Educate me on firearm safes

[WickedWillis]

I am in the process of closing on purchasing my very first home. When I receive the earnest and appraisal money back, I plan on purchasing my first real safe as well. I am pretty uneducated on what is good and bad, as well as reputable manufacturers. One of my local customers, Ironman safe, makes from what I can tell high quality safes. I have also looked at Liberty, Bighorn, and a few other big box manufacturers. My price ideally is from $900-$1200, because I want to do it right the first time here. I have two long guns currently, but I will of course be adding more in the future, and I also own six handguns. Which I may be adding to as well. I would like to store my handguns in their boxes in the safe, unless this could cause moisture or other issues that is. What are your guys recommendations here? My needs are:

6-10 Rifles and shotguns. I need to be a tad flexible for the future here.
6-12 Handguns. I don't see myself buying that many more handguns honestly. My EDC and HD handguns won't be in the safe.
Good firewall. I am in a fortunate are when it comes to fires, but accidents do happen
Recommendations on ammunition storage

Anything else that I am not thinking of here? Thank you guys for all your help on everything, this is a fantastic and helpful community.

Off topic, anyone know if NFA laws are restricted when it comes to residences very close to schools? That may be another thread all together though

[SilverBullet432]

Check out this liberty safe selection tool!

http://m.libertysafe.com/safe-select...tion.php?qid=1

[officerX]

Check out this liberty safe selection tool!

http://m.libertysafe.com/safe-select...tion.php?qid=1

Thanks for that!

[WickedWillis]

Check out this liberty safe selection tool!

http://m.libertysafe.com/safe-select...tion.php?qid=1

So I am assuming liberty is GTG then?

[SilverBullet432]

Ive heard good things. I dont have one. So ill wait until the "pros" chime in. I too, am looking for one.

[GH41]

Whatever you do don't put much faith in what a safe manufacturer says the safe's capacity is!! Sure you can stuff 24 rifles in a 30" safe if you stack them like cord wood! Buy at least twice as much safe as you think you will need.

[philcam]

I just replaced my Cannon safe with a Superior Safe. The only reason I made the swap was because of size. I did quite a bit of research before buying. My budget was the same as yours.

Understand one thing, unless you are buying the higher end Fort Knox or the Graffunder safes, most residential security containers (the aren't really safes) are pretty much the same. The exception to the rule being www.sturdysafe.com I really think the sturdy safe is the best bang for your buck, but I didn't buy one because it was still a bit out of my price range and given your budget, it will most likely be out of yours too. I do like my Superior, but I'm having a bit of buyer remorse by not saving my money a little longer and buying the sturdy. Buy once cry once I guess.

Cannon, Winchester, Liberty, Superior, Browning and Bighorn safes that are in your price range will all be made of 12-14 gauge steel and maybe a have 3/8 plate door. If the safe has a composite door and not a solid plate, ask the dealer to remove the inner door liner. You might be surprised how flimsy the door becomes. I prefer the solid plate. Safes in your budget will have sheet rock for the fire rating. Cannon and Bighorn will be foreign made.

Anyway, the security of your firearms should be multi-tier with the safe being only one part. Consider an alarm system, dogs, etc. For the location of the safe, I wouldn't put it on display. Try and hide it in a closet etc. Certainly bolt it down. I put mine in a corner where the side wall would make it a bit more difficult to pry the door. I realize all this won't stop a pro, but at least it's going to be difficult for the meth head smash and grab guys.

Look on craigslist. I saw some really good safes going for half the price of new or less. I just had a very specific size I needed for my location and while I found some great buys, none would fit where I wanted to put the safe.

This 30 minute youtube video has some good info.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltK-bDbADa8

[7.62NATO]

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[Clint]

Buy quality and get a size or two bigger than you think you'll need.

Scratch that; get one size below totally ridiculously big.

[Rayrevolver]

I went with a BF AMSEC which is now full. Try to buy something bigger than you think you will need.

The AMSEC models come with a door organizer which can hold 2 long rifles and 4 pistols + multiple mags. If anything, try to get a safe that comes with the door organizers installed.

Edit: Congrats on your first house!

These are the brands I narrowed my search down to after looking real hard at the Chinese safes from Steelwater Safes (who will definitely have a big safe in the ~$1300 range).
Superior
Zykan (a dealer who also makes his own safe, very helpful on the phone)
Sun Welding
Amsec

I went with a smaller but I feel like higher quality Amsec (found a dealer on Ebay for best deal). It is a beast, but I need more room. FYI - Handguns in boxes will take up a lot of space.