When you purchase a gun, buying a gun safe is one of the most important and responsible decisions you can make. But what are the best handgun safes for you?

You can narrow down your search and buy the best safe for your purposes if you first decide:

(1) how much fire protection you need
(2) what type of lock you want
(3) where your safe will go, and
(4) how thick of the walls of your safe should be.

How Much Fire Protection Should You Have?

The amount of fire protection you need for your fireproof gun safe will be determined by what you decide to keep in it.

If you only keeping guns and paper in it, a UL 350 rating will be sufficient because paper burns at 412 degrees Fahrenheit and a UL 350 is designed to keep the contents below that temperature.

However, if you plan to keep media such as CDs, DVDs, film negatives, and external hard drives in your gun safes you will want a safe with a UL 125 rating. Then internal temperature will not rise above 125 degrees for a sustainable period.

What Lock Choices Should You Consider?

Key locks are the most basic type of lock. In general handgun safes that only have a key lock should be avoided because they tend not to be as theft-proof, sturdy, or child-proof as other types of locks. You certainly don’t want children finding the key and playing with your guns. The extra cost of a better lock is well worth the expense.

Dial combination locks have been around on gun safes for more than a hundred years. Although they are superior to key lock gun safes, you can pretty much double your protection by buying a safe that has both a dial combination and a key lock.

Gun safes with digital keypads provide excellent security. Buy one with a “wrong try” lockout feature and it will keep potential thieves from trying more than a predetermined number of code combinations. And, unlike safes with dial combination locks, you can create your own code.

Where Will You Keep Your Gun Safe?

As far as fire protection is concerned, the best place to keep your safe is against the outside corner of the lowest point in your home. If you cannot put it in the basement or on the first floor you should consider having a home inspector or engineer come over to ensure that your floor will support your safe because large gun safes are heavy. As an alternative you might need to buy a smaller fireproof gun safe than you first intended.

What Wall Thickness Do You Need?

As far as protection from theft is concerned, the thickness of your safe will usually be determined by where you live. If you live in a rural area thieves may not be as concerned with the amount of noise they make using tools to try to break into your safe as they would be in urban areas. So you’ll need thicker walls. In rural areas, gun safes with doors that have a minimum thickness of 3/16″ of steel will discourage most burglary attempts.