# Batteries



## MLB (Oct 4, 2006)

The grips I made for the ppk were getting a little loose. There's only one screw that goes from one side to the other, and the grips recess into the frame to keep them steady. Over time, and less than stellar fit to begin with, they've worn and I was bugged enough to fix it.

Rather than fashion a new set, I decided to coat the grip frame in vasoline, and place 2 part epoxy on the inside of the grips to provide a perfect recess into the frame. It worked great. The panels popped off of the frame after a couple of days and they are rock solid when tightened down. I just had to trim down the excess a bit to ensure the magazine still dropped free.

This is where the batteries come in. I've had my current gun safe for about 6 or 7 years I think. It has a keypad combo to unlock, and it runs on (4) AA batteries with a key backup. It's been flawless - except for last night when I went to get the Walther out of the safe to finish the grip fitting. I pushed the first digit and it froze. Just dead batteries, fixed it with a new set, but it occurred to me that should I need to get into that safe in a hurry, that would have been the end of that. I'd be bringing a knife to a gunfight.

I'm sure everyone changes out their smoke detector batteries, but if you have a battery powered safe, perhaps changing those out more often than every 6-7 years is in order too.


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## njmike (Jul 28, 2012)

MLB said:


> The grips I made for the ppk were getting a little loose. There's only one screw that goes from one side to the other, and the grips recess into the frame to keep them steady. Over time, and less than stellar fit to begin with, they've worn and I was bugged enough to fix it.
> 
> Rather than fashion a new set, I decided to coat the grip frame in vasoline, and place 2 part epoxy on the inside of the grips to provide a perfect recess into the frame. It worked great. The panels popped off of the frame after a couple of days and they are rock solid when tightened down. I just had to trim down the excess a bit to ensure the magazine still dropped free.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info. I'm getting my safe tomorrow and it has the same set up as you describe.


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## Charlie (May 13, 2006)

I have a dial safe. No batteries. Believe it or not, it takes less than a minute to get into it. Usually 30 seconds or less.

Edit to add: Nothing wrong with a battery powered lock, just convenient not to have to worry about batteries.


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## beretta9mm (Feb 13, 2012)

Good thing to remember, my Batteries are on the inside of my safe.


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## chessail77 (Mar 15, 2011)

Good info...thanks


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## TedDeBearFrmHell (Jul 1, 2011)

a friend of mine has a battery operated pistol box... has grooves for your fingertips and buttons to push ...on the side there is a place for a 9volt battery to be touched , incase the internal batteries die, you can open it ...also has a barrel lock to open it if the batteries go bad...

so one day his pistol safe starts making this god awful scream.... the alarm went off with no one in the room. we notice that the 3 boxes of ammo on top of the safe have been pushing the buttons, causing the alarm and draining the batteries. 

the key, yep...in the safe.... the 9volt...yep, doesnt work till the batteries are totally dead.... solution found online was to DROP the pistol safe flat into a hard surface. so we took it to the driveway, dropped it flat and the alarm stopped. took the 9volt and touched it to the lil nubs and the door popped open. inside the battery rack that connected to the internal top of the safe had broken, spilling all the batteries.... 

so he found out that 
1) ammo doesnt know the combo to his safe and will keep trying till it drains the batteries
2) dont keep the safe key inside the safe
3) any idiot with a driveway and a 9volt battery can get into his pistol safe

he dumped the thing.


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