What Are the Best Handgun Safes

There are plenty of small safes for handguns available in the marketplace today. Most are designed to keep little fingers away from dangerous items for safety and legal reasons (such as California's DOJ requirements for gun safes). They are pretty inexpensive, and they will keep your firearms away from children.

But if you're looking for the best handgun safe, to protect your firearm from theft, you need to level up on security.

The two best handgun safes on the market today are built by American Security: the AMSEC HAS410 pistol safe, and it's sibling the AMSEC PS1210HD. These handgun safes have superior construction against burglary attacks. They offer pry-resistance, thick steel construction, 7-gauge doors, and a robust mechanical lock that will always work when you need it.

What to Look for in a Handgun Safe

The answer is, “it depends on your needs.”

To protect against theft A handgun safe should have at least a 10-gauge body to protect the pistol box from tearing apart when someone tries to rip it out of its mounts. A pistol safe

 should also have at least a 7-gauge steel door to protect the door from being peeled open when prying, and a lock that is reinforced so that it can’t be easily punched out.

A good way to compare the strength of a safe is by weight. In general, a heavier safe is going to be constructed better than a comparable sized, lighter safe. So when in doubt, look at the weight.

When your goal is to keep your firearm out of the hands of little ones, an inexpensive pistol box will be enough. You’ll find these with lots of bells and whistles such as biometric entry, side mounts, locking cables that can be used in cars, key overrides, etc…and will cost under $200, often right around $100

We've reviewed a few inexpensive, intended for firearm safety only, pistol safes on our YouTube channel that meet the minimum safety needs well.

	ONNAIS Pistol Safe - Our YouTube Video	Price It On Amazon
	Rexmeo Biometric Pistol Safe  - Our YouTube Video	Price It On Amazon
	Dalmbox Biometric Pistol Safe Our YouTube Video	Price it on Amazon

We prefer the Hollon Pistol Safes PB10 Pistol Safe and PB20 2-Gun Handgun Safe for a bit more security than the above, but the above safes will work well for firearm safety.

If you need to meet state regulations for firearm storage, be sure the safe exceeds California's DOJ requirements for gun safes.

What is the Best Type of Lock on a Pistol Safe?

There are many types of locks that can be found on today’s pistol safes, but almost all of them suffer from some weakness.

Mechanical Push Button Locks

More often than not, if the safe has a mechanical push button unlocking system, it will be a Simplex lock. This lock has been in use for many years and has been used to protect military installations for decades. I went through a Simplex lock every morning to get to my post while stationed at Barber’s Point in the Navy.

The best lock for a pistol safe is a push button mechanical lock by Simplex. It boasts well over 1000 codes, some of which require two buttons to be pressed simultaneously. It is made from high quality materials and nearly never fails. It requires no backup keyhole that can be manipulated or bypassed. And, it will never have a dead battery when you need to get in during an emergency.

The default code of all Simplex locks is to press the 2 and 4 buttons simultaneously, then the number 3 button. See our YouTube video How to Change the Code on a Simplex Lock.

Mechanical Dial Locks

These are the types of locks you may remember on your bike chain from your youth. Unfortunately, there are literally thousands of YouTube videos on how to easily bypass them so that anyone can learn the technique to get post all but the most secure in just a few seconds. And you won’t find the most secure on these pistol boxes since they are often the cheapest option around.

Keyed Locks

A keyed lock on any gun safe is often the weakest point of the safe. When someone is trying to bypass a lock, keyholes can be picked, bumped, forced, or punched open. If you want security, avoid keyholes, it’s that simple.

If you must have a keyhole on your safe as a backup entry point, make sure it is heavy duty and difficult to pick by a novice.

Biometric Locks

Biometric locks are becoming more popular and more secure. In the early days, the suffered from false positives (people not authorized to open the lock could open it) and false negatives (people enrolled in the lock could not open it).

Much of this has been addressed, but in very inexpensive safes, you are getting the least expensive biometric safe lock, so you may still run into these issues.

But the biggest problem with biometric handgun safes is that they almost always have a key override in case the biometric lock fails or the battery dies.

Electronic Locks

Pistol safes can have various forms of electronic locks. We’ve seen them having from 3-10 buttons with code lengths greater than ten digits. The advantage here is that safes can have literally millions of possible code combinations.

But again, they almost always have a key override in case the biometric lock fails or the battery dies, and that key override can be easily bypassed, especially in inexpensive hand gun safes.

Our Favorite Handgun Safes

AMSEC HAS410 Pistol Safe

The HAS410 is a drawer-style safe. It features a door constructed of 7-gauge steel (3/16 inch thickness) that actually wraps around the face AND edge of the drawer, making pry attacks very difficult if not entirely ineffective.

The body is 10-gauge steel which is more than 1/8 inch thick – up to 300% thicker than some competitors!

Both the top and bottom of the AMSEC HAS410 safe have 4 holes for bolting in either a counter top or under-counter configuration.

This drawer and under counter mounting options make it unique.

The manufacturer lists this safe at 20lbs, but our scale in our YouTube Review of the HAS 410 shows it at just over 23 lbs. This can be up to 350% heavier than similarly sized pistol boxes which we’ve seen barely topping 6 lbs.

The locking mechanism is a mechanical lock by Simplex so there is no need for a key override. The lock body is further protected by a steel housing, making it impervious to punch-out attacks.  With no chance of an electronics failure, this lock will last for years if not decades.

Inside the HAS 410 Safe

The slide out drawer can hold up to 75 lb (55 lbs when fully extended) – enough for the firearm and some ammunition – and the drawer includes pluck foam which can be shaped to hold any pistol (or other small but valuable items, for that matter).

HAS410 On Our Website

HAS410 On Amazon

AMSEC PS1210HD Pistol Safe

The PS1210HD has just about all the same features as the HAS410, except instead of a drawer style door, it has a lift hatch door.

This means it cannot be mounted under a counter, but allows it to be mounted inside of a drawer and may better suited for other applications (like a car).

The 7-guage steel door thickness with wrap-around construction, 10-guage body thickness, Simplex lock and virtually every other specification is the same – except the PS1210HD handgun safe comes in over 24lb, and is slightly (fractions of an inch) larger in all dimensions.

The PS1210HD comes with 4 bottom mounting holes.

On Our Website

On Amazon

Which Pistol Safe is the Best for Your Nightstand?

For your nightstand, get the AMSEC PS1210HD pistol safe for child safety and best security. The PS1201HD is be better suited for down-low, in-cabinet nightstand placement because the code lock will be easier access. The PS1210HD handgun safe will also work if placing the safe inside of a nightstand drawer.

Both the HAS410 and PS1210HD can be used if mounting on top of the nightstand.

Which Pistol Safe is Better for Your Office?

For your office, get the AMSEC HAS410 for its security and quick access when mounted under the top of the office desktop. If mounting inside an office desk drawer, the PS1201HD handgun safe will be the best solution due to having a lid that lifts.

How to Properly Secure a Handgun Safe?

Many small safes, such as those reviewed on our YouTube Channel, are secured by using a cable looped around an immovable structure. This will work well for those looking mainly at a gun safe for safety reasons.

To really secure a hand gun safe you are going to need to bolt it down. The strength of security achieved will depend on what you are bolting the safe to.

Bolting into concrete is best, but most handgun safes are installed in cabinets, desks, or other wood structures.

To properly secure you handgun safe, use through bolts with large washers whenever possible. The large washers will distribute the force of an attack, making it much more difficult to remove the safe. Install to the thickest piece of wood at your installation point (the desktop, nightstand top, etc..) so the screws / bolts have something of substance to grab to.

Avoid bolting down a safe to the bottom of a desk drawer. This offers very little security as the wood at the bottom of a desk drawer is very weak, and the drawer can simply be removed and the safe taken away.