Liberty Safe Fatboy Jr.
It seems like the big box sporting goods stores like Cabelas, Dick’s Sporting Goods and even Fleet Farm is getting into the safe business. It is no longer just a small locksmith shop where you get keys made and can buy a safe. While I am sad to see the small businessman (the locksmith) go out of business, I am excited to see more distribution of the various manufactures of gun safes.
Gander Mountain has an “end of season blowout” sale going on right now. It runs December 26-January 4 (2012). You can purchase the Liberty Fatboy Jr. for $999. Their ad says this is a $300 savings ($100 of that comes in the form of a Gander Mountain mail-in rebate). The Liberty Safe website is still advertising the Fatboy Jr at $1399. So are there any gotchas on this?
The Fatboy Jr is a 48 gun safe that sports a 45 minute fire rating at 1200 degrees. Its bigger brother (without the JR) has the same size, but is 60 minutes. Triple case hardened steel plates protect all sections against drill attack. It has been awarded UL Residential Security Container burglary classification, which means that this is a high security safe. The uni-body construction features a door that is 5″ thick with 1″ of fire-resistant materials. The body is made of 12 gauge steel that is 3/4″ thick with 3 layers in the ceiling and door and 2 in the walls and door jambs to make a drill attack much slower.
Liberty Safes gives the Fatboy Jr. a lifetime warranty for any safe that was in a fire or involved in a burglary. They will give you free parts and labor at your home or business to open the safe door, remove the contents, and have the damaged safe removed. You get free delivery and installation of a new safe, including the option to upgrade your safe to a better model. This warranty is transferable if you sell the safe.
I went out to the Liberty Safes website and walked through their “which safe is best for you” tour. I said I was looking for a moderately secure safe with less than 10 long guns and room to store other documents and valuables. While they did recommend their newer models like the Colonial and Franklin, they also recommended the Fatboy. This is their older models and they have not put them under the Colonial model line. The specifications were the same as the one at Gander Mountain. While the Liberty Safe website said free deliver, once you get to checkout, the closest dealer to me was 161 miles away, which disqualified me for delivery. At that point, why would I pay $1399 on their site when I can drive 15 minutes to Gander Mountain and simply pick it up.
If you have the need for a high security safe that is really large, the Fatboy Jr at $999 from Gander Mountain would be a great buy.