Favorite gun safe?

Investing in really good security doors,and secure windows is better than thin sheet metal safes.
I know this to be factual. My liberty safe was opened with a grinder in a few minutes. I have sense purchased top flight security doors on the front and back. My windows will take some serious effort to enter. Not impossible, but very time consuming. My alarm system is loud and my neighbors are all well armed. Cutting the power will not disarm anything.
When I first built the house we were broken in twice in three years. 37 years later. No break ins. I live out in the boonies, thirty minute police response time. We watch out for each other here.

Is there a safe that is both Fire Rated and Water Resistant (Water proof is a relative term)

One of the best scurity options you can do yourself is: 1) bolt your safe to the floor; 2) if the safe sits on concrete, lay a block wall around the two sides and top. The first makes it much harder for thieves to quickly remove the safe to go work on it somwhere else. The latter makes it harder and more time consuming for thieves to get at the thin gauge metal found on the sides and top of safety containers. Cover the outsides of the block wall with a couple sheets of sheetrock for additional fire protection if you so choose.

My best advice is don't scrimp on the size and fire rating. As you have already found out, it is easy to size yourself out of storage space over the years. I now have an Amsec and a Browning. My biggest concern is having a fire and losing a lifetime collection or firearms. Of course, you should anchor it to the floor but a high fire rating is important if you live around forested areas. My safes are in two different garages with the collection split.

The best protection against fire is to put the safe in the basement. Fires typically burn up, they rarely burn down.

With regard to safe size - if you can't fit a large (wide), heavy safe where you want it, you may be relegated to buying two safes, which could prove to be convenient anyway.

Like said above most of the "safes" people are buying are RSC's and not safes. It really depends on your situation. If you have some very valuable or sentimental pieces invest wisely. For most folks your trying to prevent the smash and grab crack head from just taking your stuff. If someone knows what you have and targets your stuff all bets are off. Layered security is the best option. Buy twice the safe you need now. Ar's and scoped rifles take up twice the room.

Varmint Hunter said:

The best protection against fire is to put the safe in the basement. Fires typically burn up, they rarely burn down.

With regard to safe size - if you can't fit a large (wide), heavy safe where you want it, you may be relegated to buying two safes, which could prove to be convenient anyway.

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I understand your thought process and agree fire generally burns upward. However, the structure generally falls into the basement and crawl. Fire water will pool there too. I built a vault under the garage floor and with an inward swing door in case used as a storm shelter and the house fell into the basement. I since moved. Should I buy a safe for my current house, it is going near an exterior wall and likely in the garage with the block protections described above.

I believe no safes will protect its contents from a fully engulfed fire for very long. Best plan is to minimize exposure to the intense heat.

Almost forgot I have a .44 mag with 320 grain double taps and extremely testy heeler and if you get past her the German shepherd will eat you for a snack, and yes I live 12 miles out of a town of 1200 peeps all my rancher neighbors are armed to the teeth and my friends we take care of our own here in central Mt

Johnnypaycheck said:

What is your gun safe of choice? Favorite brands? Size?
I've currently got a fortress gun safe and it works great, but am soon gonna need an upgrade as it's just not big enough…

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Separate SAFE ROOM that you can use for your family and valuables. 10' x 12' room with 6" reinforced concrete walls and ceiling separate filtered air and coms. There are some LRH members that have made them and posted pics in the past. Don't have to worry about 20minute fire rated.
If you are going with a stand alone safe know where you are storing. Best is corner basement for fire. Storing a Safe in your mid level floor in the house will cook the fastest.

Just to clarify some things with fire protection. As some others have mentioned, when a house collapses it will fall in the basement and it will still cook the safe but it will give you more time for the fire department to respond. Also, the fire rating that most safe manufacturers give is how long the safe is exposed to a given temp before the inside of the safe reaches 350 degree F. Paper combusts at 451 degrees. What that means is that even if your stuff doesn't get completely cooked it may still be degraded. Wood will warp, some plastics will soften and deform, battery's could ignite and cause their own fire inside of your safe (DONT PUT LITHIUM BATTERIES IN YOUR SAFE!!), and some heat treated items may begin to temper depending what steel it is and what temperature it was tempered at from the factory. So what does this mean as a whole? Generally speaking, it means pick a fire rating that ensures that the fire department will be there with ample time to spare before your fire rating is reached. If you live in BFE and it takes 60 minutes for the fire department to reach your house then it's probably good to get a safe with 2 hours of fire protection. It's better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone, I'm pretty sure i know the direction I wanna go. Which is seperate walk in vault in my shop just for guns and hunting stuff. On another note, anyone have pics of there walk in vaults?

I prefer big ones full of guns---- empty ones just aren't my cup o tea !!