Sturdy Gun Safe is based in South Fresno, California.  They have been around for 53 years and pride themselves on being made with 100% USA parts.  They import nothing.  The company also has no complaints ever filed against them by the Better Business Bureau and all of their products exceed the UL RSC specifications.

Their website goes into extensive detail on the construction of their safes such as:

• All of their safes are made with 7 gauge steel (3/16″) versus the typical safes being sold out there are made of 12 gauge steel (little under 1/8 of an inch).  This is 77% more steel.  This can help by providing more tool resistance (TL) such as a fire ax attack.  Most 12 gauge safes don’t last long against this common tactic, but 7 gauge will be almost impossible for a burglar to penetrate.  Even if he does succeed in making a hole or two, he will be there for a long time and most likely not get the contents.  Here are some examples of compromised gun safes.
• The bodies of the Sturdy Gun Safe are a uni-body.  In other words, they are made from a single piece of flat steel that is bent into the proper shape.  This eliminates any weaknesses associated with the corner weld points.  It also allows for a much cleaner look as their are no ugly vertical seams in the body or door.  You typically only find uni-body construction on the top line gun safes.
• I was impressed by a photo that the company has on their website showing someone unable to slip as much as a dime between the door and frame.  That is a zero tolerance that will prevent or at least slow down anyone trying to use a crowbar to open the door.  Additionally, Sturdy ads another bend in the door frame to have the bolts lock against a full piece of steel, not just the edge like most other gun safes.
• The doors on these safes are built unlike most other gun safes.  They eliminated the clutch and shear pins that are are typically used by safe manufactures that break off and permanently lock the safe in the event of an attack.  While the need for these sounds great, they can actually cause a safe owner problems if the door is slammed shut of something is caught in the door while trying to close it, locking the owner out (and requiring a locksmith to reopen the safe).
• Another common problem on other safes is that if you slam the door shut with the deadbolts out or catch the strap of a rifle in the locks, they could cause the safeties on a traditional safe to lock out the owner, requiring a locksmith.  Sturdy Safe solves this problem as their deadbolts are supported through the frame of the door and it is not possible to bend or shear them off (they have a 30,000 pound shear strength and their are 8 of them on each safe).
• Sturdy adds another hard-plate to the combination area to prevent drilling, punching or otherwise manipulating the combination box or re-lockers.  They also designed their re-lock system to engage in accordance with the amount of attack force.  Because this re-locker only fires once the hardened locking mechanism is breached (a very rare event), this is a critical time and the re-lock is very difficult to disengage.
• Each size safe they sell can have options applied. You can add fire insulation, electronic locks, twin locks and others.  Plus, unlike any other safe manufacturer I have seen, you can actually upgrade the thickness of steel over the entire safe or in just vulnerable places.  For $245 (on the 11 gun safe), you can add another two 4 foot sheets of 7 gauge steel welded onto the sides.  That gives you 3/8″ of steel on the sides!  Or you can add special torch resistant stainless steel reinforcements on the front.
• While their prices are more expensive than the large volume safe manufacturers, you can really feel comfortable that you are getting one heck of a tough high security gun safe.  For example, an 11 gun unit (their starting size) with fire proofing  and no other upgrades will run you about  $1700.  Add more steel and you will be easily over $2000.  Luckily shipping is included in the cost.

While many fire safes may survive this type of situation, what I read next made me a believer.  If you remember, Cannon Safes have a lifetime residential repair and replacement warranty.  They all have 100% free replacement in the event of a fire, burglary attack or natural flood.  According to the customer, Cannon customer service has been in contact to make sure that he was able to get the safe open and to arrange sending him a brand new safe!

You can read the entire article here.

• Each safe comes with a lifetime residential repair and replacement warranty, which would include free shipping anywhere in the US when the safe is replaced.
• Free on-site repairs of your safe or if it is unrepairable, 100% free replacement of the safe:
  • After fire
  • After a burglary attack
  • After a natural floor
• All of these warranty items can be transferred to the new owner if the safe is sold
• No competitor offers all these and most don’t offer any of these warranty features.

Not only does Cannon Safes stand behind their products, but they also build them very tough:

• Many of the Cannon gun safes have a UL RSC security rating which exceeds the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) requirement
• 1.5″ or 1″ solid bolts protect the door
• Each safe has a self locking system to keep the safe locked even if the combination is removed
• Anti Pry-tabs protect the safe against prying attacks
• Three layers of 60 Rockwell C Scale hard plate steel surrounding the lock to make it that much more difficult and time consuming for a burglar to drill the locking mechanism
• Double steel doors that add more security and more fire protection
• Internal hinges to again prevent prying or compromise
• Their fire safes are ETL Certified (which is a better certification), plus they add a seal to keep out not just heat, but smoke and water vapor which expands under high heat or water to protect the contents
• True to security, all their safes have pre-drilled holes in the bottom for properly bolting your safe to the floor

For the creature comforts on the interior:

• Most of their models have a double outlet inside the safe for adding lights or a dehumidifier
• Many models have interior LED lighting which turn on automatically when the door opens
• Interior packages that include a padded interior floor and oak fascia boards with the Cannon logo
• Automotive grade upholsterye plus removable shelves
• Like most rifle safes, this has stand offs for long guns with scopes
• Many of their upper end models have a 2 outlet power box to power dehumidifiers and lights

I was especially impressed by their warranty that if your Cannon gun safe ever goes through a fire, break-in, or natural flood they will replace or repair the safe free of charge!  No cost to you even for shipping.  That is incredible.

Cannon makes several different lines of safes.  They vary in price, size and fire rating.  Do your homework to be sure that you are getting one fits your needs.  Best part of all is that Amazon will actually ship these for free!  Click here to check out Amazons pricing on the Cannon Safe P14 Patriot Series Fire Safe, Hammer-Tone Black, for starters.

Amsec now brings this experience to wall safes, home safes, and gun safes:

• Amsec wall safes are built with much of the heritage of their larger cousins.  They range from the small and less expensive WS1014 which has a 481 cubic inch interior to the massive WFS149 that has 1,250 cubic inches.  They feature both electronic push button models and more traditional Group 2 combination locks.  The most common models have a 3/16″  thick door with 1-5 deadbolts.  The WS1214 is an impressive extra deep unit that features 7 locking bolts and is comparable to most floor model safes.  All have removable shelves and flush mounting.  A rare find is their WFS1419 fire wall safe.  This unit has a 1 hour UL fire rating, which will keep the contents below 350 degrees (paper chars at 450). See Amsec Wall Safes Here
• The Amsec home safes come in a wide range of sizes and security levels.  Each one has a deep blue textured finish with a 12 gauge solid steel body.  The 1 1/8″ door is recessed and constructed of 1/4″ plate steel and fire insulating materials, giving these units a 30 minute fire rating at up to 1200 degrees.  Each can be ordered with either a Group II combination or an electronic lock.  There are 5 active 1.25″ active bolts (with the smallest model only having 4).  The base of the safe comes pre-drilled for mounting (with mounting hardware included). See more Amsec Home Safes Here.
• American Security safes produces over 60,000 safes per year with the majority being gun safes.  The company produces 9 different lines depending upon your needs.  They have high security, fire rated safes (of different ratings), home safes, executive safes, and specialty safes such as the defense vault, which is a long metal cabinet that can be mounted under your bed to hold a single shotgun and a handgun for defensive needs.   Amsec has the only U.L. Listed TL-30 burglary and fire resistant gun safe on the market.  Unique to their product line is the multiple colors options and multiple interior options that you can order for each Amsec gun safe. See more Amsec Gun Safes here.

If you are in the market for any type of safe, you should consider taking a look at Amsec.  With 60 years of experience, they have some excellent options.

First off, let me say that I really do like my safe, but I am also very picky and so if I make a negative statement, it is just because I want everything the way I want it!  My Stack-On gun safe comes in a green color that really doesn’t match with anything.  Black would have been nicer, but hey, in my basement workroom, who cares!  I bought the 16 gun version not because I figured that I would own 16 gun some day, but I wanted to have room for other items in my safe including valuables and documents (such as birth certificates, passports and such).

If  I had to purchase it again, I would find the Stack On gun safes that hold 19 guns as they have a much different shelf configuration where you can have a top to bottom set of shelves (I think 4 in all).  These take up half the safe leaving the other half for my long guns.  This would have been perfect for storing my valuables and documents plus some ammo and a few handguns.  My current safe only has one shelf that spans the entire upper part of the safe.  This holds mostly valuables and docs, my ammo can’t live in the safe and then I had to purchase some additional pistol racks for the safe to hold my handguns.  Not a big deal and frankly I like having the handguns on the door so they can be access easily and they are not laying on top of each other.

As I mentioned, I have the safe in my basement.  I installed the safe in the corner of my basement with one side of it pushed hard up against the concrete wall.  This should prevent anyone from rocking it back and forth to break the two 4″ concrete bolts that I put in the bottom.  Stack on safes come with a reinforced bottom plate to make them extra resistant against someone using a pry bar and pulling the bolts right out through the bottom of the safe.  I have also thought about building a new wood shelf right beside the safe using some extra lumber and over engineering it with bolts so that you would almost need to spend more time trying to pull this shelf apart than you would trying to open the safe!

I noticed that after I put my four long guns in this rifle safe, that the base area, where the butts of the guns sit, gets crowded.  With just 4 in there, I could see that it may be difficult to put a total of 16 guns in this safe.  The back of the safe allows you to rest 8 against it and then 4 on each side.  With just 4 in the safe now, I am not sure how you could add 4 more on the side.  Consider this if you are really going to fill one of these gun safes.

The security of a Stack On safe is more than enough for what I need.  The 5 live action bolts are very tough and the door is extremely heavy.  The fire protection feature of the safe was actually more important that the security.  I was worried that in a fire, my valuables and important documents would be destroyed.  The guns can be replaced, but in a zombie wasteland where my house burned down, I would love to get to my guns also!!  A fireproof safe is a necessity in my book (even if you don’t believe in zombies).

While I would have preferred a sexy biometrics safe, it just wasn’t in my budget.  I opted for the old fashion combination lock for this beast and then used the extra money for a small biometric pistol safe that I keep under my bed with my favorite Glock 22.  The combination is actually very smooth, but somewhat forgiving (not as sloppy at the gym lockers in high school, but I rarely have to retry the combination because I missed a number by one hash mark).

All in all, this was a good investment considering I purchased it for around $500 from a local store, so this was not a cheap gun safe.  I also looked at the SentrySafe unit with an electronic lock and feel like they are similar units, but my local shop didn’t carry that size in stock (and it was the same money as the Stack-On Safe) so opted for the quick purchase and took it home.

This biometric fireproof safe features six live-locking bolts that secure the door to the frame of the safes.  It has armored plate steel construction and a metal handle.  This should make it both dependable and tough.  The gunmetal gray exterior finish is baked on to protect both the safe and any wall or floor that it may come in contact with.  It does include the mounting hardware to secure the safe to the floor (you should read the instruction manual and insure you are mounting it to the same floor type-concrete, wood, tile, that is in the instructions).  This SentrySafe has also earned a Underwriters Laboratories certification for their 30-foot drop test (which means that even if dropped 30 feet to a concrete floor, it will not open).

The DA3930 has been tested by UL to meet a two-hour fire protection classification.  This means that it can protect its contents for up to 2 hours at 1,850 degrees Fahrenheit.  Most house fires rarely get about 800 degrees for any length of time, so this should be more than adequate for home use.  Unlike many safes, this fireproof safe can also protect electronic media (which will be damaged at 140 degrees versus 400 degrees for paper).  You can feel confident whether it is papers, CDs, jewelry, or guns, they will be protected in this biometrics fire proof safe.

This fingerprint safe utilizes a scanner that generates images to 500 dpi, which is currently the FBI and CIA security standards.  I was surprised that this safe only stores 7 users.  Most biometric safes store 20-100.  While I am not sure why 50 people would need access to a safe, it nice to have the capacity.  For your needs, it may not matter.  Each users is enrolled using two separate fingerprint scans and then a 4-8 digit pin code.  A user can either use their fingerprint or pin code.  Personally, I disagree with anyone except the manager to have a pin code.  A pin code can be written down and stolen or found or it can be given over the phone to an unauthorized user.

Because Sentry Safe did not skimp on the construction, this safe weighs 132 pounds.  It has a 1.2 cubic foot interior and the dimensions are 17.8 x 16.3 x 19.3 outside.  It has a 1 year limited warranty, but has a lifetime replacement warranty after a fire.  You can purchase this safe for about $375 at Amazon.

• Most of these boxes are rather small.  They are about 1/2 the size of a briefcase.  If you are planing to use your fire safe box to hold documents in, make sure the inside is at least 11″ tall and 8.5″ wide so you don’t have to fold your papers (if you need to store legal sized documents, you need a safe that is 14″ long).
• It is important to purchase a fire safe that has been tested by underwriters laboratories.  This important feature means that a neutral third party has put this safe through a rigorous set of tests to insure it can live up to the manufacturers claims.
• Confirm your safe is rated to store media such as computer discs, memory chips and tapes.  While paper must reach 400 degrees in order to catch file, media can be damaged at as little as 125 degrees Fahrenheit.  Building a safe that protects media takes another level of design.  This safe will cost more, but will be worth it to protect your computer work.
• While stack on safes are very popular with the hunting crowd, you may be surprised to learn that they do manufacture and sell a fireproof safe that is slightly larger than a fire safe box, but functions in an identical way.  It looks like a more traditional safe.
• These safes are really meant to keep valuables and documents from being destroyed in a fire.  They have locking mechanisms, but are not meant to be high security safes.  If you have the room and the budget, a larger fire safe may be a better investment.
• Some fire safeboxes are designed to work almost like a small file holder.  The top opens up to allow folders to be dropped into the safe and protected against fire.  It can be a great place to keep all your important documents organized.
• If possible, see if your firesafe box can be mounted or tethered to something to make it more difficult to be stolen by a burglar.  Because these safes are so small and light, they could easily be carried out of your home where they would be opened later with ease.

Buying a fire safebox is a good investment, but be sure to do your homework before you buy on.

This biometric safe was originally built by Honeywell.  The safe division was then sold to Sicso and now it became part of First Alert.  The 2084DB has numerous features in a home safe including being a fireproof safe, having both electronic and keyed locks as well as being a biometric safe.  This safe has a UL fire rating to 1700 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour.

The biometric fingerprint lock on this safe can hold up to 9 different users programmed into the lock.  The safe can also be opened by punching in a changeable combination into the electronic lock (which can hold up to 65k different codes).  For further security, the safe requires a key to open it once either the biometric or electronic lock is used.

This safe is approximately 18″ cubic and comes with a 5 position adjustable shelf.

Stack On manufacturers several different lines of safes from their Premier series, to Elite series, to the Total Defense series:

• Their Premier Series safes are both fireproof to 1400 degrees for up to 30 minutes.  The Stackon gun safes are also water resistant in up to 2 feet of standing water for 72 hours (the safe must be installed using sealants per Stackon safes installation instructions to comply with this feature).  The doors feature a 4-way locking mechanism with seven live action bolts and three steel dead bolts which provide 10 locking points for the door.  This level of protection will deter even the most aggressive break-ins.  These safe models are also UL listed.   Full-sized gun safes can hold up to 40 guns with either a UL rated Type 1 electronic locks or Group 2 3-number combination lock.  Newer models are even coming out as biometric gun safes
• Stack On’s Elite Series of safes are fire resistant for 30 minutes at up to 1400 degrees Fahrenheit.  These safes feature up to seven live action bolts and three solid steel dead bolts on the larger models.  This model does NOT have the re-locking,  feature which keeps the door secure even if the lock mechanism is removed, like the premier models.  The elite series can hold up to 45 guns using either a electronic or combination lock.  They do include gun barrel rests and standoffs for guns with scopes.
• The Total Defense safes from Stack-On are similar to the premier series, but do not have the UL rated locks or the more sophisticated re-locking mechanism.   They have the same water and fire ratings, though.  This model can hold up to 36 guns.
• Stackon safes also makes smaller fire proof safes in both their standard line and Stackon gun safes line.  These include some of the features of the above series, but are much more cost effective.
• Stack-On sells a product they call their Strong Box fire resistant safes.  These smaller home safes can withstand temperatures of up to 1700 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 90 minutes.  Because they are smaller, they have less locking points, but still employ the live action bolts and deadbolts.

Stack On gun safes have a remarkable assortment of products that they manufacturer.  Everything from a 1000 pound, 46 gun safe that is water and fire proof to a small in-wall home security safe.  You should look at their product line if you are in the market for a safe.

Best of all, their  Interlock-XP models can be assembled by the end user at their location.  No need to hall a 800 pound safe down a flight of stairs.  Take several 50 pound pieces down.  This is a nice feature for getting the safe into a tight space, up a flight of stairs, or if you move often (you can simply disassemble the safe and throw it in your moving vehicle versus hiring a moving company).

The Dakota safe company is built around two different safe lines:  The Interloc-xp and the Welded Bodies.  Here are some of the features of both:

Dakota Safe Interloc-XP

• Packaged in 6 separate boxes, no moving equipment required
• Modular design to fit through tight areas
• Customizable interior via movable shelving and compartments
• Reinforced 12 gauge plate steel construction
• 3/16″ plate steel door
• Seven 1.25″ locking bolts with deadlock bar
• Certified fire protection to 1263 degrees for 30 minutes
• Limited lifetime warranty
• Expansion kits will allow you to store up to 51 rifles in this gun safe
• This is an excellent compromise between a gun safe and a gun cabinet.  It is much heavier duty and more secure than a metal gun cabinet, but it is much easier to move and transport than a gun safe.
• Because it is lighter, you must secure this rifle safe to the floor or wall to insure a thief doesn’t simply pick it up and move it out the door with the contents to be opened later at their leisure.

Dakota Safe Welded Bodies

• Available in 4 different models, Maverick, Boss Hawg, Watchman, and Executive.   The size you are looking determines which model suits your needs.  The largest of this line (the Boss Hawg) can store up to 65 guns.
• .25″ plate steel door
• Reinforced 12 gauge plate steel construction
• Seven 1.25″ locking bolts with deadlock bar
• Certified fire protection to 1250 degrees for 75 minutes using unique 1.5″ negative heat transfer, Thermo Barrier Interior with ceramic wool insulation combined with a 1/2″ proprietary ceramic fiber board, making this one tough fire safe
• Heat activated  expanding door seal
• Customizable interior using modular shelving
• Limited lifetime warranty

Before you purchase your next unit, take a look at a Dakota Gun Safe.  You will be happy that you did.