Will You Be Locked Out Of Your Gun Safe Forever?

By Man Talk Blog

Electromagnetic Bomb
Electromagnetic Bomb
Man Talk Blog
Man Talk Blog

Colorado –-(Ammoland.com)- If you have electric locks on anything such as your impenetrable firearm safe or anything of that nature consider this.

People are concerned about EMP (electronic magnetic pulse) weapons being detonated above our country.

Are they real? You bet they are and in the event of a nuclear strike they may be the first devices launched.

Working theory is that two or three big ones detonated above Nebraska (central U.S. location) would shut down the entire electric grid for many years (and they will) and EMP will also smoke nearly all things electronic and all modern circuitry that is not seriously EMP proofed.

Basically devices of this type could take our modern society instantly back to the mid-1700s or earlier.

Additional information suggest that if the effects are complete enough these devices through their destruction of all things electronic will result in something between 75-90 percent of our population dying of various causes within a year or so. Suddenly that non electronic 1954 Buick and other past-era vehicles and even your bicycle will become very high-tech–until they are taken from you by gangs, the military or law enforcement.

And don’ think your backup generator will fire up, and if it were to do so where are you going to get the pump gas when it runs dry-and how will you transport it if you could get it pumped by those electronic gas pumps?

This disaster list can just go on and on, so let’s back to the original premise of this for gun owners

Getting back to the theme of our little story.  If you have electronic locks on anything, they will be frozen and locked up tight as a wedge.  Now consider what kind of lock you may have on your firearm safe, if you have one–hummmmm?  If you have a Liberty, Winchester, Remington, Browning, Cannon, Colt, AMSEC, S&W, or whatever that has an electronic lock and an EMP event were to occur–what then?

You are locked out, period! 

Small stuff for one or two hand guns like Gun Vault you can defeat to open fairly easily, but the big stuff is another story.

We know of several folks in our area who have electronic safes and when informed of this potential SNAFU and after their eyes quit bugging out immediately contacted the company whose name is on the safe or that made or services their safe and got them refitting it with mechanical combination locks ASAP.

This conversion is a fairly easy conversion for most all brands since basically the doors are built the same and it is just the lock choice they install for the particular customer.

Cannon EMP Lock
Cannon Safe has already given this some though with their EMP Lock.

This is something for firearm safe owners (and your bank) to consider as the safes are made to keep bad guys out–and now may keep you out too.

So what do you think about this little bit of paranoia from us?

 

About the Man Talk Blog;
This is a guy blog and will cater to stuff we guys like such as food and drink (cigars too). We will talk about outdoor, hunting, fishing and survival and other interesting stuff (we hope). And of course guy toys which means cars, boats, guns, grills or whatever. Visit: www.mantalkblog.com

32 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Hank

Forget the BS 35 dollar charge from Winchester for your recovery. If your safe has the barrel key override, open your safe and remove the inside panel on the door. You will see a small motherboard with the comm. Wire and small output wire attached. You will notice a Second pin jack ot the board. Winchester doesn’t tell you that this jack is for a reset button that they don’t provide. With a small flat edge screwdriver or bent wire carefully touch the two pins in this jack. You will hear a single or double beep. You just reset your… Read more »

Last edited 2 years ago by Hank
Hank

Photo to go with Hank comment

Cynthia Hillis

How do get my safe unlocked

David tatum

So is there anyway possible to get into my winchester gun safe without the digital code or calling them i bought from my cousins mom when he passed and i dont want too damage either

Herb

any good locksmith should be able to open that barrel key safe . lost my key . shop had it open in seconds . This is a Northern cheap safe . If your lock has a hole in the center of the lock the lock smith can take the center pin out of the tool and open your safe .

Bill Gufford

I am looking for someone who has the external electronic battery box and bypass barrel key for a Patriot safe. I’ve gone through a 4 year long divorce. Judge said I can now recover my firearms and the safe but my ex did something with the bypass battery box and barrel key and the batteries are dead. I will verify who I am and where I am to your satisfaction. I will pay all of your expenses getting the battery bypass to me and FedEx the box back to you after I open my safe. I have over 40 firearms… Read more »

Kelley

You know you can get in that safe with an angle grinder in about 2 min

keith

Have an old browning gun safe its open and is made by S&b.I have now keys to bypass combo. trying to get a new lock to change it out or try to change combo. Any idea ? thanks. posted; 11/29/17

Thomas Evans

I have a gunsafe purchased from Gander mountain in 2007, can you tell me who made it? It looks like a Winchester, but does not have exterior hinges. It has a mechanical lock, and the problem is a lost combination. I flatlined in the hospital and have no memory of the combination or where I hid it! Thanks.

Jim Hedrick

looking for a manual or the name of the lock for a patriot safe

ricky

how can i get a key to my safe it a prosteel fire

Brad Suter

call me energy 1955 ,I have a Pro-Steel Browning Gun Safe,some how i lost the combination and i can’t remember it?
is there anyway i can get in that gun safe???
THANK YOU
BRADSUTER

Bud S

Contact your local locksmith

Black Turtle

Rick,I have my manual and and other paper work. If you need a copy I would be glad to get one to you. Susan, I will keep you in mind. I may talk to a tool maker I know to see if he can make one for me. Not having any luck any other way.

Rick Archer

Black Turtle, I’d love to get a copy of the manual sent to me. Any idea how to do that on here without me broadcasting my email address? Also, would pics of my keys help a locksmith for the both of you?

Susan

Rick, yes pics of the key would certainly help. I would be willing to give you an email address to send it to. Black Turtle, I am going to set up a separate email for this. It’s just an idea if you hadn’t thought about it so as not to reveal my personal email here on this forum

Rick Archer

Black Turtle, can you send a copy of the manual to [email protected] please.

To you and Susan, I will take pics of both keys tomorrow, front and back. I hope it will help some way. Please let me know where to send them.

Black Turtle

Rick,tried to email the insructions to you but mail got rejected / flag said address incorrect. I get this a lot lately with my new virus program. I can send the info to you general deliivery to a post office.

Susan

I thought I posted this but will you send me a copy of the manual also? [email protected] – Thank you!

Susan DeLeGal

I keep posted comments and they are not showing…. weird. I am not sure now about the “M” That is what is on the key hole on the safe. If you would, would you guys send me a copy of the manual and pictures to [email protected]

Larry

I lost one set of my keys to my Patriot safe, did any of you have any luck getting new spares?

Nathan Smith

Hi, I have a warrior safe by Patriot safe and my electronic keypad just stopped working. I have tried replacing the battery and can’t even get the keypad to turn on. I have a manual key but can’t find where to use the key to open the safe. For some reason, I can’t find my manual or anything online about it. Even when I use the serial number for the safe. Does anyone have any photos or a manual that could help me out? Any help would be much appreciated. [email protected]

Thanks!

Susan

Black Turtle….anybody! Please let me know if you find out about a key for Patriot safe. I need that key – mine has an “m” on it.

Black Turtle

where and how can you got a key made for a Patriot Gun Safe? There is a key pad for a pass code but you still need a key to unlock the handle. There is a barrel key also that over rides the key pad but you still the flat key to complete the unlocking process. The key looks as if it was laser cut and has 5 small dots on the center ridge. That is the key that I need. I have a spare but do not want to chance losing it also? Patriot seems to have going out… Read more »

Rick Archer

Michael Proctor is a name I dealt with when I bought my 1880 safe from them. Don’t know if trying to find him would be helpful. There might be bankruptcy filings in CA that could help track down information on key serial numbers and other customer information. I have both of my keys. They both have numbers on them. Different numbers. Susan, when you say yours has an m on it I’m not sure what that means? Hopefully for others it means “master” key. And are you talking about the main lock key? I am willing to help in anyway… Read more »

Susan

Rick, Yes, I am talking about the main key. The lock on the safe itself has an ‘M’ on it. I did see Patriot was out of business as are the other company or two that folks dealt with after they closed. If they filed bankruptcy I did not think that the court might could help….. I do not have a copy of the manual. The only thing I have is a couple of papers with drawings on it about where to put the keys in and about the key pad. My husband purchased it before he died and I… Read more »

Charlie

Maybe its just my luck but i have changed out 10 times more mechanical locks than electronic. The pins in the lock have a life span and regular use of the combination dial speeds up that process. The sad truth is, if its a reasonably priced safe, the locking mechanism is going to be cheapy made no matter if its electronic or mechanical. Forget your combination on a mechanical, your calling me to drill it open. On a electronic safe, take out the battery for 30 days and it resets to factory defaults, but you can pay me to open… Read more »

Steve

I have a Cannon safe with a mechanical combination lock. I have not been able to open it using the combination. I called customer service and they advised me the combination pins only last a couple of years and then they start to stick together. I finally got it open by trial and error of using numbers on each side of my original 3. Cannon was of no help and basically told me that is common for their locks to fail like that. They offered no warranty or replacement lock for me. I have a $700 dollar “Unsafe” because I’m… Read more »

Bob

Forget EMP. The bigger issue is failure of the electronic lock.

I just returned a gun safe from Costco that did not have a key backup. It was powered by a 9 volt battery. I placed the guns in the safe and locked it. When I started to unlock it the keypad went dead. I was able to wiggle the battery cable enough to remake the connection to the pad and unlock the safe. After that final time, the connection was permanently failed.

I wll only consider a safe with a mechanical backup.

James W

Utter garbage, a battery powered luck attached to a large metal box would be virtually impervious to EMP. This ‘article’ is nothing but a pile of conjecture and BS.

Earnán M

An EMP event is extremely unlikely to affect somethting like a gun-safe’s electronic lock, since the lock is neither connected to the power grid nor does it contain long lengths of wire that would act as an antenna to capture the radiated electromagnetic pulse. This is silly marketing, nothing more. And as Mike points out above, most electronic safes have a mechanical over-ride. Which is not a point in their favor: that mechanical over-ride makes the safe’s locking mechanism no more secure than the cheap pickable or drillable lock core used in the mechanical over-ride. Might as well save yourself… Read more »

Mike Hedgepath

Most electronic safes have a mechanical key release system in case of power failure.