Steelwater Gun Safe Reviews

Putting your guns, gears, and ammo in a gun safe is the best way to protect them and the people in your home. That is why one must always take enough time to research the different kinds and brands of gun safes to know which best fit your taste and needs. 

Reading reviews in magazines or the web is always a helpful practice for every consumer’s buying decision. If you are looking for the perfect gun safe for you, check to see whether SteelWater Gun safe is what you are looking for.

Who makes Steelwater gun safes?

Before getting into detail about the features and properties of SteelWater Gun Safes, let’s talk about the company or its manufacturer.

The SteelWater company is located in South Carolina. They have been in the industry for 22 years. The owner of this company worked in law enforcement for five years. After that, he went on to study locksmith trade.

He then opened his own lock and safe company. He learned how to service, repair, and open safes. The experience of the owner and the company can be seen in their high-quality safes for any type of gun.

Unlike other gun safe manufacturers or companies who have several new models in a year or in two years, SteelWater has a different philosophy when it comes to their gun safes. For them, they do not usually launch new safes in a short amount of time. Their motto is, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”

The motto, they say, is not to promote mediocrity, but it’s providing already the best features in their gun safes rather than having incremental improvements with each safe produced. They take pride in not having a mechanical change in their gun safes for over seven years already, which implies that their gun safes have served their function and purpose holistically to their owners. Their function ranges from fire protection to a solid steel built.

Are Steelwater safes made in the USA?

While Steelwater safes are all designed in their office in North Augusta, South Carolina, they are manufactured at a factory in China.  While the facility for making their safes are far from them, they assure their clients that the quality will never be compromised and suffer.

SteelWater Gun Safes have always been known for helping their clients save money and still enjoy the best features of an outstanding gun safe.

Are SteelWater gun safes any good?

Reviews always boil down to the question of the safe is any good. SteelWater is famous for making its safes fireproof, drillproof, secure, and reliable. Let’s talk about these and other specifications.

Fire Protection

Fire is one of the enemies of a firearm owner. In the event of a fire, it can easily damage one’s guns, gear, and ammo if they are kept in a safe that can’t protect them from fire. Therefore, fire protection is an aspect that is of high importance for most firearm owners.

When you choose to buy a safe from SteelWater, you will not need to worry about the possible damage to your gun in case of fire. All of their safes generally can resist fire for at least 45 minutes when subjected to heat up to 1550 degrees Fahrenheit.  While this happens, the internal temperature will not exceed 350 degrees Fahrenheit. This will protect every gun in your safe.

Some of their more resistant safes can even be subjected to 1875 f and can last up to two hours. That is one of the best and promising things about their safes.

However, all their safes have heat-responsive foam, which lines the area around the door of the safe. This heat-responsive foam expands up to eight times its original capacity when it comes in contact with fire. This helps prevent the spread of the fire inside and around the safe. 

With a SteelWater safe, you will not need to worry about the damages fire can do to your guns. You will read in other reviews as well how SteelWater has made sure that fire can’t get any closer to your guns. Fire protection, check!

Top-Notch Security

Burglar attempts and break-ins are always possibilities in every household. That is why it’s incredibly important that your chosen safe has a top-notch and dependable security system.

Similar to other safes in the industry today, the safes of SteelWater come in both a digital and a combination lock. In other reviews about different brands of safes, it is common that users have a terrible experience with safes that have a digital lock. That is because the safes they chose do not have robust security. That is why, when purchasing safes with digital locks, there are a few more considerations. For one, you must make sure that the lock has non-volatile memory. If not, the burglar or thief can easily remove the battery and reset the digital keypad to factory settings.

Fortunately, a SteelWater gun safe has a non-volatile memory and a lot of other advantages.

Digital Lock

As mentioned,  the SteelWater gun safe has a non-volatile memory.
The owner can program their combination code in the lock by themselves.
It gives quick access to the contents of the safe, like dialing a phone number.
The owner will not worry about replacing it because what already installed is at its best quality.
It has a drill resistant plate behind the keypad.

Combination Lock

Generally, all safes with a combination lock work well.

In addition, some of their safes have a double listed emergency bypass key which offers high resistance in case of forced entry.

Drill-Proof

Each gun safe of SteelWater is made with sturdy and reliable steel construction. SteelWater made sure that each safe is made to be drill resistant so that no burglar could ever use any other tool or equipment to break into the safe.

Each safe being drill-resistant is solidified further by the hard plate that protects the lock body from being drilled on and manipulated. Each hard plate is 4 x 5 inches. If you compare the hard plate of SteelWater with different brands, you will notice that their hard plate is larger. In fact, it is ten times larger than usual. They enlarged it to protect not only the lock body but the internal relocking device, gear drive system, and the vital areas of the linkages. That will help prevent 

Reliable

Each gun safe of SteelWater is proven and tested to be reliable, may it be their standard, heavy duty, or extremely heavy duty safe.

To test the reliability of the gun safe, we bolted down one of a SteelWater safe and a Brand ‘X’ safe. In the Brand ‘X’ safe, the body thickness is more or less 9-gauge steel. When we bolted it down, it rocked back and forth because of the bottom of the safe that bent. It bent because of the leverage we got from the tall height and weight of the safe.

On the other hand, when we bolt down the SteelWater safe, it did not bend. Therefore, it did not rock back and forth. It did not rock back and forth because SteelWater installed an extra 1/4 inch steel plate in all four corners of the bottom to prevent the bending, which will also prevent the rocking of the safe.

A Steelwater heavy duty or extremely heavy duty safe does a remarkable job at storing and securing long guns. Their heavy duty safe is spacious enough to accommodate a varied number of long guns.

SteelWater Safes

SteelWater produces standard and heavy duty safes. Their heavy duty safes do a good job of storing and protecting your long guns. Let us take a look at some of the SteelWater gun safes and their specific features such as fire protection and locking systems.

SteelWater Standard 16 Gun Safe

  • Outside Dimensions (HxWxD) : 59” x 22” x 16”
  • Interior Dimensions (HxWxD) : 55 1/4” x 19 1/2″ x 9 3/4”
  • Interior Capacity: 7.44 Cubic Ft. (6.08 Cubic Ft usable)
  • Maximum Long Gun Capacity: 16 (8-10 realistically)
  • Weight: 305 lbs.
  • 45 Minutes of fire protection at 1550°F
  • 14 Gauge steel construction
  • Composite constructed 5” thick door that includes a total of (2) layers of fireboard
  • Drill/ballistic resistant plate to protect the lock from being drilled or manipulated
  • 3 Way direct-drive locking bolts
  • Internal spring-loaded re-locking bolt to secure the safe in case the lock is punched out/removed during a burglary attack
  • Pre-drilled ½” diameter hole for the installation of a dehumidifier
  • Pre-drilled ½” diameter anchor holes for securing the safe to the floor
  • Double bitted emergency bypass key included
  • 2 Reprogrammable (3-8) digit user codes (digital keypad)

SteelWater Heavy-Duty 22 Gun Safe

  • Outside Dimensions (HxWxD): 59” x 30” x 24”
  • Interior Dimensions (HxWxD): 55 ½” x 27” x 17 ¾”
  • Interior Capacity: 17.78 Cubic Ft. (15.39 Cubic Ft. Useable)
  • Maximum Long Gun Capacity: 22 (14-18 realistically)
  • Weight: 555 lbs.
  • 1 Hour of fire protection at 1875 f
  • 12 Gauge steel construction (thicker than 14)
  • Composite constructed 5 1/8” thick door that includes a total of (3) layers of fireboard
  • Drill/ballistic resistant plate that is 8x’s larger and protects the combination dial, re-locker, gear drive, and linkages
  • Total of 18 1 ½” diameter solid steel locking bolts
  • Gear-driven lock and bolt system for added strength against prying, punching, and drill attacks
  • Exceeds California Department of Justice regulatory standards for residential security containers
  • UL Listed LaGard Group II combination dial with a pre-set random combination

SteelWater Extreme Duty 22 Long Gun Safe

  • Maximum Long Gun Capacity: 22 (14-18 realistically)
  • 120 minutes of fire protection at 1875 f
  • Nine gauge steel construction
  • Composite constructed 5 1/8- inch thick door that includes a total of four layers of fireboard
  • Drill/ballistic resistant plate that is eight times larger and protects the combination dial, gear drive, and linkages
  • Total of 18 1 1/2- inch diameter solid steel locking bolts
  • Gear-driven lock and bolt system for added strength against prying, punching, and drilling
  • Exceeds California Department of Justice regulatory standards for residential security containers
  • Exterior dimensions: 59 inches H x 30 inches W x 24 inches D
  • Interior dimensions: 55 1/2 inches H x 27 inches W x 17 3/4 inches D Weight: 772 pounds

The kind of safe that you will get will depend on the sort of gun that you have or the variety of your guns. If you have short guns only, getting a standard safe will be the best for you. If you have a variety of guns, from short guns to long guns, you might want to get a safe that have customizable shelves. This can accommodate your varied guns. Keeping a long gun has been a challenge for firearm owners, but you don’t have to worry about a SteelWater safe.

What kind of warranty do they offer?

Warranty protection of the product is essential for every client or consumer. In gun safe reviews, good warranty protection is always asked for by firearm owners and other clients. What kind of warranty does SteelWater give to its clients?

Each gun safe comes with a lifetime fire and theft warranty. Steelwater will replace the gun safe if someone damages it when trying to break into the safe, or if your safe gets damaged or gets caught by fire.

SteelWater also offers a limited one-year warranty on each of their safe. However, the only stipulation is that the electronic components of the safe are only covered under the warranty of 90 days.

SteelWater also requires that the safe be anchored to the floor for it to qualify for the warranty. Therefore, if the safe was free-standing, the warranty will be null and void.

If the warranty meets the qualifications, SteelWater will inspect the safe and then replace it in full. In the event that the replacement is not viable, SteelWater will refund the owner for his/her purchase.

At first glance, this looks unfriendly for consumers. This may even look bad in some gun reviews or safe reviews. However, let us go back to their motto or principle, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” The intensive qualifications and limited warranty compared to different safes just go to show how the owner does not need to worry about needing to replace it. As SteelWater has always stated, they made sure that the clients get the best quality already at first use. The clients will not need modifications now and then with their safe.

What kind of warranty do they offer?

You can conveniently purchase a safe for your guns from amazon com. Gunforest.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We highly recommend making your purchases from Amazon! The best part is that shipping is free.

We know customers may be worried about the quality of the gun safe upon arriving at their doorstep. However, SteelWater takes the worry out of you.

Each gun safe is removed from the packaging. Each gun safe is inspected thoroughly for imperfections, defects, or damages after being received from the manufacturer plant in China. This particular process is done because damages can happen even though the gun safes are inspected at the manufacturing plant. Therefore, SteelWater unpackages each safe for a final inspection before being shipped to the customer. This lessens or alleviates the possibility of dissatisfaction from the receiving customer.

This has been proven and tested by customers in different parts of their world. Reviews reveal that packages come in correctly and in high-quality at their doorstep. SteelWater has received high ratings when it comes to shipping and deliveries, making customers excited to use their SteelWater safe for their guns.

PROs and CONs

PROS

  • Intensive Fire Protection
  • Outstanding Digital Lock
  • Customization for Long Gun Usage
  • Top-Notch Security System
  • Heightened Inspection Before Delivery

CONS

  • Limited and High Requirement Warranty

To Conclude

The company alone is a credible, reputable, and experienced company. That alone ensures firearm owners of a good experience with their safes. They produce high-quality, attractive, and affordable gun safes, which range in size.

Not to mention, their gun safes are also designed to resist drill and pry attacks. Only a few safes are really built to withstand such forces. The company also gives its clients a free dehumidifier with every safe. That is a great bonus.

Overall, this is a good choice for a safe because it is economical but does not compromise the quality.