamber. As small children it would have been impossible for them to rack the slide if they could have even found their way to its location. Now that they are older it stays locked up.

I am moving towards this line of thought as well. A simplex style lock has 1083 possible combinations. When I was a kid, I made good money several times by churning through the digits on a bike lock that the friend forgot the combo to (we were kids, I knew it was their bike, blah blah blah, i wasn't a thief).

I used to just keep my CCW on the headboard at night (it goes with me when I leave the room). My little one turned 1yo in December though, and is a running, jumping, climbing, whirlwind of destruction. Leaving it on the headboard just isn't an option anymore. After reading a lot of reviews, I opted for the GunVault SV500 with the keypad (I don't trust the biometric scanners). I don't have a nightstand on my side of the bed, so I mounted it to a stud inside the closet, about 3 feet from my side of the bed. Now I keep my CCW in the big safe downstairs, and a .45 permanently lives in the GunVault so it's always there in case the wife needs it while I'm at work. I've had it since October; I test it once a week, and it's been flawless so far.

TL;DR: GunVault SV500 with keypad, mounted to a wall, out of sight, but within a few feet of my side of the bed. Test often. Works great.

That is the GunVault I have been looking at for a long time. I love the simple approach, no room for anything else. In fact, that's probably why I am drawn to the FAS1 so much, because it's like the SV500, but has extra storage capacity.

[newracer]

I have had a GunVault Multivault for about 10 years, open it twice everyday. Batteries last a long time (years) and the cable has yet to break.

ETA: Just did a little reading and according to posts on Glock Talk GunVault has changed the mechanism to prevent the breakage.

[Teufelhund]

That is the GunVault I have been looking at for a long time. I love the simple approach, no room for anything else. In fact, that's probably why I am drawn to the FAS1 so much, because it's like the SV500, but has extra storage capacity.

Not having room for an extra mag is the only thing I don't like about the SV500. I just keep one on the top shelf near where the safe is mounted; not perfect, but it'll work. If I ever need 21 rounds of .45 in the middle of the night, it'll probably be the last thing I do anyway.

[BuffCyclist]

I have had a GunVault Multivault for about 10 years, open it twice everyday. Batteries last a long time (years) and the cable has yet to break.

ETA: Just did a little reading and according to posts on Glock Talk GunVault has changed the mechanism to prevent the breakage.

That would make sense. The post I linked and probably all of the reviews I've seen are from 2007. Regardless, I still don't like that it's electronic. Would love to see a manual version of the SV500. And just because my brain is fried, when I think of SV500, I think of a Suzuki motorcycle with a smaller engine. Similar to CB750 and CB350...

I need sleep...

Not having room for an extra mag is the only thing I don't like about the SV500. I just keep one on the top shelf near where the safe is mounted; not perfect, but it'll work. If I ever need 21 rounds of .45 in the middle of the night, it'll probably be the last thing I do anyway.

That is something that I don't like. However, my CCW is a M&P40c with the standard 10rd flat base mag. My spare mag is a 15rd M&P40 full size mag. When I get home, I swap out the mags so at home I always have 16rds of 40 with a 10rd spare mag.

[newracer]

Out of curiosity I just took mine apart to see what the cable looked like. It is frayed but not too bad. If/when it breaks I think I can fix it. I also contacted GunVault to see if they have a replacement part to correct the problem.

[JohnnyEgo]

I've got a V-Line on the nightstand next to me. It consumes a fair amount of space for having a relatively limited interior. It does an excellent job at it's intended purpose: keeping curious little 4 year old and 17 year old fingers off of my CCW piece when it is not on my person. And it's not my own kids I worry about; it is their stupid little friends and/or their stupid little friend's parents.

On the few occassions I've had pause to go investigate things going bump in the night, I found the V-line to be very speedy to open and present very little compromise for the extra peace of mind. It's been at the same place by my bedside for so many years now that muscle memory is sufficient for me to find the buttons and the knob, though I usually leave it unlocked at night.

[KS63]

I keep looking at these boxes and think " I can fabricate one". I could, but at what cost to me. Simplex cabinet locks go for $50 or so.