Safe Space Episode 10: Gun Safe Locks & Security Tips from a Master Safe Technician

Jeff Snope is Northwest Safe’s Master Safe Technician—and a lifelong member of the NW Safe family. He graduated top of his class from Universal Technical Institute (UTI), earning his ASE Master Certification. (An ASE Certification signifies that an automotive technician has demonstrated expertise in all areas of vehicle repair by passing a series of ASE (Automotive Service Excellence) certification tests.)

Jeff spent nearly a decade in the automotive industry. But as the market shifted and burnout set in, he brought his technical skills to NW Safe — this time as a safe technician. His mechanical mind and attention to detail made him the perfect fit. Jeff is a true safe specialist, unlike many in the field who come from a locksmith background. His work is part art, part science, and 100% trusted by the team and customers.

Learn more about Jeff, what life is like as a Master Safe Technician, what locks he recommends, and more.

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Episode 10 Discussion Questions

3:47: You've known each other since David was born. What was one memory from those early days at NW safe that still makes you laugh?

5:00: What is your current favorite lock and why?

6:14: What would it include if two of you could build the perfect safe together?

10:30: What's your favorite residential safe for someone who wants to put it upstairs or on a ground wood subfloor home?

12:36: Jeff, what's a mistake you commonly see other locksmiths or techs make when servicing safes? And, how do you avoid it?

14:50: David, what brand feature are you most excited about right now?

16:17: Jeff, what's one thing you wish every customer understood before calling you about a lock issue?

20:45: David, how has growing up in the business shaped you and how you sell sales today?

23:50: Jeff, what's one tool or trick you can use during tech calls that most customers have never seen?

25:12: The black box. Let's talk a little bit more about that.

28:30: David, what's customers' biggest misconception during the buying process? And how do you clear that that's the biggest misconception?

30:30: What's a safety tip you have for people?

Episode 10 Discussion Question Synopsises

3:47: You've known each other since David was born. What was one memory from those early days at NW Safe that still makes you laugh?

Well, one time, Junion and I were on a delivery. We're standing in this guy's study and I look over. There is this picture of his daughter sitting there, and I go, “Is that the girl from Clarissa Explains It All?”

And I can't remember exactly, but it was a spitting image of this girl. It was completely random. But we never verified it.

5:00: What is your current favorite lock and why?

Secure and Pro Logic hands down if it's electronic. If it's a manual lock, it's the S&G 6730. But the Pro Logic, with its digital operation system, has been rock solid. That’s the lock we sell the most, and Jeff is out in the field the most putting on.

But if you ask people at NW Safe what lock they have on their personal safe, most of us still have a mechanical dial lock from SMG. And those on staff with two safes typically have one with an electronic and one with a dial lock. Take Jeff’s wife’s safe for instance. It has a Pro Logic on it.

If you're getting into your safe regularly, you'll be fine with a dial. What we often experience in a home is the husband gets in the safe consistently. The wife gets in the safe once a month or very limited. And the reality is, if you're not opening a mechanical lock regularly, you'll struggle with it.

So, in scenarios like that, we recommend an electronic lock.

6:14: What would it include if two of you could build the perfect safe together?

A trap locking bolt is one of the first things that comes to mind, similar to what the BFX and Grayfunder have. All the manufacturers that use that thin mechanism gate, if it's not aligned, you can have a safe that doesn't lock.

We encourage anybody watching this video to go up to your safe, take the handle, and rapidly go back and forth to ensure it's locked. Because there are hundreds, if not thousands, of safes in the field, where the lock lug doesn't align with the mechanism gate.

And while you think your lock is locked, which it is, you could turn the handle because it's not going to align with that gate.

Jeff has experienced more than a dozen service calls from people who called and said, "I just turned the handle on this safe, and it opened." Which would be impossible with a trap bolt.

Ball bearings are really hard to drill through. So, if more safes had ball-bearing drill points, they would not be very fun to deal with, and glass adds another level. If you’re building a dream safe, it should have both features.

The hard part about both is that you want a safe you can get into without punching holes everywhere. Jeff likes to hide our repairs by hiding everything under handle hubs and dial rings. The safes with glass normally get the biggest marks. That’s so that the technician can defeat the relockers.

WORD TO THE WISE: If you are ever calling a safe technician and they tell you they’re going to have to destroy your safe, cut a hole in your safe or plan on putting a hole outside the dial ring — that technician probably doesn’t know what they’re doing! A safe technician should be able to drill and repair your safe better than before.

We also like double-walled safes. With the advancement in cutting tools, we're seeing that more and more you want something with an outside wall and inside wall with something like AR 500.

One of the hardest things about this question is that there are different safes for different purposes. For example, the highest-rated security safe in the world is the ISM Super Diamond. And that has every single feature you would want in a safe. But the problem is, in a 50 cubic foot size, it weighs 8,000 pounds. It's not going to your home.

So our dream gun safe, that's going to go on a wood subfloor, will have different features than our dream all-stops, the best security safe out there.

10:30: What's your favorite residential safe for someone who wants to put it upstairs or on a ground wood subfloor home?

The BF is growing on Jeff. He likes the poured liner. The more he works on them, the fit and finish is getting better and better. There have been very few issues with the gear and mechanism. And with a lot of companies, when you open up a door panel, it’s pretty ugly.

You open up a BF it’s like “oh wow.”

And if you compare a list of reinforcements and all the specs we're talking about with a Super Diamond compared to a BFX, it has most of the things. It’s just a lighter-weight filled double-walled wall. It doesn't have a steel grid. It doesn't have a high-density concrete fill. But it's still a concrete base, and it's designed to be put in a wood subfloor.

12:36: Jeff, what's a mistake you commonly see other locksmiths or techs make when servicing safes? And, how do you avoid it?

I see this happen a lot when I show up for a service call. Someone had a lock installed that really shouldn’t have been used. When people shop around for the cheapest installer, they often end up with a lock that has a poor track record, even if it was a good deal. But in the long run, that choice usually doesn’t pay off.

We get called out way too soon because the lock has already stopped working or isn’t secure. Sometimes, it's an off-brand lock or one that isn't a good fit for the safe.

What really gets to me is when someone installs the wrong kind of lock—not just a cheap one, but one that doesn’t match the safe’s mechanism or even its style. One of the worst is when you see a sleek black safe with gold trim, and someone puts a silver or brushed stainless dial on it. It just looks bad. A lot of techs only use what they have on hand and don’t bother ordering the right part.

We try to do things differently. We stock the correct parts and do our best to return the safe to its original look and function. Black is a popular color now, and it matches with just about everything, so we stick with that unless the customer wants something else.

14:50: David, what brand feature are you most excited about right now?

AR 500. AR 500 liners are what I’m really trying to push people who want cutting protection. Because we're starting to get that question more and more. And that's the one solution.

Especially if you're looking for a vault door. It's affordable to add. Now, when you start putting AR 500 liners in an actual safe, because you have to do the ceiling, the sidewalls, back wall frame — it gets really expensive, to be honest with you.

But with a vault door, AR 500 is going to add roughly 15% - 20% to the cost of a vault door. To where some of the liners it feels like you're adding 40 to 50%, depending on how many you do.

16:17: Jeff, what's one thing you wish every customer understood before calling you about a lock issue?

We get a lot of calls about electronic locks not working, and honestly, one of the most common issues is just the battery.

People often swear they put in a brand-new battery, but it turns out the battery had been sitting in a drawer for years. Even if the expiration date says 2025, the battery might have been made in 2020. That means it’s already five years old. We always recommend using a fresh 9-volt battery with a date at least four or five years out. Brands matter too—Duracell, Energizer, and Procell tend to work best. Avoid rechargeables or off-brand batteries from bulk stores, as they can be unreliable in safes.

Another common issue is someone thinking they know their code, but they’ve accidentally swapped numbers or entered the wrong sequence. It happens all the time, and it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.

The good news is that many of these problems are easy to fix. In fact, we can often help you over the phone for free. We don’t jump to scheduling a paid service call unless it’s really needed. Our goal is to save you time and money.

So, if your lock isn’t working, replace the battery with a high-quality one and double-check your code. And if that doesn’t work, call us. We’re happy to help troubleshoot.

20:45: David, how has growing up in the business shaped you and how you sell sales today?

That’s a great question, and one I get a lot of: How has working in the safe industry shaped how I talk to people about buying a safe today?

The short answer is that experience matters. I grew up in this business. I’ve heard countless stories from real customers. I’ve also been on-site after fires and break-ins. Those experiences stick with you.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is underestimating how much space they need. Almost no one ever wishes they had bought a smaller safe. And when someone goes through a serious fire or a break-in attempt, they never repurchase the same kind of safe. They upgrade—because they learn the hard way.

I’m in a unique position where I see safes after disasters. That gives me a clear picture of what works and what doesn’t. Entry-level safes often don’t perform the way people think they will. Fire is one of the most destructive forces on Earth. A $999 or $499 safe might not offer much protection when the heat hits.

Take the Bonnie Lake fire near my home. It was a major event. I opened an entry-level safe afterward, and the damage was shocking. People often believe the fire department will arrive quickly—maybe in 15 or 30 minutes—but that isn’t always possible during large emergencies. Small towns can only respond to so many fires at once.

In that fire, the homeowner got the evacuation notice and grabbed what they could, tossing valuables into the safe and sending other items with family. Afterward, even though the fire didn’t destroy the house completely, smoke, water, and heat still caused major damage. If a safe’s fire seal isn’t strong or well-made, water and smoke can get inside, ruining everything.

That’s why it’s important to open your safe after a fire as soon as possible. Even if it looks okay on the outside, the inside could be full of smoke, moisture, or mold.

Now, here’s another important fact: most home safes don’t include a proper cooldown period in their fire tests. That cooldown period—about two days—is when a lot of extra damage can occur. A few higher-end brands, like American Security, do include that in their ratings, but most entry-level residential gun safes don't.

So, if you’re shopping for a safe, ask yourself what really matters: price or protection. Because once disaster strikes, it’s too late to go back and buy the better one.

23:50: Jeff, what's one tool or trick you use during tech calls that most customers have never seen?

I have a massaging device that I sometimes have to use on mechanical dial locks. Most people haven't seen that. They're surprised that you use it in the safe world.

Other than that, I get a lot of ‘oos’ and ‘ahhs’ when I get my scopes out.

25:12: The black box. Let's talk a little bit more about that.

A tool — often called “the box” — was designed to open safes with certain electronic locks. It works on models made during a specific time range, even though many manufacturers have since updated their locks. Once connected, the box can unlock a safe by generating and entering a code. While it could do this in seconds, it’s programmed to wait 15 minutes, as a safety measure to slow down misuse.

This tool has saved customers time and money in certain situations, like when we used it in Maple Valley to open a locked room. But if someone wants to protect their safe from being opened by a tool like this, they should choose a lock that the box can’t crack.

Some locks, like the ProLogic (after 2012), are more secure because they use features like rolling codes, which confuse the box’s algorithm. Safe manufacturers and technicians are always in a race—kind of like ethical hackers—developing new security features and tools to bypass them.

That’s why many people still prefer mechanical locks. They’re simple, proven, and don’t change much over time.

28:30: David, what's the biggest misconception customers have during the buying process? And how do you clear that that's the biggest misconception?

It really comes down to explaining what kind of security and fire protection people are actually getting with their safe. That’s why we keep a burned safe on display in our showroom—a real one that went through a house fire. It helps people see what a 45-minute rated safe looks like after a fire. In fact, that model is likely better insulated than many safes rated for 60 to 75 minutes.

But here’s what most people don’t realize: even if a safe “survives” a fire, it can still look pretty rough inside. Smoke can get in. Contents can be exposed to high heat. There may be damage from hot spots. That said, the safe we show in our store still protected all the guns inside. Some needed refinishing, but they were saved.

We use that safe as a teaching tool. It shows what mid-range protection looks like—and how you can upgrade for even better security.

Also, there’s a myth that if a technician drills a safe, it’s ruined. That’s not true. When done correctly, drilling is precise. We use hardened steel tools and aim to protect the safe, not destroy it.

30:30: What's a safety tip you have for people?

One of the best safety tips we can give is this: layer your security. Make your home a hard target. Cameras might not stop someone in the act, but they can discourage activity and help you see what happened later. Alarm systems and noisemakers are also helpful—anything that draws attention.

Place your safe somewhere that’s easy and convenient for you to use. And always bolt it down. That step alone can double or even triple the security of your safe. A lightweight safe that isn’t bolted can be hauled off in minutes, even by professionals with tools. But if it’s properly secured, it becomes a much bigger challenge to move, even for us.

Good lighting around your home can also go a long way in keeping criminals away. It might seem simple, but lights can be a powerful deterrent.

Remember: Alarms can be bypassed. Power can be cut. The Internet can go down. But your safe is your last line of defense. So choose one that’s solid and reliable.

Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with more topics soon. If you have questions you want us to answer on the podcast, drop them below. See you next time!