Last updated September 2026 · By Nick Hall, AR-15 owner who has measured real clearance for uppers and optics in safes
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Table of Contents
| Gun Safe | AR-15 Capacity | Interior W x D | Access | Check Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEST QUICK ACCESS Hornady AR Gunlocker |
2 ARs | 13.5″ W x 5.5″ D | RFID | Lowest Price ↓ |
| BEST SMART Vaultek ViSN RS500i |
Up to 6 rifles | 14″ W x 11.7″ D ext | Biometric + WiFi | Lowest Price ↓ |
| BEST FULL-SIZE Liberty Centurion 24 |
8 to 12 ARs | 26.25″ W x 13.5″ D | Keypad | Lowest Price ↓ |
| BEST CONCEALED SnapSafe In-Wall Tall |
2 to 3 ARs | 16.25″ W x 4″ D ext | Keypad | Lowest Price ↓ |
| BEST PREMIUM Browning Sporter 33 |
12 to 18 ARs | 26″ W x 17.5″ D | Keypad | Lowest Price ↓ |
| BEST VALUE SA Preserve 40 |
15 to 20 ARs | 40″ x 22″ (ext) | Keypad | Lowest Price ↓ |
| NARROWEST SA Domain 20 |
5 to 8 ARs | not published | Keypad | Lowest Price ↓ |
| BEST LARGE SMART Vaultek ViSN RS800i |
Up to 8 rifles | 13.75″ W x 12.6″ D | Biometric + WiFi | Lowest Price ↓ |
How we tested: Every pick here is ranked against our testing methodology. Minimum round counts, accuracy and reliability protocols, the failures that disqualify a gun. Where we have not shot a specific variant ourselves, we say so in that section.
Best Gun Safes for AR-15 Rifles in 2026
AR-15s are a pain to store, and the reason is not length. A bare 16-inch carbine runs about 33 inches, and almost every full-size safe on the market is over 50 inches tall inside. The rifle fits standing up. What does not fit is everything you bolted to it.
Hang an LPVO, a weapon light, a laser and a forward grip off a carbine and it stops being a flat object. Safes were designed around bolt guns, which are flat, and their barrel slots grip round barrels, which an AR does not have. So the rifle either sits at an angle, fouls its neighbor, or comes apart before it goes in.
Which makes interior width and depth the two numbers that decide this purchase. Not the gun count on the badge, and not the dimensions printed on the box, which are the outside of the safe. The gap between those two is bigger than most buyers expect, and almost nobody selling you a safe volunteers it.
What follows is eight safes covering four different jobs: instant access for a defensive carbine, connected storage with monitoring, concealed storage nobody knows about, and fire-rated vaults for a collection. Every dimension below is the manufacturer’s own published figure, and where a maker does not publish one, this page says so instead of guessing.
For our full rankings across every safe type, start with the main gun safe guide. For price-led picks, try the under $500 and under $1,000 guides.
The Interior Width Problem, and the Chart Nobody Publishes
Every AR-15 safe round-up tells you interior width is what matters. Almost none of them print one. What gets printed is the exterior width, because that is the number on the retailer listing, and the difference is where people get caught out.
Two inches vanish into a Liberty Centurion between the outside and the inside. Three vanish into a Browning Sporter. That is steel, fire board and carpet, and it is unavoidable, but it means a safe advertised at 29 inches gives you 26 to divide between rifles.
Then there is the comparison nobody makes. Browning sell the Sporter 33 as a 33-gun safe and Liberty sell the Centurion 24 as a 24-gun safe. Browning publish an interior width of 26 inches. Liberty publish 26.25. The bigger-sounding safe is a quarter of an inch narrower inside.
That is not a knock on the Browning, which is comfortably the better safe here. It earns its capacity through depth: 17.5 inches inside against the Liberty’s 13.5, which is enough for two rows of rifles instead of one. Twenty-three cubic feet against 11.5. The capacity is real. It just runs front to back rather than side to side.
So when you shop, ask for two numbers and refuse to accept one. Interior width tells you how many rifles stand side by side. Interior depth tells you whether they stand in one row or two. Gun count is a marketing figure derived from slim bolt guns with nothing attached to them.
1. Hornady RAPiD Safe AR Gunlocker, Best Quick-Access AR-15 Safe
- AR-15 capacity: 2 rifles, foam inserts sized for tactical-length rifles and shotguns
- Interior: 40.5″ H x 13.5″ W x 5.5″ D
- Exterior: 42″ H x 15.25″ W x 6.75″ D
- Lock: RFID with keypad and two barrel keys, up to five tags
- Steel: 16-gauge body, four internal hardened locking lugs
- Weight: 50 lbs
- Model: 98190
Pros
- Interior sized for a real AR
- RFID opens in about a second
- Wall, closet or under-bed mounting
- Exceeds ASTM child-resistance standards
- California DOJ approved device
Cons
- 16-gauge steel resists hands, not tools
- No fire rating at all
- Two rifles and nothing more
- Not long-term collection storage
Live pricing across our retailers
The name is not marketing. Hornady built this one around the rifle rather than adapting a bolt-gun locker, and the interior is where you can see it: 40.5 inches long, 13.5 wide and 5.5 deep. A 16-inch carbine runs about 33 inches, so the length is not the interesting number. The 5.5 inches of depth is. That is what swallows an optic, a light and a vertical grip without you stripping the rifle down first.
RFID is the reason to buy it. Wave the bracelet or the fob and the spring-assisted door is open. Hornady let you program five tags, so a wristband lives by the bed, a sticker goes on the back of a phone and a fob sits in a drawer. That is the difference between a safe you actually use for home defense and one you leave open because the keypad is slow in the dark.
And it is a locker, not a vault. Sixteen-gauge steel with four internal lugs will stop a child, a guest and an opportunist with a screwdriver. It will not stop somebody who brought tools and has an hour. There is no fire rating either, because there is no insulation in it.
It does carry the certification most of this category skips. Hornady list it as exceeding ASTM International standards for child and pry resistance, lock strength and drop, pick and saw tests, and it sits on California’s approved firearm safety device roster. If you are in a state that requires a listed device, that matters more than the steel.
Best For: the home defense AR that has to be locked but reachable in seconds. Buy it alongside a vault, never instead of one.
2. Vaultek ViSN RS500i, Best Smart AR-15 Safe
- AR-15 capacity: up to 6 rifles on the modular rack system
- Exterior: 54″ H x 14″ W x 11.7″ D
- Lock: biometric, keypad, Nano Key and app, 80 fingerprints
- Steel: progressive-formed 14-gauge
- Fire rating: none, Vaultek publish “Fire Rated: No”
- Weight: 93 lbs
Pros
- Racks hold rifles by the receiver
- WiFi alerts on tamper and temperature
- Biometric opens in about a second
- Interior lighting for night identification
- Genuinely narrow footprint for a closet
Cons
- No fire protection whatsoever
- 14-gauge steel at a premium price
- 93 lbs means bolting is mandatory
- Needs power and a network
Live pricing across our retailers
This is what a gun safe looks like when a consumer electronics company builds one. The ViSN platform pushes live alerts to your phone when the safe is touched, moved or the humidity climbs, the door is motorised, and the interior lights up so you know which rifle you are reaching for at three in the morning.
The modular racks are the part that matters for AR owners. Standard barrel slots were designed around round bolt-gun barrels, and a quad-rail handguard with a light and a laser hanging off it does not sit in one. Vaultek cradle the rifle by the receiver instead, so the accessories are no longer competing with the storage.
Read the fire line before you buy, because Vaultek do not bury it. Their own specification sheet says “Fire Rated: No”. This is a steel box with clever electronics in it, and 14-gauge steel is thinner than the 12-gauge on safes costing less. You are paying for access speed and monitoring, not for protection against a house fire.
Which is a real trade and not a dealbreaker, as long as you make it knowingly. Vaultek rate the RS500i at up to six rifles. Fit LPVOs and lights to all six and you will be putting four in comfortably.
Best For: the owner who wants their rifle storage connected and instant, and who already has a fire-rated vault for anything irreplaceable.
3. Liberty Centurion 24, Best Full-Size AR-15 Safe Under $1,000
- AR-15 capacity: 24 long-gun slots, 8 to 12 accessorised ARs in practice
- Interior: 56″ H x 26.25″ W x 13.5″ D, 11.5 cubic feet
- Exterior: 59.5″ H x 28.25″ W x 20″ D
- Fire rating: 40 minutes
- Steel: 14-gauge body, seven 4″ locking bars
- Weight: 375 lbs, 22″ minimum doorway
Pros
- Real fire rating at this money
- Seven four-inch bars resist prying
- UL-listed lock, DOJ approved device
- Liberty lifetime warranty on fire
- Fits through a standard 22-inch door
Cons
- Interior is 26.25 inches, not 28
- Barrel slots suit bolt guns
- Twenty-four slots means far fewer ARs
- Keypad only, no quick access
Live pricing across our retailers
If you want one safe that holds the collection and survives a fire, this is where the range realistically starts. Forty minutes of protection, 14-gauge steel, seven four-inch locking bars and a UL-listed Securam lock, at a price a lot of people can actually reach.
Now the number the box does not tell you. Liberty publish an exterior width of 28.25 inches and an interior width of 26.25. Two inches disappear into the steel, the fire board and the carpet, and it is the 26.25 you get to divide between rifles.
Twenty-six and a quarter inches is still a lot of room by the standards of what else is on this page. It is what you have to divide between rifles, and an AR wearing an LPVO, a light and a forward grip wants three to four inches of lateral space to stand without touching its neighbor. That is where the eight to twelve comes from, not from the 24 on the badge.
One upgrade transforms it. The factory slots grip round barrels, and AR handguards roll straight out of them. A set of aftermarket rods solves it for the price of a decent dinner, and there is a card for them further down this page.
Best For: the owner with eight to twelve rifles who needs fire protection and cannot spend Browning money. The sensible default.
4. SnapSafe In-Wall Safe Tall, Best Concealed AR-15 Storage
- AR-15 capacity: 2 to 3 carbines stored vertically
- Exterior: 44″ H x 16.25″ W x 4″ D
- Lock: electronic with key backup, audible and LED warnings
- Steel: 8-gauge door, 16-gauge body
- Weight: 66 lbs
- Model: 75414, the tall one
Pros
- Vanishes behind a mirror or frame
- Eight-gauge door beats most full-size safes
- Fits between 16-inch center studs
- Lag bolts make removal a demolition job
- Reversible to open left or right
Cons
- Four inches deep limits accessories
- 16-gauge sides are the weak point
- No fire rating
- Cutting drywall rules out renters
Live pricing across our retailers
Buy the right one. SnapSafe make two in-wall safes and they look identical in a listing: the 75413 stands 22 inches tall, and the 75414 stands 44. A 16-inch AR carbine is about 33 inches long, so the short one physically cannot take the rifle you came here for. The card above is anchored on the tall one, model 75414.
Four inches is the depth you get between standard studs, and it decides how you load the safe. The rifle goes in with the stock facing out, anything mounted on one side of the handguard faces the wall and anything on the other faces the room. Optics on top of the rail are fine. A vertical grip often is not, and comes off.
The concealment is the whole product. Your defensive carbine hangs vertically behind a family photograph within reach of the bed, and somebody tossing the room for jewelry walks straight past it. If they do find it, the 8-gauge door is thicker steel than the door on most full-size safes in this price bracket.
Installation is a drywall saw, a level and about half an hour, and then lag bolts into the studs. Once it is in, taking it out means taking the wall out. That is not a safe you can carry to the van, which is the entire point.
Best For: homeowners who want the defensive rifle hidden rather than merely locked. Not an option if you rent.
5. Browning Sporter 33, Best Premium AR-15 Collection Safe
- Capacity: 33 long guns, 7 on the door, plus 8 handguns
- Interior: 52.5″ H x 26″ W x 17.5″ D, 23 cubic feet
- Exterior: 58″ H x 29″ W x 24″ D
- Fire rating: 95 minutes at 1,200F, ThermaBlock and a Palusol door seal
- Steel: solid 12-gauge body, eight 1″ bolts on three sides
- Weight: 560 lbs, UL listed
Pros
- Ninety-five minutes is category-leading
- Twelve-gauge body, a full grade thicker
- Seventeen inches of depth, double rows
- Force Deflector defeats pry attacks
- Door holds seven long guns
Cons
- Interior is 26 inches wide, not 36
- No wider inside than a Centurion
- Five hundred and sixty pounds to move
- Barrel rests still favour round barrels
Live pricing across our retailers
Start with the number that surprises people. Browning publish an exterior width of 29 inches for the Sporter 33 and an interior width of 26. The Liberty Centurion 24 is 26.25 inches inside. The 33-gun safe is fractionally narrower across than the 24-gun safe, which is not what either badge suggests.
So where does the extra capacity come from? Depth and fire. Seventeen and a half inches of interior depth against the Liberty’s 13.5 is what lets Browning run 14 rifles in a front row and 12 behind them, and it is why the same footprint holds 23 cubic feet against 11.5. Capacity here comes from front to back, not side to side.
The fire number is the other half. Ninety-five minutes at 1,200 degrees, built from interlocking ThermaBlock insulation and a Palusol seal that swells to close the door gap when it heats. That is more than double the Liberty and it is the single biggest reason to spend the difference.
The bolts are worth a line too. Eight one-inch chrome-plated bolts distributed across three sides of the door, behind a Force Deflector cam that rotates pry energy away from the lock. Browning have been doing this a long time and it shows in the door, which is where every attack on a safe actually happens.
Best For: the collector with a dozen or more rifles who wants the longest fire rating on this page and is buying once.
6. Sports Afield Preserve 40, Best Value AR-15 Collection Safe
- Capacity: 40 long-gun barrel rests plus 8 handgun holsters
- Exterior: 59″ H x 40″ W x 22″ D, 20.55 cubic feet inside
- Fire rating: 45 minutes at 1,400F, independently rated
- Water rating: 7 days in up to 2 feet of standing water
- Steel: 14-gauge Uni-Weld body, five active bolts and three deadbolts
- Weight: 524 lbs
- Model: SA5940P
Pros
- Widest cabinet on this page
- Rated at 1,400F, not 1,200F
- Sealed against flood water too
- Lifetime warranty covers theft and fire
- Eight handgun holsters free the interior
Cons
- Fourteen-gauge, thinner than Browning
- Sports Afield do not publish interior dimensions
- Forty inches wide needs measuring first
- Forty-five minutes trails the Browning
Live pricing across our retailers
Forty inches across the outside is the most cabinet on this page, and for an AR collection that lateral room is what stops the Tetris. The honest caveat is that Sports Afield publish an exterior width and an internal volume, and no interior width at all, so nobody can tell you exactly what you get inside. Twenty and a half cubic feet is the figure to compare, and it sits just under Browning’s 23.
The fire rating deserves a closer read than most people give it. Forty-five minutes sounds worse than Browning’s 95, and on duration it is. But Sports Afield test at 1,400 degrees and Browning test at 1,200, and a room that has flashed over runs hotter than 1,200. Duration and temperature are two halves of one number and quoting either alone tells you very little.
The water rating is the part almost nobody else on this page offers. Seven days in two feet of standing water, which matters more than it sounds if your safe lives in a basement, because the thing that puts the fire out is also the thing that ruins what survived it.
One correction to something this page told you for a long time. It listed a limited warranty here against Liberty’s lifetime cover. Sports Afield publish a lifetime warranty on the whole safe against theft, fire, natural flood, locks, parts and paint. On paper that is the broadest cover of any brand here.
Best For: the biggest collection for the money, especially in a basement or anywhere flooding is a live risk.
7. Sports Afield Domain 20, Narrowest Full-Size AR-15 Safe
- Capacity: 20 long guns plus 4 handguns as rated
- Fire rating: 30 minutes at 1,400F
- Exterior: 55″ H x 19.5″ W x 20.5″ D, 195 lbs
- Lock: programmable electronic with two override keys
- Model: SA5520DOM
- Line: Domain, the entry tier below Preserve
Pros
- Fits where a wider safe won’t
- Tested at 1,400F like the Preserve
- Same lifetime warranty as the Preserve
Cons
- Narrowest full-size safe here
- Thirty minutes is the floor
- No quick access of any kind
Live pricing across our retailers
Sports Afield retired the Instinct and the Domain replaced it, carrying the same 30 minutes at 1,400 degrees. That is the shortest duration on this page, and it is still thirty minutes more than the Hornady, either Vaultek or the SnapSafe give you.
What the Domain 20 really wins is a wall. It is 19.5 inches wide outside. The Centurion publishes 26.25 inches wide inside and the Browning 26, which puts both of them the better part of nine inches wider than the Domain before you have opened a door, so the Domain goes into an alcove, a closet reveal or the gap beside a chimney breast that rules the other two out entirely. Take the two to three inches the chart above documents off that and you have about 17 inches of usable shoulder room, which is five to eight ARs rather than the Liberty’s eight to twelve. Fewer rifles in a space that would otherwise hold none.
Shopping this brand still needs care, and the trap has moved. A loose search for “Sports Afield Domain” returns the 6, 12, 20, 30 and 40 gun models at prices from about $630 to $1,350, all under one name. Searching the SKU does not save you either: retailers list this line as “Domain Gun Safe 20 Gun” and almost never as SA5520DOM. Check the gun count in the listing title before you check the price.
Best For: a fire-rated safe for a room that will not take a full-width one, or a second safe for the rifles that do not need the good vault.
8. Vaultek ViSN RS800i, Best Large Smart AR-15 Safe
- AR-15 capacity: up to 8 rifles
- Interior: 53.25″ H x 13.75″ W x 12.6″ D
- Exterior: 54″ H x 14″ W x 16″ D
- Lock: biometric, keypad, Nano Key and app
- Steel: progressive-formed 14-gauge
- Fire rating: none, Vaultek publish “Fire Rated: No”
- Weight: 124 lbs
Pros
- Extra depth over the RS500i
- Holds pistols upright at the front
- Same ViSN monitoring and alerts
- Brighter interior lighting than the 500
Cons
- No fire rating, same as the 500
- Costs more than fire-rated rivals
- Still only 13.75 inches wide inside
- Fourteen-gauge steel at this price
Live pricing across our retailers
The RS800i is the RS500i with four more inches of depth, and depth is what buys rifle count in a cabinet this narrow. Sixteen inches outside and 12.6 inside takes it from six rifles to eight, and gives you room to stand pistols upright at the front instead of hanging them on the door.
Everything else carries over. The same ViSN monitoring, the same biometric reader storing 80 prints, the same modular pegboard that holds an AR by the receiver rather than the barrel. If the RS500i appeals and you own more than five or six rifles, this is the one to buy.
The same warning applies twice as expensively. There is no fire rating. Vaultek say so on their own specification sheet, in one word, and at this price you can buy a Browning Sporter with 95 minutes of protection and 23 cubic feet instead. What you cannot buy from Browning is a phone alert the moment somebody touches the door.
Best For: the owner who has decided monitoring and speed matter more than fire protection, and is storing six to eight rifles.
The Upgrade Every AR Owner on This Page Needs
Factory barrel slots are moulded for round barrels. An AR handguard is a flat-sided tube with rails and accessories bolted to it, so it rolls out of the slot, tips into its neighbor, and you lose the lateral space you paid for.
Rifle rods fix it for about the price of a takeaway. A rod goes down the bore, the hook end grips the safe’s carpeted shelf, and the rifle hangs muzzle-up with the receiver held clear of everything either side. On a Centurion or a Sporter it is the difference between eight rifles and twelve.
Live pricing across our retailers
SecureIt make a heavier cradle system that does the same job with more structure, and it is worth looking at for a dedicated AR wall. None of our retailers carry it, so there is no card for it here rather than a card that cannot be bought from.
Buy the rods before you buy a bigger safe. Most people who think they have run out of room have run out of organization, and a $35 kit answers that question far more cheaply than another 500 pounds of steel.
How to Choose a Gun Safe for AR-15s
Measure the Doorway Before the Safe
A Centurion 24 needs a 22-inch doorway and weighs 375 pounds. A Browning Sporter 33 weighs 560 and a Preserve 40 weighs 524. People buy the safe first and measure the stairs second, and a safe stuck in a hallway protects nothing.
Liberty publish a minimum doorway figure for every Centurion, which is the sort of number worth hunting for before you order. Measure the narrowest point on the route, not the front door, and remember the safe arrives on a pallet.
Quick Access and Vault Storage Are Two Different Purchases
An RFID locker opens in about a second and stops a child. A fire-rated vault takes ten seconds to open and survives a house fire. Neither one is the other, and the safes that claim to be both tend to be poor at each.
If you can only buy one thing now, buy the vault and keep the defensive rifle somewhere you control. Add the locker when you can. The vault is the purchase that is painful to redo.
Which of These Are Fire Rated, and Which Are Not
Three of the eight are not, and one of them costs more than any of the safes that are. Vaultek publish it plainly on their own spec sheet for both the RS500i and the RS800i: Fire Rated, No. The Hornady gunlocker and the SnapSafe in-wall have no rating either, and neither pretends otherwise.
That is a legitimate design choice for a quick-access box. Fire lining is bulk, and bulk is the enemy of a safe that has to fit under a bed or between two studs. It only becomes a problem when a buyer assumes the price bought protection it never included.
When you do compare ratings, read both halves of the number. Browning quote 95 minutes at 1,200F. Sports Afield quote 45 minutes at 1,400F. Duration alone makes Browning look twice as good, and temperature alone makes Sports Afield look tougher. A room that has flashed over sits well above 1,200 degrees, so the temperature half is not a detail.
The pattern that works for most owners is two safes. Fire-rated vault for the collection and the documents, quick-access locker for the one rifle that has a job at three in the morning. Trying to buy a single safe that does both means compromising the one that matters more.
What $200 Actually Buys You
Search this term and most of page one is unbranded safes: KAER, INTERGREAT, Superday, Karini, Marcree, Eltean. They look enormous for the money, often a 55-inch cabinet holding 12 to 15 rifles for less than a Hornady locker costs.
Here is what to check before you buy one, because the listings are quiet about all three. There is no published steel gauge, so you cannot compare it to the 12-gauge Browning or the 14-gauge Liberty. There is no fire rating, and where one is claimed there is no named testing house behind it. And none of them appear on California’s approved firearm safety device roster, which matters if you live somewhere that requires a listed device.
That does not make them useless. A thin steel cabinet locked to a wall stops a child, a visitor and a casual thief, which is most of what home gun storage is for, and it does it for a fraction of the money. Buy one knowing it is a locking cabinet rather than a safe, and do not put anything in it you could not replace.
What you are actually paying Liberty or Browning for is the fire lining, the locking bar geometry, a UL-listed lock and a warranty that replaces the safe after a fire. If none of that matters to you, the cheap cabinet is an honest answer. If any of it does, no amount of advertised gun count closes the gap.
How We Evaluated These AR-15 Safes
Every dimension, steel gauge, fire rating and weight on this page was read from the manufacturer’s own published specification and nowhere else. Retailer listings disagree with makers constantly, and on this page they disagreed in ways that changed the rankings.
Every pricing card was then run on the reader path, the same request your browser makes, to confirm the card returns the product its heading names. Model names in this category are close enough to cause real trouble: a SnapSafe in-wall comes in a 22-inch and a 44-inch version under nearly the same name, and Sports Afield sell a Haven and a Domain that read almost identically in a listing.
Where a maker does not publish a figure, this page says so. Sports Afield do not give an interior width for the Preserve 40, so there is no interior width for the Preserve 40 here, only the 20.55 cubic feet they do publish.
FAQ: Best Gun Safes for AR-15
What is the best gun safe for an AR-15?
It depends which job you are buying for. For instant access to a defensive carbine, the Hornady RAPiD Safe AR Gunlocker opens by RFID in about a second and its interior is 40.5 by 13.5 by 5.5 inches, sized for a rifle with an optic and a light still fitted. For a collection, the Browning Sporter 33 carries the longest fire rating here at 95 minutes at 1,200F. Most AR owners end up with both: a locker for one rifle and a vault for the rest.
Will an AR-15 with optics fit in a regular gun safe?
Length is rarely the problem. A 16-inch carbine is about 33 inches long and full-size safes are over 50 inches tall inside. The constraint is width and depth. An AR wearing an LPVO, a light and a forward grip wants roughly three to four inches of lateral space to stand without touching its neighbor, and the factory barrel slots grip round bolt-gun barrels rather than flat AR handguards. Aftermarket rifle rods solve the second problem for around the cost of a takeaway.
How many AR-15s fit in a 24-gun safe?
Realistically eight to twelve, not 24. Gun-count ratings are calculated from slim bolt-action rifles with nothing attached. The Liberty Centurion 24 has a published interior width of 26.25 inches and a depth of 13.5, which is one row of rifles. Bare carbines pack tighter and fully accessorised rifles pack looser, so treat the badge number as roughly half of what you will actually store.
Is the interior width the same as the width on the box?
No, and this is the single most common mistake in this category. Retailer listings quote exterior dimensions. Liberty publish 28.25 inches outside and 26.25 inside for the Centurion 24. Browning publish 29 outside and 26 inside for the Sporter 33. Two to three inches disappear into steel, fire board and carpet. Always ask for the interior figure, and note that some makers, including Sports Afield, do not publish one at all.
Are the Vaultek RS500i and RS800i fire rated?
No. Vaultek state Fire Rated: No on their own published specification for both safes. They are 14-gauge steel cabinets with biometric locks, WiFi monitoring and modular rifle racks, and they are built for access speed and tamper alerts rather than fire protection. If fire is a concern, pair one with a rated vault or buy a Browning or Sports Afield instead.
What is the fastest way to access a stored AR-15?
RFID. The Hornady AR Gunlocker opens from a wristband, key fob or sticker in about a second, and it will hold up to five programmed tags so you can keep one by the bed and one on a phone. Biometric safes like the Vaultek RS500i take a second or two for a fingerprint read. Both are far quicker than typing a code in the dark, which is the situation the safe exists for.
Can I store a suppressed AR-15 in a gun safe?
In the full-size safes here, yes, but check the height rather than assuming it. A 16-inch carbine is about 33 inches, and a rifle-caliber suppressor adds roughly six to eight inches, so you are looking at around 40 inches overall. Full-size safes here give you 56 inches of interior height on the Liberty Centurion 24 and 52.5 on the Browning Sporter 33, so both take it standing. The Hornady gunlocker, at 40.5 inches inside, does not leave room for a can.
Do I need a special safe for AR-15s?
Not a special safe, but you will probably want a special rack. Standard barrel slots are shaped for round barrels and an AR handguard rolls out of them. A rifle rod kit hangs the rifle by the bore and holds the receiver clear, which converts an ordinary full-size safe into one that stores ARs properly. Purpose-built options like the Hornady AR Gunlocker exist, but they are quick-access lockers rather than collection storage.
Are these safes approved under California law?
Several are, but approval is granted to individual models rather than to brands, so check the exact model against the California DOJ roster of firearm safety devices before relying on it. Hornady list the AR Gunlocker as DOJ approved, and Liberty and Sports Afield both state DOJ approval for the models here. The unbranded Amazon cabinets that fill this search do not appear on the roster at all.
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