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I keep getting asked for advice on buying a gunsafe. Especially when people see how I have mine set up in other threads. "How much should I spend?" and "How high a firerating should I get?" and "How big should it be?" and "How durable does it have to be?"I always base my advice on the advice I received from a friend. That advice is as follows.
Price:
This part is completely subjective. Spend as much or as little as you like as long as you are actually getting what you are paying for and the features truly meet the needs you think they are meeting. Pay for size, durability, looks, internal layout, etc...but do your homework first.
Firerating:
Here is a little secret that most safe manufacturers (or dealers) will not share with you. I have a few friends that are firefighters and one who is an ex-firemarshal turned fire specialist for an insurance company. They all say that the ratings these companies give their products are so bogus. They are given a set of criteria to meet but then not monitored at all on how the reach that criteria because UL does not have the means to test the products themselves so instead allow the manufacturers to do it. They all say they have NEVER opened a home safe that has come in contact with fire where the contents were salvageable...not matter what the fire rating. In fact the friend who was the firemarshal says a fire rated safe might survive a few extra minutes or being a few extra inches closer to the fire but nothing really worthwhile. His advice was buy a cheaper safe and put the extra money towards better insurance. That is advice I took. I have a modest safe but excellent insurance. The $1000 (minimum) I saved on my safe pays for about 20 years worth of the $60,000 rider I have on my gun collection. I am covered for theft or flood this way too. A firerating does not do that for me.
Size:
This is also completely subjective. There is a lot of truth to the advice to buy the biggest safe you can afford. Guns tend to add up fast once you have a safe and you would be surprised what else you can keep in there. I personally did not buy as big as I could afford for one reason. I am a bit OCD and the size of my safe helps me limit my buying. Once my safe is full I cannot buy anything else until I make a space for it. That really gives a control mechanism over my compulsive buying. You might not have that problem.
Durability:
Once again I defer to people with more experience than me. When I bought my safe for my business (which was really expensive) I asked the guy about home safes. He told me the difference it takes to break into a $10,000 safe and a $500 safe is just a couple minutes with a common grinder. He said the $500 home safe will keep out 99% of home invaders and the $10,000 safe will keep out 99.5%. Once again, spend the money on insurance. It will serve you better in the end.
Anyone else agree , disagree, or have anything to add?
Price:
This part is completely subjective. Spend as much or as little as you like as long as you are actually getting what you are paying for and the features truly meet the needs you think they are meeting. Pay for size, durability, looks, internal layout, etc...but do your homework first.
Firerating:
Here is a little secret that most safe manufacturers (or dealers) will not share with you. I have a few friends that are firefighters and one who is an ex-firemarshal turned fire specialist for an insurance company. They all say that the ratings these companies give their products are so bogus. They are given a set of criteria to meet but then not monitored at all on how the reach that criteria because UL does not have the means to test the products themselves so instead allow the manufacturers to do it. They all say they have NEVER opened a home safe that has come in contact with fire where the contents were salvageable...not matter what the fire rating. In fact the friend who was the firemarshal says a fire rated safe might survive a few extra minutes or being a few extra inches closer to the fire but nothing really worthwhile. His advice was buy a cheaper safe and put the extra money towards better insurance. That is advice I took. I have a modest safe but excellent insurance. The $1000 (minimum) I saved on my safe pays for about 20 years worth of the $60,000 rider I have on my gun collection. I am covered for theft or flood this way too. A firerating does not do that for me.
Size:
This is also completely subjective. There is a lot of truth to the advice to buy the biggest safe you can afford. Guns tend to add up fast once you have a safe and you would be surprised what else you can keep in there. I personally did not buy as big as I could afford for one reason. I am a bit OCD and the size of my safe helps me limit my buying. Once my safe is full I cannot buy anything else until I make a space for it. That really gives a control mechanism over my compulsive buying. You might not have that problem.
Durability:
Once again I defer to people with more experience than me. When I bought my safe for my business (which was really expensive) I asked the guy about home safes. He told me the difference it takes to break into a $10,000 safe and a $500 safe is just a couple minutes with a common grinder. He said the $500 home safe will keep out 99% of home invaders and the $10,000 safe will keep out 99.5%. Once again, spend the money on insurance. It will serve you better in the end.
Anyone else agree , disagree, or have anything to add?
