As a gun owner, it is important to have a gun safe, too. These are much different from traditional safes, due to the safety and durability that they come with. The topic of what gun safes are made of and how they are made interested me, so I decided to do some deeper research to find out the answers to some of the most common questions.
How are gun safes made, and what are they made of? Like most other types of safes, gun safes are constructed in several layers, in order to protect the contents inside of them. These layers consist of the outer layer, a barrier, and an additional layer which holds the lock.
As far as materials go, gun safes are made out of perlite or vermiculite, which are both the main materials that are used to make fireproof hardware such as doors, cabinets, and vaults. These substances are lightweight for convenience, but they are also increasingly protective and durable.
When it comes to securing your prized belongings in a gun safe, it is understandable to wonder what these protective devices are made of. We trust them with some of the most important items in our lives, but do we really know anything about them?
This is something that can be both intriguing and confusing to most gun owners. Today, we will be going over everything you need and want to know about gun safes, starting from how they are made and ending with what they are made of, all inclusive of everything in between. Keep reading to get the full details.
How Are Gun Safes Made?
The question of how gun safes are made is a very broad one, with a large number of factors to consider. To start out, there are plenty of different types of gun safes that can be part of the conversation. Before we get into the details of how each one is produced, let’s take a look at what they are first.
Refer to the list down below for all of the major types of gun safes, with a brief explanation of each to follow.
Types Of Gun Safes:
- Biometric Gun Safes
- Electronic Lock Gun Safes
- Mechanical Lock Gun Safes
As you can see, there are three broad categories of gun safes: biometric, electronic lock, and mechanical lock. As you might have already guessed, the key difference between these three objects lies in the locks that secure them closed.
Similarly, the main difference between the production processes will lie in the same place. This is something that we will discuss later on, but for now, we will be going over how these main safe categories differ from each other.
Let’s start with the biometric gun safe. This is the most modern, and probably also the most technologically advanced, design of a gun safe that exists on the market today. A biometric gun safe allows the owner to access the door opening function through a fingerprint recognition software.
In addition to the recognition, biometric gun safe owners are also able to control the opening and closing of their safe door using a convenient mobile app.
One step down from this type of gun safe is the electronic lock category. This consists of a keypad on the front door of the safe, where the owner will type in a code and gain access to the contents.
Last but not least, we have the old-fashioned mechanical lock gun safe. This is the type of safe that requires the turning of a dial to unlock the door using a special combination.
With all of these different types of gun safes to choose from, there are different production processes to go along with them. Let’s take a closer look at the general stages that are executed while any kind of gun safe is being produced by outlining the main building components.
The Building Components Of a Gun Safe:
- Door frame
- Hinges
- Bolts
- Re-lockers
- Steel
Before we can really understand the process of how a gun safe is made, we will need to go over what actually goes into these products. The main building components of a gun safe include the door frame, hinges, bolts, re-lockers, and steel.
While there are plenty more individual pieces that are involved in making a gun safe, these are the most notable ones.
Take a look at the list below to find out how these pieces are put together in order to make a gun safe.
The Building Process Of a Gun Safe:
- The parts of the safe are acquired and assembled
- The components are welded together (MIG welding techniques)
- The lock is incorporated into the safe door
First and foremost, the parts of the safe that were previously mentioned are acquired and assembled together correctly.
During the process of making a gun safe, a welding technique called MIG is used. There are many different types of welding techniques, but MIG welding, in particular, is extremely strong in comparison to the others.
When two objects are attached through MIG welding, a source of heat penetrates both of them, melting them together and creating a bond that is as strong as possible.
Once these components are welded together successfully, the last major step of the process will include incorporating the lock into the safe door. This is where the different types of gun safes that were discussed earlier finally come in.
Whether it is a combination, keypad, or fingerprint accessible safe, the last and final step will be unique for each one of these.
To find out what gun safes are made of, from general structure to specific materials, keep reading on to the next section.
What Are Gun Safes Usually Made Of?
So, now that you have gotten a pretty good idea of how gun safes are made when they are actually being constructed, you might be wondering what they are made up of. There are two ways to answer this question, but we will start with the first.
Refer to the list down below to discover the basic structure that most gun safes are made of, before we move on to specific materials.
What Gun Safes Are Made Of:
- 3 separate layers on top of each other
- Outermost layer
- Barrier (in between)
- Layer that holds the lock and opens the safe
First of all, gun safes are usually constructed with 3 separate layers on top of each other. This is something that makes sense, due to the increased durability that gun safes are known for, as opposed to the average safe.
While this might vary between brand and particular model of safe, we can conclude that there are 3 main layers, give or take.
The first layer that we see from the outside is obviously the outermost layer. This is the solid material that you can touch, keeping your belongings safe. If someone tried to break through the outside layer of a gun safe, they would have a really hard time.
The layer in between the three in total is known as the barrier. This is just an additional layer of security that will keep the outermost layer from touching the one on the inside.
Finally, there is the innermost layer that holds the lock and opens the safe. Although you will see the lock of the safe on the outside, it is not connected where you might think it is.
If the lock on a gun safe was attached only to the outside layer, it would be much easier for a burglar to just break it off and enter the safe. However, gun safe manufacturers have this in mind when they are constructing these products.
As you can see, gun safes do seem to be as sturdy as they are advertised. With the construction of so many strategic layers, gun owners can rest assured that their prized belongings are right there they need to be.
So, along with the layers of constriction that make up the average gun safe, it is important to know what they are actually made out of. While it is true that there can be a multitude of layers, this will not have any effect if the material is flimsy or easy to break through.
Next, we will take a look at some of the basic materials that gun safes are usually made of, to give you a more detailed answer to this question. Keep reading through the list down below to find out the top gun safe materials, and stick around for a breakdown of which one is the best.
These are the materials that gun safes are usually made of:
- Metal cast
- Steel
- Perlite
- Vermiculite
The first materials that gun safes are most commonly made of include any kind of metal cast, or steel, in particular. While gun safes can use almost any type of metal that can be considered strong, steel is one of the most durable, and desirable, materials.
When gun safes are constructed with steel, it must be increasingly thick in order to keep the guns and ammunition secured, without allowing any outside access to anyone who is not supposed to have it.
Along with metal cast and steel, there are two additional materials that are included in a lot of modern gun safes. These materials are known as perlite and vermiculite.
These tend to be very desirable materials when it comes to gun safes, due to the secure properties that they provide. Keep reading on to the next section to get some more details on why this is.
What Is The Best Material For a Gun Safe?
So, now that you have gotten a pretty good explanation of how gun safes are made, constructed, and what they are generally made of, depending on the manufacturer and brand, you might be wondering what the best material is for these products.
As a gun owner, the importance of protecting your guns is paramount. Whether you have a family at home with young children who should not have access to your firearms, or you are worried about any kind of burglary or home invasion, it always helps to know that they are secured.
Protecting and securing your firearms is more than just putting them in any kind of safe, though. When you are making your first gun safe purchase, you want to make sure that you are selecting the right materials and durability.
The materials that your gun safe is made up of will really determine the quality of the safe as a whole, on a huge level. So, let’s get into a breakdown of the best materials for gun safes.
Take a look at the list down below to get a brief outline of what these materials are, and keep reading for a deeper explanation.
These are the best materials for gun safes:
- Perlite
- Vermiculite
The best materials for gun safe production happen to be perlite and vermiculite. In recent years, they have dominated the market for both gun safes and regular safes, and for good reason, too.
If you have a gun safe that is made up of either one of these materials, or both, you can rest assured that your firearms are really in good hands.
There are plenty of reasons why these are desirable substances to use for the construction of a gun safe. The next list down below will outline some of the main reasons toward this argument.
The Benefits:
- Increasingly durable
- More protective than traditional safe materials
- Fireproof
First of all, both of these materials are increasingly durable. This is a very desirable trait for a gun safe, for obvious reasons. Your guns are likely your prized possessions, as well as the most dangerous items in your household.
Regardless of who is constantly around within the house, you want to make sure that they never fall into the wrong hands. A lot of accidents happen with guns in houses every year, ending in serious injury and sometimes death.
In order to avoid this, you want to make sure that your gun safe has top of the line security, and that it is not easy to gain access to.
In addition to protecting the people that you love, you also want to protect your investment. While many people have gun collections, they have all paid a decent amount of money to acquire them.
Along with spending money to buy your guns alone, you will obviously need to invest in a good gun safe. Since gun safes can get expensive when you are going for quality and safety, you should spring for the option with the best material to get the most for the money that you would end up spending anyways.
With perlite and vermiculite being much more protective than traditional safe materials, gun owners can enjoy increased security, without having to worry about anything happening to their prized possessions, or their loved ones, either.
Last but not least, there is one particular reason why these materials tend to be so popular on the market of gun safes as well as regular safes. This is due to the fact that perlite and vermiculite are fireproof materials.
This is obviously a desirable material for gun safes, because it guarantees that nothing can get in or out of it if you don’t want it to. If something were to happen in your home, your firearms would come out unscathed.
On the other hand, if someone was trying to get into your gun safe somehow using heat or fire, their attempt would not be successful.
Fireproofing is something that is very desirable for any kind of safe owner, no matter what you are trying to protect. Whether you have valuables, money, guns, or a mixture of all three in your home safes, the fireproof characteristic is very attractive for anyone trying to keep their belongings secured.
Now that we have covered basically everything you need to know about gun safe constructin, there is one more topic to discuss. Continue reading to find out what makes gun safes different from regular ones.
What Makes Gun Safes Different From Regular Ones?
With all of this discussion on gun safes, it is understandable that you might be wondering what is so special about them. Through all of the previous discussions about how gun safes are made and what they are made of, you have probably noticed by now that the two sound very similar.
With gun safes costing such a premium price over the regular ones, why would you want to purchase one of them? Couldn’t you just get a regular safe with the same kind of technology and store your guns in there?
To answer all of these questions, let’s first take a look athlete unique characteristics of a gun safe that make it different from a regular safe.
The Unique Characteristics Of a Gun Safe:
- Stronger and more durable than a regular safe
- Can come with increased security
- More convenient to swing open (without both hands)
- Usually much smaller than a regular safe
- Specialized product
As you might have been able to guess, gun safes are much stronger and more durable than a regular safe. When you have a regular safe, you are likely holding things like cash, important birth documents, jewelry, family heirlooms, and other tangible objects that must be protected.
However, when you have a gun safe, there is an additional layer of protection that is necessary to guarantee the safety of everyone involved. When you have a gun safe, there must be protection against anything that can go wrong inside.
Plus, gun safes are very prone to theft, so with increasingly durable materials, the probability of someone gaining access to it that shouldn’t be is more minimal.
Some gun safes can come with increased security measures. We have already discussed all of the layers that the typical gun safe is typically constructed of, which should have given you an idea of how strong and reliable they tend to be.
Next, gun safes come with special construction that make them increasingly convenient for gun owners, in particular. To better explain this, let’s take a regular safe, for example.
Think about when you have ever used a regular safe, or have seen someone else using one. When you put in the combination by turning the dial or typing in the code, it usually requires two hands.
Since the average safe is also designed to protect belongings behind several thick and durable layers, they are not too easy to open, even for the owner who is trying to gain access.
To sum this up, regular safes are usually more difficult to open, because the manufacturers have kept in mind the scenario in which the safe owner will be in whenever they are trying to open it.
This will usually be done in the privacy of the safe owner’s home, or somewhere similarly safe. In addition, think about the scenario in which the safe owner will be trying to open their safe.
Since safes are meant to hold valuables, the owner will most likely be either adding something to the inside, taking something out, or checking their belongings. Think about this example as we continue to get into a deeper explanation of this concept.
Now, let’s move over to the topic of a gun safe. The only thing that a gun safe owner could be doing when they are opening their gun safe is to gain access to their guns.
This is something that gun safe manufacturers also keep in mind. In the event that there is a home invasion going on, or the gun safe owner needs to gain access to their firearm for any reason, it is safe to say that this is a critical situation.
Regardless of where the gun safe is placed in the house, and how the gun safe owner is trying to access the inside contents, they are able to access it with just one hand.
The average safe door will be much heavier, and open slowly, usually requiring both hands to open. A gun safe, on the other hand, will easily swing open for easy one-handed access.
This is something that is increasingly convenient for gun and gun safe owners, because the manufacturers have kept in mind what they will actually be used for. This is another reason why gun owners must purchase a gun safe, in particular, instead of a regular one to hold their firearms.
While it is true that gun safes hold a lot of additional benefits, most of them are usually much smaller in size than the average safe, which can be seen as a downside in some circumstances.
However, when you have a small gun safe that is built just for the size of your gun or guns, it can actually make it easier to access them. In addition, it is must easier to hide them in smaller places to keep them out of the wrong hands.
Finally, we can conclude that gun safes are a specialized product. They are made just for gun owners, making it much easier for them to protect and access their firearms whenever needed.
This will always be more beneficial than using a regular safe, due to the fact that gun safes are actually produced for this exact purpose. All in all, you can never go wrong purchasing one if you are a gun owner.
To tie this all up, let’s go over a quick outline of the similarities between a gun safe and a regular one, now that we have already covered the major differences. Refer to the list down below for a brief explanation.
The Similarities Between a Gun Safe and a Regular One:
- Both designed to hold valuable belongings
- Can both be fireproof (if constructed with the correct materials)
- Similar safe types (ie electric, mechanical, biometric, etc.)
Both gun safes and regular safes are designed to hold valuable belongings, regardless of what they happen to be. They are constructed in a similar fashion, and look almost identical. However, the materials and sizing will usually be a lot different.
Overall, they are built for the same exact purpose. It is just about what each individual owner is intending to keep inside.
It was mentioned earlier that gun safes are made out of a few special materials that give them fire-resistant properties. The same thing goes for some regular safes. Fireproofing is a very popular characteristic of both gun and regular safes, for obvious reasons.
Finally, both gun safes and regular safes can have the different types of locks that were mentioned earlier on: electric, mechanical, and biometric locks. All in all, the type of gun safe that you purchase will depend on what you need it for exactly.
To conclude, gun safes are manufactured and constructed specifically for the needs of gun safe owners. With one of these handy devices in your home, you can rest assured that you will be covered in a pinch.