Sadly, I'm going to see how well a safe protects from fire

They got into the safe.


Carl is working downstate, his wife said the guns at damaged, but they expected worse. They have been sent to a gunsmith who specializes in this.

Sounds like they're salvageable. Good News!

I would not want to be conducting that test.

kelbro said:

Unfortunately, most gun safes do not offer a whole lot of fire protection.

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Totally dependent on the buyer, don't buy cheap. Good safes will withstand house fire temps for several hours, and are much harder to break into. A safe is a high $$$ investment, do your homework. A safe from a big box retailer is generally a pretty box and little else.

A good safe will also have a fire seal gasket on the door, should swell and essentially glue the door shut when it reaches a certain temp. Water will not get into a good safe, but one of the ways a safe works in a fire is to release the moisture in the gypsum (drywall) liner. Your guns will rust and quite quickly. Keep them wiped down, inside and out, with Ballistol, #9, RemOil, something to protect them. Get into the safe ASAP after the fire to minimize the damage.

Locks will be destroyed and relockers will have melted working their magic. Only way in is with a saw and a lot of sweat. Back is generally the easiest way in.

I did a lot of research when looking for a safe. Came down to Ft. Knox and Liberty...both good choices.
The Liberty Fatboy Jr. Got the nod.

Google "Liberty Safe Fire Test" or something along those lines. Seems their upper-grade product will do a pretty good job.

Also look into insurance. Eastern Insurance covers all my stuff (firearms, optics, knives) with a $100 deductible (per incident, not item) up to $40,000 for $126 annually (NRA price). Pretty reasonable and well regarded in the firearms community