MartinHewitt's Safe Chronicles

[MartinHewitt]

The original levers have now been replaced by the levers from a new cawi 1387 without any problem.

[MartinHewitt]

The lock model in the safe is a cawi 2417 from 1991-95.

[MartinHewitt]

Tomorrow I am at my second safe. An inherited safe with key and combination. After the death of the owner the safe was used just with the key and an unlocked combination until one day the owner played with the dial. The owner has an idea what the combination could be. Please wish me luck that this isn't the combination.

[madsamurai]

Please wish me luck that this isn't the combination.

I like the way you think! Good luck!

[MartinHewitt]

Well. I dialled the possible combination and the safe was open. It seems he just made an error when dialing it. The key lock was again this type of lock from cawi. but with the newer steel levers like the 1387 and the combination lock was indeed a 3330. As I not really had to open it I have no photos for you.

[MartinHewitt]

Got a notice that the safe of a friend of a colleague can be opened because the electronic lock was not working and the key was lost. My colleague said he will bring the safe to the office. I got suspicious, but I was told that the lock was for a double bitted key. Today he brought the safe to my office and send a photo: potato safe. I sent my colleague a link to a youtube video. Maybe he already opened it, but in any case I will not count this box as no. 2 and you will not get photos of me smacking it.

[MartinHewitt]

No. 2

A gun safe with single sheet walls where the keys had been lost while moving. As we have no AR-15s in German gun safes this is ok. This safe was apparently sold with with different key locks: STUV 4.19.92, dormakaba Mauer President and cawi Optima 2648. From the description of the bow I had expected the lock to be a simple STUV, which would be right a such a simple cabinet. Luckily it was the cawi, so I had more fun. The bitting was IMHO nasty. I got it open after a bit over two hours. Switched lock to a 2648 with available keys and it is now again in use.

[Oldfast]

Nice! Another one goes down

[MartinHewitt]

Btb. this is the lock: http://wiki.koksa.org/Cawi_Optima_2648

One of the most difficult class A locks I have seen.

[Deadbolt]

No. 2

A gun safe with single sheet walls where the keys had been lost while moving. As we have no AR-15s in German gun safes this is ok. This safe was apparently sold with with different key locks: STUV 4.19.92, dormakaba Mauer President and cawi Optima 2648. From the description of the bow I had expected the lock to be a simple STUV, which would be right a such a simple cabinet. Luckily it was the cawi, so I had more fun. The bitting was IMHO nasty. I got it open after a bit over two hours. Switched lock to a 2648 with available keys and it is now again in use.

But you DO have AR-15s in Germany, as we (and I ) have in Norway. Those weapons are legal for IPSC competitive shooting. Safes like the one pictured have relative thick metal walls and are approved , as opposed to the typical american gunsafes that are not.

DvC

[MartinHewitt]

No. 2 is only a 3mm mild steel sheet cabinet. It was allowed to buy such a cabinet for rifle storage until a few years ago. Now you can continue to use it if you bought it before. New safes must be rated at least EN1143 grade 0/N or grade I. This change in the law makes ownership of an old cabinet quite valuable because it is easily movable and doesn't require a special floor to carry its weight. This is the reason why the lock had to be picked.

I am not an expert with private gun owner ship in Germany, but ... Most gun owners are not allowed to own military style semi-automatic rifles, i.e. target shooters and hunters. For target shooters it can be also quite difficult to get semi-automatic pistols. Hunters don't get them. Former soldiers can participate in military shooting and are then allowed to own military style semi-automatic rifles. For IPSC I am not sure. Two colleagues do IPSC, but only with semi-automatic pistols. So I assume that for IPSC you can't get a semi-automatic rifle.

[Deadbolt]

As they do host level 3 German Rifle Championships each year in rifle semi-auto classes, I will say they are legal in Germany. Also, German Oberland Arms manufacture high-end AR-15 for the civilian market.

If a gun cabinet is approved for weapons, it will also be approved for semi auto rifles, including the AR-15. A spesific gunsafe for an AR15 does'nt seem plausible to me.

[MartinHewitt]

There is no special AR-15 gun safe regulation. The laws distinguish between storing pistols and rifles (short and long arms?), but not between simple small caliber hunting rifle and AR-15 style. I believe the storing rules are more strict for short arms.

Perhaps the shooting club(s) here do not offer the possibility to do AR-15 style IPSC. I have three colleagues with guns. Two have AR-15 style rifles because they are former soldiers doing shooting at the military and two do IPSC in different clubs with pistols.

[safecracker33]

The original wall safe with the cawi lock and three way boltwork reminds me of the Chubb Milner range, but they would normally have been badged up as such. But it is probable that they were sourced from another manufacturer and badged up as Chubb Milner.

[MartinHewitt]

The original wall safe with the cawi lock and three way boltwork reminds me of the Chubb Milner range, but they would normally have been badged up as such. But it is probable that they were sourced from another manufacturer and badged up as Chubb Milner.

In Kevin Richards' book is a safe of identical construction under the name of "Omega Beta", which really also doesn't sound like the manufacturer. The label on the inside of the door is in German, but no safe specific information can be read.