These products are made by Rhino Metals out of Caldwell, Idaho (close to Boise).  They are a US owned company, but do source products from around the world to build their safes.  While they make the Rhino series of safes in the US, the Bighorn series are made to their specifications oversees and imported.

Each Bighorn 19ECB has a 3MM thick steel body, which is just close to 11 gauge (most gun safes are thinner at 12 gauge).  UL testing shows that a metal thickness of less than 12 gauge (.105″) can be defeated with a cold chisel and hand sledge hammer in less than 5 minutes. Remember, the lower the gauge number, the thicker the steel.  It features external hinges to allow you to open the door 180 degrees as well as remove the door for easier transport (when removing the door, make sure you have a couple guys as it weighs about 150 pounds).  The door bolts are 1″ thick which is standard on most gun safes of this size and price.  The Bighorn does have a typical fire rating for most safes in this price point.  It is 1200 degrees for 30 minutes.

Each Bighorn Classic has two internal relockers and a seamless continuously welded body.  The door is a composite (made of several different pieces of steel) with drill-resistant armor.  All but the smallest safe in this series are California DOJ compliant and certified as a UL certified residential security container.  The model 19ECB weighs 407 pounds and has 19 cubic feet of interior space.  It claims a rifle capacity of 24 long guns, but I am always skeptical at that!

The warranty on these safes is not as unconditional as others such as Cannon safes.  If the safe is used in a residential application and you are the original owner and it was purchased from a Bighorn dealer and you have proof of purchase and you have a written statement, photographs of safe, and police report, Rhino will repair the safe.  Initially they will try to have it repaired and/or opened on-site by an authorized dealer.  If it must be returned to the factory for repair or replacement, you must then package and palletize the safe and make it available for curb side pickup.  Rhino will pay for the shipping.  If you fail to bolt the safe down, it voids the warranty.  The locks are only warranties for 1 year, regardless.

In summary, I think this is a decent purchase.  I personally think the Cannon Safe deal at Costco is maybe a better purchase.  Cannon has a better reputation and while that warranty is only 1 year, it doesn’t come with all these gotchas.

Gander Mountain has an “end of season blowout” sale going on right now.  It runs December 26-January 4 (2012).  You can purchase the Liberty Fatboy Jr. for $999.  Their ad says this is a $300 savings ($100 of that comes in the form of a Gander Mountain mail-in rebate).  The Liberty Safe website is still advertising the Fatboy Jr at $1399.  So are there any gotchas on this?

The Fatboy Jr is a 48 gun safe that sports a 45 minute fire rating at 1200 degrees.  Its bigger brother (without the JR) has the same size, but is 60 minutes.  Triple case hardened steel plates protect all sections against drill attack.  It has been awarded UL Residential Security Container burglary classification, which means that this is a high security safe.  The uni-body construction features a door that is 5″ thick with 1″ of fire-resistant materials.  The body is made of 12 gauge steel that is 3/4″ thick with 3 layers in the ceiling and door and 2 in the walls and door jambs to make a drill attack much slower.

Liberty Safes gives the Fatboy Jr. a lifetime warranty for any safe that was in a fire or involved in a burglary.  They will give you free parts and labor at your home or business to open the safe door, remove the contents, and have the damaged safe removed.  You get free delivery and installation of a new safe, including the option to upgrade your safe to a better model.  This warranty is transferable if you sell the safe.

I went out to the Liberty Safes website and walked through their “which safe is best for you” tour.  I said I was looking for a moderately secure safe with less than 10 long guns and room to store other documents and valuables.  While they did recommend their newer models like the Colonial and Franklin, they also recommended the Fatboy.  This is their older models and they have not put them under the Colonial model line.  The specifications were the same as the one at Gander Mountain.  While the Liberty Safe website said free deliver, once you get to checkout, the closest dealer to me was 161 miles away, which disqualified me for delivery.  At that point, why would I pay $1399 on their site when I can drive 15 minutes to  Gander Mountain and simply pick it up.

If you have the need for a high security safe that is really large, the Fatboy Jr at $999 from Gander Mountain would be a great buy.

With budget in mind there are some important things to look for beyond the features. The reality is that no safe can keep an intruder out forever. Safes are not designed as ways to keep your belongings out of the hands of thieves directly, many are designed to serve as deterrents. Although often the average crook will pass over these for the easy grabs, there are some more determined burglars who will put in the time to see what you have inside. The object of the game is to keep their fingers from your valuables long enough that they run out of time or get caught.

Even though the other more fancy features are important, above all else your primary focus needs to be on the security rating of the particular gun safe you are looking at. Underwritters Laboratories (UL) offers security ratings that focus on how long a particular safe can withstand tampering. These are the most common ratings placed on home safes and although they are an industry standard it is important to understand that it does not represent how long it will take to get through the top or sides of the gun safe, only the door.

More often than not you will find the Residential Security Container indicator on the safe. This is the basic rating for home safes and shows that the container was able to hold against opening for at least five minutes.  Of the UL security ratings there are several that are important to look for, each raising the security protection of the container. The TL-15 Burglary Classification is a rating given to safes that have been able to withstand an experts attempt to crack into the safe for at least 15 minutes. This test is conducted using common tools that would be used by a basic criminal. The more substantial test is the TL-30 Burglary Classification which is an indicator that the safe held up against at least 30 minutes of intrusion.

One of the most important things to understand about the ratings given by UL is that there are some that convey important information, but are also used by some businesses to mislead customers. The B and C rating that UL issues is centered on the construction of gun safes and is only designed to let customers know that their safe is ½ to 1 inch thick.  There are also other ratings that are used, however these are typically not placed on residential safes and you may want to explore why the manufacturer is focusing on trying to convince you that their safe is secure if you are seeing some of these ratings.

Information is the most valuable tool you have and the internet can be a great resource to learn more about a product. Remember before buying any safe to get the best information you can and then check to find out what others may have to say about it. This is a huge and important investment; don’t get fooled by creative advertising.

With that requirement to produce my list in mind, I was going  through the ads in the Sunday paper and came across the Dick’s Sporting Goods weekly ad.  What guy doesn’t like looking at this.  Very manly items such as guns, ammo, hunting supplies and such.  In my search, Dick’s had an entire page dedicated to gun safes and gun cabinets.  One item in particular caught my eye.

Dick’s is selling a Stack-On 24 Gun Safe for $499.  They claim it is $699 normally.  When I see these cheap prices, I have to wonder if this is a special safe or a cheaper model or a limited supply.  I called my local Dick’s store.  They said they had several in stock and that I should have bought it on Black Friday as it would have been $399!  Anyway, the model of the unit is FS-24-MG-C.  I cross referenced this model and it turns out that Amazon sells the same Stack-on model for $819 with free shipping.  Other safe sites sell it for up to $999.  Wow, great price at Dick’s Sporting Goods!

So what is this unit really?

• It holds 24 long guns with no additional storage, 12 guns with storage, or no long guns configure for just storage.
• It has 4 adjustable shelves
• The unit does feature an electronic lock and claims it has a hardened plate steel behind the lock which is a nice upgrade.  The electronic lock is only a 3 digit code though.  Nothing more complicated.
• With a carpeted interior and traditional Stack-On hunter green paint, it looks nice inside and out.
• This FS-24-MG-C model does claim to have a 30 minute fire rating with an expandable door seal.  I suspect at this price point, it is simply 1/2″-5/8″ fire resistant Sheetrock.  Not a terrible product, but not as good as other product such as the Cannon safes, which have true fire retardant insulation in them.
• It does have five 1″ live action locking bolts and 3 steel deadbolts to secure the door.
• It comes with hardware to mount the safe to the floor.
• The hinges are internal/hidden so this door will only open 90 degrees.
• It weighs 436 pounds and have a limited lifetime guaranty due to theft or fire with 5 years for material and workmanship.

I was surprised to see that Menards had a 28 gun Cannon gun safe on sale for just $399.  Wow.  A name brand gun safe that large for that cheap?  I know that stores like to almost give away things on black Friday to get people into their stores, but this seemed too good to be true.  The next day, I got my Costco circular in the mail that comes with all the ads for the upcoming month.  And wouldn’t you guess, but there was another Cannon Safari safe on sale for $449.

I figured that this has to be a super cheap model or something to sell it for so cheap.  I decided to do some research and understand what both these companies were selling.

•  Costco claims to be selling a Cannon Safe Safari 5521 DLX Executive Vault at a $150 discount for $450.  It is 240 pounds with a 20 minute fire rating and electronic lock.  It is 21″ x 17″ x 55″.
• The Menard’s safe is a little larger at 29″ x 20″ x 59″.  They claim it is a 28 gun fire safe that weighs 382 pounds with an electronic lock and a 30 minute fire protection.  Unfortunately, there was no information on Menard’s website about this safe.

In doing a Google search, I can see that Cannon sells the Safari line at while many large retailers like Cabelas, Walmart, and even Sears sell Cannon Safes, but only some safe specialty websites talk about the Safari line.  It appears that in 2011, Cannon reworked their entire safe offerings.  They expanded to additional models and discontinued the Safari line.

I could not find the 5521 model, nor another 28 gun model in that low price point on most of these big box retailer sites.  I did find a reference to the Safari line on a couple smaller safe websites and at Sam’s club.  The sites that still displayed information about this line said that is is made of uni-body construction and 12 gauge steel.  It appears to have a lightweight fireproof interior, but this is really just sheetrock, which is probably the lowest form of fireproofing used in safes.

Cannon Safes has an excellent warranty that includes 100% replacement for the safe after a fire or burglary attempt/entry.  This is one of the best warranties in the safe business.  Interestingly, the Costco safe has only a 1 year warranty.  The Menards one was not listed on this website and so I am not sure of their warranty.

I contacted Cannon to see if I could understand the warranty issue on the Costco safe.  Here is an excerpt of the chat I had with them:

• Cannnon Rep: Thank you for contacting Cannon safe/Gunvault how can i help you today
• Todd Christiansen: I saw that Costco’s website has one of your Safes, the Cannon Safe Safari 5521 DLX Executive Vault available at an excellent price. Their website says it is only a 1 year warranty. I thought all your safes have a lifetime warranty. Can you explain?
• Cannnon Rep : its is a entry level safe
• Todd Christiansen: Even your Scout series, which is your current entry-level gun safe, has a lifetime warranty. Why the change?
• Cannnon Rep : no that is a cannon safe and the difference is the lock, re locking pin
• Todd Christiansen: But the one at Costco is labelled as a Cannon Safe. Is that not your product?
• Cannnon Rep : [yes] but that is a safe made specially for Costco with there [sic] specs
• Todd Christiansen: I see. Didn’t Cannon previously sell a Safari series of safes about 1 year ago? Isn’t that the same series?
• Cannnon Rep : yes we did but not with those specs. they were large rifle safes and manufactured 3 years ago
• Todd Christiansen: During the 1 year, would I contact Cannon or Costco for Warranty issues?
• Cannnon Rep : cannon safe
• Todd Christiansen: Great. Thank you.

This explains a bit about this.  Many other big box retailers such as Cabellas, Home Depot, and Dicks have safe’s OEM’d for them and put their name on the product.  In reality, they are made by Liberty Safe, Stack-On or someone else.  In Costco’s case, this is made by Cannon, but the marketing person must have figured that having the Cannon name would add value (and they were correct).  I assume the Menard’s version of the Cannon safe is the same deal.

Since I have not seen either of these safes, you should do some additional research when you see them in person.  Are these really 12 gauge, do they have any extra features not listed?  Just understand what you are buying.

This is one heck of a price point for a decent fire-proof gun safe.  This is not the best gun safe out there compared to the Sturdy gun safe, but if you are looking for a name brand gun safe that can hold a decent number of guns and is fire-proof, I think this is worth the purchase at that price point.

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.

This new safe has several features that make it perfect for home defense.  It has an electronic lock for quick access by any authorized member of the house.  In a home defense situation, you do not have time to be turning a dial.  One note:  I am surprised that they did not have a biometric option. Since they are touting this as “quick and quiet access to firearms when it matters most”, wouldn’t a biometric reader with the sound turned off be faster?  The designers at SentrySafe did turn off the typical beeps that go with an electronic lock to make the opening of this safe virtually silent.  Interestingly, the buttons are not on the front of the safe like traditional gun safes, but actually on the top corner.  This allows you to simply put your fingers on the keys and enter the code, much like a GunVault product or even a simple keyboard, all silently.  For nighttime access, the keys are back-lit and the safe does come with a back-up/emergency barrel key.

The Home Defense Center has some other innovative design items such as something they are calling a “ready pistol presentation”, which is a built in piece that looks almost like a book end.  On the top shelf of the safe, you lean your handgun against this felt covered piece to hold your handgun in an upright and “ready” position for a quick grab.  Frankly, this safe doesn’t really even look like a traditional gun safe.  First, as I mentioned, it only holds 1 pistol and 1 long gun only, making it very small like a square tall box (about 4 feet tall).  Secondly, the door hinges don’t just open a door, but actually swing away 2 sides of the safe.  They are calling these their wide berth door to give you quick access to your shotgun or pistol.

SentrySafe also added a very interesting item to this safe.  The top of the safe has a recessed area they are calling their “personal defense tray”.  They are suggesting that every night when you get home or go to bed, you would drop your keys, cell phone, and wallet in this tray.  Plus maybe you have a flashlight that sits there always.  You build muscle memory each night of where your important items are, so when you are in a crisis situation, you can either quickly grab those items or at least remember where they are.  Very nice!

Keeping with the SentrySafe heritage, the Home Defense Center also features the company’s new jumbo 1″ bolts, a pry-resistant door and 12 gauge steel body.  Because the bolts are in the corner of the door, even if the hinges are removed, the door is not opening.  The company has also engineered new hinges on this unit to make them “whisper quiet” to give you discreet access to your defensive weapon when you need it.  Lastly, there is a hidden compartment in the base of the safe for use as a storage area for more ammo, keeping it out of the main part of the safe so that it does not impede the quick removal of any gun.

SentrySafe was founded in 1930 in Rochester, New York.  They sell more produces more fire-resistant chests, files, safes, security storage containers and gun safes than any other company in the world with their products being distributed in over 54 countries world-wide.  They are proud American company that employs 450 people, most of which are in their Rochester headquarters.

I looked for this new gun safe on Amazon, but did not find it.  The SentrySafe website says that it is available at Cabela’s and other sporting goods dealers in the US.  They are going to retail for $499.  I need to go over to Cabela’s and take a look!

I am not suggesting that you open your 1000 pound gun safe and deposit everything including your watch and rings into that massive safe every night.  Maybe just by adding a couple extra steps, you can significantly upgrade your home security.  Here are some thoughts:

• A diversion safe is an ordinary looking object that has a false bottom or back to it.  This can be a Coke can or shaving cream can sitting on your counter that looks normal enough.  If you unscrew the bottom, you reveal a container that can hold your cash.  There are also book diversion safes like you would see in the movies.  No locks, just something ordinary that a thief may not think twice about.
• A small electronic drawer safe that fits inside your dresser or nightstand drawer can hold all your valuables at the end of the night.  It is also a great place to store your defensive handgun for when you hear that bump in the night.  You simply punch in your code and it opens.  No turning dials.  It is quick and easy, but also secure.
• Lastly, if you have no other option, you can use a small keyed safe box.  These are often less than $30, can hold about 1 ream of paper and are fireproof.

If you keep more than just pocket cash or valuables around, you need to consider other options money safes for home.

• An easy to install home wall safe is a quick way to both hide your cash and valuables, but give you considerably more security than just hiding the cash under your mattress.
• Several safe manufacturers, such as Barska,  make small safes that are about the size of a shoe box.  While many of these are labelled as biometric gun safes, they can also be used to store your money at home.  Make sure to secure this safe to something to prevent a thief from simply walking off with it.  This also will have much more home security that just a diversion safe.
• Small home security safes can be purchased a big box retailers including Home Depot and Costco for less than $100.  In fact, many of these are even fireproof, which will protect your money in case of fire.  These can easily sit your closet and be used each night to secure your valuables.

No matter which option you go with, you need to do something to protect money in your home.  Use some type of money safe to accomplish this.

• The Cannon Safe SSL-04 lock light-Have you ever tried to open your pistol safe in the dark? Or maybe you have a flashlight handy, but you see spots after you turn it off and you need a moment to get your night vision back.  This small LED light has a red colored bulb to prevent giving you spots.  It attaches to your safe with a powerful integrated magnet.  Simply push the button and the light will stay on for 2 minutes.  It is powered by a 3-volt lithium battery and costs less than $20!
• Eva-dry EDV-E-500 Renewable Wireless Mini Dehumidifier-I have several silica packs in my gun safe.  I bought a large desiccant recently and it works great, but the downfall of these units is when you have to recharge them.  Most will have to be placed in the oven for a couple of hours at 200 degrees to re-dry the silica granules inside.  I never remember to do that.  This little Eva-dry works differently.  When the crystals turn pink, it is time to renew the unit.  Simply plug it into a 120 volt outlet in a well ventilated area and in 12-14 hours it will be ready to go.  It has a 5 year warranty and the crystals are expected to last 10 years.  You need one of these for your gun safe.
• The Browning ZeRust Protectant-This device is secured to the interior of your safe and it emits a tiny invisible vapor over its 1 year life-span.  That vapor forms a corrosion and rust resistant barrier on all metal surfaces.  This is an excellent and inexpensive (less than $10 at Amazon) to protect your guns and other metal items in your larger safe (it should be used in safes at least 30″ wide).
• Stack-On Pistol Rack-If you have a larger gun safe with rifles, handguns, documents, and other valuables, you may be feeling like your safe is a little unorganized.  Maybe your Glock is just laying on top of your Will or some birth certificates!  You need a pistol rack to get yourself organized.  These are made by Stack-On out of rugged ABS plastic with steel supports.  Great way to put some organization to your safe.

Spend a couple minutes looking at these inexpensive gadgets for your safe and how they might make life a little easier for you.