This information was shared with me from a member on a forum that I frequent. I thought it helpful & insightful. hopefully it is helpful to others as well.
Bob
I used to service safes and vaults, which is why I didn't comment any further in your thread. I am not going to argue on a forum. My opinion is that most of the gun safes are similar in terms of quality and construction. They are a metal box with a metal door that has a multi pin locking mechanism. They are not designed to be a burglary safe. Safes designed to prevent burglary have a rating, such as TL-15 or TL-30 and are commonly referred to as "jewelers safes". Most of those safes are not big enough for rifles and are in a much higher price range, but you get what you pay for. That said metal containers made out of sheet metal like Homak are not safes, they are in a completely different category not to be confused with a safe. Electronic locks fail at least 10 times more often than mechanical locks. When I got out of the business Sargent and Greenleaf started making their mechanical locks out of a material called Zimac (sp) which was a low quality metal prone to prematurely breaking. I imagine that LaGard may have followed suit. They did still make the original combo locks, hopefully they still do. If you find a good deal on a safe you can have the lock replaced with a better or different one.
"Fire gun safes" do keep the internal temperature below a certain degree in a fire but your firearms will not survive a bad fire. I have seen the aftermath and the stocks are charred, burned, and or the metal is rusting do to the drywall like material releasing moisture during the fire.
You are not likely to find a gun safe with a "glass re-locker". They do exist but I have never come across one in the field. Not worth paying for as an option on a gun safe in my opinion.
Anchor the safe to the floor with 4 of the largest anchors you can. It is much easier for two monkeys to pry open a safe when the safe is on its back.
If the location is not well lit, mount a light to illuminate the dial or keypad, battery operated or otherwise. I have gone on several malfunction calls only to find the safe in a dark corner and the owner could not see the dial well enough to dial the combo correctly.
If you buy new get the warranty in writing. Have them point out where it states if the manufacture ie Amsec, liberty ( F liberty ) or the manufacture of the lock ie LaGard or S&G will be handling and paying for any warranty work. As the tech I have seen cases where the manufacture calls and arranges for the warranty work then expects the lock manufacture to pay for the service. The lock manufacture doesn't pay because they didn't arrange for the warranty service. The safe manufacture (even though they were the ones who arranged the service) doesn't want to pay because the lock failed. In that case the customer is the guy in between the safe tech that is not paid and the manufacture. Towards the end of my service days all safe owners signed a 'third party payment agreement' for warranty work which obligated them to pay for the service if the manufacture didn't. Unfortunately even the large names in the safe business tried playing the corporate game of not paying or delaying payment and the third party payment agreement was the leverage to get me paid.
