How to Use a Gun Safe Effectively

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I have a gun safe or purchased it recently and don’t know how to use or maintain it, then here are tips and tricks of using a gun safe. In a world where many people are now acquiring guns for their own protection, you might find more people ending up with unwanted accidents with their guns too.

There have been cases where other people, such as kids, have easy access to guns and end up with shooting accidents. You can be sure that it is something that can be horrifying to any parent.

The other thing would be the safety of your gun from the burglars. They always tend to come with guns, but it will make their job easier when they also find your gun. To prevent all these misfortunes from happening, there is the need to have a gun safe today.

How to Use a Gun Safe Effectively

With your gun safe, there is so much you can achieve, but the gun safe also needs the care to keep it working properly. Without proper maintenance, you can expect it to work less efficiently. Below are some of the tips and tricks for using the gun safe.

Person trying to fit a gun inside a safe

1. Learn More About the Gun Safe From the Manual Guide

When it comes to gun safe brands, all you need to know about them can be found in the product manuals. If you are looking for tips on installation and maintenance, the manufacturer will always indicate such things in the manual.

Take the time to learn more before the installation or cleaning process. Not all safes might work under specific conditions, but when you go ahead and install them anywhere, then you make the gun safe less effective.

The manual should also help you come up with your own combination other than the one supplied with the gun safe already. Leaving the original gun-safe combination in place makes it easy for a person to access it, as some brands make the initial combination to be standard all over the world.

2. Install in a Secure Place

For many people, the installation part is always tricky, as they often are unsure where to install. Having the safe installed in the wrong location will always make it easy for the burglar to access it. Take the time to evaluate the security of different rooms so that you can have the safe installed in a secure place at all times.

Still, on installation, learn more about installing the safe correctly from other people who have used the safe before. This will include how to move the safe into its perfect location for the heavy safe.

3. Proper Safe Maintenance

To keep on providing the right security to your gun, you must always give it the right maintenance. The maintenance starts with inspecting your gun safe monthly to establish what you need to be done to keep the safe working properly:

  • Never allow the dust and dirt to settle on the safe as it can end up blocking the door, making it hard to open at times.
  • Clean the safe regularly to remove the dust and dirt from the edges and inside the safe.
  • Make sure to use a soft cloth dipped in water to clean out all the dirt.
  • Using an abrasive cloth might end up scratching the safe surface.

4. Wipe Those Smudges off the Scanner

Whenever people opt for biometric gun safes, they aim to have an easy-to-access safe and more secure. People tend to forget that another person can easily have access to your gun safe by taking advantage of the smudges on the gun safe reader.

Handgun with bullets surrounding it

The best way to protect your gun’s safe contents is by wiping the fingerprint smudges on the safe. Use a soft cloth to get them off the reader. Also, if you are looking at how often you should clean your firearms, you can read here.

With proper cleaning and maintenance, you can be sure that the biometric scanner will provide unmatched security compared to the other types of security measures most safes use today.

The cleaning of smudges should be done immediately after accessing the safe. If you leave it for longer, then you might end up losing your valuables from the safe.

5. Protection From Fire

It is time that you also thought about the safe whenever misfortunes such as fire starting. How is the safe built to withstand such conditions? Most people today would buy a safe that comes with improved fireproof features.

This means that the safe will hold in the event there is a fire where it is installed. This should help in a way to keep the guns and other valuables safe from the raging fire.

What about those who have older safes that do not have fire-resistant features? You will find such owners having fire extinguisher cans around the safe to put out fire whenever it starts easily. The other trick would be making sure that the safe is installed far from rooms known to have fire hazards, such as the kitchen.

6. Gun Safe Accessories for Alarm

Yes, the alarm is an important part of having a gun safe. The safe can provide additional security when it comes to keeping the burglars at bay. Some gun safes can come with built-in alarm systems, which could be great, but you too can add the alarm to the safe if it came without one.

The work of the alarm is to alert you when another person accesses it without your knowledge. The alarm should also be concealed so that the burglar can accidentally trip it and get onto him.

Silica gel packs

You need to make sure that the alarm volume is set in a range that will help you hear it if it gets tripped. It is also important to check the battery level so that you do not have an alarm that cannot go off.

7. Dehumidifiers to Keep It Dry

Depending on the climate and where the safe is installed, you will likely find some moisture in the safe. The moisture is bad news for the guns in the gun safe.

It is not just the guns but additional valuables that might be in your gun safe. It is time that now brought in a dehumidifier so that you can deal with the damp conditions.

The dehumidifiers have helped many people today to keep their gun safes dry and protected from any humidity build-up. The dehumidifiers come in various types, so make sure that you can actually choose based on the one that you feel will deliver the best results whenever used.

Commonly, you reset the combination once you get the gun safe to ensure it stays a secret. You would not want to find out that other people have the same combination.

This is common for those people who change the combination and write it down on paper and walk around with it in their wallets.

Whenever a person finds or steals your key, he will likely find easy access to the gun safe. The best way would be to use a combination that you can easily remember most of the time. Let it be short but still complex enough so that people do not end up guessing it.

Stop using easy-to-crack combinations such as birthdays, 1234, 1357, or any other common pattern.

James Forrester is a lifelong gun and firearms owner, and an even bigger advocate for gun safety. He created KeepGunsSafe.com with the purpose of sharing helpful tips and educating others on how to keep guns and weapons safe and secure.