liberty gunsafe owners beware

[funshootin1 10]

I make my living opening safes, commercial and residential, also all forms of locksmithing. today was a nightmare. this will be the third liberty safe Ive had to open due to lock falure. Liberty safes are great, and can be a real bitch if some hack locksmith has been there before you drillin holes and tripping relockers. the problem is the sargent and greenleaf lock, the model in question is thier Pulsetronic model safe lock, its an electronic pushbutton deal found on some models of liberty safes, save yourself the headache and swap it out. again the safes themselves are top notch and very well made, they are fire resistant(good rating) and have a ul B rating, good stuff, internal and external relockers,ball bearing hardplate over the lock case, good hinges, boltwork ect. but those pulsetronic locks are unreliable. It only has to fail once and then your screwed. look into a mas hamilton or even s+g standard electronic lock with wires going thru the door from the dial/keypad.

[yakdung 2,926]

I saw a video of a Liberty Centurion safe breached in less than 15 minutes by two men using long crowbars. Scary.

 

 

Yakdung

[chevyman097 2,579]

 

 

[funshootin1 10]

you get what you pay for in a safe, they are built to a price point, most home owners arent willing to shell out for a tool rated unit but I saw a schwab double door tr tl 60 x 6 opened in 2.5 minutes with nothing more than a hammer drill, big long 3/8 punch and a five lb sledge. that safe is ul listed tool resistant for 60 min on all 6 sides! go figure.

[Snoofer 138]

...big long 3/8 punch and a five lb sledge. that safe is ul listed tool resistant for 60 min on all 6 sides! go figure.

 

i used to work at the ul in illinois in the automotive dept. the lab right next to my shop was where the safe crackers worked. i used to watch them all the time, cool stuff. they could get in to anything if they had enough time. is that model lock you posted about found only on liberty safes?

[Cobra 76 two 2,677]

I knew there was some reason I preferred the old school type combination lock.

 

 

At least I hope....

 

Any problems been related to this kind of lock? (Other than having to lock it with a key too if there are kids around...)

[22_Shooter 1,560]

Graffunder FTW!

 

[Azrial 1,091]

I would never confirm or deny what model safe I had at my home, specially if my location was fairly well known...

 

However, in 24 years of policing the only safe I ever saw successfully breached at a residential home belonged to a precious stones merchant that worked out of his house. He had had some newly met "buyers" there the day before and they suddenly no longer answered the Tract phone number that they had given him. The thieves had arrived apparenly knowing that he had a safe and with all the tools that they needed to breach his particular model.

[BpS12 512]

Well, pretty much anything is only as good as the theives ARN'T. But something is better than nothing.

 

Thanks for the heads up Funshootin1. I've been looking to buy my kids a new safe, and every little bit of info helps.

Edited December 31, 2009 by BpS12

[funshootin1 10]

got it open today, who hoo ! took about an hour, ball bearing hardplate is fun. this was NOT a centurion model (low end model) this was a 2500, b rate 2.5 hr fire rated unit, (one of liberties nicer cabelas ones). our new hire fubared the job from the get go, our manager made a bad call sending him without a helper (nanny) and even sending him on this unit not knowing if he could do it (he was asked to be honest and tell us if he wasnt comfortable with it, off the record). being in the business 30 years doesnt make you good. this customer was a super nice guy, ex nj trooper, ex army ranger and very skilled mechanically and it seemed like he was unimpressed with our guy, nothing worse than trying to save face on a job that should have gone smooth. upon opening and removing the inspection panel I saw why it was a problem and both relockers were tripped. hack boy was wailing on the lock case and cover with a screwdriver. all is well now. as far as the lock goes, COBRA, your good to go. mechanical is still the way to go in my eyes. laguard, s+g , even kaba/ilco are all decent. if you ever start having issues with dailing or something feels diffrent or it takes 3 or 4 tries to get it open that indicates some wear, or a dragging wheel or wheels, address them immediately. dont wait for the problem to get worse, its such an easy fix when the damn door is OPEN. the moral of the OP is that particular lock is trouble (the pulsetronic by sargent and greenleaf) for some reason its encountered alot on liberty brand (maybe a bad production run all delivered to them) my suggestion is to toss it for a manual or another electronic unit if it gives you the slightest issue. AZRIAL ive had the same experience,one time I saw a cash safe top cut open with an oxy/acet. torch, first they drilled a hole top big enough to get a small tube in then started filling with water to get the contents wet enough not to burn then torched a big enough hole to pull out the wet loot. the only other ones ive seen on site breached are sentrys or some crappy version of, those you could open with a screwdriver.