Today's gun safes have become general purpose safes. More gun safes are sold than any other kind of safe and more items than guns and ammunition are being stored in them.
A good quality gun safe provides three important features: large size options at reasonable prices, burglary protection and fire protection. In addition, most gun safes are convertible; the racking and shelving is adjustable and interchangeable, meeting the needs of the gun owner and the non-gun owner.
There are many different gun safe manufacturers. Gun safes range from metal cabinets having a piano hinge attached doors operated by a key lock weighing less than 160 pounds to U.L. Listed TL Burglary Classification gun safes with fire protection weighing in excess of 4,000 pounds.
All AMSEC BF Series Gun Safes are built to meet or exceed the U.L. Residential Security Container (RSC) Burglary Classification and the Mercury Class 90-minute fire protection. The AMSEC BF Series Gun Safes incorporate modern safe technology with age old safe security, where just about every BF Series Gun Safe has a ½" thick steel plate door and two layers of steel in the body. The U. L. RSC satisfies safety requirements for states such as California.
Implementing modern safe technology increases the total door thickness to between 4 5/16 and 4 ¾ inches. Contained within the complete door is the steel plate, the DryLight™ poured concrete insulation material, hardplate and boltwork that operates the 11 1 ½-inch diameter chrome plated steel bolts. DryLight is a proprietary formula fire insulator that provides a dry and seamless fire barrier.
BF Series Gun Safes have a body thickness of two inches providing a combined 7 gauge steel wall thickness. Sandwiched between the inner and outer formed steel bodies, DryLight compound provides temperature control to protect the contents of the safe below 350 degrees should it be in a 1275-degree F fire burning for 90 minutes.
An integral part of the protection is between the door and the body. There are two stage dual fire seals; a silicone seal surrounding the doorjamb and an expandable Palusol™ seal around the door. The Palusol silicate seal expands when there is a fire, generating a non-combustible, heat-insulating and pressure-resistant foam sealing the opening between the door and the body.
The door is secured to the container by two commercial grade, adjustable ball bearing hinges. BF Series gun safes can be order with a left or right hand swing door.
Smooth and clean prep work provides stunning finishes. Once a gun safe has been assembled, it is placed inside the “GOFF” shot blast machine. The Goff hurls .030" tungsten shot at a velocity of 11,000 feet per minute at the safe as it is rotated. The result is the safe is de-scaled providing a clean surface for the prep, prime and painting process.
AMSEC offers several options for the safe lock. The basic lock is a U.L. Listed Group II mechanical lock. For those who do not want to dial open the safe, several electronic safe lock options are available.
The 11-bolt locking mechanism that secures the door is operated by a five-spoke handle. When unlocked, a detent system holds the bolts in the open position. A pull handle is included with each safe to ease opening and closing the door. To protect against forced entry, AMSEC includes two relocking devices, one built into the safe lock and the second located along the boltwork.
The E-Z Slant Out panels accommodate long guns and coverplates provide shelving where there are no guns. On the inside of the door, AMSEC includes their Premium Door Organizer (PDO) has see-through pouches, zippered pockets and storage systems to hold long guns, handguns, ammunition, personal items and supplies. The PDO is custom made for each door size.
Building BF Series Gun Safes
AMSEC BF Series Gun Safes are manufactured at the AMSEC facility in Fontana, Calif. For this article, we will provide a pictorial view of the building of BF Series Gun Safes.
Photo 1 is a steel plate cutting machine that uses a laser to cut safe door panels up to one inch thick.
Photo 2 is close-up view of the laser cutting a steel plate.
Photo 3 is a plate cut to fit a safe.
Photo 4 is one end of an inside panel for a gun safe.
Photo 5 is the machine that bends the panels into shape.
Photo 6 is an inner panel for a gun safe.
Photo 7 shows gun safe bodies that have been assembled and welded.
Photo 8 is the door of a gun safe.
Photo 9 is the door attached to the body using the hinges.
Photo 10 is the “GOFF” shot blast machine.
Photo 11 is of a safe that has been blasted and the tungsten shot.
Photo 12 is a group of gun safes ready for DryLight.
Photo 13 is a gun safe floor with anchor holes and power port.
Photo 14 is gun safes having been filled with DryLight.
Photo 15 is gun safes that have been prepped for the paint procedure.
Photo 16 is gun safes being prepped and primered.
Photo 17 is a door open gun safe primed.
Photo 18 is gun safes that have been prepped for gloss and texture finishes.
Photo 19 is a gun safe in the climate control paint booth.
Photo 20 is three gloss finish gun safes.
Photo 21 is a textured and a high gloss finish gun safe.
Photo 22 is the mounting bracketing and hard plate for the safe lock.
Photo 23 is the assembly area for the AMSEC ESL 10XL electronic lock.
Photo 24 is the boltwork.
Photo 25 is the U. L. Listed Group II mechanical combination lock with spy-proof, key locking dial, five spoke handle and pull handle.
Photo 26 is AMSEC ESL 10XL electronic lock option on a safe.
Photo 27 is the exterior view of the power port.
Photo 28 is the interior view of the power port.
Photo 29 is the interior assembly area.
Photo 30 is a finished EZ Slat-Out.
Photo 31 is the LED lighting.
Photo 32 is the open door view of a gun safe.
Photo 33 is a cutaway view of the BF Series door
Photo 34 is a view of the door thickness with Palusol seal.
Photo 35 is the U. L. Listing and the fire rating.
Photo 36 photo is the Premium Door Organizer.
Photo 37 is a finished BF Series Gun Safe.
Photo 38 is the shelves stocked with BF Series Gun Safes ready for shipment.
AMSEC's "Round-the-clock Customer Service" representatives are available to help 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by calling 951-685-9680, x1032
The BF Series AMSEC Gun Safes have a lifetime no-cost warranty that includes no labor charge, no parts charge and no freight charge.
For more information, contact your local locksmith distributor or American Security Products Co., 11925 Pacific Ave., Fontana CA 92337. Telephone: 951-685-9680. Web Site: www.amsecusa.com.
To read additional Locksmith Ledger articles on AMSEC, visit http://tinyurl.com/amsec513.
AMSEC's Long History
In the late 1940s, American Security Products (AMSEC) founder Glenn Hall set up shop with little more than a welder, a lathe, and the desire to build strong safes in a small Paramount, California facility. This desire was driven by the need to find designs and techniques that withstand the expertise of the intelligent safe cracker.
AMSEC pioneered the round-door vault that became the industry standard for many years. Round-door vaults provided high quality security. However, they were expensive to manufacture. As the demand for safes continued to grow in the 1960s, AMSEC developed square-door construction that would be more cost effective. However, the square door required innovative boltwork and locking mechanisms to ensure a high level of security.
To combat new forced entry techniques, AMSEC developed safes utilizing a composite construction in 1994. These safes combine hard plate steel and high strength concrete to offer greater protection against attack by a wide variety of burglary tools. AMSEC became the first United States company to obtain Underwriters Laboratories’ TL15 and TL30 Burglary rating on high security composite safes.
Today, AMSEC continues to be the innovative company in the burglary and fire resistant safe market by offering the most extensive UL Listed product line.
