When shopping for manufacturers of gun lockers and safes, it’s a good practice to stick with manufacturers who have to answer to higher standards to remain competitive on the market. In the U.S.A., that often means providing quality on a local level. American-made products usually have to adhere to a higher standard in order to remain viable. Here is an alphabetical list of some U.S. manufacturers of gun safes, and what to expect.
American Security Safes Otherwise known as “AMSEC,” the AMSEC gun safes have enjoyed a solid reputation amongst gun owners for decades, the company began in 1948. Being produced in California, arguably the strictest state in the union when it comes to regulatory standards of safe production (e.g.: “CA DOJ Approved” symbol for gun safes), AMSEC knows their trade. They made a name for themselves by becoming the first safe manufacturer to receive the UL’s TL-15 and TL-30 classification for anti-theft devices on their safes. They were also the first to create round door vaults – an innovative design that deters burglary. American Security Safes found the high price of these round doors was enough to send them to the drawing board to create a cost-effective, albeit secure, square and rectangular door design. They are driven to provide quality at a reasonable price.
Cannon Safes Cannon has been in the safe-manufacturing business over 4 decades. Their mission has been to give affordable security options, and have backed their products with one of the best warranties on the market. A Cannon gun safe is backed by their lifetime warranty. Canon offers a lifetime replacement guarantee, and will pay for a safe tech to open your safe after an attempted burglary, fire or other disaster. They will also pay for onsite repair, or for the shipping charges to send the safe to and from their factory in the case of any of these disastrous events. The reason being, Cannon gun safes are a permanent investment in the company’s eyes. As to security rating, their safes are UL RSC certified against break-in, and Intertek-ETL has certified their fire rating from 30 minutes on some models to 90 minutes on their Safari models.
Liberty Liberty is a Utah-based company, a newcomer to the industry by industry standards (1988), but nonetheless they have used the best business practices to make a significant name for themselves. Their safes are rated from the UL, Underwriter’s Lab. They quickly worked their way to a leading position of full-sized home safes in the U.S. with good working ethics and purchasing National Security Safe, Co. in ’97. They also designed door technology with their “HiSecurity Composite” doors, which layered fireboard, hardened plate-steel, and steel for added fire and security quality. Their bolt works is also a patented system, and Liberty introduced an innovative shelf system that was adjustable.
Spotlight: American Security Safes
As stated previously, AMSEC gun safes are some of the best made, with a history to show for it. They developed a composite construction, combining hard-plate along with concrete, which was then and remains a winning design to thwart fire as well as theft. Due to their innovative designs and focus on anti-theft construction, the UL tested and found AMSEC gun safes worthy of the anti-theft ratings TL-15 and TL-30, which remains one of the best ratings on the residential safe market. The rating means that the safes in question can withstand a concerted tool-attack by burglars for 15 or 30 minutes, and the U.S. Department of Justice statistical data shows that most burglary attacks against safes average about 7 minutes. In other words, these safes will buy the necessary time it takes to protect your investments.
American Security Safes has been around since 1948, started by Glenn Hall. In the beginning, Glenn only began with a welding machine and lathe, and wanted to build a secure safe that would withstand burglary attempts. AMSEC gun safes are still designed with this focus in mind, and through the decades they have made significant strides in engineering to keep ahead of the game.
One such design was the round door. These were very effective deterrents against theft, but carried a high production cost. Nonetheless, this feature was a design innovation that kept AMSEC ahead of the competition, and their design was a standard against which others were measured.
As the demand for safes grew, American Security wanted to make their safes more affordable for the common man. The door was redesigned to a square shape to accommodate, while maintaining a high level of security for the consumer. This required other changes to the bolt works in order to keep the standard of security high, this all took place in the 1960’s. During the 90’s, AMSEC was the very first company (in the U.S.) to receive the UL’s burglar rating (see above), which was ahead of the competition. In fact, very few manufacturers bother with this high degree of security, keeping AMSEC’s concern for burglary ahead of most manufacturers to this day, with few exceptions.
American Security Safes is still pushing their production to a self-imposed higher standard. Another example is how they subject their electronic locks the a standard called, “Mil 0202-Method 106,” which is a military-grade standard to check for electronics reliability.
As of date, AMSEC gun safes are produced using the best in welding construction practices, and the company is churning out around 600k safes/year, from Fontana, CA. When you buy AMSEC gun safes, you’ll be treated to affordable quality and scratch-resistant interiors, with gun racks, shelves and plenty of space. They also offer a fantastic “No Cost” warranty – no cost for shipping, repair, replacement in the event of a burglary attempt or fire.
Spotlight: Cannon Gun Safes
Cannon gun safes are produced by Cannon Safes, whose motto is, “Nothing protects like a Cannon.” They have been in business over 4 decades, and have been making innovation their game plan. They specialize in creating design break-throughs, and back all of it up with a strong “for life” guarantee. Like AMSEC, they have a lifetime warranty that covers the shipping, parts and labor or replacement for a safe under theft attempt, flooding or fire damage.
Cannon offers 5 main lines of safes: Traditional, Cannon, Patriot, American Eagle and Safari. They do also offer Home and Office safes, which are more along the line of personal-sized safes as opposed to the larger gun locker-style safes. Cannon is also making a line of wall safes.
Beginning with the Traditional Series, and there are a handful of safes in this line, are beautiful to look at. Elegance may not be what you think of when considering a safe, but there you have it. This class of safe offers rounded edges on the exterior, which reportedly offers greater strength. The interior is top-notch, with oak facing on the shelves, upholstered surfaces, and even interior lighting options and a dehumidifier option as well. Their fire rating is ETL-rated at 1200 F for 90 minutes. The door handle is also beautiful: 5 spokes, protected with a better-than-required Type 1 UL rated electronic lock (industrial grade). For security, the safe has multiple relockers in case of theft attempt, and a bolt-down option as well.
Their Safari Series, which is split between a more economical “Serengeti” and the top-of-the-spectrum “Dangerous Game” series, is the latest design of the Cannon gun safes. The Dangerous Game Cannon gun safe comes in several selections. Boasting gorgeous pin striping and a painted bust of a water buffalo, the Dangerous Game series is essentially the Traditional (the top of the line), but with a Safari design to it. The edges are rounded, like the Traditional, and the interior has velour-lined shelving for an added bit of luxury.
Other features of Cannon gun safes that are nice touches (may not be available on all models): the interior LED lighting, which comes on as the door is opened (like a refrigerator) and shuts off when you close the door, is a great touch! So is the dehumidifier rod that you can opt for, though you can usually purchase them after-market. Of course, you can just use desiccant packs, but the cord-opening is a nice touch to keep mildew down. The Cannon “Tru-Rack” system is one of the only racking options on the market that allows you to rack as many guns as you’re being advertised, so their 36-gun safes can actually hold 36 long guns.
The Serengeti is fire-rated for 60 minutes at 1200 F by the ETL, while the Dangerous Game is rated at 90 minutes. The Serengeti’s door is a composite 1.5″, the Dangerous Game is 2.25″ composite, and both have double steel construction of either 10 or 12 gauge steel with fire protection. Another difference is the capacity, where the Serengeti is smaller, the Dangerous Game goes up to a 36-gun capacity.
No matter what product you are buying from American Security Safes or Cannon Gun Safes, you’ll be sure that your investment will be protected by excellent design, reputations, and warranties that should ensure you you’re making a wise decision.