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Gun safe brands and manufacturers have been popping up everywhere, and it isn’t easy to know which ones are quality and are not worth your money. In this article, I will go through all the quality brands I recommend you look at so you don’t have to sift through all the bad to find the good.
Why should you trust me? I have years of hands-on experience with gun safes! I have spent tons of time talking directly with brands (including many founders) and have been researching every brand on the market today to find the best. This article has taken me years to refine and has gone through many iterations to get where it is now.
With that said, here are my recommendations for the best gun safe manufacturers and brands and the places to shop for them.
1. SecureIt Gun Storage
- Origin: Import
- Founded: 2001
- Owner: Tom Kubiniec
- Warranty: Limited Lifetime
If there were any industry disrupter in the gun safe industry, SecureIt Gun Storage would be likened to companies like Tesla in the automotive industry, Apple in the tech industry, or Door Dash in the food industry.
If you spend any time looking through their website, you will find videos of the founder debunking claims by importing gun safe manufacturers and showing why they don’t hold up to what they say.
They then create alternatives that hold up to their claim and are incredibly open with what they build. For example, the SecureIt Agile 52 and 40 are genuinely just cabinets. They don’t pretend to be a full-out gun safe; they don’t try to have a fire rating (and not hold up to it).
Instead, they offer the advertised protection. If you need something better than that, if you need more protection, then you can opt for one of their more secure safes (such as the Answer Series).
2. Liberty Safes
- Origin: Domestic & Import
- Founded: 1988
- Owner: Monomoy Capital Partners LP
- Warranty: Lifetime
This company is a household name, as they are one of the largest gun safe manufacturers in the world. If you ask anyone if they know a manufacturer, this is likely it.
They have gun safes that span the full spectrum of needs, from the entry-level Centurion to the National Magnum series, one of the most expensive safes out there. While they are a fantastic brand, you end up paying a bit more just for the name, as there are better safes values.
However, if you go with a Liberty, you also have the peace of mind of going with something you know will work and be taken care of if anything goes wrong (as they have a lifetime warranty included). This article here I wrote goes in-depth into this brand.
3. Browning Pro-Steel
- Origin: Domestic & Import
- Founded: 1878
- Owner: Herstal Group
- Warranty: 5-Year
On the note of household names, Browning needs no introduction! However, what does need an introduction is Pro-Steel. While Browning has massive amounts of products under its umbrella, Pro-Steel is the company that exclusively builds safes for the Browning name.
These safes can range from budget-oriented imported safes to range-topping Platinum Plus safes that cost more than your car likely does. Regardless, this brand has fantastic value (including the Sporter Series, which is my favorite safe for the money).
The USA-made safes (Hunter Series and up) also feature one of my favorite interiors, called the Axis Interior. This interior is entirely customizable, and you can purchase accessories to build your safe the way you want fully.
The Sporter series may not have the axis interior if you don’t need something expensive (such as their USA-made safes). Still, its interior is exceptionally usable and is one of my go-to safes.
4. Rhino Metals
- Origin: Domestic & Import
- Founded: 1995
- Owner: Don Suggs
- Warranty: Limited Lifetime
Rhino Metals builds safes under their Rhino Metals nameplate, but also their Kodiak Gun Safes and their Bighorn Gun Safes (seen at Costco). Each of these brands offers something different from the others.
The Rhino brand offers an upscale, custom USA-made gun safe that ranges from the 12 gauge RS series to their heavy-duty 3/16″ Thunderbolt series gun safes. Each of their safes offers incredible quality, yet they are competitively priced compared to other USA-made brands.
On the other side of the company, they also build Kodiak and Bighorn. Both are meant to be a more budget-oriented safe, with a bit thinner steel and lower fire ratings than their domestic alternative. That said, they also offer fantastic value and are worth a closer look for anyone at a lower price.
5. Vaultek Safe
- Origin: Import
- Founded: 2016
- Owner: Alan McGin
- Warranty: 2-Years
This company is one of the newest brands on this list, founded in 2016. However, they have quickly become industry leaders in tech-first gun safety security.
Vaultek specializes in high-tech, multi-access, smart safes that are some of the best on the market. Their main stand-out feature is their accessibility, and by that, I mean, you can access many of their safes via your phone, a electronic keypad, a biometric system, a backup key, and even an intelligent button that they created themselves;
I have quite a bit of experience with their last generation VT10i; however, more recently, they have branched out into full-size gun safes like the RS500i and the RS200i.
Every time this company drops a new product, it revolutionizes the space it is built for. So stay tuned with this one.
- Origin: Domestic
- Founded: Unknown
- Owner: Unknown
- Warranty: Lifetime
As one of the other largest gun safe manufacturers, Fort Knox stands out as one of the most customizable (and high-quality) safe brands on the market. This is also one of my favorite brands due to this one factor.
You can customize the locking mechanism (including redundant locks), the color, steel thicknesses, additional steel layers, bulletproofing, cutting torch-resistant steel, and even the style of hinge you want. All of these things can be customized to your liking. I created a complete article about this brand that you should read!
One huge thing is that no matter what custom creation you make with them, it is protected for life, including the lock, which is rare (usually, manufacturers will warranty everything else and leave the lock up to the lock manufacturer).
7. SnapSafe
- Origin: Import
- Founded: 2009
- Owner: Hornady
- Warranty: Lifetime
If you have paid attention to this site, you are probably sick and tired of hearing about SnapSafe, as they appear in quite a few different places.
This includes being one of my favorite modular gun safes (which this company builds), all the way to showing up near the top of my favorite gun safes for the money. Either way, they are a fantastic all-around gun safe company.
Outside of just their modular safes, which you can assemble yourself wherever you would like (and include excellent fire ratings), they also build plenty of different safes! This includes under-bed safes, wall safes, accessories, and so much more.
While all of their safes are imported, they are high-quality and are one of the best values out there. They also cater exceptionally well to people who constantly move, whether in the military or those who regularly move for their job.
8. Konig
- Origin: Import
- Founded: 2012
- Owner: Ryan Hyde
- Warranty: 1-Year
I won’t blame you if you have never heard of this company, as the Konig name has only been around since 2022. However, this was a complete rebrand from its previous name of GunBox, which has been around much longer. This smart-safe company builds one of my favorite pistol safes on the market.
This review right here is a complete and in-depth look at their most recent product, the Konig 1.0. It offers a non-traditional and better-looking safe packed with features like a biometric scanner, keypad, and RFID access. It auto-opens via gas struts and looks right at home on a desk or countertop.
If you don’t need a full-size safe like many others on this list, you should look closely at this company to see if it works for you.
9. Tactical Walls
- Origin: Domestic
- Founded: 2013
- Owner: Tim Matter
- Warranty: 1-Year
This USA-Made company builds some excellent diversion safes. Every product is high-quality and based on different furniture you would find in any home. Their products range from shelves to mirrors to picture frames and diversion tissue boxes (see my review here).
While diversion safes are their bread and butter, they also offer a wide range of vault room products called ModWall (if you need a vault door, this article is for you), such as firearm racks, wall panels, and even helmet hangers.
10. Steelhead Outdoors
- Origin: Domestic
- Founded: 2016
- Owner: Charlie Pehrson and Corey Meyer
- Warranty: Unknown
Modular safes were in their infancy for quite some time; however, they are quickly coming into their own. Steelhead Outdoors is a new name in the industry; however, it is quickly becoming one of the best on the market (learn more about them here). These safes are all USA-Made, and can be broken down and built back up wherever you want them to.
The interior of their safes features gear panels, so you can fully customize it to your needs, and they utilize name-brand S&G locks on all of their safes. Speaking of customization, you can paint the exterior of the safe with a variety of different colors and the interior a completely different color (yep, no carpeting here).
Need a vault door? Steelhead Outdoors has a fantastic lineup of USA-made vault doors as well.
11. Console Vault
- Origin: Domestic
- Founded: 2002
- Owner: Scott Bonvissuto
- Warranty: Lifetime
Keeping your firearm safe at home is simple, as plenty of brands make fantastic safes (see brands above). Although, when you are on the road, that becomes a different deal. Console Vault makes my favorite vehicle gun safes, as each is custom-built to fill each make and model of the vehicle’s console.
All Console Vaults are built in the USA and use high gauge steel for their construction. I had a chance to have one of these installed in my old truck, and you should take a look at my review (which you can find right here).
What is the most reliable gun safe lock?
If the reliability of the locking mechanism is essential (it should be, to a point), I recommend a mechanical lock. These locks do not have any form of battery and do not have nearly the failure rate of any other type of lock on the market. That said, they are extremely slow to operate. So you may opt for another kind. Below is my scale of reliability for locks!
- Mechanical Lock
- Redundant Lock
- Electronic Lock
- RFID Lock
- Biometric Lock
Ultimately, when shopping for your gun safe, make sure the locking mechanism has a name brand on it! You will want something like an S&G, SecuRAM, or La Gard. Alternatively (especially with pistol safes), you may find they don’t have a brand.
In these cases, look closely at the manufacturer, and see if they are trustworthy. Look for an online presence, online reviews (good ones), and more.
What to look for when buying a gun safe?
You should be paying attention to nine significant components when purchasing your gun safe!
- Locking Mechanism
- Steel quality and thickness
- The Fire Rating
- Security Features
- The Warranty
- Aesthetics of the Safe
- Gun Safe Size and dimensions
- Additional features
- Non-Feature related things
If you want to learn more about these things, we have one of the most comprehensive guides to the things you should look for when buying a safe gun at the bottom of this article.
Are gun safes bad for guns?
A common misconception is that gun safes are bad for guns. While this is true to a point, it can be avoided easily.
Firearms (and other items) can be damaged in a gun safe if left without any precautions. A gun safe doesn’t have airflow (but is not completely air-tight). This lack of airflow causes any moisture in the air to settle down on firearms and cause rust and pitting.
While this is a significant issue, the easiest way to solve this is to purchase a good dehumidifier (here are our recommendations). These dehumidifiers keep the air circulating or collect the moisture to be baked out later.
Gun safe brands to avoid?
Alright, we have learned the best gun safe manufacturers out there; however, what about the gun safe brands to avoid?
In the security world, I would recommend using the “if it doesn’t feel right, it isn’t” philosophy. Many knockoff manufacturers out there need a name to lose when a lock fails, or a kid gets into them. If you feel that a company is making crazy claims and only charges ½ what the competitors are, you probably should avoid that safe.
In the gun safe world, you get what you pay for, and cutting corners when shopping for a safe isn’t the best time to test that. However, a used safe may be right for you. Be aware the definition of a gun safe is extremely light (as you can see in this bill), and anyone can get away with advertising one.
If you want to learn more about this, I highly recommend you reading through this article here I also put together.
Conclusion
Buying a gun safe is similar to buying a car; buying the right one takes time, patience, and a budget. Many of the brands on this list may not be suitable for you. However, I do hope at least one of them is. They all make great products that you should be happy with.
Of course, they all make very different products as well. Just do your homework, have fun, and keep your firearms safe.
