A Guide to Quick Access Pistol Safes

a home defense gun doesn't really do you any good if you can't get to it quickly at the same time you also have to keep it away from kids and protect it from theft the most secure type of storage is obviously a large heavy gun safe like the one we have back here but most people don't want to keep one of those big things in their bedroom smaller storage cabinets or cable locks that require a key or a dial combination are also less than ideal you really don't want to have to fiddle around with something like that if you're trying to get to your gun quickly in the dark we need something that can be open faster and with minimal thought and manual dexterity that is where the quick access gun safes come in today I am reviewing seven small quick access safes for handguns and in a future video I will cover quick access safes for storing a rifle or a shotgun the majority of safe reviews out there seem to focus almost completely on the security aspect of the safe they will evaluate how difficult it is to break into either by picking the lock or by using brute force crowbars and power tools to crack it open this is valuable information and I'm glad someone is doing that testing but I had some serious doubts about whether that's the kind of threat we should really be most concerned about how likely is it your gun is going to be stolen by someone using lock picks and specialized tools so to get some advice I recruited the help of detective Spencer blue he is a regular contributor to our blog and a robbery detective with a major metropolitan Police Department and according to him thieves breaking into safes is actually pretty uncommon if the safe is bolted down to a hard surface or secured to something with a steel cable that by itself is usually sufficient to deter most thieves Spencer did say that in some cases the thief will slam the safe on the ground which will cause some of the cheaper electronic safes to pop right open so we did test that but someone using tools to break into a gun safe is rare and it generally happens only in a targeted burglary where the thief knows in advance you have something in that safe that's worth stealing if you want to know more about how to avoid the most common types of firearm theft Spencer has written a very detailed article for our that just went live I don't think any safe is as useful as having a good understanding of how criminals typically behave and that's what Spencer has shared with us so take a look at that article so instead of just looking at the security side of things I also wanted to evaluate how easy these safes are to use can you actually get to the gun quickly in an emergency is the lock reliable what happens if you accidentally enter the wrong code with those things in mind I have been evaluating seven different models the Fort Knox original pistol box the v/line hideaway the shot lock handgun 200m solo vault the vault tech V t20i the Hornady rapid safe 2,600 KP the stack on PDS 1,500 tor safe and the gun vault Micro vault XL I know there are dozens of other options out there but I tried to choose as many different types as possible so you could see a good sampling of the different features that are available I also decided to stick with relatively affordable models these are all under three hundred dollars and most of them are considerably less than that we purchased six of these seven products through regular retail channels vault-tec sent us their safe to evaluate with the understanding that we could not promise to give them a positive review otherwise we have received no compensation nor have we discussed this review with any of these manufacturers so first is the Fort Knox original pistol box and we're starting with this one because it's my favorite if you want to know what I think you should get you can stop the video here this is the one forget all those others the rest of the video is just about why these other safes aren't as good as the Fort Knox and I'm only kidding a little bit this is basically just a big ugly 20-pound steel box with a simplex mechanical push-button lock you put in your code and turn the knob clockwise and it opens right up if you enter the wrong combination you just turn the knob counterclockwise and it resets with a little bit of practice I was able to consistently unlock the safe and remove the gun in well under three seconds inside there is easily enough room for two full-sized handguns it's got two layers of foam that you can remove if you want even more room there is a hydraulic piston to hold open the heavy door it's got four holes in the bottom for mounting there's not a cable included and really there's not a hole big enough to run cable through so if you don't have a hard surface you can mount it too you might need to look at a different safe it has a prior resistant lid and unlike most of the other safes we will look at there is no key bypass that's a definite plus from a security standpoint but if you're worried about forgetting the combination it's maybe not so great even so I should probably explain at this point why I much prefer mechanical locks to electronic locks on quick access safes if I need to get to my firearm in a life-or-death emergency I do not want to have to rely on cheap electronics it's as simple as that I know mechanical locks can break too but the simplex lock has been around since the 1960s and it's known to be a reliable design and they tend to last forever with an electronic lock and especially the inexpensive kind that go into these little gun safes there are just too many things that can go wrong the batteries can die unexpectedly they are more prone to user error when you're trying to enter the code they are susceptible to moisture I had an electronic gun safe in my bedroom for a long time and I thought it was a pretty good one until one of my kids spilled a glass of water on it then didn't tell me about it and the next time I tried to open the safe it didn't work that's not the kind of problem you have to worry about with a mechanical safe now it's not perfect there is a downside to the simplex lock it only gives you about 1,000 possible combinations so somebody really wants to get into it and they have a lot of time they might be able to figure out the combination within a couple of hours but like I said earlier that kind of theft is incredibly rare if you're most concerned about small children and random burglaries I don't think you can do much better than a quick access safe like the Fort Knox original pistol box MSRP is 235 but right now you can get it on sale directly from the manufacturer for $1.99 Fort Knox also has a couple of front opening pistol boxes that are not quite as large and there are a few other companies that make very similar safes that also have the simplex lock American security has some titan vault has a couple of compact models and v-line has a few as well I would pick any of those over any commercial electronic handgun safe and here is one of the v/line products this one mounts underneath a desk or a table you open the simplex lock and a drawer slides right out it's not as roomy as the Fort Knox but it still got enough space for two full-size pistols and it's a good alternative if you don't have a convenient place to floor mount the safe this was the most expensive handgun safe we evaluated the MSRP is $2.99 but we were able to find it online for just 2:14 just be careful what you mount it to because if it's a small nightstand or something it might be easy enough for a thief to just pick up the whole thing and throw it in the back of the car next is the shot lock handgun 200m solo vault this safe also has a mechanical lock but it's not a simplex lock it is similar in a lot of ways you put in your four-digit code and turn clockwise to unlock it if you enter the wrong code just keep turning the knob a full 180 degrees to reset it also like simplex it's got a limited number of combinations only about 1200 in this case but the security geeks will probably tell you that the bigger liability is the key bypass here this kind of lock is not very difficult to pick but once again that does require some special knowledge and tools and most thieves are not prepared for that kind of thing so despite the potential vulnerabilities I think this is still pretty secure for most purposes it's not very thick metal but it does have a prior resistant lid there are a couple of holes on the side where you can run a cable which is not included and it has melting holes on the bottom this is definitely not as sturdy as the Fort Knox or the v/line products but it's fairly light and it's got a carry handle on the side so I think it makes a good travel unit you can just throw in your suitcase it's also more affordable than the other mechanical states we've reviewed the MSRP is 159 and we found it being sold for as low as 134 something in the same price range that even a little bit smaller you might also want to take a look at the v/line compact pistol safe which typically sells for around 150 ok so now we are down to the for electronic safes I've already explained why I don't really like these in general but let me point out a couple of positives of these particular models they all pass the slam test I dropped them and slammed him against a concrete floor and they didn't pop open like some of the older cheap electronic safes with the exception of the stack on desk safe they all come with a cable they all have a bypass lock which theoretically does make them more vulnerable but after looking through some of these security enthusiast websites I couldn't find any obvious ways to break into these particular safes that did not require special knowledge about lock picking so if you bolt these things down or use the cables they should keep your guns reasonably secure from small children and smash-and-grab burglaries my main concern is that you won't be able to get into them when you really need to on top of the disposable nature of budget electronics each one of these has some quirks that make them difficult to use the vault Tec has sensitive buttons that are too easy to double press if you're in a hurry the lid doesn't always latch closed even when it looks like it's closed and it's got the silly biometric fingerprint reader that kind of works okay most of the time unless your hands happen to be slightly wet or dirty the gun vault has squishy buttons that aren't sensitive enough and it will lock you out for two minutes if you happen to put in the wrong code three or four times the stack-on safe has the exact same problem the compact Hornady safe has the least offensive button interface but it also has this idiotic RFID feature that's not any faster than pushing the buttons but now instead of only keeping the gun out of your child's reach you also have to be sure you don't leave these fun looking RFID trinkets laying around or the bypass key now to be fair there are some good small electronic safes out there they use the same ul rated locks found in some of the large gun safes they're typically marketed as jewelry safes and several companies make inside the wall units or small safes about the size of a mini-fridge prices start at about five hundred dollars but they might be worth looking at if you need the added security of a high-end digital lock for the smaller pistol boxes I suggest sticking with mechanical locks for more tips on how to keep your home safe check out our video about putting together a layered home security plan be sure to subscribe to our channel so you don't miss our upcoming video on quick access safes for long guns and if you want to support our channel the next time you need ammo be sure to get it from us at Lucky gunner calm

Channel: Lucky Gunner Ammo

Views: 404,331

Rating: 4.9068332 out of 5

Keywords: pistol safe, gun safe, Handgun Safe, lucky gunner, Fort Knox Original Pistol Box, Fort Knox, quick access safe, quick access handgun safe, nightstand pistol safe, Vaultek, Vaultek VT20i, Shotlock, ShotLock Handgun 200M Solo-Vault, pistol safe review, pistol safe test, Hornady safe, Hornady RAPiD Safe 2600KP, Stack-On PDS-1500 Drawer Safe, Stack-on, Gunvault, GunVault MicroVault XL, V-Line Hide-Away, V-Line safe, gun safety, safe gun storage, gun safe review

Id: 6C2-UPEQDTo

Length: 10min 49sec (649 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 06 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/bruce_ventura]

I think this video is spot-on and confirms my personal experience using both electronic and simplex lock safes.

I owned a micro vault electronic combo handgun safe and the cheap keypad failed after about four years of use. I replaced it with a Vaultek electronic combo model. The Vaultek keypad is the best I’ve used. The paint is chipping off one of the buttons. Otherwise it has been totally reliable. This safe is on my nightstand in my bedroom.

However, I’ve chosen simplex lock safes for all my quick access long gun safes. My next handgun safe will have a simplex lock as well. I personally feel the higher reliability of the mechanical lock outweighs the 1 second faster access time of the electronic lock.

[u/fireclock2]

I have a VLine Brute which is essentially the same as the Fort Knox safe that Lucky Gunner recommends.

Similar to his critique, I have found it difficult to find a cable lock to secure the safe to a piece of furniture since I am not able to floor mount.

Any suggestions on a cable lock system that would fit or how I could create my own cable lock?

[u/taysteekakes]

Newbie question: How do folks feel about speed vault safes? Something like this that you could mount to the side of your dresser? Is the risk with electronic safes failing just too high to trust them?