Whenever the question is asked concerning what you do with your carry piece when you have to enter a designated free-fire gun-free zone, there are always a few chest-thumpers out there who make it clear that dammit, they never go anywheres their sidepiece isn’t welcome. Well bully for freakin’ you. The fact remains that for the other 99% of us gun toters out there, the reality is we’re compelled to reluctantly leave our pistol behind from time to time. And while the glove box provides concealment, it doesn’t really give your unattended boomstick much protection. A screwdriver and about 1.5 seconds is all it will take to appropriate your Armscor or kidnap your Kahr. If you want to make a prospective pilferer’s job harder, a car safe seems a good way to go. Toward that end . . .
MKS Supply, Inc., Dayton, OH, August 2013 – SnapSafe Lockbox is an economical and handy solution for many personal security concerns. MKS Supply, LLC the marketer for SnapSafe announces a great little concept with big results.
Whether it is a firearm or other valuables sometimes they must be locked up and the means to do that is not always handy such as when at work, in your car, residence and hotel or even on an aircraft (SnapSafe meets TSA airline firearm guidelines).
It is at these times having a place to secure items can be tough, inconvenient and sometimes overly expensive.
SnapSafe is a 91/2″ x 61/2″ x 13/4″ all steel, key locked, heavy-duty overlap constructed pry resistant box with ½” memory-fitting foam liner. Constructed of tough 18-gauge steel the robust box has an attractive black powder coated finish. The locking mechanism is extremely robust and uses matched numbered keys for additional security.
SnapSafe comes with a forty-inch long 1,500 pound test rubber coated steel cable that allows the box to be temporarily or permanently attached to a sturdier object such as a car seat frame if desired. The back has holes for permanent attachment to a flat surface.
The idea of an economical highly-portable good looking tough as nails steel lock box to keep valuables or restricted items in makes excellent sense for many uses.
MSRP: $24.95
MKS Supply, LLC
8611-A North Dixie Drive
Dayton, OH 45414
937-454-0363
[email protected]
Hmmm, it’s not listed on their website… but it does look very similar to a GunVault NV200 NanoVault. You can buy those on Amazon.com for about the same price.
Is this a re-brand?
Beat me to it. Looks exactly like the nanovault in my nightstand.
I see zero diff, except my NanoVault has a combo lock for the same price.
Glad you mentioned that, g. I thought the same thing the moment I saw the pic/post.
Gun, money, bling and drugs.
That box has a party in it!
All it’s missing is some lawyers for the entire Warren Zevon experience
you rang?
Looks exactly klke my GunVault. I use it daily and offers a little piece of mind, but its not going to stop a determined thief.
Yea I have the same thing. I can help out the theif too with the flat bar and ballpene hammer in the trunk :-\
I got one two. I agree that it won’t stop the determined thief, but it will stop the smash and grab guy going for your change. I leave nothing out in the open in my vehicle. Zero temptation. No gun stickers or other identifiers on the outside.
Think of it as legal insurance – it meets the standards of a “locked, secure container” even in states like Illinois. Cheap, out of sight and easily accessed under your front seat, and relatively secured when you loop the cable around your front seat base. Not a gun vault by any stretch of the imagination, but it beats a glove compartment. Also, you can hide a few emergency twenties under the foam.
Any word on if the hinge is tamper-resistant? Typically, that I the weak point of this type of locker. Pop the hinge and you have a nice wide surface to pry open with easy to use handholds in the empty hinges.
I lost a Ruger Security Six to a glovebox screwdriver commando in San Antonio years ago. It is not a pleasant memory and I have often wondered what unfortunate illegal use may have been made of my purloined pistol. While in California I bolted a 7.62 ammo can between the seats of my pickup and added a padlock to the front. Same idea as this, but a little crude.
I bought a Stack-On for $24.99. Looks exactly the same so I looked at the hinge. The only way to pop the hinge is to bend the case metal. If you push the hinge out, on both side the hinge hits the case metal. It can’t be done with a screwdriver and a hammer. . . . you need real tools and a very good drill, a vise and plenty of time. How do I know? Two keys aren’t enough, sometimes you need three. . . .
I have three of these portable lock boxes in three different sizes (calling them “safes” is a stretch), and I like them a lot. They do add a level of security and some legal protection while satisfying TSA requirements and state law requirements as well.
I bought one of these a little while back, and it is handy and easy to use. Good price, too. Having managed a bicycle shop for a few years back in the eighties, though, I’m all too aware of how easy those cables are to cut. A unit like this will probably stop an impulse smash ‘n grab, but people who make a practice of taking other people’s belongings tend to keep tools like bolt cutters in their trunk. Unless the steel used to make security cables has improved beyond all recognition in the last thirty years a cable this size will hold out about as long as kite string.
If you’re going to use this sort of security, keeping a low profile about what’s in your car (boat, hovercraft, lunar module, whatever) is still the most important part of the program. You really don’t want a tooled up pro to decide that your vehicle is the one most likely to pay off. So – no NRA bumper sticker, no “protected by S&W” window decals, and you might want to think hard about who’s watching when you climb out of your truck all tricked out in tactical duds, gun brand cap, etc.
Life in the big city, eh?
Should I be worried about my Lunar Module? It’s parked on the Moon….
*Especially* if it’s parked on the moon. I mean, we earthlings have no idea what really goes on up there.
The place is full of loonies ….
I use a NanoVault in my motorcycle saddlebag. I Tether the cable to the sissy bar and run it under the saddlebag cover to the box inside. The black cable blends with my black seat and saddlebags making it disappear. Easily removable to use when rolling in wifey’s truck.
Lots of hiding places in my SUV. I just field strip my Glock and take the barrel with me. Glock puts the same serial number on the frame, slide and barrel. Gun’s no good without a barrel, replace the barrel and wont have matching serial numbers. Works for me, as well as no NRA stickers or Try and take it T-shirts.
You can buy a pocket sized cable cutter that will snip that cable in a few seconds
Yeah, I have the gunvault. Use it for both my side piece and my wallet and cell phone when situation warrants it. It won’t stop the well equipped thief, but everybody else will have a tough time.
I think the GunVault is 16 gauge steel, while this is 18. Not sure that that would make much of a difference–the weak point is the cable. The only way these safes, as convenient as they are, provide “real” security is if you bolt them down. The second weak point is the lock–there is a video of a guy showing how a key lock can be picked in seconds with the right tool. I think the only one he had trouble with was the barrel key type (but it has been a while since I saw the vid). And he also showed how to reset a biometric lock.
The video you’re thinking of is here: http://vimeo.com/31177302
I have a hard time believing that the cheap wafer lock in this thing would be described by anyone as “extremely robust.”
I’m with you Matt (see below). I’m not even a burglar but I can open the gun safes made like that box in under a minute with stuff that’s laying around. Much of it is made as security theater or to keeps kids and honest folks from peeking or gaining access.
Real physical security is expensive and heavy. . . and never comes with a cable lock! I almost can’t bash cable locks enough. You can almost talk one open. Many can be defeated by twisting them bare handed and even the best are pathetic. The allow WAY to much leverage with their length, never minding how easily they are cut. Some flat machine chain would be as light and handy and far harder to break/cut. I’ll never understand how cable locks became a thing.
Physical security is always about making them work harder and take longer, it’s never really burglar proof. That said, I have a Tanto that will cut most cable locks, they can be twisted past the breaking point with a tire iron and they are as much a joke with thieves as The Club. The box? sure thing, too much trouble for most auto burglars to deal with on the spot but that cable? It might actually be harder to break the window than the cable. Random crackheads are out against this thing but even smash and grab guys carry tools these days, add some chain to it and you’re back it it’s too much trouble to bother with.
This box could be handy from a legal standpoint for some peoples situation, or even as a safety device. As a burglary deterrent, it’s really not. Don’t carry more gun than your insurance will cover is my advice and the standard advice is to never carry a gun you’re sentimental about in the first place.
TTAG,
How about a T&E of the SnapSafe Lockbox, GunVault, Stack-On, and any of similar lockboxes? See how pry-resistant they are and how well the security cables perform?
Id volunteer to do the work. Im not a seasoned criminal but as a retired firefighter, Ive been trained to get in to almost anything. Anyone want to invest in the safes and a good camera for me?
I would volunteer to do the work too… I just can’t afford to go buy all of the lockboxes for the sole purpose of destroying them.
I used one of these “safes”, but lost both keys ( 2 different occasions) & needed to take it to a local locksmith to open it.
I cut the cable with ease & the locksmith eventually drilled the lock to open it. I’ve still got the box & could replace the lock,but I’ve learned that this type of lockbox would need to be bolted to something substantial to be secure. I’d rate it a 3 out of 5.
unless there is a checkpoint, they can blow their gun free zone out their ass.
I had a Gunvault Nano. The lock got jammed from… sitting in my bag, I guess. When I gave the dial a hearty twist, the locked snapped right off! It was still under warranty but I don’t want a security device that I can break with my bare hands.
Not sure that thing would take more than about 2 seconds with a properly sized screwdriver and some leverage either…
So what do you guys use in the car that you feel is more secure?
For now, I put it in the glove box and lock it as I am going to be hopefully trading in my car soon and don’t want to drill mounting holes. It is about the same level of security as this thing and it came free with the car. 18 gauge steel isn’t really that sturdy and neither are the cables that come with safes like this allowing them to just take the whole box and open it later if they want to. Ft. Knox makes a good auto box that has 10 gauge steel body that will hold up to attacks better. When it comes to handgun boxes, you get what you pay for.
I didn’t mention my vehicular security arrangement when I trashed the lock box the article was about earlier.
While I’d love to install a floorboard gun safe in my Tahoe it’s just not in the cards. What I have done is put a full size army issue footlocker in the back (where the third row of seats would be if I hadn’t removed them). It’s got about 100lbs of sand in it (perfect for getting out of an icy spot) and a padlock on the front.
Now, one could simply tear the thing apart with a pry bar or hammer, but it’s going to look mighty suspicious and you could just carry it off to work over later, except it’s huge and heavy. Either way to reach it in such a way as to go to work on it or lift it out you’d have to climb inside the back of the truck (SUV), which has an alarm. It’s not perfect but it was cheap and it not only stores a pistol for a bit it also holds some cleaning supplies, flares, jumper cables (and the aforementioned traction aid).
Vehicle break-ins aren’t real common here anyway but sometimes you just need a lock box. Mine was cheap (it was actually free, lock and all) and it’s handy all the time, not just when I need to lock something up. It’s a lot harder to pack off than a small box attached to the vehicle with nothing but dental floss but it does have a couple of pretty serious drawbacks. One, the sucker is really big, unless you have a larger SUV it’s pretty much a no go. The other is that it’s ballast is a gas eater. I get 15 highway 9 city with or without 100lbs of sand in the back but you’re millage may literally vary if you’re not driving something so heavy that the weight just isn’t statistically significant.
Over all, for all the crap that an SUV accumulates I strongly recommend it, but if you drive anything else it’s not really practical.
This article reads like the author is butt hurt about something. Did he lose a forum flame war or something?
Have a gunvault nano in my vehicle, Works good for keeping curious children at bay.
“The fact remains that for the other 99% of us gun toters out there, the reality is we’re compelled to reluctantly leave our pistol behind from time to time”
Sorry there, sally, I don’t think the proportions are quite 99/1. I’m gonna say 60/40 to 70/30.
I think most of us would rather be safe in the most dangerous places in the country, than passively bleat as we wander down the shoot to slaughter in the next school or theatre shooting.
No manner of satisfaction that you were in full compliance is going to sooth your journey through the pearly gates.
Why don’t you SACK UP there, sweetheart?
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