Well after a year of waiting, my new Zanotti safe has finally arrived. I'll give you my brief thoughts and impressions on this safe here as I have seen several questions regarding them. Keep in mind that these modular safes are designed for a certain market, ie., those that need a safe that can be taken apart and reassembled at will or do not have the ability to move or house a regular welded one-piece safe. They are not lined with concrete or drywall so they only carry a fire rating of 20 minutes at 1,200 degrees. Since I do not have a bulkhead entryway into my basement and my doorways and hallways in the house are all too small to maneuver a full size safe, my only options were to buy a buttload of smaller safes or a modular safe. After doing my research, I decided to go with the Zanotti ZA-III 6' tall safe in the 52 gun configuration. I got the luxury interior upgrade (i.e., full carpeting around the interior), combination dial with key lock and golden rod dehumidifier with pistol pockets on the door. I had to order directly from them and have it shipped to me here in Rhode Island (They are located in Iowa). Due to high demand, they are now operating on a 12 to 14 month waiting period.
Installation:
The semi arrived and dropped off a 6' pallet with four boxes strapped down to it. Shipping weight was 925 pounds. The driver was nice enough to put the pallet into my garage as I waited for my friend to get off of work to help me install it.
Let me tell you, these pieces were flipping heavy! The door itself weighed in at 175 lbs. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the pieces in my doorway on a hand truck so each piece had to be carried by hand from the garage into the house and down a flight of stairs with a tight 90 degree turn at the bottom and then across the basement. Luckily I had plenty of beer on hand so I was able to keep bribing my friend to stay. It was about halfway through carrying all of the pieces downstairs did I fully realize just how old, weak and out of shape I am! Thankfully, carrying them down to the basement turned out to be the hardest part. Well...sort of. More on that later.
The installation was pretty easy and straightforward. All pieces are held together by large pins and the tolerance is very tight. Plop the floor down and then start adding 1 wall at a time. Once you have the 2 sides and back, flop the top on it, pin it down and now you're ready to try and manhandle the door onto its hinges. No blood or beer was spilled and only a couple f bombs were dropped. Overall, a pretty easy installation. I would say it took us probably about an hour to completely put it all together. Of course, we had to take a beer break and observe our work after each piece was installed!
The most time consuming part and the cause of 95% of all the "f" bombs that were hurled around that night was due to trying to figure out the bloody combination dial. About 1/3 of the entire time it took from start to finish was spent trying to figure that frickin' lock out! It turned out to be pretty simple but we struggled with trying to understand the instructions coupled with the fact that there are two different hash marks on the dial. Of course, keep in mind that numerous beers were being consumed during this installation, but there is no way that could have played a factor at all!
Thoughts:
Once the safe was installed and lag bolted down, there is no flippin' way she is being moved anywhere. You can't really see in the photos, but there is a partial wall nestled against the right side of the safe and a smaller locking cabinet for ammo is lag bolted down immediately to the left of it so you can really only assault it from the front where it is at its strongest. As I mentioned previously, the tolerances on the manufacturing of the pieces is very tight. There is no wiggle at all in the door or lock. All pieces fit extremely tight to either other. The seams overlap one another making a pry bar attack extremely difficult as well. I am impressed with the ability of the carpet lining to hold onto the pistol pockets. I've had safes before where the pistol pockets would start to sag or even fall off after a while. Obviously, it is too early to say if that will happen or not with this but I've never had the pockets hold so tightly before. I had to fight with them to rearrange them on the door. Only six came with the safe, however I'm sure I could have ordered more if I thought about it. I wish I did as I need quite a few more. One of the nice things with Zanotti safes is the additional room inside. Since they do not have the fireproofing in the walls, you gain some more room. Granted, it is not a ton but it is noticeable. I've found that my bolt action rifles and scoped rifles have a sizeable chunk of room around them so there is less smacking them against other rifles.
Overall, I am very impressed with this safe. Since I do foresee a couple more house moves in my future, I don't have to worry about hiring movers just to move my safe or stress about ensuring I have easy entry for my safe at my new house. The quality of the workmanship is very good. All the pieces are well cut and sized just right. Zanotti hand fits all the pieces and completely installs your safe at their shop to ensure all pieces fit properly. the interior also appears to be very well made and of quality materials. To the layman, you would never know that this is a modular safe and it provides an additional level of security by not letting your neighbors watch you man handle a giant 1,000 lb safe into your house. All they'll see are several nondescript boxes being carried in. I am pleased with this safe and it fits my needs perfectly. It will not fit everyone's needs but if you're considering a modular safe, then you won't go wrong with a Zanotti.
Installation:
The semi arrived and dropped off a 6' pallet with four boxes strapped down to it. Shipping weight was 925 pounds. The driver was nice enough to put the pallet into my garage as I waited for my friend to get off of work to help me install it.
Let me tell you, these pieces were flipping heavy! The door itself weighed in at 175 lbs. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the pieces in my doorway on a hand truck so each piece had to be carried by hand from the garage into the house and down a flight of stairs with a tight 90 degree turn at the bottom and then across the basement. Luckily I had plenty of beer on hand so I was able to keep bribing my friend to stay. It was about halfway through carrying all of the pieces downstairs did I fully realize just how old, weak and out of shape I am! Thankfully, carrying them down to the basement turned out to be the hardest part. Well...sort of. More on that later.
The installation was pretty easy and straightforward. All pieces are held together by large pins and the tolerance is very tight. Plop the floor down and then start adding 1 wall at a time. Once you have the 2 sides and back, flop the top on it, pin it down and now you're ready to try and manhandle the door onto its hinges. No blood or beer was spilled and only a couple f bombs were dropped. Overall, a pretty easy installation. I would say it took us probably about an hour to completely put it all together. Of course, we had to take a beer break and observe our work after each piece was installed!
The most time consuming part and the cause of 95% of all the "f" bombs that were hurled around that night was due to trying to figure out the bloody combination dial. About 1/3 of the entire time it took from start to finish was spent trying to figure that frickin' lock out! It turned out to be pretty simple but we struggled with trying to understand the instructions coupled with the fact that there are two different hash marks on the dial. Of course, keep in mind that numerous beers were being consumed during this installation, but there is no way that could have played a factor at all!
Thoughts:
Once the safe was installed and lag bolted down, there is no flippin' way she is being moved anywhere. You can't really see in the photos, but there is a partial wall nestled against the right side of the safe and a smaller locking cabinet for ammo is lag bolted down immediately to the left of it so you can really only assault it from the front where it is at its strongest. As I mentioned previously, the tolerances on the manufacturing of the pieces is very tight. There is no wiggle at all in the door or lock. All pieces fit extremely tight to either other. The seams overlap one another making a pry bar attack extremely difficult as well. I am impressed with the ability of the carpet lining to hold onto the pistol pockets. I've had safes before where the pistol pockets would start to sag or even fall off after a while. Obviously, it is too early to say if that will happen or not with this but I've never had the pockets hold so tightly before. I had to fight with them to rearrange them on the door. Only six came with the safe, however I'm sure I could have ordered more if I thought about it. I wish I did as I need quite a few more. One of the nice things with Zanotti safes is the additional room inside. Since they do not have the fireproofing in the walls, you gain some more room. Granted, it is not a ton but it is noticeable. I've found that my bolt action rifles and scoped rifles have a sizeable chunk of room around them so there is less smacking them against other rifles.
Overall, I am very impressed with this safe. Since I do foresee a couple more house moves in my future, I don't have to worry about hiring movers just to move my safe or stress about ensuring I have easy entry for my safe at my new house. The quality of the workmanship is very good. All the pieces are well cut and sized just right. Zanotti hand fits all the pieces and completely installs your safe at their shop to ensure all pieces fit properly. the interior also appears to be very well made and of quality materials. To the layman, you would never know that this is a modular safe and it provides an additional level of security by not letting your neighbors watch you man handle a giant 1,000 lb safe into your house. All they'll see are several nondescript boxes being carried in. I am pleased with this safe and it fits my needs perfectly. It will not fit everyone's needs but if you're considering a modular safe, then you won't go wrong with a Zanotti.
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