As far as firearm’s safety is concerned, gun safes become an indispensable part over the period of time. Every owner of the gun requires gun safe to keep their firearms and other valuables safe, secure and away from unauthorized persons.
However, choosing a good quality gun safe becomes challenging at present days as the gun safe industry has dramatically been changed in the last 12 years. The quality of the safe significantly dropped in order to reduce the price.
Now a day’s most of the gun safes are imported from China and Mexico resulting in a reduction of price and quality as compared to the USA made safe. Considering all those things we’re going to depict some facts that you should bear in mind before choosing a gun safe.
Factors should be considered before choosing or buying a gun safe:
Construction of steel
One of the most important things is the steel construction of the gun safe. The thickness of the steel is measured by gauge. The lower the gauge the heavier the construction of the steel will be. Try to choose a gun safe that’s body is constructed by 10 to 14 gauge steel.
If the body of the gun safe is constructed by thin steel it will not be able to ensure protection against the sophisticated cutting machines and pry bar.
Door construction
The thickness of the door’s steel should be much thicker compared to the body of the safe as the door is much more susceptible to be attracted by a thief. There’re a plate door and composite door, but you should ensure that how much steel on the door.
There’re some composite doors that are 7 inches thick including door frame but that doesn’t mean that they’re the strongest. You have to figure out the actual amount of steel used in there.
Another important thing is the door gap. You should ensure that there doesn’t exist enough gap on the door to prevent penetration of the pry bar.
Mounting options
Whether be it handgun safe, long gun safe, or under bed gun safe, mouthing facility always plays a crucial role to ensure security. You should ensure that your gun safe contains multiple mounting facilities.
Especially for long gun safe, you need to bolt down the safe to the floor or wall. Therefore, before purchasing a long gun safe you should make sure that it has four pre-drilled holes at the bottom. For other gun safes also make sure that it has a bolting option or security cable.
Quick access
The gun safe you’re purchasing should be accessible within just 2 to 3 seconds. You can’t afford to take more time in an emergency and tense situation. For that, you can go for a biometric, electronic keypad, or simplex locking system that allows you quick access within just 3 seconds.
With that being said, some biometric fingerprint scanner doesn’t work accurately so you should purchase a branded biometric gun safe that works perfectly well at 99.99 percent cases.
Fire safety
Finding a good quality fireproof gun safe requires you to spend plenty of money. If you have a sufficient budget you should definitely go for a fireproof gun safe. There’re varieties of fireproof gun safe but you should purchase a UL rated fireproof gun safe having at least 30 minutes of fire resistant power @ 1400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Price
Price is the biggest factor before choosing a gun safe as there’re varieties of gun safe ranging from 30 dollars to 12,000 dollars. How much you will spend depends on what types of guns you’re going to store.
If you don’t have enough budget right at this moment but still want to ensure the highest level of security you can go for a good quality value for the money gun safe.
Adjustable shelve
Most of the long gun safes have a number of shelves to store a variety of items alongside firearms. You should make sure that those shelves are adjustable. To fit your guns perfectly well inside the safe you might require adjusting the shelves.
Locking system
There are numerous locking systems like an electronic keypad, biometric fingerprint scanner, manual keys, combination lock, simplex locks, EMP locks, etc. If you want quick access to the safe you can go for a biometric or simplex locking system. Most of the gun safe provides access in two-three ways so that if one system collapse another system still gives you access.
Door organizer
Some gun safe does come with a free door organizer that allows storing handguns, ammo, and a small knife. If your gun safe includes door organizer it will save you spending extra bucks. However, one thing you should bear in mind that quality comes first. Don’t compromise the quality of the safe just going for free door organizer.
Lighting
Another important thing is lighting. Before purchasing your safe just try to ensure that your gun safe has internal LED light installed and has warranty. Interior LED light will allow you to maneuver the guns in low light conditions.
Measuring the installation area
Don’t purchase a safe before measuring the area where you like to put your gun safe. Otherwise you might have to return your gun safe for not getting a suitable location to install. . So measure the area and purchase the safe considering your space.
Imported VS the USA made
As already discussed quality of the gun safes have been deteriorated over the last 12 years and imported gun safe is the main reason for that. If you have little more budgets, we would definitely recommend you buy the USA made gun safe.
Door bolts rigidity
In the case of long gun safe, door bolts rigidity should be measured before making a buying decision. You should measure the thickness and rigidness of the bolts steel. Try to buy a gun safe that has more live locking bolts and steel thickness.
Conclusion
The factors we’ve discussed above will give an overall idea about guns safe before making the decision. However, those factors are not conclusive for choosing a gun safe. You need to gather a lot more information before purchasing a gun safe. As there’re different types of gun safe and their price, features, and specification is different than each other their selection criteria is also different.
