Prepping the House With a Gun Safe

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editor’s Note: A contribution to The Prepper Journal from the people at BuyerBenchmark. 

Firearms are very much a part of life in the mid west and have personally been a huge inspiration to me since I could practically stand. With access to such an immense power comes the absolute requirement for safety. Throughout this article, I would like to share some of my experiences and research that goes into protecting your must precious possessions (your family) as well as preventing and deterring possible theft to your firearms with the use of gun safes. If you are interesting in other hunting, camping, and firearm reviews, feel free to hop on over to my website, Buyerbenchmark. 

Safety First! 

When it comes to owning firearms, safety is paramount. You have all been there, teaching someone that has never shot a rifle or pistol in their life, the main rules of gun safety. Keep your finger off the trigger, point the firearm in a safe direction, always assume it is loaded, and know your target are just some of the rules you hear over and over.

What isn’t discussed as much as it should be is off range safety, as in, staying safe at your own house. You hear horror stories all the time, where a kid gets a hold of a firearm and creates some sort of accident. Don’t allow that to happen and always put your guns up in a safe. Gun safes and gun cabinets come in all shapes, sizes, and a huge range of prices. Navigating these waters can be daunting, that’s what we are here for! 

Selecting The Right Gun Safe

There are thousands of gun safes out there that are catered to meet a variety of needs. Therefore, when you are considering outfitting your home with a gun safe, you need to ask yourself a bunch of questions to help decide which safe to pull the trigger on. 

What Capacity do I Need?

First and foremost, how many guns would you like to store in your safe and how big are they? Typically, gun safes are described by their long gun and hand gun capacity, ie 16 long gun and 4 hand gun safe. Note, when it says 16 long guns can fit in there, that means that they can pack them in without any attachments or scopes or anything, so it may only be able to hold 10 or so. 

Additionally, some gun safes have sleeves that hang on the door so the door is able to hold a few hand guns for you. I prefer this method as it saves space and allows for rapid access if need be. When we wrote our huge review on some of the best gun safes for the money, we go in depth into all capacity descriptions and the internal layout of the safe. 

What Locking Mechanism Would I Prefer?

In addition to various capacities, gun safes also have different locking mechanisms. The locking mechanism is simply the way to input some sort of key/code/combination in order to unlock the safe. The most popular mechanism is the mechanical dial, which is like a dial lock on an old school locker. This input takes quite a bit of time to actually enter in the code, so it may not be preferred. 

 

Next up is the electronic keypad, which accepts a multi digit numerical code by button press instead of dial turn. This allows the user to enter a code pretty quickly in order to get into your safe. Lastly is the bio-metric locking system, which reads your finger print and unlocks the safe via a bio-metric signature.

What is My Price Range?

One of the biggest variables, regardless of the product you are considering, is price. If you have spent any time checking out gun safes, you’ll notice that some are a couple hundred bucks, but then others are in the 10s of thousands. What is the deal and what is the biggest difference? We go in detail with our study on the best gun safe under $1000, but we will outline some of the considerations here.

The biggest influence on price is material and thickness of that material. The most expensive gun safes are made up of very thick steel sheets to prevent any and all theft. Additionally, this steel can prevent damage caused by fire as it provides some insulation. This steel thickness is described through gauge call outs. The more pricey gun safes are usually made of at least 10 gauge steel. Cheaper safes and cabinets are made of 14 gauge steel, which is quite a bit thinner and can easily by cut. 

If you are needing to protect thousands of dollars worth of guns, you may want to consider a thick steel gauge safe for a couple thousands dollars. If you simply want to keep the guns away from the kids, consider a few hundred dollar gun cabinet. 

Mounting Your Gun Safe

We have discussed some of the basics in considering what safe to outfit your house with, but all of that is useless if a gun thief could just simply pick the safe up and take the entire thing. Mounting the gun safe is just as important as the steel walls! 

Quality gun safes will come with pre-drilled holes that allow you to bolt the gun safe directly to the ground. Bolting a gun safe directly into a concrete foundation is one of the most popular ways to anchor your investment. Some folks also mount it to the wall via studs, either way, make sure you are using quality bolts and tooling. 

Deciding on where to mount your safe can also be a challenge. Most people want to mount their safe in a discrete location, which isn’t obvious to everyone that enters your house. This will help prevent any theft since no one even knows where it is! The challenge here can be actually getting the safe to the mounting location, as safes can be super heavy. We recently checked out one that was over 400 lbs! That means you most likely need some assistance via equipment or a bunch of friends. Additionally, you probably are limited to mounting that safe on the ground floor as you can’t get it up the stairs. 

Wrapping it All Up

In conclusion, make sure you prep your house for safety and get some sort of gun safe. Whether it is a thin, 14 gauge gun cabinet for a couple hundred bucks or a thick, drill proof safe for a couple thousand, do the research and make a valuable choice! Additionally, make sure to mount your safe securely and in a discrete location to protect your investments!

This article was a contribution from one of our guest posters: Roger from https://buyerbenchmark.com.

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