How do manufacturers determine gun capacity for gun safes? 

Safe manufactures want to sell safes and want to achieve the highest capacity rating that they can for their advertising. For this reason, rifle or long gun capacity tells you how many standard rifles can fit into the safe without having any attachments (scopes, clips, etc...) or additional bulk (assault rifles). Basically, a safes rifle capacity is the best possible number of long guns you can fit into the safe. Often, the number from your collection that actually fit, will be substantially less.

One manufacturer, Hollon, tries to provide a more reasonable gun capacity number. Their measurement is called "comfort fit". And they believe it to be a more accurate measurement of the number of guns you can actually place inside the safe.

Are large safes more secure?

Picking the right size large gun safe is crucial to guarantee that your firearms, gun cabinets, and other valuables can fit inside  and are protected, but the size of a safe is not a measurement of security. Large gun safes are not more secure simply because of their size.

Various features contribute to overall security and fire resistance

Security Features to look for if security is important: body steel thickness, anti-drill plate present and thickness, bolt diameter, bolt work construction (u-channel), steel plate on door of safe and/or inside of body of safe, hinges, etc... In general, when looking at two safes with similar dimensions, the heavier safe will be the better built safe. See our YouTube video on the 5 Most Important Features to Consider When Buying a Safe for Security.

Custom interior / shelving options

Custom interior options can make your large gun safe more flexible depending on how you place to use it.

Large safes can come with all-shelf options, that provide great bulk storage of non-long gun and firearms. With all shelf interiors, several shelves lie across the entire width of the safe.

Another configuration is a column configuration. Functional and visually appealing, safes with column configurations allow for long guns and other storage. Each column usually comes with fully adjustable shelving for storage of jewelry or other items. For your rifle storage, you just remove the shelving from the column of the safe you want to use for long guns.

The issue with column shelving is that if you are only storing firearms, the columns will act to limit your storage capacity. For this reason, American Security Safes (AMSEC) offers their largest gun safes in an all-gun shelving configuration. If you want the most space for rifles and other long guns, you may want an all-gun configuration.

Most safes on the market today also include door-mounted storage to easy access to your firearms and other misc items. Handguns, clips and a couple of rifles can typically be stored in pockets/straps attached to the inside of the door. If long guns can be stored here, they will be included in the gun safe capacity count.

Should you get one large safe or two smaller safes?

This is all about tradeoffs.

Large gun safes with good security features will be VERY heavy. A typical homeowner may not be able to get them into the home. The largest guns safes may even require heavy moving equipment and need to be placed during a home's construction with forklifts. The largest burglary rated gun safes can easily weigh over 3000 lbs. 

If you are buying a burglary rated gun safe (See our YouTube video What Burglary Ratings Mean), weight must be considered. Two smaller safes may be your only option due to the weight of a larger safe.

If you have a large firearm collection, but break ins or theft are not your top concerns, one large gun safe may be manageable for you. ACME Locksmith will move gun safes into homes so long as the gun safe is less than 3000 lbs. 

Other Considerations for Large Gun Safes

Budget. When budgeting for a big gun safe, consider the size, security features, fireproofing, and custom interior options you need. Keep in mind that the price of a large gun safe can vary greatly.

Location and Installation. Avoid placing safes in the basement or other damp areas of your house, as humidity can damage the guns and other items inside if you're not using a dehumidifier. Also, most modern big safes come with led lights its, so having outlets near the location is desired.

Thieves will attack gun safes by trying to push them over and prying the door. Because large gun safes are often 6' tall, this gives them leverage to get them over. Find a tight location where this is either not possible or would be extremely difficult.

Bolting down the safes is always an option, but be aware of post tension slabs when bolting down safes.