The Smart Shopper’s Guide to Buying Handgun Safes
As a gun owner, there are several reasons why you should invest in a good-quality gun safe. If you have kids in your home that are too young to understand gun safety, handgun safes are a necessity. Moreover, if you have sought-after firearms, these can be a target for burglars. The black market is always overflowing with stolen guns so you’ll want to protect your collection.
Safes can either be for handguns, long guns, or both. This guide is for smart buyers that are looking for gun safes specifically for pistols, revolvers, or other smaller firearms.
Considerations When Looking for a Handgun Safe
Although choosing a gun safe may seem simple enough, there are vital points to consider before you make a selection.
Capacity
In the case of firearms safes, always choose a larger capacity than you need. You never know when family members may also want to store their valuables, which tends to happen more with pistol safes than safes for rifles and other long guns.
It also makes economic sense to buy a larger safe to fit in new additions to your collection rather than buy another safe.
Accessibility
Where you site your handgun safes is important as it obviously affects the accessibility of your firearms. If you have children, the gun safe should ideally be in an area that’s restricted to kids, such as in a locked office.
Fire Rating
A fire rating of UL 72 Class 350 provides decent protection for your firearms in case of fires. This means the insides can withstand up to 350°F, enough to protect paper documents as well as handguns.
Installation
Always bolt your safe to a sturdy surface, whether it’s on the floor or wall. Avoid tiles, timber, and carpets as they might prevent your safe from being fitted properly to the floor. Also, if you want to install the safe against the wall, be sure to remove any skirting boards first.
Fortunately, many standard firearms safes come with pre-drilled holes in the base or back so you can easily fix them on your desired site.
Lock Type
Choose a UL 768 Group II lock rating or better when securing firearms. This offers the best security against criminals.
You’ll also want to think about the locking mechanism. Biometric locks are convenient but may pose a problem to open if there’s a power loss or if the scanner has trouble reading your fingerprint in emergency situations. Key locks are common and reliable, as long as you don’t lose the key. You can also choose dial combination locks, which are awkward to use but don’t rely on power to open the safe.
Warranty
It’s well worth your time to check your home insurance policy before you take a warranty for a handgun safe. This is because many home insurance policies already cover firearms safes and their contents.
If you do decide to buy a warranty, check the fine print. Not everything may be covered. What you should get is insurance for the locking mechanism since they tend to be very expensive to repair or replace in most pistol safes.
Handgun safes are a lifetime investment
The smartest approach when buying a safe is to choose one that has everything you need. Top-quality handgun safes are expensive, which is why it’s better to buy something you’re happy enough to keep for the rest of your life rather than spend on another because you weren’t satisfied with your first purchase.