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In an unpredictable world, home defense is something no family should ever have to stress about, and a great in-wall gun safe will help do it right. From handguns or long guns, home defense or mere sporting goods, an in-wall gun safe provides secure storage for your firearms while making for a clean, unobtrusive addition to your home. Heck, you could get the villain lair started with a safe behind a comically-sized portrait above the fireplace. However, today’s gun safe market is colorful and saturated, so picking the right one can be quite the chore, but no worries — let Task & Purpose help you out.
Enter our quaint little buyer guide to in-wall gun safes of all breeds. I made short work of your homework so you can laser-focus on the perfect safe for all your defense tools, cleaning kits, or any other neat accessories you need to have stashed away, hidden, and safe. Regardless of what you need to have stowed inside that drywall, you’re sure to find a viable product here. So wander on over, take a peek, and most importantly, happy shopping.
- Best Overall: SnapSafe In-Wall Gun Safe
- Best Value: Able Recessed Wall Safe
- Honorable Mention: V-Line 31242-SA Long Gun Safe
- Best for Long Guns: V-Line Tactical Closet Vault
- Best Deep: Stealth WSHD1414 Heavy-Duty Extra Deep Wall Safe
- Best Biometric: Barska AX12038 Biometric Wall Safe
- Best Electronic: Langger V Biometric Wall Safe
Methodology
As journalists and fellow firearms enthusiasts, it’s always in our best interest to give you the most informative and honest takes possible in every guide. And while it would’ve been a timely and costly affair for a single author to round up a dozen safes for a round of tests, that hasn’t stopped me from diving deep into each one and analyzing every spec and reported ownership experience. As such, this buyer’s guide is primarily research-driven.
The best safes will be the most effective at storing firearms, and will be capable of doing so with the commendable build quality, simple installation, and reliable locking mechanisms. Nearly all the curated products can be purchased through other retailers, including Walmart, GunSafes.com, and various manufacturer websites, however, it was Amazon that primarily served as our hub of specs and consumer feedback.
As always, readers are always encouraged to come and learn more about how we at Task & Purpose generally curate our buyer’s guides.
Best Overall
SnapSafe In-Wall Gun Safe
Best Value
Able Recessed Wall Safe
Honorable Mention
V-Line 31242-SA Long Gun Safe
Best for Long Guns
V-Line Tactical Closet Vault
Best Deep
Stealth WSHD1414 Heavy-Duty Extra Deep Wall Safe
Best Biometric
Barska AX12038 Biometric Wall Safe
Best Electronic
Langger V Biometric Wall Safe
Our verdict on in-wall gun safes
SnapSafe’s In-Wall Gun Safe wins at delivering its promise of a compact, easy-to-hide handgun safe with ingenious tricks to protect your valuables. The Able Recessed Wall Safe enters the fray against similar-performing rivals but at a fraction of the cost. And V-Line’s 31242-SA Long Gun Safe is a worthy contender for buyers interested in quality rifle storage without breaking the bank.
What to consider when buying an in-wall gun safe
Do you need deep or shallow safes? Are you looking for a smidge of home defense, or are you housing an arsenal? These are questions worth asking when taking a gander at your next could-be purchase as all in-wall safes do the same job, but they all do it a bit differently. Here are a few unique types and defining features that help differentiate in-wall gun safes.
Types of in-wall gun safes
Handgun
Handgun in-wall safes will be the smaller, more compact gun safes masquerading as post office boxes. These are better-suited to a Smith & Wesson M&P than a Smith & Wesson AR. Their taller proportions make even the slimmest safes capable of carrying multiple handguns, and their general size and weight make them the easiest to lug around.
They’re a fairly stress-free item to find a place for in your home and are popular choices for people merely looking for a place to store important documents and personal items. But these will also be the most limited in space, with many of the skinnier ones being eclipsed by some compact gun safes.
Long gun
Per their category name, these are the plus-sized in-wall safes for securing longer firearms such as rifles and shotguns with far more height and, in a few cases, a smidge of extra depth. Some premium models include removable shelving for storing extra gear and ammo or, better yet, to create a tall handgun safe for multiple firearms and other valuable items.
Due to the added material, they usually command a higher price, but not by much. Many will sit in price ranges of $100 to $200 higher than smaller handgun safes and are generally several hundred, if not thousands, of hard-earned dollars cheaper than large, stand-alone rifle vaults. Their need to be compact for wall mounting will also greatly inhibit your ability to store a collection.
Electronic locking
In one fell swoop of my keyboard, these can be summed up as the highest-tech and most secure options, which also carry a few minor headaches to balance it all out. Digital keypads and biometric fingerprint scanners are all the rage with many manufacturers now offering such systems as standard or as an extra-cost upgrade.
Biometrics are intended to only work with programmed prints. No amount of guesswork in the world can bypass that. Just know that whichever method you choose, you’ll have the added responsibility of programming — which can be harder with some safes versus others — and ensuring your batteries don’t go kaput. Electronic safes will thankfully come with an emergency backup key if such an incident occurs.
Key features of in-wall gun safes
Locking mechanisms
Simple enough. It’s the question of, “How does it open?” Being reshaped and repurposed into run-of-the-mill gun safes, expect no surprises as all the same locking mechanisms carry over from other styles of safes. In-wall safes can be had with a combination tumbler, digital keypads, basic lock-and-key sets, and even biometric fingerprint scanners.
Some safes may use familiar mechanisms that have been redesigned and compacted to serve their purpose better, so they may appear slightly different on in-wall safes yet function the same. Additionally, the same caveats will carry over, especially with electronic safes where ease of programming and battery life are added concerns.
Depth
Here is the ultimate determining factor: if your chosen safe will fit in your home. Ask yourself, how thick are the walls you want to mount this safe in? Then ask, how deep are the safes you’ve been eyeballing? Nobody likes the posterior of a bulky safe poking out the other side like a poorly-rendered video game asset clipping through the walls.
However, deeper safes will give you an advantage in storage, allowing you to store additional firearms, ammo, gear, etc. It’s a trade-off that you really have to ponder before buying, as this breed demands more of your household to have the optimal mounting spots than any other safe.
Materials
The materials used in constructing your safe determine the overall ability to house your weapons safely. Stainless steel and high-carbon steel alloys have excellent corrosion resistance, which shouldn’t be a massive concern in today’s market as nearly all safes come dipped in some form of protective coating. The outer shell and the guts within your safe work together to potentially provide more effective fireproofing than others, although experts insist that no gun safe is truly 100 percent fireproof and a gaggle of other factors come into play.
A word of caution when choosing gun safes is to spring for the proven products from more reputable manufacturers, and this is for more than just stout build quality. Some less-than-stellar safes have been noted to have poor choices of interior materials that may degrade over time. Certain ingredients may also react with moisture and catalyze to produce corrosive chemicals.
Pricing for in-wall gun safes
Expect nearly all in-wall gun safes to ring within a few hundred dollars of one another in terms of price, placing them between compact handgun safes and monolithic vaults for rifles. Quality, slim-fitting safes can be snagged for anywhere between $240 to nearly $300. Safes of somewhat higher grade can hover between $300 and $500. On the other hand, specialized safes of excellent quality and reputation, including the V-Line Tactical Closet and Stealth Heavy Duty safes can easily crest $800. Bringing things down to Planet Earth is our Best Value-winning Able at roughly $110, undercutting its competitors by tens if not hundreds of dollars.
Tips and tricks
- Ensure that your chosen safe and mounting location are perfect matches with a snug fit. Looseness between the safe and your wall studs may leave your in-wall safe vulnerable to prying.
- For wannabe Garand Thumbs looking to house an expanding collection, consider deeper safes. Just know that they will be trickier to mount and trickier to conceal if they’re meant to protrude a smidge.
- Some long gun wall safes, as with the V-Line 31242-SA, can be mounted horizontally for those who prefer to grab their rifles from a level position.
FAQs about in-wall gun safes
You’ve got questions, Task & Purpose has answers.
Q: Is a wall safe secure?
A: Absolutely. Wall safes take the DNA of a standard gun safe and adapt it into a package that becomes one with your house. The typical locking mechanisms from other safes carry over including combination, keypads, and manual keys. Biometric locks are arguably the most secure.
Q: How deep is a wall safe?
A: Aside from a small number of “deep” wall safes, most wall safes measure between three to six inches deep, just enough to fit in most walls without protruding out or intruding on possible pipes or wiring. Deeper wall safes can stretch to 10 inches.
Q: How can I hide my wall safe?
A: Ever watch mystery thrillers or shows with elaborate supervillains holed up in mega-mansions? The right in-wall safe makes the perfect storage solution to hide behind TVs or picture frames. Some rifle safes can be stowed behind easy-to-maneuver bookshelves or curtains. Even try behind clothes hung up in your closet.
Q: Can you bolt a safe to the wall?
A: In most cases, yes. Most in-wall safes will be sold with some form of mounting hardware in the form of either screws or bolts. In a few cases, some larger long gun safes may rely on their heft and their placement between the studs to resist movement and prying.