When you protect your firearms and tactical gear, you protect yourself, your family, and your investment. Here’s what to consider when buying gun safes and locks, and some practical reminders from our experts.
How to Choose a Gun Safe
- Anchoring: Prepare to anchor your gun safe to the floor or wall with pre-drilled holes: it’ll be nearly impossible to remove, but that’s a good thing. Make sure the floor underneath can handle the weight and density.
- Anti-Tampering: Reinforced doors, internal relockers, and other anti-tampering features engage the locking mechanism when the safe is attacked.
- Capacity: When choosing a safe by size, think about how big your collection is, what you plan to add to it, and how much space you need for other valuables and important documents.
- Fire and Water Resistance: Know your area’s fire risk, and purchase a gun safe with an appropriate fire rating. Safes including airtight seals protect the contents against water damage from floods or firefighting efforts.
- Locking Mechanism: There are plenty of reliable mechanical combination locks (think: the big safes you see in the movies). For quicker access, you’d want one with a keypad or a biometric fingerprint scanner. Look for something highly secure that’s also easy for the right person to access in an emergency.
- Legality: Make sure you’re purchasing something that keeps you compliant with local, state, and federal firearm storage laws.
- Steel Thickness and Weight: The thicker the steel (the lower the gauge number), the greater the safe’s resistance to forced entry. The heavier they are, the more difficult they are to move (as in, to get away with).
Note: We don’t suggest making low price a priority when buying a gun safe. Whether you buy from us or not, you’re making a long-term investment in your safety. Always prioritize quality and industry certifications over getting a good deal.
Models We Recommend
We can argue all day about who makes the best, most secure safes, especially if you have bottomless pockets. However, there are levels to this. As you earn more money, you open the proverbial safe door to more secure, X-Men proof safes. So lets scale this:
- For an inexpensive, easy, and no-battery solution for tight budgets, we recommend at least getting something like a STOPBOX. They fit most pistols and an extra mag, red dots, and even rail lights. They may seem like cheap plastic, but they’re really durable. They’re easy to conceal, too. They hide well under plants, lamps, and other household items. They’re easy to find and use after a bump in the night, but are extremely difficult for children to manipulate (thanks to their cipher mechanisms).
- SNAPSAFE has some pretty good products for the money. Their stuff can go on a nightstand, under the bed, or even be hidden behind a mirror on the wall.
- Hornady also offers multiple safe and lockbox sizes for pistols and carbines, with options for most budgets and gun storage needs. They also have RFID wearables that quickly unlock their products when time is of the essence.
- Gundalorium’s gun nerds love SecureIt. They have badass wall mounting plates, very secure lock boxes and other solutions that are within sticking distance of most budgets. They have some pretty tacti-cool setups for vehicles and most house spaces.
Quick note about larger/multi-gun storage solutions: If you need a bigger rifle safe for multigun storage, most Tractor Supply stores have decent safes. Always check the fireproof ratings, and carefully read customers’ reviews. Most stores like Home Depot, Lowe’s, Academy Sports, Dick’s, and the like have some available as well. Of course, if you have the time and money, check out your local safe store. You’ll get great service, and the chance to support a local business.
Don’t Forget: Temperature Control
When choosing where to store your guns, don’t forget temperature control. Yes, the garage is out of the way, and may make weapons tougher for thieves and children to find. But long-term storage with no client control means rust, which can ruin a once-great firearm.
How to Choose Gun Locks
Buying the right gun lock means thinking through a lot of similar things. If you’re locking firearms for home defense, you want something secure that still allows you to think and act quickly when you have to. If you’re buying gun locks for long-term storage (for your hunting guns, or stuff you’re keeping at the range), you can probably use standard combination locks. Speaking of combinations, be smart. Avoid birthdays, anniversaries, or simple sequences to keep children safe and bad actors out.
Different gun lock types bring different levels of security. Trigger and cable locks are primarily for keeping children out and staying legal, but are easier to defeat. Unlike safes, where security measures and specs are more general, you’ve got to consider firearm compatibility.
Translation: Not all trigger locks fit all guns. Match your lock to your make and model before you buy. We suggest getting comfortable with any locks and safety/storage setups you buy while there’s nothing at stake. When you’ve got tools and a setup you can use consistently and correctly, that meet your security needs and keeps you legal, you’ve made the right calls.
Our Recommendations
We know, we know… It’s not that we hate gun locks, it’s just we do actually hate them. They serve a very minimal purpose. But they do work for that purpose. All manufacturers are required to ship guns with some sort of locking device. But as we all know, the only person most of them “protect” is the bad guy. While you’re searching for a mini Holly Hobby key to unlock a craptastic mini lock, an a**-whooping from your friendly neighborhood burglar awaits. That said, we have some suggestions for when needs must.
- STOPBOX’s “On-Gun” solutions are pretty rugged, and they offer a mechanical solution to a tactical problem. Their locks are perfect for AR’s and Shotguns.
- Kinisium (a cool little company we met a Shotshow 2025) offer a higher-tech solution. It’s a wireless sensor that you can pretty much attach anywhere. It immediately notifies your Android or Apple device whenever someone bumps, tampers with, or moves the object it’s attached to (your nightstand or gun safe drawer, for example). This keeps curious little ones out of trouble, with no need for quicksand and booby traps. They’re a great company to support, and the owners are awesome people.
Note: Amazon does have some options, but buyer beware: it’s harder to buy from them with confidence, and you’re not going to get any of the great service you’d have buying directly from an experienced team.
Your Source for Safety
We want you to have nothing but peace of mind when it comes to safe firearm and hunting weapon storage. Have questions about the best make and model for your gear, and your setup? Jump on Discord with us: our Guild members are always eager to chat about all things guns and gear.
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Safety Note: Firearm ownership comes with responsibilities. If you’re considering purchasing a firearm or other weapon, do your due diligence. Brush up on State and Federal laws, training and background check requirements, and any permits you’d need. Safe storage and usage is paramount to Gundalorian staff and Guild members.
