Hey guys, here is a post i did on another forum. I pretty much copied it and pasted it here, so this post is not specific to the questions and comments on this forum. Its still good information and hopefully it will help answer some questions.
Before I start, I have to say that I an NOT a safe expert. My father is a locksmith and a safe technician and I guess you can say I have been his "apprentice" for years. If there is anything that comes up in discussion that I don't know about, I am not going to pretend that I know the answer. However, I will be more than willing to find an answer to any questions you may have. This is my first big write up, so I hope you guys will take it easy on me. Anyway, I'll get started. This may be a work in progress since there is tons of information on safes.
So why bother getting a gun safe? Well, you paid good money for your guns and it would be a shame if someone came into your house and took them from you while you are on vacation. Right? Thats the same logic you could use with all your belongings. A laptop can be replaces and so can your Glock, but only one for those can be used to kill someone. Do you really want some thug running around sticking up liquor stores with your custom 1911? To get a safe or not to get a safe is a discussion by itself. Lets say you have decided to get one. So what should you get?
Safes are a lot like guns. You get what you pay for. You have to look at your situation and ask yourself what you really need. If you have an old .22 bolt action rifle you get at a yard sale and you just want to keep your grandkids from messing with it, you should be fine with a cheap gun safe (or cabinet) from the local department store. If you have an arsenal of weapons that would equip a small country, you may want to get a damn good safe. Research is your best friend when looking for a quality safe. Look at manufacturers websites and compare different models. Check out all the tech specs listed for each safe. Determine what features you really want in your safe. Compare prices and get an idea of what is what. Before you commit to buy anything, go to a local shop that has safes in stock. Look at the different safes with your eyes and your hands. Many times two safes may look identical, but the only difference is the thickness of steel its made out of. The amount of fire retardant material inside the safe may also vary between two safes that seem similar. While you are in the store looking at the safe, ask the sales person to take off the back cover of the door. If they refuse to show you the inside of the door, that is a red flag. They may not want you to see whats inside the door for several reasons. One, they may not want to bother with it. Two, they are afraid that if you see the locking mechanism and bolt works, you might not want to buy the safe. Three, they are hiding something or they lied to you about something. Most people never see the inner workings of the safe they own. Some are very surprised by what they see. Let me show you what I mean...
This is a cheap gun safe from a big box store. Price range 150-250 bucks.
See how little there is to it? There is just a very rudimentary combination lock and some thin sheet metal making up the bolt works. But when the back cover is on, all you see is nice shiny, think, steel bolts sticking out of the sides.
Here is another cheap safe.
Notice that there is no other material in the door. These two safes are not fire rated. In the event of a fire, everything in these two would be toast.
Now here is a pretty good safe. This would be considered "mid level". This is the kind of safe most people would buy when they want a good safe that is made in the USA, but they don't want to spend a whole boat load of cash. Price range 1000-2000 bucks.
This safe is fire resistant, so there is fireboard in the door as well as on all sides of the safe. The inner workings of the safe are beefed up with thick steel and there is hardened steel plate under the lock mechanism to help prevent drilling the safe. The actual lock is a better quality lock and there is a relocker build into this model. A relocker is a secondary lock that activates when someone attempts to break into the safe.
The relocker is shown here by the red. This is a type of relocker that activates when the lock is punched. What that means is, the dial on the outside of the safe is knocked off and removed. That leaves a small hole in the door. Safes without a relocker can be opened by inserting a tool in the hole and then punching the lock off the door.
The panel show in blue is the only thing holding the spring loaded relocker in place. If the lock is knocked off, the relocker activates and the safe is locked down and can only be opened by a professional. I've seen this stop many burglars.
Relockers are great and you should definitely consider buying a safe that is equipped with one, but lets move on to fires.
There are many different fire ratings and there are different companies that rate safes for fire. The most well know is Underwriters Laboratory. Fire ratings are meant to be pretty easy to read and they should be clearly listed on the door of your safe if it is fire rated. The UL rating label lists a degree and a time. This means that the safe is rated to keep things inside safe from burning for the amount of time listed and up to the temperature listed. Here is a chart of the current UL fire ratings for safes.
One-Half Hour Rated Products - 1550°F
One-Hour Rated Products - 1700°F
Two-Hour Rated Products - 1850°F
Three-Hour Rated Products - 1920°F
Four-Hour Rated Products - 2000°F
This is what my father has come to expect when he opens a safe thats been in a house fire. If there is nothing left of the house except the chimney, everything in the safe is toast. If the house is burnt, but the frame is still standing, there is a good chance that the stuff in the safe is fine. Here are some pictures to illustrate my point.
There wasn't much in this safe to begin with, but after a house fire, there is nothing left.
Now here is another safe that faired a little better.
There is no such thing as a fireproof safe. Don't ever let someone tell you that there is. They can be made to be fire resistant but never fire proof.
