Steelwater Gun Safe Reviews In 2022 – Expert Reviewed

Steelwater gun safes are the most reliable as well as the most secure gun safes in their price range. And no, I’m not making this up. If your gun collection is growing, at some point, you would want a large gun safe. Read this article for some in-depth Steelwater Gun Safe reviews written by experts.

Preferably, a gun safe under 1000 would be nice for long guns. There are plenty of brands out there, but I want to focus on Steelwater gun safe reviews for this article.

Steelwater is a reputable and experienced gun safe brand with unique services that you may not find in other gun safe brands.

	E.M.P Proof Steelwater Heavy Duty 45 Long Gun Safe Best Heavy Steelwater Gun Safe 28 x 42 x 72 inches; 888 lbs	Check price Read full review
	Fireproof 16 Long Gun Safe with EMP Lock Best Tall Steelwater Gun Safe 22 x 16 x 59 inches; 330 lbs	CHECK PRICE Read full review
	Steelwater Heavy Duty 20 Long Gun Safe best ankle holster for slip-on boots 18 x 28 x 59 inches; 425 lbs	CHECK PRICE Read full review

Are Steelwater Gun Safes Any Good?

It has a reputation for being a reputable gun safe company that takes pride in its work. Featuring distinctive features, its products offer gun owners like you affordable protection options.

Offering a variety of gun safes in a range of sizes and capacities, Steelwater offers a solution for most gun owners regardless of their budget. Steelwater offers a variety of gun safes that will match your needs, from small and simple to products that offer the latest technology.

Also, Steelwater explains how their gun safes are different from other companies. Steelwater’s customers are also offered several other benefits in addition to price matching.

Top 3 Steelwater Gun Safe Reviews

After doing a lot of research and talking to people I know, I have compiled a list of some of the best Steelwater gun safes.

Based on my analysis, I’ve decided which safe is best. Furthermore, I have included a variety of configurations and sizes for you to choose from.

1. E.M.P Proof Steelwater Heavy Duty 45 Long Gun Safe – Best Heavy Steelwater Gun Safe

This is the Steelwater gun safe you should buy if you want the best bang for your buck. Apparently, some people were shocked that this safe was from China because they hadn’t done any research beforehand. Nevertheless, it’s a monster.

I am very impressed with the quality of the safe. At this price point, you won’t find a better value. I was not expecting this safe to be so good. There is a lot of weight to it. Definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a safe and secure place to keep their guns and pretty much anything else.

I have read the dimensions, but they really don’t make sense until I have them in my home. The door thickness and wall gauge of this safe are excellent for the money. There’s no such thing as an impenetrable wall, but this will definitely deter the average idiot.

From the big names, I couldn’t find anything comparable for this price. You can flip all shelves inside because all surfaces have good carpet, including the tops of shelves.

Despite having more shelves than you might be able to use, everything fits well and is customizable. A good fit and quality fabric make this door organizer extremely useful.

Pros

• Extra thick steel construction
• Two internal re-lockers keep the safe secure
• Heat-activated door seal
• Double steel reinforced top shelf

Cons

• None

2. Fireproof 16 Long Gun Safe with EMP Lock – Best Tall Steelwater Gun Safe

It’s not the best Steelwater gun safe on the market, but it’s sure well-built. The quality of both the combination lock and the welding points seems very professional to me. There is no wobble in the handle at this point. It also features tough 12-gauge steel construction.

There is plenty of space inside for guns. The safe also comes with Velcro pistol holders and bags, and I was surprised to find the Velcro could hold up heavier guns despite being afraid it wouldn’t.

This is a solid door, weighing over 100 pounds. Additionally, it includes a reusable dehumidifier, and it also has an electrical outlet. Each of the four bottom corners has steel plates that provide more security when bolted down. Fire seals expand to keep smoke and heat out in the event of a fire.

As soon as a door is opened, an internal L.E.D. light turns on and turns off automatically as soon as it is closed. In case the safe’s lock is attacked or punched, two internal re-lockers secure it. All four sides are equally secured by solid steel locking bolts, eliminating any potential weak points.

Pros

• Fire protection for 1 hour up to 1875 degrees
• Digital keypad with enhanced E.M.P. proof
• Lighting interiors with L.E.D. automated controls
• Top shelf with steel reinforced u-channel on both sides

Cons

• N/A

3. Steelwater Heavy Duty 20 Long Gun Safe – Best Ankle Holster for Slip-on Boots

Steelwater’s new and improved heavy-duty 20 long gun safe is ideal for gun collectors and gun owners who need maximum storage and security for their firearms. Your property should be kept protected in the highest-quality Steelwater safe when you have an extensive collection of high-value guns.

An average of 12 to 16 guns can be stored in it, and it weighs 453 pounds. This is one heavy safe. Fire-rated at 1875°F and makes use of 12 ga. steel for body and doors for 60 minutes. Your valuables will remain safe until a cut attack occurs.

Thanks to the reinforced bolt holes, the safe is practically impossible to move if you anchor it down. Featuring ten 1.5-inch solid steel locking bolts, this safe is secures all four sides equally. Pry bars are practically useless for opening a door.

The hinges cannot be removed even if someone tries. E.M.P. protection and digital buttons are included in the digital lock. This double-botched, drill-resistant bypass key is high-security and drill resistant.

There is absolutely no gap around the door, so it is pry bar resistant. In addition to having a carpeted interior to prevent your guns from scratching, this safe has a door that lights up whenever you open the door. There is no need for you to mess around with wires since the L.E.D. lights are already connected.

Pros

• There are ten steel locking bolts that extend to 1-1/2″
• A high-security bypass key is included with the EMP-proof locking system
• Rated at 1875 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour of fire protection
• 8-times stronger drill-resistant plates

Cons

• You will need it to anchor it down

Why Choose Steelwater Gun Safes?

There are usually new gun safe models released every year by most gun safe companies. You are being tempted to believe that this is the new and improved model. The truth is that the company has reduced quality and reliability to compensate for the increased profit margin for the new year.

The old parts are no longer available due to design changes after a few years due to the production in small quantities. The replacement parts will be overpriced as a result.

However, Steelwater Gun Safes believe that you should not fix something that is not broken. Over the last seven years, they have not changed the mechanical part of their safes. Mechanical issues, reliability issues, and cosmetic issues were addressed a long time ago.

As far as Fireproofing, Security, and Reliability are concerned, Steelwater Gun Safes has achieved its aim of offering these characteristics at an affordable price.

You can find a positive outlook regarding the Steelwater brand when you quickly search reviews from former and current Steelwater customers.

About Steelwater Gun Safe Company

Augusta, South Carolina-based Steelwater is a major American safe brand. Their safes for long guns are their most famous products. Additionally, they manufacture home safes as well as gun safes. Gun safes made by Steelwater are often fireproof.

One of the major advantages of Steelwater safes is their uniqueness. Due to their mechanical components not changing that much over the years, Steelwater safe parts are relatively easy to find. Steelwater also manufactures these parts on a constant basis.

As a result, if anything goes wrong with your Steelwater safe, it’s likely that you can fix it. There would be no need to purchase another safe. My friends who own guns often purchase Steelwater safes for this reason.

Long gun safes from Steelwater have a fairly straightforward design. Safe sizes ranging from sixteen, twenty, and twenty-two firearms are what they specialize in. I’ll focus on the most commonly used sizes in this article since they are the most common.

Two variants are available for each size. There are “standard duty” and “heavy-duty” sizes of 16 and 20 guns. In terms of the 22-gun safe, there are two types: heavy-duty and extreme duty.

About The Owner Of Steelwater Gun Safes

It’s been his life’s work to design and build gun safes, and the owner of Steelwater Gun Safes is no exception. In the five years after leaving high school, he worked in law enforcement before learning the locksmithing trade.

More than 22 years ago, he began servicing, repairing, and opening safes. The combination of his professional experience, as well as his understanding of gun safety, led him to provide a gun safe that’s secure, fireproof, and reliable.

Why Steelwater?

Thorough Inspection

Following receiving a gun safe from the manufacturing facility, Steelwater experts remove it from its packaging and inspect it thoroughly for any imperfections, defects, or damage. Although factory-inspected gun safes are not liable for damage, accidents can still occur.

Before delivering the gun safe, they unpack each one to ensure the safety of your time and investment. As a result, they are able to minimize the possibility of dissatisfaction or problems with our products.

10X Larger Hard Plate

Every safe between $300 and $8000 will have a hard plate that will prevent drilling and manipulation of the lock body. About four x five inches is the size of these hard plates.

Besides the lock body, a much larger hard plate protects the internal relocking system, the gear drive system, and several key linkages. This keeps someone from drilling or punching into certain areas of the blueprints, thereby preventing a successful break-in.

Extra 1/4 Inch Steel Plate In All 4 Corners

Steelwater gun safes have found that the safe still rocks back and forth even after the bolts have been threaded through 9-gauge steel or thinner. Because of the tall height and the weight of the safe, the steel on the bottom of the safe will bend.

It may be necessary to rock the safe back and forth before the bolts are driven through the bottom of the safe. The solution was to install extra 14-inch steel plates on the bottom of the safes to prevent this problem from occurring again in the future.

Steel U-Channel Steel Plates

A majority of gun safe shelves use particleboard, and after a short time, particleboard will warp and sag. Steel u-channel steel plates protect the top shelf of every Steelwater gun safe. This prevents it from warping while simultaneously strengthening it multiple times over.

Competitors’ handgun gun safes usually have long top shelves made of particle board and are not reinforced, meaning even minimal weight will cause the shelves to warp and possibly break. In short, they have given thought to things that normally wouldn’t be considered.

Top-Notch Customer Support

The company takes all the necessary steps to minimize defects. However, mechanical failures still occur in rare cases. In the event of a warranty expiration or a gap in the warranty period, they always strive to give their customers top-notch service after the sale.

Generally, a warranty issue is addressed immediately, and the issue is solved within one to four days. If there is a problem arising outside the warranty period or if the purchaser is responsible for the problem. Furthermore, they keep a complete inventory of parts on hand so that repairs can be handled promptly.

Cost Savings

The industry-leading prices Steelwater offers are more competitive and affordable than those of most other gun-safe dealers due to the cutout of the middleman.

Many gun-safe companies will raise the price of their products in order to increase their profits, but when you buy a safe from a company like Steelwater, you save money overall. Gun safe shoppers who are interested in getting the best value for their money will enjoy the benefit of this.

Construction & Design With An Intuitive Approach

In comparison to the safes of competitors, Steelwater gun safes have a number of innovative features. Gun safe manufacturers have taken great care to address some of the most common issues faced by gun owners.

A variety of issues, including shelf instability, shelf durability, thickness, and strength of hard plates, have been addressed. Your gun safe should be constructed in a way that will increase its longevity.

Support & Reliability

As far as technology and offerings go, new models of gun safes are released every now and then. The availability of replacement parts is difficult for older models, so you have to replace them every year.

A consequence of this practice is the practice of buying new goods more frequently than necessary when repairing a gun safe or dealing with some other minor problem.

A key benefit of Steelwater’s gun safes is their high quality and reliability, which require little to no updating. In fact, Steelwater states they haven’t changed a single aspect of their mechanical functions in over a decade.

Purchasers of gun safes can feel at ease knowing that if the unlikely happens and a repair is needed, they can get the support and spare parts they need.

Generally, the names correspond to their meanings. Standard, heavy, and extreme duty are ranked from least to most powerful. Steelwater’s standard-duty safes are already exceptionally strong, utilizing 14-gauge steel and fire-resistant Design.

However, heavy-duty usually reaches 12 gauge, followed by extreme duty, which reaches nine gauges. A safe’s exterior dimensions are the same for different variants. A Steelwater 16-gun safe’s external dimensions and appearance are the same on both the standard and heavy-duty versions.

On the other hand, there are some differences in the interior. Extreme-duty and heavy-duty versions have thicker walls. Thick walls result in a smaller interior volume. The heavier weight is also associated with thicker walls. Stronger safes cost more, as you might expect.

Due to this fact, the least expensive variants are standard duty, while the heavy and extreme duty versions become increasingly more expensive. Your budget vs. your risk tolerance dictates how much you should invest.

Steelwater Gun Safe FAQs

The Pro Tip: Get A Bigger Safe Than You Think You Need

A Steelwater safe’s advertised capacity is the maximum amount that can be held in it.Steelwater safes can hold a certain number of firearms, but the number depends on how many guns you have in your own collection.

As a general rule of thumb, buy a larger safe than you think you’ll need. The “22 gun safe”, for example, is probably better for someone with 20 guns. You’ll save money and pain by doing this, even if it initially seems strange.

In order to avoid wasting money/time on either returning the safe or buying a second safe, don’t buy a safe that is too small. Besides, even if a safe fit your firearms today, who knows what you’ll need in the future?

Final Words

There were a few brands that I ended up leaning towards, not in any particular order; one is Big Horn, another is Winchester, another is Liberty, another is SnapSafe, another is Steelwater.

To my mind, a safe is a worthwhile investment for someone who wants to collect. Even though they aren’t impenetrable at the level most of us can afford, they can still be accessed relatively easily.

I certainly think they add a nice touch to the decor of a room since they provide a barrier and distribute everything neatly in one spot, and a collection looks great displayed on nicely lined shelves with interior lighting.

My advice would be to get a larger collection than what you think you will need unless you are set in your small collection.

A safe’s capacity rating is merely a marketing gimmick and only represents the maximum number of non-scoped 22 rifles that can be stored in the safe.

Adding scopes, grips, and slings reduces the capacity from 16 to 8 pretty quickly. So, that’s all there is to know about Steelwater gun safe reviews.