The best safe, is a safe that nobody knows you have.

As a firefighter, I have 2 pointers for you to improve the potential outcome for your safe in the case of a fire. 1. Do not store ammunition or powder in your safe, it can and will cook off or burn. 2. As you mentioned the primary fire protection for your safe is the from the sheetrock inside the safe. You can improve the fire resistance of your safe by adding more layers of sheetrock outside of the safe as well. We were responding to a car fire inside of a basement garage with only a single layer of 5/8" sheetrock between the fire, and the studs / floor joists. The car was burning for at least 5-7min before our arrival. We were able to quickly extinguish the fire that had been rolling from the engine compartment up to the ceiling of the garage. The flames did not breach or even damage the sheetrock ceiling aside from damage to the exposed surface layer. To add more fire resistance add several layers of sheetrock to all sides that are not directly against a brick or concrete wall and you can add multiple layers of sheetrock to the inside of a closet door that could install in front of your safe.

Liberty Safe also doesn't tell you that they'll give your gun safe combo the the Federal Government without your consent without requiring a warrant.

Nothings a guarantee, but guns in a safe is better than them laying on the bed...

Whoever determines how many guns go in a safe is the same guy who determines how many people can sleep in a tent. Most long guns you should count as 2-3 guns against the capacity of the safe.

Great video. I'm thankful that the local cops take about 3 minutes to get to my house. But I don't have to worry about my guns anymore because I lost most of them when my kayak tipped over.

Be a dck, have an empty safe out in the open and the real one hidden.

Smart people don’t tell everyone about their safe.

Great video! You hit a lot of very important points. As a 26+ year LEO veteran I might add - please take quality pictures of EVERYTHING you own including paperwork, serial numbers, VIN numbers etc. put them all on two thumb drives. Put one in your safe and the second in a friends or relatives safe. Police and insurance companies will thank you.

A locked door is only there to keep an honest man out.

The best security In order of importance: 1) Make sure people don't know you have anything worth stealing to begin with. 2) Don't prominently display your safe-In fact hide it as well as you can. 3) The art of deception. Sure have a visible gun safe with a few 'sacrificial' cheapo guns inside. Hide all the good shit in a false wall in another BETTER safe. 4) Make your property a hard target. Good lighting, security system & cameras, barking dog, etc.

Best thing is to keep your safe in a hidden area like behind a false wall, can`t break into a safe that they don`t know you have.

Retired firefighter here. Never saw a gun safe of any quality survive a full house fire. Started lockpicking as a hobby. Discovered I could beat a lot of safes in less than 20 minutes and I'm a beginner. It would take a lot of work just to find my safe. It's in a tight place with little room to work on it. Basically, it's to keep the kids safe.

It’s all about boobie traps. I’ve lost a couple of kids, but hey. That’s friendly fire.

Imagine they come at your safe with a plasma torch and like a responsible man you are, that's where you store your 5lbs Tannerite.

You forgot one of the most important rules. Camouflage if they can not find it they can not break into it.

I'm a welder. I built a case around my safe out of AR 500 armour plate. And it's all bolted down. That's all covered by a nice wood case. Liberty uses concrete. The safe will stay with the house when I sell .

When i was in the army i had eight safes in my office. Whensome of the people in my unit that had a "lock out", they forgot their combinations or something else, and couldn't get into their safes. We took the safe to a person qualified to break into the safe, the dude got a big welder, cranked the power way up and got a thick stick and popped a hole in the front just above the knob and had the safe open in seconds.

I bought a small safe off Craigs list, the guy told me that a safe is to keep your friends out. A determined person who knows their way around tools can defeat most, if not all, gun safes. So a good safe is one that deters most people from unwanted access to your stuff. There are other means of fireproofing than a big metal safe but sometimes you need both. I think you can still buy fire proof pouches or install your safe in a way to give it more fire resistance. A big metal box will be like an oven, once hot; so coatings or fireproof blankets( think oven mitt) can improve resistance to heat.

Hopefully my safe takes a crook as long as this guy drones on to get inside. Because I’ll be doing pretty good.

I am curious to find out what all the Liberty Safe owners think now that Liberty Safe gave the FBI the master code to someone's safe without a direct subpoena to the company.

Bolted down or not, I've seen safes stolen by wrapping a chain around it & jerking it out the house with a truck. If they want it bad enough, they're going to get it. Hate thieves with a passion!!!

Does it really take 21 minutes to tell the “secret”? 🙄

I bought one of those cheap box store safes years ago. Got it home and the lock broke within a week. I returned it to the store and shifted my strategy. After searching on craigslist for a bit I found a guy that did demo work that had recently demolished an old bank and was selling off the door. I got the door from him for $700. This door is a Mosler made in the 30s and its amazing. The gap in the door is so tight I can hardly wedge a placard into it. I then made a reinforced room in my basement for my new door. Now I have a whole vault in my home that only cost me around about $1300 in materials and a few nights and weekends worth of work. Now not only do I have a place to store valuables, we also now have a panic room and a storm shelter.

Thanks for the review. There is a difference between a Safe & Security Container. That's consider a residential security container by UL Listings UL RSC. A Safe has a UL Listing of Tool Resistant from UL TL-15, UL TL-30 & UL TL-30x6. Those Safes have a 1" thick steel walls & door. Next down is Burglary Resistant B Class & A Class less than 1" Steel Door & less than 1/2 Steel Walls. AMSEC is once such company that makes Safes. Multiple smaller units & locations is GREAT idea & information... like in the military it's a rifle not a gun... Lol

Yak, just want to say thank you for your service to our country. Thank you, your family and may God bless you.

Thanks for the info, really helps and it's very well appreciated, be safe.

I have the exact same model of liberty safe. I agree. All you are buying is time and safety from the kids. But it's better than no safe at all. Good video.

I have a true story that proves your "buying time" point. This happened to me when I had just moved out of my parents' house and I was on the second level of a three-story house with two apartments at each level. There was still an old oil tank shed in the back yard where the old oil tanks used to be and this shed was about as tall as the house and it has an interior staircase that led to the back alley with a door at every floor and there was a sort of walkway that bridged the back balcony to the shed. This shed had stood for at least 80 years and it was the original wood, which means it was about as strong as wet cardboard. When I moved in I looked at this and thought, anyone can just break in to the shed from the alley and make their way up the stairs sight unseen and the only thing that stops them from going through those old wood doors is a flimsy little catch hook! I thought this was an invitation for robbers, so I made things a little harder for them; I nailed down a piece of 2x4 on the floor inside so I could place a long 2x4 against the bottom of the handle and have it blocked by that piece nailed to the floor. They would have to break through the door itself before they were able to break that down, and it was quick and easy to take down when I needed to bring the garbage down to the alley. Next was the outside door on my floor, which I just tired with very strong nylon rope to the metal railing of the walkway. So I had put two levels of impediment for anyone trying to break though on my level from inside and guess what happened one day? That's right, the top and bottom tenants got robed but not me. It took me a whole 20 minutes of work to do all of this, and that included figuring out how to do it! In the end, I'd just made it too complicated for robbers to bother with mine, so they went to the next one. So ya, you are buying time and much like staying warm in winter is all about layers, safety is all about layers.

I bought an entry level gun locker to keep everything together and to keep everyone safe who comes in our house. Our neighborhood is safe. I know because some dumbbell forgot to lock the front door when we went on vacation. The problems in our neighborhood, based on ring doorbells, seem to be teenagers breaking into cars. I’m going to at least bolt it in a closet. I like the bookcase idea. My firearms aren’t high end.

I bought a 64-gun Cannon safe in March 2020...the digital lock failed in about 1.5 years. The lock is covered under a "Lifetime" warranty....but too bad the warranty doesnt cover the labor for a locksmith to open your malfunctioning safe lock, which cost 10 times the cost of the cheap replacement parts. The locksmith wants $800 to open the safe, the same price I paid for it. Cannon sent me the replacement lock parts for free, big whoop because theyre useless sitting outside my broken safe. Next time Im spending the money for a mechanical lock, these electric locks made in China are cheap trash.

As far as the fire protection on documents, my friend that uses a pop machine also has one of those smaller Sentry fire proof safes rated for 2 hours and he keeps his docs inside that and sets it inside his bigger safe for additional fire protection, insuring even a raging house fire won't destroy his ID docs and records. Just another idea!

If you have a Liberty safe dealer or a locksmith that carries safes near you, they can put a combination lock on it for you. As for being able to cut in a few places and being able to jimmy the door open.... easier said than done ! A well hidden safe is always your best preventative measure to take.

The best "covert" safe I have ever seen is an old retired pop machine!!!!! I have a few friends who have "vintage pop machines" as a neat display that don't work any more for a gun cabinet, but the keys and everything else work just fine!! That's what I plan to do! Also on a side note, a good simple storage safe for external hard drives and digital information that could get destroyed if some EMP event were to happen is an old microwave!!! They are radiation shielded and can protect digital info, and those can be hidden pretty easily!!

Man, you are so RIGHT ON!! A safe, A WALL, is just an obstacle, slows you down, but doesn't work if there is no one to monitor it. Great video, just purchased the same one, thanks to your vid.

I like my 15 year old Champion Challenger 25. It has 10 gauge steel, and weighs about 800 pounds empty. That's better than most safes they now sell. I agree with him about getting a bigger one than you think you need. You always find more things to put in it.

Dang, I just upgraded from the Stack On cabinet (now for ammo) I bought the Winchester 26 gun safe on sale at Tractor Supply. I do love the way it’s laid out and seems very much like your Liberty. But I wish I had seen your video first. That said, now it’s getting encased in concrete and I’ll also make a frontal disguise so it’s not obvious. Already with concrete anchors... I don’t live in an urban area, my first line of defense is, well, let the bad guys figure that out for themselves on the way to the morgue... As always, Great Video! Thanks for all the great tips👍 you really got me thinking, and thanks for Your Service 👍🙏🇺🇸

HUGE thanks. I've been putting off getting a safe bc of the research I knew I would have to do. You prolly just did all or most of it for me.

I found this to be very informative and it confirmed my intention to use concealment over a gun safe.

Thank you for your service! Great info in the video

Very true on the sides. not super thick

The cheaper line of Liberty safes like you have there tend to only have the digital lock option, if you step up in there line of safes you can get dual action locks that are both mechanical and digital.

Enjoyed it. Thank you for your service. Like you perhaps the more I read reviews and watch on-line videos or KZfaq the more confused I get about which safe is best for the price, my neighborhood, etc.

I’m looking into safes at the moment, that’s how I came across your video. Thanks for sharing the pictures of safes getting broken into.

I always put “danger explosives” signs on my safes

This was so informative! Thank you! I ended up buying a gun cabinet for now (my colletion of 2 guns) until I own enough guns to justify a safe. Your 20% rule makes sense!

Excellent information. Will be needing one for the first time and this gave me what I needed. Thanks.

Outstanding video, reinforced what I was thinking on more than one safe and lot’s of awesome information. Thank you for sharing 👍

I've been broken into twice unfortunately. Once they broke out and moved a built-in cheaper safe and never got it open. The second time they totally destroyed the top plug on a floor safe and never got it open. Two of my local friends both had the nightmare of being taken hostage to open theirs. If some wants in bad enough they will get in. The security system is more important. The best thing is to limit the time they will have.

I love how people always talk about the "Cutability". Statistically most safe are pried open and very few safes are actually cut out. So bolting the safe down is the best thing you can do, location is also important. There are plenty of videos of where not to put your safe.

Lots of decent advice, especially pointing out that a safe is simply a deterrent device that buys you time against criminals, that placement can increase its effectiveness, and that you get what you pay for on important items like a home safe! Anybody have good experiences with the safes that Costco sells?? They are picky about what they carry, so I’d love to hear some feedback from anyone who’s purchased a large safe from Costco! Be safe & best of luck to everybody!!🤙♥️

"And it will be a great KZfaq video!" I LOVE IT!!!! Thank you for this great presentation. I like your emphasis on having a layered perimeter for security--not just a "safe".

Ideally, a 7ga safe with a minimum 1/4 inch door thickness that seals well and has a internal self locking glass mechanism that if the lock is violently tampered with the safe permanently locks. Also, the safe should be floor anchored to a solid structure, preferred concrete. The safe should be located in a reinforced storm room or a room that is somewhat hidden to visitors.

When we sold our last home, the buyer wanted to buy my AmSec safe. So, when we built our new home here in TX, I did weeks of research again on safes. I quickly realized that Liberty is the most innovative and high quality safe made. I ended up with a Liberty Franklin 40 - 850 lbs., 110-minute UL fire rating, Level 5 security. It’s an amazing safe. As you said, they only buy you time. But make sure you bolt your safe to the floor. Congrats on your great new safe!

Thanks man...this was really helpful. You raised a lot of points I hadn't thought about. 👍

Great points made. I wish there were more videos like this that talked about real life situations and don’t shy away from how a criminal might think.

Great video! I excellent points on the "layering of security" aspect! Chosen 2 smaller safes instead of the model like yours for easier moving in case I decided to move in the future. Plus firearms are important, although certain documents are just as if not more important depending on the situation. Documents in a safe is a start, however copies should be made as well as have more hiding spots for them.

Thank you for your military service and for protecting me and my family’s freedoms. And thanks for the info. I’m looking for safes for the past few months. I needed this.

Needed to hear this Sir! I have kids who are starting to get a bit older now, I’ve been sort of getting away with just putting my guns in higher places but now they’re taller. I have six firearms & I’m looking at safes. It’s my responsibility as a man & a father to be able to deter them from getting their hands on them until they’re older and more experienced with them. This is a new perspective, also TYFYS! I’m on my 9th year in the Army, I’ll be getting out in the next year or so. Did some time in Afghanistan back in ‘16-‘17.

Thank you for your service!

Yak, great safe, great information. Look into the gun storage rods!! Game changer for storing your guns inside your safe. You can easily increase your capacity of firearms, and still have some shelves left for use. They are quick and super simple. 1 second install per gun!!!

You’re not buying a “Safe”. They’re listed as a “Residential Security Container”. A real safe (as listed by Underwriter Laboratories) would weigh thousands of pounds and would cost far more than most would be willing to spend. The purpose of a residential security container is to deter the smash and grab break in. The logic being that most thieves will not waste time trying to break into it.

You covered all the right points and it was extremely helpful!!! Thanks a ton!!!

I bought the same safe you have. I feel it was a good solution for the money I had to spend. I also have several layers of security that would have to be passed to get to my safe. By the way, regards from my son-in-law who was in command of a Paladin unit in Iran and was also an Army Ranger.

Damn son, learnt me up on safe knowledge! Thank you!

Dude - I appreciate the video but PLEASE GET TO THE POINT

Picked up an old Mosler safe thru a Government auction. Doors and sides are THICK and it has interesting angles on the jambs and doors themselves. Multiple recessing steel bolts top middle and bottom too. Really lucked into it and remember thinking it was way to big at first glance, but remembered what old guys used to tell me, get the biggest one you can, because no one wants to buy a second cause first too small. Moving is a pain in the ass but only had to do once in last 5 years. Got another move coming and not looking forward to it. May hire some pros. Lots of great tips you offered, I especially like the concrete block enclosure idea.

I like what you had to say, and it was excellent advice, regarding considering " where " you install your safe, framing it in with brick and mortar or wood framing or ??? But what a consumer has to do is educate themselves on realities of " safe storage ". When purchasing a gun safe one needs to pay attention to the fire rating and duration of the fire test done on a particular " fire resistant " NOT " fireproof " safe. It is possible to make a fire proof vault and it will for the most part be burglar proof as well and that is done with cement or block, mortar, rebar and mortar fill. For that you are talking in the neighborhood of $15,000 and up. But you raised some very good points as far as placement of a safe. The top brands of safes build safes that are quite capable of protecting valuables from a home fire " if " your safe has a fire rating of, say, 1680 degrees for 90 minutes. And it is possible to have safes built with even higher/longer fire ratings. Of course in the event of a fire one hopes that the fire department is close by and efficient in their operations so as to put out your fire ASAP. And yes, the sooner the better. But " THE " main thing I want to empathies is DO NOT THINK that those " cheap " box store gun safes offer any fire resistance at all. They do not !

Cool video bud! Actually learned a good bit. Always wanted to build an actual gun room/vault. Maybe one day. 1 is none, 2 is one and 3 is just cool. 😎 My brother served in the army too. He taught that long time ago when I was still in grade school. lol Definitely was a handy piece of info to have growing up.

Good info, remember the electronic lock will be toast after a fire. Look for a lock with a bypass key.

Great info, thank you! Warning though, maybe? I saw some locksmiths video where he opens the smaller safes with your type of key pad in about 5 seconds! No idea if yours has the same potential, bc im not a crook and he said the one he used was made in China But i never thought of all the protection you have BEFORE you get to your safe, so thx for that. But i also like your key pad lock bc i heardnof a guy that got his house broken into while was home, but couldnt get into his safe with the master lock dial on it bc of stress of time... Anyways, great info that i needed

I own a safe company Franco Safes And vaults out of Southern California, I like a lot of what you said. It's amazing to me how so many people say that safe company's don't tell you all the these things. I'm very upfront with people that come in and I belive I turn people off because telling them all the facts about security is not what people want to hear. Most people want to be sold the dream that a safe Is a save all protect all, they are not. I will say when I first saw your video I thought you were going to say some fake news type of facts but you hit most of it on the nose, not everything you said was on point but 95% was all perfect. You got a good safe for your application. Good job.

WHEN the lock warranty is past, and the lock starts to be intermittent, call the lock smith to replace the lock while its still open. Those electronic locks are crap. They will fail. I put a combo lock on mine in year 6 of ownership. It was less than $200.00 with the service call, lock and installation all included.

I actually converted a walk in closet, to a gun room. Locks from outside. Not as secure as a safe but good for my needs.

Burglar Bomb intercepter model. They will never get passed it. Unless they know you have it installed .A self-contained electronic OC Pepper Spray Anti Burglar System with built-in passive infrared detector. The Intercepter can be installed in minutes with no electrical experience required. (No wiring needed) It Includes both a key switch and a concealed manually-activated on/off switch. 0-40 seconds entry time delay, easily set by owner. Non-directional, high pitched warning tone to remind forgetful owners to switch the unit off. Impossible for intruders to trace the sound to the source. Absolutely Awesome.👍

Great video. I particularly like the comments about 'buying time'. Very true

Your Ranger Handbook definitely has a few legit kilometers. Gratitude for your Army service. Go Army, Beat Navy!

When you go to upgrade, look at the guy in Jay and the guy who sells only Liberty safes in Mobile. I guarantee you they have a combination lock version.

I needed to lock up my weapon before I bought one so I got a FCH "Gun Safe" from Amazon to just store the firearm. The thing is THIN side metal take you like 5 mins to get in with a angle grinder the front is awesome locking pins on all 4 corners. The thing is tho i started to save for a nice big fireproof actual safe after buying the cheap one. Don't think you need the super safe right off the start buy something that can stop a smash and grab and curious people in your house, with my alarm system and the first safe i knew it would be secure. I now use the thin side wall safe as ammo storage container. The other thing, look for a safe with stud mounting and floor mounting. Sometimes you dont wanna drill through your floor.

Awesome Video!! I really appreciate your straight forward truth about these safes I'm in the market to buying my first gun safe and have been very diligent and leary on what to purchase. And thank you for your Service Sir God Bless!!

I made parts for liberty safe. The safes are not made in USA anymore, they are made in China. The safes are assembled in USA.

Great video. Thanks for the information. Crazy thoughts go through my head like wondering if welding up a 1/4 " steel enclosure would slow them down enough? Of course, I don't have any idea how much 1/4" steel would cost, or how I would weld it. Also, might be a little harder to sell the wife on the idea. :) On the other hand, having another safe or two like you said would probably be better anyway.

I completely agree with you the way I've got mine is very similar to you because I'm watching it by remote live camera all the time when I'm not at home from outside the house

I’ve got a couple fireproof safes and I agree, most safes are a deterrence! They’re also a magnet for theft! Most thieves figure there’s good stuff in a safe when they see it! I would love to find a good place to make a built in safe ….or hidden making it very hard to get to the sides.

I called the feds, and they gave me the code to your safe. 🤷🏻 took three minutes.

Security is most effective in layers, the first and foremost layer being secrecy. What is not even a thought cannot be exploited.

I have a 48 cu ft Fort Knox safe with extra fire protection since I only have wood construction and the only problem I have ever had is corrosion on the contacts of the battery of the touchpad in over 20 years. It was in the spare bedroom. I was assured that 1 move was included in the price but I out lived the company and the son did not want to keep it going so I will have to hire someone to move it next year - No idea of what it will cost - have been chicken to ask anyone yet. -- Good info! ......... I keep a 1.5 cu ft safe inside the larger one for any important papers - might help a little more.

Good video, you just talked me out of wasting money on a safe. Helpful insight.

Most flyby crooks dont come in with cutters, they get the easy stuff and leave. Any safe just slows the crooks down even the expensive ones

Agreed layered defence beats just a safe anyday. When I ran a gun store back in Vegas years ago, one of my customers bought a couple new high end safes at the request of his new bride, but did not bolt them down or invest in a security system. Hey ended up gift wrapping his collection for the robbers as they stole the safes and left them in the desert after emptying them.

Man you did a good job I learned a lot, you answered every question i had... tks.

Great vid /great info. Army vet too. Retired. . Passed torch to sons. Still love target shooting. Love your idea of enhancing safe with bricks and tight places. Save money but good protection. Photos of guns and s/n plus other valuables can make life easier after a disaster, robbery, fire or flood. Safe box in bank is place to keep them and maybe a spare pistol passport/id and maybe credit card too. Money to spend and personal protection while waiting to get claim settled. Love the Ranger book. Lot of it is useful for general camping/Scouts. Karl sig / Ord chief

Lucky for me I have full grade security as soon as you break in alarms go off, cameras everywhere, vault door, hidden compartments to grab a gun and 2 K-9s, so when I am in Iraq, Afgan and Yemen, my home will be safe.

If you have Friends over & you have to put your Camera Lenses in the Safe because your afraid they will be Lifted those are not your Friends. Those are people you see on the Post Office wall boards.

Good info, thank you 🙂

Been thinking about a safe recently. You make some great points! Thanks, subbing.

Excellent video Ranger Yak. I did a lot of research on this, and you hit all the important considerations. I came to much of the same conclusions with the exception of the electronic locks. Give me a mechanical lock every day for one super important reason.. EMP. In the case of a natural or man made EMP, I want access to my security safe without fail. I would add to your assertions about levels of security. The only thing people can't steal, are things they do not find. It really is that simple. If they find where you have valued items, it is only a matter of how much time it takes them to get in.

You can order the safe with the dial lock instead of the "E" lock. The E locks are supposed to be faster and most of them have a built in light in case you have to open it in the dark. Yes, some people use a flashlight with a magnet on their safe in case they need a light to open the dial lock but it's still easier when you only have to push a few buttons and those buttons are lit up in the dark. I've also been deciding on which safe to get and whether to get a dial lock or an E lock, still not decided and I'm hoping for a good Christmas sale to bring the prices down a bit. Thanks for taking the time for a really good video, well done.

Great Video, Thank you, covered everything i was questioning

Very helpful! Thanks!