Are Liberty Safes better than Redhead [and are Redhead safes good]?

[Orion8472]

Long title for this thread. I am in the market for a safe and here [on talk radio] about how good Liberty Safes are. Are they? They make them sound almost indestructable. Is it marketing, or are they really that good?

What about Redhead safes you get from Bass Pro? Do they have realistic fire protection and/or theft protection?

 

[Zardaia]

I'd suggest one of the utube vids that show the differences in gage, how easily a 14g can be cut through vs a 7. Theres a bunch of other features too of course but it all depends on what lvl of security and fire resistance you want. Even looking just brand to brand, not all safes within a given brand are equal. Some of there small cheap safes are just thin skinned budget models, while others are quite strong.

 

[heeler]

Which Liberty safe are you talking about?
They make a decent gun safe at different price point levels.
And other brands build some a lot better at similiar price points.
Use the search on this forum and you will have a huge volume of threads to read.

 

[Nasty]

Buy what you can afford...anything is better than hiding stuff around the house.

 

[Orion8472]

heeler, can you give me some direction as to what safes you are refering to?

 

[heeler]

Orion,as far as Liberty is concerned their Franklin model is at a price point of around $1800 and up depending on size of safe.
The top of the line Presidential model starts pushing close to 4k and higher.
Not sure the area you live in or the price range your looking to spend.
Other good safes in no particular order to check out are:
Amsec BF models
Fort Knox (Defender,Guardian,Executive)
Heritage (Legacy,Centennial
Superior (Master series)
Sturdy
Champion (Triumph,Crown,Trophy)
Some import models (Amsec,Browning)

Edit to add...Do plenty of research before buying as there is as much hype in gun safe advertisement to best even a sharp used car salesman.

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Marketing. Most everything in the consumer-grade market is relatively the same. They're all made with sheet gauge metal with drywall, with exception of a few products. They are variations of a theme. The overwhelming majority of the gun safe market is mainly based around the average budget of an average consumer and an average home. The safe can't have too much steel or it'll be too heavy. The safe can't be too expensive or no one will pay for it.

The side effect of that is that security is an afterthought because security is expensive, and security is heavy. The worst part is most of the premium-model gun safes that cost $4000+ are marked up so high for a minimal return on additional security that you can buy commercial-grade safes for the same price.

 

[Harold Heffern]

Liberty Gun Safes

For whatever it's worth, I have two Liberty Franklins. I'm more than satified with both. Just read over the fire protection spec's. You really get what you pay for. I've never been one to go too cheap, when it comes to my guns, thier care, or the safety end of it.

 

[a1abdj]

Just read over the fire protection spec's. You really get what you pay for.

That's the biggest problem with gun safes. The manufacturers lead you to believe that you're getting burglary and fire protection that you aren't really getting.

With gun safes, you get a lot of words for your money, but very limited performance.

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Every gun safe company uses a different third party company to do their fire tests. No one knows what those fire test procedures are. You cannot compare a 1-hour Wacky Willie's Labs fire rating used by Bob's Safes to a 1-hour Crazy Carl's Fireporium fire rating used by Ted's Safes. The only respected and accepted fire standard is done by Underwriter's Laboratories. Unless two different safe companies use the same lab AND same testing procedure, it's an apples-to-oranges comparison.

 

[Orion8472]

I hear Liberty safe commercials [or radio personalities talking about them, sponsoring them], and they talk about the "20 foot drop test" and how well the Liberty safe held up to others. Gimimck? Probably. Then they had guys there who's job it was TOO "break into it". Setup? Could be.

Has there been any independent study done? Consumer Reports? Other?

 

[heeler]

I don't really doubt the drop test.
But there are better gun safes out there in the same price range of certain Liberty models and some of these have better fire protection and more secure doors.
Most Liberty gun safes are really thin in door steel and use a built up "refrigerator" type door that has a thin sheet metal face and then several layers of sheetrock behind it and then a backing plate of thin sheetmetal.
Plus a safe that has internal hinges are just about impossible to repair if they are damaged or start wearing and then they only open up to around 100 degrees instead of 180 degrees as a safe does with external hinges.
And the safes with external hinges will not just open if you cut those hinges off as a lot of people think that are new to safe buying.

 

[oneounceload]

Most big box stores have their safes made in China. Even the major US brands will have lower price point models made there as well. Whether they are better or not is something you need to do homework on. A safe with a poured in place cement-type fire protection material will be better than plain sheetrock, which in turn is better than nothing at all

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Internal hinges are ridiculous. They're for people who find cosmetics more important than security. The funny part is the drywall inside those internal hinges are all cut away and finished with a cheesy plastic fascia. There's no fire protection there at all.

 

[Orion8472]

Good bunch of info, guys. Much appreciated.