Top 17 Best USA-Made Gun Safes (Pistol, Rifle, Vehicle & Vault Door)

While some fantastic imported gun safes are on the market today, there are just as many (or more) not-so-great ones as well. Because of this, an American-Made (USA-built) gun safe poses a fantastic option for people looking to buy a quality safe.

These safes tend to have higher gauge steel (and higher quality), better fire ratings, and better support and are generally more customizable to your liking. I will be detailing the best and my favorite USA-made gun safes on the market today and helping you decide which is best for you!

Why should you trust me? I have helped hundreds of thousands of people hunt for the right gun safe for them. With years of experience writing on this site, working in retail, and regularly talking directly with these companies’ owners, CEOs, and salespeople, I have a unique and extensive knowledge base of what makes a great safe. If you want to learn more about me, you can find that here!

Best Full-Size Gun Safes Built in the USA

While the Hunter series of Browning gun safes are the entry-level USA-built gun safes from the company, the Silver series and the 33 specifically are my favorite. 

This safe offers a fantastic 11-gauge steel, the impressive Axis interior (my second-most-favorite interior, outside of SecureIt’s CradleGrid). You can choose from plenty of colors (black cherry is my favorite), lock options (electronic, biometric, and mechanical), and even the scene on the front of the safe.

This is all packaged into a reasonably priced safe that is also a reasonable size! This safe is my favorite USA-made gun safe (hands down).

This Liberty Safe may not be the most expensive or overboard safe that Liberty has to offer; however, it is one of the best value gun safes out here that is made here in the USA. Liberty Safes is one of, if not the most significant safe manufacturers in the country, so having your product backed up by a reputable company is fantastic.

It also offers class-leading specs, such as 11 gauge steel, a 75-minute fire rating, and a 60 firearm capacity, mixed with one of their largest capacities. The Extreme model we are talking about here offers more firearm storage and a little less for other items, making it perfect for those with more guns.

There are, of course, so many other gun safes that Liberty offers, and I highly recommend you look into them all. The Centurion might be a good option for a small budget. Or if you are not quite so much on a budget, options like the Franklin or Lincoln are a better choice.

Regardless of which safe you choose, Liberty has switched all of their full-size safes to their Military Style Locking Bars, which take a bit of a different path for protecting the safe door than most other manufacturers.

Rhino may not have the name recognition of Browning, Liberty, or Fort Knox, but they offer one of the best values. You can customize these safes from the lock, color, trim, lighting, and more (similar to the other big names), but you don’t have to pay for the title (like you would the others).

This CD6030X is my favorite option from their lineup. It offers an excellent fire rating, 12-gauge steel, fantastic dimensions (my favorite size), and re-lockers throughout the safe. At under $3000, it presents an excellent value for a high-quality, custom USA-made gun safe.

Steelhead is one of the newest entrants onto this list of best USA-made gun safes, as it is also one of the latest gun safe brands on the market. They are taking on the modular gun safe market by offering a high-quality, American-made, fire-rated gun safe. 

Modular gun safes are a subsection of the standard gun safe market, you receive this safe in pieces, and you can build it up wherever you want. This means you can build it with one to two people rather than hiring a team to get your safe where you prefer it to be.

I am a huge fan of modular gun safes (I even built my guide here), which present a fantastic value. This Nomad 38 is one of my favorites, with its 12-gauge steel, excellent fire rating, significant dimensions, and quality build.

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The Fort Knox Protector is the best value Fort Knox gun safe the manufacturer offers. It has all the features that allow it to be one of the best safes but does away with any of the frills that don’t have much to do with security. At seven gauge steel, it is one of the thickest safes on the market today and is backed up with a lifetime warranty by Fort Knox, including the locking mechanism. Only a few people out there do that at the moment.

This safe is also a great starting point if you want an exceptional safe. You can upgrade this with any color you wish to (or even their distressed finish); you can add the 2S Crane hinge, any interior you want, and so on. 

The Protector series gun safe is an all-around significant premium that lets you have as little or as much as you want and will be highly secure no matter your choice.

Their Guardian Series is also an excellent option if you want something extra. It comes standard with its 5:1 gear ratio, adding elegance to opening your gun safe. I recommend reading this article to learn more about Fort Knox Safes. It goes in-depth with all the options and all the different series of safes they offer.

If you are on a budget but want an American Made safe, Ironman Safes will be a great bet! They make some excellent safes and they keep them relatively inexpensive. My favorite is the Model 3000, as it keeps with the reasonable idea by keeping the price under $2000 but still offers ten gauge steel, an excellent 2-hour fire rating, and some customizations on the aesthetics end of things.

These safes are primarily bare bones, but they make up for it in price and value to your dollar. If you want a showpiece, something else might be the better option, but if you wish for American-Made, high-quality security for the right price, this is what you should look at for your next safe.

Best Pistol Safes Built in the USA

Fort Knox is by far the most well-known USA-made pistol-safe company (of course, they also have their full-size safes). Within their pistol-safe lineup, the most prominent will be the Original PB1. This handgun safe offers nine gauge steel, a simplex lock (one of my favorite locks), pry resistance, and a crazy amount of heft.

However, this differs from what I consider portable and is more of a bedside safe on a nightstand. The best part of this safe will be the Simplex Locking mechanism. This gives you the ease of access that an electronic lock provides; however, it doesn’t use a battery that tends to fail.

If, for some reason, you don’t like the Fort Knox PB1, then this is probably one of your best alternatives. It offers the same simplex locking mechanism, ten gauge steel, and the design of the Fort Knox version.
It also looks almost identical to the PB1, with one significant change. A handle has been added to the front of the safe, allowing this to be slightly more portable.

This might be your best option if you want to take this with you. However, if you prefer to keep this bolted to a nightstand, I recommend you stick with the PB1, as that handle on the Amsec version takes up some room and won’t be necessary in your case.

This Stopbox is on the extreme other end of the spectrum from the first two (Fort Knox and Amsec); this one is made of ABS plastic but allows rapid, speedy access. I have spent a reasonable amount of time with one of these and can attest that they are a great little pistol box.

Is this a pistol safe? It is more meant to be a retention device that is intended to be the in-between of your home safe and your office or car safe that you also have. It means when you need it most, you have quick access to your pistol but buy yourself enough time if it is stolen from you to act on it.

It also can be strapped to seats or other stationary items with the included cord. I have a full review that you can read about this Stopbox in this article here, or if you want to learn more about the company itself, this is a fantastic article to read.

Best Home Safes Built in the USA

This isn’t your typical home safe, so I have to add it to this list! This nightstand safe has outlets (don’t like electronics? here are some mechanical versions to plug things in, 14 gauge steel, a fire rating of 60 minutes, and an electronic lock. What stands out about this safe is two different things!

Firstly, it acts as a nightstand. Sitting next to your bedside and keeping your clock, drink, or anything you would typically put on your bedside would be perfect. Secondly, it follows the Ironworks (distressed finish) styling of its big brother full-size gun safes. This could be an excellent safe for those wanting to have a safe in their bedroom for quick access at night.

If you don’t want a nightstand, there are quite a few other home safes that Rhino has to offer, including ironworks styling and typical paint styling.

Zanotti makes an extensive range of American-made modular safes! This home safe arrives on your doorstep in pieces, which can then easily be carried into your home, and built up exactly where you want it. This means you don’t have to hire a moving company to move the safe, saving you money that can be spent on the higher price point from quality USA-made safes instead.

The X1 may be a bit hefty, but it offers fire resistance, 1/8″ Walls, a 3/16″ Top, Bottom & Door, a re-locker, and a high-quality locking mechanism. That said, while it has some impressive features for a Modular gun safe, it lacks in the customization department, as you can only choose from two colors, both on the interior and exterior.

Best Vault Doors Built in the USA

Don’t let the excellent, distressed finish on this vault door fool you, it is still a high-quality and secure vault door as well. Rhino Metals is one of my favorite gun safe and vault door companies. They offer great value, yet they are also building some of the best vault doors. This vault door, in particular, offers ten gauge steel and a fire rating at a better price than many others.

Rhino Metals is also well known for having one of the best customers experiences out there, and their warranty is fantastic. While this door, in particular, is 35″ wide, you can choose from other sizes (and hinge sides) as well at the link above. Rhino is also one of the few companies that offer a biometric lock option if that is something you need.

Quick Hint: Don’t like the distressed finish? Rhino offers these doors in standard paint finishes as well.

Browning is one of the best manufacturers of vault doors (not just USA-made) on earth. This Universal Vault Door from the brand is their flagship door, as it offers 7-gauge steel, a fire rating, and plenty of modifications. You can choose from different scenes, quite a few color options, and even choose from a mechanical, electronic, or biometric lock (they have an excellent biometric lock).

You can also choose from a left or right-hand swing door and trim colors. The main downside to this? It’s universal, so you don’t have the option to choose from different widths on this one. However, if you are willing to put up with that, it is also an excellent value vault door (for a USA-built door).

Most vault doors look like, well, vault doors. However, what if you are looking to build out a vault room that is also discrete? That is where this six-panel security vault door from Browning comes into play. While it still features many high-end features of its other vault doors, like 10-gauge steel, a fire rating, and more, it also looks exactly like any other interior door in a standard home.

This means you can have your vault room in an ordinary place in your home without visitors (or intruders) becoming overly suspicious. It builds on this secrecy but also allows you to access an electronic keypad remotely. You can place the keypad somewhere hidden (rather than on the face of the vault door) so that the door further looks like just a door instead of a door with a keypad on it.

This one is costly, like the rest of Browning’s doors.

Liberty’s Vault Doors are unique in the industry. They are the only ones that utilize their military-style locking bars that give more surface area for stress to be distributed than their round locking bolt alternatives.
These vault doors also offer many of the same things you expect on their safes, like a Palusol seal (with a 150-minute fire rating), a gear-driven door, and some excellent paint finishes.

You can choose an S&G mechanical lock or a SecuRAM electronic lock, both great options regardless of your choice. Its seven-gauge steel is quite impressive as well. Don’t be looking to buy this on a budget, though, as it is north of $10,000 to get a foot in the door (pun intended).

Best Vehicle Safes Built in the USA

I have owned this one in the past in a truck I owned before! You can read the complete review and how to install them by reading this article I put together. The basic idea is that Console Vault makes a 12-gauge steel safe that will fit perfectly into your existing center console.

They have different versions for every choice, whether your truck has a flow-through console or a fold-down seat. You can choose between a key lock, a three-digit lock, or a four-digit locking mechanism.

These are extremely easy to install, are built with high-quality components, and the locks are easy to access (I wish it came with an electronic lock version, though).

Lock’er Down is highly similar to Console Vault and has almost identical designs. I would shop both if I were you to ensure you get the best price.
One thing that sets Lock’er Down apart from Console Vault is that it is available with four very different locking mechanisms. It has a four-digit combo, tubular key, abloy key locking mechanism (high security like police use), and metal-cased electronic lock.

Like the competition, it still offers 12-gauge steel and fits into your existing console space! They also have an EXxtreme version of their safes, which essentially upgrades the steel gauge to 10 gauge, giving it a leg up on the competition.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

So there you have it; these are all my favorite gun safes, vault doors, pistol safes, home safes, and more made here in the USA.
Buying a safe made domestically has many upsides, including quality, customization, and more. However, the only downside is the price.
If it is worth buying the USA-made safe, I recommend the ones you find on this list.