Rifle Safes....Who's got what?

[alpha.kilo]

I bought my safe about six years ago. I did a lot of research before I bought. Here is what I remember:

> The best indicator of safe quality is safe weight. I know it sounds simplistic, but a medium sized 30 c.f. safe should weigh about 1000 pounds. You don't want your safe less than 1000 pounds. Steel is heavy and expensive. It is a good layman's measurement.

>Safe companies change hands, or at least management paradigms quite often. So what is the best safe brand and model and/or best value five years ago may not be today. For example, six years ago I bought a Champion top of the line "Crown" model weighing about 1170 pounds empty. Today that model is significantly lighter in weight for the same size because the company has changed hands and now uses thinner steel in search of cost savings. You need to do some research. A National Security Safe bought in 1988 is definitely not the same safe if bought today. They were possibly the best you could buy in 1988 for home safes. No longer.

>Speaking of the total safe weight, look for a thick, heavy door. You want a 6 full inches. I wouldn't settle for less than 5 inches. The door can be made of composite. That's OK. But you should check to see exactly what the composite is. It should contain a high quantity of elements like Kevlar. In any case make sure your safe door has a glass relocker. That is your protection against rough handling to break into it or to drill into it.

>If the company will not give you specific information, such as what exactly their door material is made of, that should be a big red flag. You may assume the worse.

>The door is a signifcant point of weakness in a gun safe. You want to preferably have a thick double edge (two stepped edges to prevent prying) door with big "active" bolts. 1 1/2 inch steel bolts that all retract into the door is what you want. And alot of them. For a medium sized safe (31X66 in) it should have 18 bolts. This prevents the pry opening that you may have seen displayed on "YouTube."

>The second point of weakness is the back of the safe, where the steel is usually thinner than the sides or door. That is why you put the back of the safe up against good wall and lag it to the floor. Even if it weighs 1300 or 1400 pounds. Lag it into concrete.

>The fire rating on safes is tricky, and sometimes deceiving. It is not as important as to who does the fire rating (UL, Whitehall) as to "how" it was performed. Many safe companies will specifiy that their safe enter the furnace on its back at room temperature. Once in the furnace, the burners are ignited for a slow rise to the max temperature, which it may endure for only a very short time. But they "start" the clock when the they open the furnace door. Very deceiving. This type of test will yield much more favorable results than if the safe was sitting upright (like in your house) and enters the furnace at or near max temperature. Where the recording instrument is placed inside of the test safe is also crucial. A quality test will place the instrument near the top of the safe, where temperatures are highest. If the safe company will not email you their crtieria for their fire rating, that is another red flag.

>One way to improve the "fire rating" or better yet "survivaility" of your safe is to place it on an exterior wall. The wall will colapse and let the heat out before the temperature inside a high quality safe will reach 344 degrees, the temperature that paper chars.

> When you shop, simple mechanical features are best. For instance, when I was in the market, Ft KNOX made a very good, very heavy (and expensive) safe. But the internal door mechanism was so complicated that any small bit of foriegn material that got into the gearing, such as when moving, could completely lock up the entire door. A simple, heavy duty mechanism is best.

>There was a previous posting about electronic locks and an EMP event. While that poster was absolutely accurate, there is another element to balance that concern with. Electronic locks, while vulnerable to an EMP, are also much harder to pick. We have several of our detectives who have gone though lock picking schools. They have been able to pick several safe locks of the rotating mechanical variety (after we have obtained a warrant, of course) with no damage to the safe. None of our guys have ever been successful with a Sargeant & Greenleaf Electronic lock. So that is something to consider.

>Do your research and good luck. Buying a safe gives you huge peace of mind when you are not home and is worth every penny.

AK