Wow! I am impressed. This is the best kept gun safe secret ever. I've been looking to buy a gun safe for3-4 months now. I live in SouthernUtah were everyone has a many firearms and everyone needs a safe and there are many for sale. I looked thru all the sporting goods stores including national chain stores here as well as a stand alone safe store here in town and was just not happy with the choices or the costs. I couldnt convince myself to p"pull the trigger". Without spending a fortune for a safe in town, but still a literal "grand" of money the most I could get for that was 16 gauge steel which is 5/64ths of an easily go thru with a Harbor Frighten 15$ grinder, inch and no where near the feature set of this safe. Those safes are fine to keep children from guns, but they are little more than storage cabinets, either cut through quickly or able to pry the door off in a ffew minutes. Just one of my rifles is 2.5+ the cost of those thousand dollar budget safes, that had no features to it.
This bad boy is 12 guage "hardened" steel. The 10 1.5 inch bolts on the door make it look like fort knox and they are pretty. No one is prying this door off, not in any amount of time. The other safes had 3 - 1 inch bars and a rotten slide mechanism to engage/disengage them which means easy pickens. Again this bad boy gear drives them, easy open/close and another layer to protection from jamming them open. The installed lights and access holes and pre drilled mounting holes are not there in the bargin safes.Even the outside painting and logo are really nice looking and far better than the standard junk block lettering on the bargin safes, its give an oldtime classic western feel to the safe. But by far and away the best and most outrageous feature is 60 mins at 1875 F. Those bargin safes give you 20-30 mins at 1000-1200 degrees. SteelWaters design leaves nearly everyone else eating their dust in this deparment even safes in the 2000-3000+ range.
The inside is really nice, the shelf's while not rock solid are pretty sturdy, I have 2800 rounds of ammo sitting on the now.. The 3 spoke wheel on the door is yet another great feature, the bargains safes have at best 2. The pocket carriers on the door, there's yet another great feature of this safe, bargain safes or even more expensive safes at the stores do not have this or its capacity. The safe came 3 or 4 days earlier than the latest date and Estes who trucked it here were both a very polite, friendly and great company all the way around, they gave me early warning about the delivery and they gladly took it into my garage for me. I was very impressed with them professionally and personally.
Like all safes the claim of rifles while possibly technically possible, in reality is greatly overstated, but that depends on your type of rifles and how crowed you want them, But this will handle I'd say 7 maybe 8 easily on one side with good spacing and accessibility. The vendor is an easy contact if you need to for any reason. They sent a great email to me several days before the safe came, telling me what to look out for upon delivery and red flags to watch for.
Instructions for opening/operating where in a bag hanging on the front door but taped inside that safe. They are pretty clear, telling you how to punch in the default code. The only slight issue is the spokes to turn the wheel on the fron that unlocks the safe are inside the safe so find a metal rod to stick into the center hub on the door so you can turn it after you punch in the code, You must turn it clockwise, which wasn't stated in instructions for your reference and I used a foot long simplest speed bore bit, even though it could only grab about an inch into the hub, it turned rather easily and opened just fine.
Beware of tipping it over when you open the door, but at least on mine the steel shipping feet with 2x4's on their side kept the safe from tipping over when the door was in the worst case condition, that being 90 degree open. I got the extra back up key, if you are spending this much money on the safe, get an extra key, the cost is negligable and the peice of mind is forever. Oh the key pad had a nice touch to it, the numbers and leds on it light up reall nice.
My one suggestion of the safe would be to use batter powered leds for he lighting inside. They are powered by 120 VAC and you plug in the barrel connector on the right side rear corner when facing the safe. Its a logic place as the door opens that direction but I was going to have it against a wall on the right side and its really the 120 ac that bug mes. Its going i a closet that doesn't have a 120 outlet nor would I think its easy or convenient to run a card behind it. Given the ultra low current LED lights use and the amount of time you are actually going to have the door open and need the light if at all, battery powered lights would last for a very very long time and you wouldn't have to find an ac outlet or have the routing issues or getting power to it. I will probably just replace them or not. They area nice touch but I really don't need them.
Thats it, thats the only minor grip I have and its really nothing. I was leary about buying over the internet sight unseen, but to get everything that this safe is and has plus the free delivery to your doorstep, thats a 200-300$+ saver right there, anyway with the many many positive reviews and the price vs features this seemed like a deal to good to be true, usually they aren't but I guess SteelWater is the exception to that review. If you are thinking about it but a bit afraid like I was, I promise you , you wont be disappointed and you wont find a deal like this or one ever close to it anywhere. This safe in town would be another 1000-1500 and put delivery on top of that. Go for it!
| Pattern | Heavy Duty Model |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 11.8 Cubic Feet |
| Handle Type | Wrap Handle |
| Pocket Description | Slip Pocket |
| Shell Type | Hard |
| Item Package Dimensions L x W x H | 66 x 30 x 21 inches |
| Package Weight | 453 Pounds |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 18 x 28 x 59 inches |
| Brand Name | Steelwater Gun Safes |
| Model Name | 20 Long Gun Max Capacity Heavy Duty Gun Safe |
| Number of Items | 1 |
| Manufacturer | Steelwater Gun Safes |
| Part Number | AMSW592818 |
| Style | Modern |
| Included Components | Automatic LED Interior Lighting, Dry Pack, 1 High Security Bypass Key, EMP Proof Keypad, Heavy Duty Interior Door Organizer |
| Size | 59" x 28" x 18" |
