Appears to me that there should not be a difference between a "regular" safe and a gun safe, unless T3hK1w1's buddy was talking about the Stack-On type lockers I have seen at Sportsman's Warehouse and Cabelas. (I have two of those myself). Or maybe more likely he was comparing burglarly safes to fire safes. Some of the gunsafes I see appear to be only fire-resistant, not really burglary proof.
I have done some research into "real" safes, in the hopes that one day I can afford a big honkin' gun safe that is both fire and burglar resistant. It seemed to me that there are two different issues here, and would likely have two different solutions. My research indicated I am right.
Fire safes and burglar resistant safes do have two different Underwriter's Laboratory standards. Most safes are designed to meet one or the other; the ones that do both are of course more expen$ive.
Fire safes are rated as to how long they can be exposed to a given external temperature without the internal temperature exceeding the standard for a given class of material. E.g. a rating of 30 minutes at 1550 degrees Fahrenheit for a paper record storage safe means the interior temperature will not exceed 350 degrees during the fire NOR at anytime after the fire (the interior temperature may very well rise after the external heat is removed, as heat is slowly transferred from the exteror layers of the safe to the interior). The interior temp standard for computer media is 125 degrees. I have no idea what the interior temperature standard, if any, is for ammo.
There are also impact and explosion ratings for fire safes. The impact test is to simulate a safe on the third floor of aburning building falling all the way into the basement as the floors collapse. The explosion rating is for safe that is suddenly thrust into an intensely hot environment (as opposed to being slowly heated). The test is to see if the safe itself explodes.
Burglar-resistant safes are rated as to how long it takes for someone to break into it using a given set of tools. Residential Security Containers must resist 5 minutes of prying, drilling, punching, etc. TL-15 rated safes must resist 15 minutes of attack with common hand and power tools. TL-30 -- 30 minutes of resistance and adds a couple more tools, I think.
An interesting hint I ran across: a label that says a safe has been "tested by UL" is a red flag because it leaves out something -- that means it was tested and FAILED. If the safe passed, the manufacturer will make sure to put the actual rating on it, e.g. TL-30 or 30 minutes/1550 degrees, etc.
So, when you are buying a safe for your guns and ammo, you have to know what you want to keep them safe from, and for how long.
In case this is not enough detail for you
-- Here is a website with in really indepth explanation of both fire and burglary ratings:http://www.klsecurity.com/ul_fire_rating.htm
Happy hunting.
elb
) They usually will have walls made of either steel plate of 1/4" or less, or more often sheet steel (about 1/16"-1/8") and a thin layer of concrete with another piece of sheet steel inside. The lock will be enough to defeat casual or amateur attempts at drilling or manipulation(usually). This type of safe could be penetrated with power tools(don't laugh, a cordless drill would work, and it's quiet) in less than 10 min, or 3-5 min if sound was not an issue. A real pro could probably manupulate the lock in 5-10 min in complete silence and run off with everything in it without damaging the safe.
