Gun Safes – Door Locks and Locking Bolts

What locking device should be installed?

Gun safes can come with combination dial locks or electronic locks. Which is the better can depend on who you are talking to at the time. While combination locks are slower to open than electronic locks there are a number of people who consider combination locks more durable and trouble free than digital locks. When using combination locks with gun safes you must remember to relock the gun safe by spinning the handle and working the handle. This process is sometimes forgotten when securing the gun safes door and results in the gun safe being left unlocked.  For some this is considered a disadvantage. If considering a combination lock look for gun safes with a quality lock similar to the S&G 6730.

The majority of customers prefer digital locks for their gun safes because they are considerably faster to open and on closing lock automatically. Not only are digital locks quicker to open they also have the added security of allowing owners to change and enter their own combination. Digital locks use batteries and while there are reports of the batteries lasting several years, it is highly recommended they be changed annually. The owner can change the batteries. Around eighty percent of gun safes being sold today are sold with digital locks.

How many and what diameter locking bolts are needed?

Ensure the door has a minimum of two (2) locking bolts on each of the gun safes four sides. Gun safes with hinges on the outside must have locking bolts on both sides of the door. If the safe only has bolts on the left side of the door and the hinges are cut off the gun safes door can be removed. Avoid gun safes with bolts on only one or three sides. Eight (8) bolts on a door is acceptable so long as they are on each of the door’s four sides, are hardened steel and of sufficient diameter. Generally speaking the more bolts the better the security however anything over twelve (12) bolts is probably not worth the cost.

1.5" Active Chrome Locking Bolt Used in Hollon Safes Republic Series Gun Safes

While some good gun safes have 9/16 inch diameter bolts you should be looking at bolt size diameters of 1” or 1.5”. To ensure gun safes remains locked during a burglary attack make sure the gun safe comes with a relocker. Relockers are designed to either block the main bolt work from retracting or block the door from opening.