ORIGINAL: da new guy
Does anyone know anything about Patriot gun safes? the features they have seem pretty interesting. Looking for anyone's opinion about them or any other good gun dafe company...
DOs and DON'Ts of Safe Buying
DO purchase a safe that is bigger than you think you need.
Your gun collection is bound to grow over time. A good safe is more than just a gun locker--it becomes a secure storage device for your family's other valuables as well. You'll find you quickly fill up even a large safe.
Spend the money for the size, protection, and features you want. Your gun collection may be worth many tens of thousands of dollars. Some people who visit this site wouldn't hesistate to spend $1100 for a custom action or $1400 for a NightForce scope, yet they don't want to spend more than a few hundred dollars on a safe. That's not common sense.
DO spend more for a safe that offers fire-resistance.
But you have to do your homework--you can spend a lot of money for "fire-proofing" that actually is not very effective. Make sure if sheet-rock is used that it is properly installed. If you have valuable documents and media files, it's not a bad idea to purchase a smaller, commercial-grade fire safe to put inside the gun safe. This gives you double protection.
DO look at many different brands of safes before you buy.
There ARE significant differences among brands. For example, Browning offers a unique (patent-pending) door-mounted rifle rack. Zanotti offers slide-out drawers and a modular design that is much easier for an owner to move. Ft. Knox uses an advanced method to secure and stabilize its fire-proofing layers within the safe. Brown offers custom exotic wood interior shelving and safes with commercial-grade burglary protection (much thicker steel with heavy composite doors and walls). Amsec offers a proprietary "DryLight" poured concrete-type fire insulation with greater structural strength than typical sheet-rock panels.
DO investigate the safe's specifications.
Just because a safe is big and heavy doesn't mean it's particularly secure. Heavy-gauge steel is much more resistant to cutting and drilling than light 12- or 14-gauge steel. Some safes on the market have walls so thin they can be penetrated with a fire ax. We recommend 10-gauge steel at a minimum, and 8 gauge is much better. The safe should carry a UL RSC (Underwriters Laboratories "Residential Security Container") or better rating.
DO ask about the safe's safeguards against tampering.
A quality safe will feature extra armor or devices to defeat drilling. Low-grade safes can be opened in a few minutes with simple, battery-powered hand tools. All safes should have relockers to help ensure the safe remains locked in the case of a burglary. Relockers are hardened pins that are triggered during an attack, and cannot be retracted without hours of drilling. The number of relockers on a safe will range from 2-10+ depending on the size and burglary grade of the safe.
DO shop around for used safes.
Unlike many other products, safes don't really wear out over time. When businesses change locations, you can sometimes obtain a very high quality commercial safe for little more than the cost of removing it.