When it comes to purchasing a gun safe there are a wide selection of them on the market worldwide today. One of the very first questions I am asked is,
“What types of gun safes are there that I can buy to store my guns?”
Well the answer to that is pretty simple. There are “Gun Cabinets”, “Gun Lockers”, “Gun Storage Cases”, &“Fire resistant Gun Safes”.
I have listed quickly the names and the major differences of each of them below.
Table of Contents
Gun Cabinet
Now a gun cabinet is usually more of a place to store your guns, usually rifles, but also pistols in an area that is open to being viewed by anyone in the home.
They are more often than not used to display for pride and showing off the weapons and not so much for the securing of them or keeping them from being stolen. The reason for this is mainly because they are often made form very attractive woods and similar in beauty to that of a grand father clock that would be displayed in ones home.
They may have a lock on the glass doors but it is only good enough to keep out an honest curious mind and only one that is not really determined to get into the cabinet.
Gun Lockers
Now gun lockers are pretty much exactly what they sound like they are. These are usually made of steel or really a decent thin sheet metal.
They are as durable as the high school lockers we had in the 80’s and the locks range in quality from a off the shelf dial combo that was used in paint storage cabinets or in some situations the company may even put on a name brand dial or electronic lock.
The gun locker is usually not fire resistant, so first off there is NO protection for your items against fire damage. The other thing that I have run into with these units is that they have very weak and easily fatigued metal and that may not seem like much but I have personally seen and heard of even more gun lockers being ripped right from the place.
They were bolted to on the ground and carried away by one or more men. The metal is either so thin or of such low quality that they do not stand up against rocking back and forth.
Gun Storage Case
Now I will get right to the point on this one and end it fast. A gun storage case is not even in the same group as gun safes and should not be compared. I have seen some really bad storage cases and ii see some that are very great.
The problem I have is that they are not meant to guard against fire or theft; they were mostly designed for safe movement while traveling on business or personal trips.
Fire Resistant gun Safe
If you are looking for a place to store your weapons and secure them from theft, damage, or worst of all, curious little fingers then a fire resistant gun safe is what your looking for. To be considered a true fire resistant gun safe you must have fire resistant materials lining the inside of your safe. Most of these types of safes are a minimum of 12 to 10 gauge steel thickness.
All fire resistant safes should also have a membrane around the door opening or on the circumference of the door itself, that will activate and swell up to 1000 times it’s original size and seal the door and thus the contents of your gun safe both from air seepage and/or water leaks.
Most fire gun safes have either an electronic or dial combination lock/entry system in place that are of the top two manufacturers and/or are UL rated. The fire resistant gun safes usually also have locking bolts on at least both of the long sides of the doors.
Some better safes will have locking bolts on every side of the door including the top of the door and the bottom of the door. The fire gun safes should also have reinforced floors and should be pre-drilled for bolting to the floor and they should have adjustable shelves as well.
Well there you have an overview of the answer to the question:
What types of gun safes are there?
As you click thru to our other pages you will be able to find answers to some of your other pre buy questions about gun safes and even some answers you did not even think to ask. That is what GunSafeSpot.com is here for.