The Best Gun Safes For the Money are by Hollon

Hollon Gun Safe Line

Overview:

ACME Locksmith endorses Hollon gun safes as the best gun safes for the money for several reasons. At similar pricepoints, you'll be hard pressed to find a better built safe than a Hollon gun safe. They offer high fire ratings, steel bodies up to 30% thicker, proprietary life-time hinges, more standard features, and thicker doors than competing brands in the same cateogry. And Hollon does it at a better price.

Before buying any safe, do your research. It’s a big purchase that deserves serious consideration. Hollon makes several gun safe lines to offer a suitable safe for everybody’s needs and budget. Hollon gun safes are a tremendous value.

Hollon makes the best gun safes available for the money when considering the security of the safe versus what its price. Quantity of steel, thickness of the steel, size of bolts, anti theft measures, and mechanical linkages are all better, and they deliver these features at a better price.

Hollon has 5 categories of gun safes, each one a step up in security and features than the series before. Their lower-end gun safes are very similar in price and features to those of several competitors. This is driven by the need for affordable fire and minimal security protection.

As you move up to the high-end Hollon gun safes (specifically the Hollon BlackHawk and Hollon Republic gun safe, you start to see features in Hollon gun safes where others are charging 2-3X as much as Hollon for similar security.

 Comparing Steel - 3 Gauge is 1/4 inch.
 

Hunter Series Gun Safe – Best on a Budget

The Hollon Hunter series of gun safes is Hollon's entry-level gun safe. But even as an entry line, they are made of 12-gauge steel, which is thicker than most entry-level safes. Big box store safes can be wrapped in steel as thin as 22-gauge!

Don't misunderstand, you don't want to protect high-cost valuables in a 12-gauge steel safe. They are designed primarily for document protections and safety of firearms. But when the steel wrapping the safe is up to 2.5X as thick as the competition, you're getting significant security boost over the other options available in an entry-level safe. 

The Hollon Hunter Gun Safe series offers 45-minute fire protection at 1400F, and up to twelve 1.25" locking bolts across four sides of the door. Drill and ballistic resistant hard plating protect the interior of the lock and there's an auxiliary relocking system to lock the door down in case of sudden impact.

A comparative model to the Hollon Hunter might be the Gardall GF-5517. It's about the same size as the Hollon HGS-11E, with similar features, though it is 25 lbs lighter. It sells for around $1248  (at the time of this writing). We sell the Hollon HGS-11E for $1168.

To be fair, the Gardall safe uses 11-gauge steel on their brand which is really good at this price point and may justify the extra cost. It needs to be considered. At this thickness, though, it is a difference of 1/64th inch of steel and we're puzzled because it's weight is lower and it shouldn't be.

The HGS-11e:

• Offers a 45-minute fire rating to 1400F instead of only 30 minutes to 1200F.
• Has Bolts that are 25% thicker than the Gardall. 
• Has internal mechanical linkages that are more robust
• Sells for about $100 less.

Because the inexpensive gun safes are primarily fire and safety protection, we feel the Hollon Hunter Gun Safes offer better value than competing brands.

Hollon Crescent Shield Gun Safes

A step up from the Hunter Gun Safe line are Hollon's Crescent Shield Gun Safes. Similar to Hunter, but with some additions, the Crescent Shield Gun Safes Offer:

•  A 75-minute fire rating. There are not many competitors that offer a 75-minute fire rating. Most competing gun safes are at 60-minute fire ratings. So, the Hollon Crescent Gun Safe gives you just a bit more for the money.
• Larger 1.5” bolts (up to 14) on each side of the door for pry resistance. This is a bolt that is 25% thicker than most of the competitors in the same class.
• An upgraded grade-1 electronic lock
• And, like the Hollon Hunter safes, is protected with the drill and ballistic-resistant hard plate.

Hollon Black Hawk Gun Safes

The next step up in quality for the Hollon Gun Safe lines is the  Hollon Black Hawk Gun Safe series (also known as a BHS Gun Safe).

In terms of security, it sits just below the Hollon Republic Gun Safe line.

We love Hollon Black Hawk Gun Safes. We sell more of these than any other brand we carry in our locksmith shops, and it is available for order on our website.

Hollon Black Hawk Gun Safes are one of the best value safes on the market and at their price point they take security to the next level. They feature:

• 10-gauge steel construction. This is best-in-class for this price point.
• They have an additional 1/4” steel plate inside the door surrounding the lock area
• Come with up to sixteen 1.5” bolts
• Carry a 90 minutes fire rating at 1400F external temperature.
• U-channel bolt working mechanism, with minimal welds to reduce cracking / breaking.
• It uses a Grade 1 lock that is EMP rated, the U.S. Military's highest EMP standard. EMP is "electro-magnetic pulse" and refers to electronics surviving this type of attack. 

 
 We are not aware of any other gun safe brand at this price, with this thick of steel siding, and this thick of bolt work.

Here is a quick comparison chart of a Hollon Black Hawk Gun Safe to its major competitors as of the time of this writing. We feel that the Hollon Black Hawk Gun Safes are better safes than the competitors and priced to sell.

How Good is the Hollon Republic Gun Safe?

 Want even more security? Hollon is just getting started! Their top-of-the-line, off-the-shelf gun safe is the Hollon Republic Gun safe series (also known as the Hollon RG Gun Safe line).

 Hollon Republic Gun Safe Review
 

Compare Gun Safes - Republic by Hollon vs The Rest

The Hollon Republic Gun Safe is an American Assembled Safe out of Texas. It's Focus is Superior Quality Over Others in the Same Class.

Hollon Republic Gun Safes offers features that are not known to be matched by any other safe in the market at this price. The fire rating, bolt size, ¼ inch solid steel door, 10-gauge body, u-channel and UL RSC rating are what makes the Republic gun safe stand out. 

• 120-minute fire ratings 
• 1.5” active bolts on all sides of the safe door that are 3.5” long, twice as long as most competitors.
• 10-gauge steel constructed body, with a 3 gauge (1/4 inch) solid steel door.
• Drill/Ballistic resistant armored ball bearing hard plate is added to protect the lock.
• It also features a spring-loaded re-locker to prevent punch attacks.
• Enhanced u-channel, minimum weld bolt work.
• UL-RSC burglary rating (What do Safe Burglar Ratings Mean?)

 This safe far exceeds California's Department of Justice Regulatory Standards for Residential Security Containers. This is one tough gun safe.

 Here's a chart stacking up the RG Gun Safes against the most common competitor we see for them as a similar price point. Hollon gun safes are built better in every important way. You can check out our prices on the Republic Gun Safes one our Website

Comparing the Hollon Republic Gun Safe to Most Popular Competitor

I would place the security of this safe just one-level below an American Security (AMSEC) BF Gun Safe. Even though they both carry UL RSC security ratings, the AMSEC BF rated gun safes are concrete filled and have ½ inch solid steel doors. However, they are also almost twice as expensive as the Hollon RG Gun Safe line.

So, we favor the Republic Gun Safe until the value of the safe's content starts to exceed $25-$30,000. At that level, short of a TL-15 rated gun safe, I'd point you to the AMSEC BF gun safe series. But if that's not in the budget, I'd keep you in a Republic Gun Safes by Hollon – in our opinion, the best gun safes for the money.

In Summary:

The Hollon Gun Safe line offers something for everyone's budget and security needs. Their budget gun safes are comparable but often offer just a bit more security than common competitors.

The higher end gun safes, from the Hollon Black Hawk line on up, is where you really start to see difference. The Black Hawk and Republic gun safes offer many more features than typical other gun safes at the same price point.

You can find all of the Hollon Gun Safes on our website.