Glock 21SF in a Gun Vault??

[jodaanja]

Hi all. I'm using my new 21SF for CC and home defense. Problem is, I have 4 young children, and sometimes they take it apon themselves to come into my bedroom and play around, or get in bed with the wife and I if they have a nightmare or something. For this reason, I can't just leave the 21SF laying on the nightstand. I've been locking it in my large gun safe which is in the bedroom. Even though it is key operated, it still takes far too long to get up out of bed, retrieve the key from it's hiding place, open the safe, and remove the 21SF, in the event of an intruder. Has anyone tried one of those small Gun Vault handgun safes with the four finger indentations? Are they secure enough to keep youngsters out? Can you open then quickly in a high stress situation? Your thoughts please.

[PsuMason]

Yes, they are quite nice. I have a variant of the 4 finger one hanging securely at about 5 feet above the ground in my closet. I can get to it, open it in about 10 seconds or so.

[Blue Duck]

Really sounds like your only reasonable option. Practice, Practice, Practice, with it if you get it....

[walkin' trails]

I don't have one, but I have read that they are rated pretty high. I suppose that if your combination was pretty unsophisticated, then there might be a chance a child could accidently get it open. Its still a mechanical device.

Incidentally, depending on the age of your children, it might be a good idea to begin gun proofing them. My sons were probably a year and a half old respectively when they started showing an interest in my guns. I started them out from that age by drilling them on concepts and fundametals of gun safety. Don't expect a two year old to demonstrate much gun safety, but it gets them started thinking. They'll eventually understand that that they must ask first before handling a firearm, to recognize whether or not a gun is loaded or clear, not to point it at people, and to keep their fingers off the trigger.

When my sons each turned three, we had a trip to the range, just like my dad did with me. Under close supervision with a J-frame S&W, somewhat stout ammo, and a plastic jug or two filled with water, they get to experience the effects of a gun going off in their hands. The water jug is also good for demonstrating how much damage a bullet can do. The jug doesn't have to be more than four or five feet away. Its probably good if you only load one round at a time and "guide" them through the process. Don't be concerned with teaching marksmanship fundamentals at that time. Those can come later when they are six or eight or ten or what ever age you deem fit and you've got them a decent .22 for training.

In addition, get a hold of the NRA's Eddie Eagle video. It is directed at your kids. It preaches four principles that no one except for the usual line-up of anti-gun liberals and their evil agenda could find fault with: Stop! Don't Touch! Leave the area! Tell an adult!

Of course, none of the above is a good excuse for leaving a firearm, any firearm laying around unattended. But as I said, it educates them and gets them thinking. It also passes good gun handling practices down to the next generation. Its also good father and son (or daughter) time, and has probably had as much to do with pushing down the rate of firearms accidents as gun locks and such.

There was a news program a few years ago that showed a study on kids and guns. They took two groups of kids. The kids in one group were from homes that had guns. The other group were from homes whose parents abhorded firearms and all things associated with them. The study took place at a day care center. Numerous non firing handguns were hidden in among the toys. The first group, the pro-gun kids were brough it. For the most part, when they came across a gun, they knew something wasn't right, stopped, and went looking for an adult. The disadvantaged children had their turn. When they found guns, they were more inclined to play with them because there were no adults in the room and they figured they had a chance to satisfy their curiosity.

Keep your guns secure, but find a way that is comfortable for you to teach them to approach firearms with respect.

[B+Shooter]

There is a new Gun Vault that uses a biometric fingerprint scan to open the door. That lessens the chance of someone figuring out the combo, as well as speeding up the process of removing the pistol.

You might want to do some research first and make sure that the system is reliable. One vault malfunction when you need it most would be catastrophic.

[B+Shooter]

A hollowed out book in the nightstand might work while they're still young.

[Glocknarc]

I bought the GunVault a few years ago for the same reason you started this thread. I have two young girls (now 4 and 1) and kept my pistol in between the mattresses. I then started getting scared after hearing horror stories and decided I needed to "make them safe". I bought the GunVault and have it in the open part in my night stand. It is more for child protection than someone stealing my guns. The neat thing is that it will give you a warning if someone has tried your code and failed. I have only had to get on to my 4 year old once for this. She now leaves it alone. It is extremely quick to get to at night, and you can program it not to "beep" when you push the buttons. It also has a key backup in case Murphy gets ahold of your batteries. I highly recommend them to child proof your house, while still keeping your guns at the ready.

[jodaanja]

Thank you to Walkin' Trails and the others who responded for the great advice. I think I will go out and get a Gun Vault handgun safe as soon as I can spare the cash.

I have an 11 year old daughter who couldn't care less about my guns, even though I try to get her interested on a regular basis. I have 2 year old twin boys who are JUST starting to be curious about my guns, and a four year old son who has his own single shot bolt action .22LR, and shoots it pretty well for a four year old. Of course he only shoots it under EXTREMELY close supervision....in other words, I always have my hand holding onto the gun when ever he is holding it, even when he fires it. Sometimes I will clear the rifle, and let him hold it by himself, and work on his firearms saftey, ie. Muzzle pointed in a safe direction, finger out of the trigger guard, etc. He is doing really well with remembering his rules, and almost as well practicing them. That being said, The twins would jump at the chance to give the G21SF a good inspection. So I think the Gun Vault is the only way to go. Thanks again for the comments.

[eazyrhino]

I purchased a deluxe model about 3 months ago & I think it's perfect. I had a larger safe, for other things, but I wanted one strictly for my Glock 17. The sliding top shelf holds 3 33 round magazines and 4 17 round magazines. Bottom shelf holds the gun itself, 2 100 round boxes of ammo, a box of Surefire batteries, and a Surefire flashlight. I got flamed on here for what I am about to tell you...but my main safe sits inside my closet & I wanted my gun vault to sit on top of it. So the way I mounted it was with 3M industrial strength two sided tape. (The flame was that that wasn't a good way to secure it.) But au contraire mon frere, I've used this stuff before. I took a wrecking bar & taped the tip of it as not to mar or dent my box. I could not budge it loose. Me & a friend also tried to lift it off the main safe by pulling the gun vault at the same time, but only ended up just lifting my 75 lb safe off the ground. Granted, if I put 15 minutes worth of work into prying it with a crow bar & didn't care about damaging my box, I could have gotten it off. My clothes rack actually hides everything. When the day comes that I want to detach my gun vault from my main safe, I'll use some sort of solvent. So as to not damage either safe. My bedroom is upstairs on the second floor. It would take at least two men to get this safe out of my house. So I am pretty confident in this technique. Oh yeah, and as far as a little kid figuring out your combination code that you put in, it's highly unlikely. I've got the nosiest teenage boy you've ever met & the way I have mine coded in, I don't see the likelihood of it ever being figured out. I guess anything is possible though. But I feel confident that I've taken all of the precautions necessary to keep my home safe. I also keep the gun vault safe in my main safe, which is a rotary dial analog wheel type safe. My wife & I are the only ones that know the code to both safes. Oh one more thing, like I said earlier the way I have the gun vault mounted to my top main safe, it actually looks like a single unit. Most people not in the knowing would assume it's bolted.
Hope this helps. Here's a pic.

[Marauder.45]

http://www.sportco.com/productcart/pc/viewContent.asp?idpage=28&gclid=COzQ1vW08IoCFQp1UAodrR88Ag

I have the Gunvault Bio. Couldn't reccommend it more. My daughter is just getting old enough to pick up the nightstand gun. The first 2 prints are administrator prints, (you/wife) and then you have 28 more. I did most of my fingers. If you are familiar with the Gunvault series, and approve of it. The Bio is a great step up. Check it out. It was $294 to my door. I haven't been in a high stress situation yet, but the unit is as simple as put finger on reader, push button, and 1 sec later it's open.

[eazyrhino]

Sorry - meant to say that I keep the key to the gun vault in my main safe. BTW, I did quite a bit of research on other vaults as well & the rest were pretty cheesy. It is a great little safe. Sorry for my aforementioned screw up.
Here's another pic.

[Giggity-Giggity]

I have the MiniVault under my bedside and it just takes seconds to open. The best thing is that you can recode the finger combination; the worst thing about it is that it's not fireproof.

Make sure you have a lot of AA batteries lying around. It takes...I think...8 batteries. But also has the rounded key option.

[Marauder.45]

Guvault Bio takes 1 9volt. Says it's good for 3000 openings. Also has ac adapter to plug in.

[BustedFlush]

Originally posted by Marauder.45
http://www.sportco.com/productcart/pc/viewContent.asp?idpage=28&gclid=COzQ1vW08IoCFQp1UAodrR88Ag

I have the Gunvault Bio. Couldn't reccommend it more. My daughter is just getting old enough to pick up the nightstand gun. The first 2 prints are administrator prints, (you/wife) and then you have 28 more. I did most of my fingers. If you are familiar with the Gunvault series, and approve of it. The Bio is a great step up. Check it out. It was $294 to my door. I haven't been in a high stress situation yet, but the unit is as simple as put finger on reader, push button, and 1 sec later it's open. Interesting product. Please confirm what kind of batteries it uses. The link you posted says 8 AA, but this page I found says a 9 volt. I got there by starting at GunVault.com.

http://superpageshosting.com/gunvaultcom/gunvaultmultivaultbiometric/

Is the link you posted the company you got yours from?

[Marauder.45]

See above. 9v.

I linked the place I bought mine. MSRP is over $450 I think. $294 to my door is a pretty sweet deal IMO

[iparent]

i bought one of the 4 button 2 pistol safes because i have a 7 year old sister who loves her older brother.. the safe is just sitting under my desk and has a few papers and stuff on top of it.. my sister doesn't even look twice at it,
once i get my own house i'll bolt it to the floor, but right now i'm not too worried about it

p.s. the combination is almost as easy as 1-2-3-4 what are the chances that someone will be playing with the combination long enough to even guess it?

[BustedFlush]

Originally posted by Marauder.45
See above. 9v.

I linked the place I bought mine. MSRP is over $450 I think. $294 to my door is a pretty sweet deal IMO Thanks for info.

Is it 100% reliable?

Have you tried it with sweaty hands or dirty hands for instance?

[dhoomonyou]

Gun proof your kids.
Keep the pistol ISRAELI style, nothing in the chamber.

[Marauder.45]

The design of the reader makes it so that if you push your finger all the way down to the bottom of the hole, your finger will always line up in the same place. As long as you do that, it's been 100%. I did get it to not open by futzing with my finger position.

I've tried wet hands after handwashing. Good to go.
I've tried sticky after a PBJ. Good to go. Make sure to wipe after.
I've tried after applying handlotion. Good to go.



I've been asked this once before. And I thought about it more since then. If you are in bed, and something happens but you stay asleep, then you get stabbed a bunch and bleed all over your hands, it's too late to get the gun out anyway.

[BustedFlush]

Originally posted by Marauder.45
The design of the reader makes it so that if you push your finger all the way down to the bottom of the hole, your finger will always line up in the same place. As long as you do that, it's been 100%. I did get it to not open by futzing with my finger position.

I've tried wet hands after handwashing. Good to go.
I've tried sticky after a PBJ. Good to go. Make sure to wipe after.
I've tried after applying handlotion. Good to go.



I've been asked this once before. And I thought about it more since then. If you are in bed, and something happens but you stay asleep, then you get stabbed a bunch and bleed all over your hands, it's too late to get the gun out anyway. Thanks for the additional info. Sounds pretty good.

[revance]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I was just checking to see if anyone else has opinions or recommendations on the gunvaults.

My wife wants one with a tamper indicator, which is what caught my eye on these. I am trying to decide between the regular one and the biometric.

Anyone know how many features are compared for each fingerprint and what the probability is of a false positive/negative?

I like the idea of the biometric because of its quick access and if I had the regular one I would probably end up with the code being 1-2-3-4-5-6 or something equally stupid to make access quick.

I am still slightly concerned about the reliability of the biometric version. While all my fingerprint scanner experiences have been with cheap scanners (swipe kind), they don't boost my confidence.

[chewybaca67]

I got my girlfriend a gunvault safe. She keeps her gun in it, but I have to keep checking where it is at from time to time. She had it on a very inconvinient side of the bed that would make it quite hard to get to. Now we're trying to find a decent/adequate end table to mount it on so she won't have to go to the floor to open it. Also, when my 7 year old sonny boy is with me on most weekends, I'll have my G-22 or G-35 handy, maybe even my XD 45ACP Tac, but do not have it chambered. He isn't strong enough to retract the slide and has a healthy respect for daddy's guns. I also have the Big Safe in the closet but lucky I just have to punch in the code and shazaam. It's good to see someone exercizing cuation around our little people.:thumbsup:

[Marauder.45]

According to the printed material in the safe.

500dpi optical sensor
Verification time <.8s
Template capacity 30 prints
FRR <.1% (False reject rate)
FAR <.0001% (False accept rate)

[matteblack]

I had one for 5 years and it worked fine until one day after tapped in the combo the door did not open. The cable broke and I had to find the key to open it. It was done.

Turns out someone else manufactures them now. I went ahead and bought another one.

MAke sure you know where the manual key is located in the event that yours fails.

Responsible choice, I too bought it when I became a father.

MB:thumbsup: