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Eli Knippenberg, general manager of Bear Safes in Oklahoma City, says it’s important to pay close attention to metal thickness and fire retardant qualities when buying a safe. According to him, the invincibility of many gun safes is illusory, starting with the locking system. Most safes have a system of stainless steel bolts that extend from the interior of the door into recesses in the body when you turn the handle. In most safes, these pins are just a few inches long. They are connected to thin metal rods that make up the tracking system. When you turn the handle, the rods move to project and retract the pins.

“People believe — because they’ve never seen the inside of a safe — that these pins are 18 to 20 inches long, and that they’re connected to a big gear system,” Knippenberg said. “The problem with safes is that the pin is only as long as what you see thrown out from the door. They fail because the safe body and the door body are too thin.”

Many retail safes also come with cheap digital locks made in China. If a lock fails, you will spend a lot of money to have a locksmith open your safe. Knippenberg recommends replacing them with high-quality locks from S&G or LaGard. A good digital lock is as dependable and more user friendly than a combination lock.

Thickness Counts

Most safes are built with 12- and 14-gauge sheet metal. Some premium safes are made with heavier 11-gauge steel. Using a pry bar, Knippenberg demonstrated the weakness of a popular brand safe that’s available from many big box stores. With enough leverage, a thief could separate the pins from their recesses and open the door in about 10 minutes. Knippenberg says that 10-gauge steel is the minimum thickness to thwart an amateur break-in.

“If they have metal cutting equipment — saws and torches — they are going to beat you, but they shouldn’t be able to get into a safe with crowbars and prybars,” Knippenberg said.

Knippenberg’s compared two identical safes that were bought 20 years apart, from the same big box retailer. The older one is a fine safe. The newer one is not as strong.

“Same safe sold from the same store,” Knippenberg said. “Twenty years ago this was an $1,100 safe. Today it’s a $900 safe. What has gone down in price in the last 20 years? I guarantee it’s not metal.”

And metal is the difference. The older safe was made from 10-gauge steel. The newer safe is 14-gauge steel.

“I don’t believe somebody could pry this older one open,” Knippenberg said. “It’s not that the bolt system is better, it’s the steel that makes the difference. If you can’t flex the body and you can’t flex the door, you can’t put pressure on the pins.”

Smoke and Mirrors

Fire protection ratings are basically smoke and mirrors. Many safes are labeled that they will protect its contents against certain degrees of heat for certain amounts of time. Knippenberg says those numbers are often products of manipulated factory tests. Only a safe with an Underwriters Laboratories Class 350 rating is fireproof, but such a safe isn’t available in a retail environment because retail gun safes are considered “residential security containers.” UL does not issue fire ratings for RSCs.

Knippenberg noted that many safes have a 3/8-inch hole drilled in the back to run a power cord into the box. And they have a 1/2-inch hole in the door for the lock and a 1-inch hole in the door for the handle. Heat will enter the box through those portals.

Paper ignites at 451 degrees Fahrenheit. If the interior reaches 451, birth certificates, insurance papers and money will catch fire. If there is fire, everything inside the safe will burn, as well. To prevent paper ignition, Knippenberg recommends storing paper items inside a small fire box inside your safe. “You can get them anywhere for a couple hundred bucks, and some of them are pretty good,” Knippenberg said.

If your safe-stored guns survive the intense heat of a house fire, they will still probably be severely damaged.

Wood stocks, which are finished with petroleum-based stains, resins and oils, are likely to burn. If they survive, the wood grain will probably be compromised, and they can be permanently disfigured, warped or blistered.

Depending on their material, synthetic stocks will also sustain varying degrees of damage. Plastic stocks will burn or melt. High-quality synthetics might suffer structural instability.

You will probably have to restock guns that have survived a house fire, but you should also have a gunsmith check actions, barrels and other metal components for safety and integrity before using them again.