What gun safe should i buy

Better quality gun safes have higher of B Rated, U. TL Tool Resistant and U. TL ratings. We have many customers that come to us wanting to protect a wide range of items, from Jewelry, Guns, Precious Metal, Baseball cards, Paper Money ,Important documents and other high value items. For these customers we would recommend a well built composite or a BF rated safe or greater. We have provided the following industry guidelines for content value of the various levels of security that a safe can provide.

These values are generally used for businesses for insurance purposes but are a good guideline for different levels of protection. Contact your insurance company for specific limitations. Please be aware that these ratings are subjective , some import safes that say they are TL rated are not and will not provide you with the level of protection that are indicated by the ratings listed.

How do you know? Call us for more information. Hidden safes and Wall safes are generally not a good place to store high value items. The best protection that a Wall safe provides is concealment. Just by design a wall safe is attached to the studs in the wall and can be easily cut or pried out of the wall. The only fire protection that they provide is limited to the sheetrock in the wall. If you have items to store for a brief period of time or just have items to keep out of the kids hands a wall safe is a good choice but save your high end items and put them in a good quality safe.

Fire ratings are often overlooked but should be one of your top considerations. We recommend that you purchase a minimum 1 hour fire rated safe. Safes with less than a 1 hour fire rating will not provide adequate protection to survive a typical home or business fire.

If you are on a limited budget then select the safe with the longest fire protection that you can afford. Many customers have read that a fire rated gun safe will protect their important documents. This is only partly true, our recommendation is to look for a U. If you are thinking of placing any important documents or delicate items in a gun safe consider adding greater protection by investing in a small U. Another thing the fire seal will do is seal out most moisture from entering the safe on a day to day basis, this will help keeps rust and corrosion off of your guns or other valuables.

During a fire the fire seal will expand to seal out fire and smoke and keep water from entering the safe if water is sprayed on the safe in the course of extinguishing the fire.

One of the most popular brands of fire seal is Palusol brand fire seals. It will expand to 6 times it original size during a fire and completely seal the space between the frame and door of the safe. Fire resistant safes do a great job of protecting paper documents and even small amounts of cash from heat and smoke damage, however, fire resistant safes use very thin metal gauge in the construction of the safe which makes them easy to defeat for a burglar.

The metal is primarily used to hold the fire retardant material and can be easily punctured, cut or sawed with simple hand tools. Some of the cheap fire safes on the market today can be opened by simply dropping them on a hard surface. We DO NOT recommend storing high value contents such as large amounts of cash, jewelry or precious metals, in a low cost fire safe.

Over the past 26 years we have accessed many cheap fire resistant safes that customers have been locked out of for various reasons , our record is 30 seconds to pry the safe open with very simple tools. We have also seen those same safes easily broken into after the owners mistakenly thought the safe would protect their valuables against a burglary attack. These safes are engineered and designed to protect your valuables against both burglar attacks and fires.

The term fireproof is a very misleading statement and too many companies use it to describe their fire safes. So what should the fire rating say? Not fire proof. It'll give you a place to start when you're shopping our many available options. We'll help you narrow it down to which safes will and won't work for your needs, and then recommend some of our favorites for you and your home. You can even step it up and go a little above what you think you need. Trust us: you'll be glad you did.

At Liberty Safe, we have over thirty years' experience selling our gun and home safes. When we say, "buy bigger, you'll be glad you did," we know what we're talking about. How many firearms do you need to store?

Do you have other valuables you want to protect? Do you need your safe to be portable or will it be kept inside your home? Answer these questions to determine which size of safe is best for you. If you have long guns that only come out for range time and hunting trips, you might be happiest with a vertical safe. If you have a little of everything, simplify life by investing in one safe that can hold all your firearms.

Traditionally, gun safes used combination locks with heavy-duty bars that extend from the door into the reinforced metal frame. That kind of safe is still very popular, especially for long guns and larger collections. These dials feature far more numbers than the combination lock in your gym bag , prevent the security risk of buttons that show signs of wear as you repeatedly enter the same code, and have a high-end feel.

Some safes use a digital keypad or unmarked buttons that must be pressed in the right order or combination. These are easy to use and take less time than a rotary dial. The most advanced locking mechanisms use a biometric scanner that only allows the safe to open when it detects the appropriate fingerprint. These allow almost instant access and a high degree of security. All the safes on this list use heavy-duty metal construction. Alloy steel allows some safes to be lighter, stronger, or both when compared to pure steel.

Most safes include some kind of padding to protect your firearms from contact with the metal shell. Some premium gun safes even incorporate a layer of fireproof insulation. When the time comes to invest in a gun safe, the first thing you need to consider is storage capacity. Features will also play a role in your decision. Do you want to keep costs down with a simple combination or keyed lock? If you want quick access, biometric locks allow safes to open on contact, but only for specific people.

This is an important purchase, so make it worthwhile. High-end options, pushing well north of 1, pounds might require consultation and modification by a skilled contractor.

Garages are often popular areas in a house to plant a gun safe, however, they can prove treacherous. Not ideal. A dehumidifier is a must if you stow your gun safe with your cars. Folks living in apartments and condos are in a sticky situation when it comes to gun safes. And almost all will refuse to allow a tenant or owner to attach it to the fabric of the building, which might put your collection at risk. Though, it never hurts to inquire with your landlord or homeowners association.

On the end of the gun safe itself, it's fairly simple—either go a gun locker route or buy a smaller safe. There are elegant solutions in terms of safes proper, especially if you live on the 14th floor. Modular gun safes, for example. Options, such as the SnapSafe Titan, internally bolt together, meaning you can bring each piece up individually. One of the more inventive ideas, bolting it to a steel plate larger than the door frame. Another is attaching multiple safes or lockers together.

How big you should go is a tricky proposition. It's easy to save money and buy for your present needs. A more prudent course of action is planning for the future and purchasing a gun safe that will handle guns you'll add to your collection. Yes, it is more expensive now, but cheaper in the long run, given it saves you from another safe purchase.

Some gun safes come with everything short of a minibar. But what you really need is up to you. The bare minimum is a soft lining, so you don't have to worry about dinging your firearms when you take them out. More recently, configurable interiors have become all the rage, giving you the ability to customize how you store everything. Another plus, for an electrically wired gun safe, is interior lighting. It's hard to believe how dark they can get.

The No. Gun safes can get moist quickly — not good for gun steel. There are primary two to choose from: electric and desiccant. The electric variety, such as Eva-Dry Mini Dehumidifier or Lockdown Dehumidifier Rod, are handy since they are non-toxic and spill free. But they have the same weak point of everything electric — electricity.

Desiccants, on the other hand, take out the concern of not working when there's no juice. Something such as Dry-Packs Silica Gel Canister is rather benign, but must be emptied and dried at certain points for full effectiveness. It's easy to get chintzy and play the odds with your precious guns. After all, nothing has happened up to this point right? But when you take a sober look at the threats your firearms face when not in use then the need of a gun safe becomes evident. It's a small investment when compared to the potential loss of thousands of dollars worth of guns, not to mention the priceless sentimental value.

There's only one granddad's deer rifle in the world that you of all the grandchildren were bequeathed. You should act like you deserve by treating it like the treasure it is. Gun Safe Manufacturers American Security: www. Save my name and email to use for future comments. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

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