Choosing the right safe can feel overwhelming, especially with so many brands and models on the market. That’s why, for more than 40 years, NW Safe has built our business around one core promise: only offer products we truly believe in.
Over the decades, we’ve tested countless safes, learned which manufacturers stand behind their work, and curated a lineup of brands we trust with our own valuables. From entry-level gun safes to high-security commercial vaults, our goal has always been the same—give customers dependable protection, honest guidance, and real value at every price point.
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Episode 32 Topics
1:30: What Brands We Initially Brought In & Why?
6:28: Liberty Safe Company
7:30: Being a Champion Dealer
8:45: American Security (AMSEC)
10:21: We Offer a Curated Selection of Safes
11:49: Fort Knox Safe
16:40 Other Brands We Carry - Browning & Rhino
19:00: Browning Safes
21:20: ISM
24:15: How Long Does it Take to Get an ISM Safe Imported?
25:30: Vaultek
27:00: A Standard of Quality
27:50: Brands We Don’t Carry
Episode 32 Discussion Synopsis
1:30: What Brands We Initially Brought In & Why?
From the very beginning, our goal at NW Safe was simple: carry products we could proudly stand behind. We wanted customers to feel confident that anything they bought from us would offer real value and reliable performance. Not every brand lived up to that promise, and over the years we learned—sometimes the hard way—which manufacturers stayed consistent and which ones didn’t.
One of the first safes we carried was Pony Express by Sun Welding. At first, they looked great. But after a while, issues began to show, so we moved on. Our next major brand was National Security, and they were outstanding—excellent quality, strong support, and true long-term value. Not long after, we discovered Liberty Safe. They were brand-new at the time, and after meeting with their team, we became their very first dealer.
Over time, we’ve watched brands grow, decline, or change direction as the market shifted. Liberty eventually acquired National, and while the brand name faded, the quality remained.
Through all these changes, one thing has stayed the same: our commitment to offering the best value at every price point. Whether it’s a $600 entry-level safe or a $10,000 high-end model, we choose products we believe in—so our customers never have to worry about what they’re taking home.
6:28: Liberty Safe Company
Liberty has been the one brand we’ve stayed with for almost 40 years. They’ve always offered a wide variety of safes, so there’s usually something for everyone. And while no company is perfect, Liberty has consistently stood behind their products whenever issues came up. Overall, they’ve been reliable, consistent, and a great brand for us to carry.
It’s funny—people often confuse NW Safe with Liberty Safe. Some customers even think we are Liberty because we were their first dealer and have worked so closely with them for so many years. It always makes me smile when someone asks if NW Safe is the same as Liberty Safe. We’ve carried their products for decades, and we plan to keep offering them for years to come.
7:30: Being a Champion Dealer
When I first started here, Liberty was our main brand, and Champion was another long-time favorite because they offered solid quality at different price points. Champion actually began as an offshoot of Liberty—Ray and J.D. Crosby started it after leaving the company. Their brother, Walt, even founded National Security, so all three helped shape the safe industry. Champion builds most safes in Utah, with some assembled in Mexico using U.S. steel, giving customers dependable options at great value.
8:45: American Security (AMSEC)
Another brand that has grown with us is American Security. They’ve been around a long time, and we’ve carried them for years because they offer so many different products—gun safes, commercial safes, depository safes, wall safes, pistol safes, vault doors, and more. Their quality is excellent, especially the U.S-built BFX line. We rarely have issues because the fit and finish are so good. While they make imported models, we stick to their American-made safes for the best value.
AMSEC BFX Safe - Full Review from an Industry Expert
10:21: We Offer a Curated Selection of Safes
We focus on finding the products and brands that truly meet our customers’ needs. That’s why we don’t bring in every model from Liberty or American Security—we choose the ones that offer the best value for each price point. Many of our own team members use the American Security BFX safes because the quality is so strong. Their high-security TL-rated models are also cleanly built and reliable, making AMSEC a favorite for top-level protection.
11:49: Fort Knox Safe
The newest brand we’ve added to our lineup is Fort Knox, and it’s been exciting to watch it grow. It fits really well with what we do and what our customers look for. James, who we knew way back when we first became a Liberty dealer, now works at Fort Knox, and that helped us finally build a strong partnership. We’ve been a dealer for almost a year, and it’s already been a great fit.
Fort Knox matches our original business model in a lot of ways. They’re a small, family-owned company that treats their employees and dealers with real respect. Their loyalty to their dealers stood out to us—it actually took about 15 years for everything to fall into place so we could become one.
Another big reason we love Fort Knox is their customization. If someone wants a cheap safe, Fort Knox isn’t the right brand. But if you want a real safe with strong security, they offer tons of options. You can choose your steel thickness, add fire and security upgrades, pick custom interiors, and select from many paint colors and logos. They’ll even build custom sizes—taller, shorter, deeper, or just an inch narrower.
Their vault doors are especially popular, and you can upgrade them just like their safes. Fort Knox also uses hardened steel options like AR500, which stops modern cutting tools that slice right through lightweight gun safes. Seeing those tests makes you appreciate the difference real steel makes.
Overall, Fort Knox has been an incredible addition—high quality, fully customizable, and backed by a company that stands behind its products.
16:40 Other Brands We Carry - Browning & Rhino
Some of the other brands we carry are Browning and Rhino. These are great supplemental lines for us, and like with our other brands, we only bring in the models that offer the best value.
Rhino is a company we really respect. It’s owned by a veteran named Don, who operates just outside Boise, Idaho. While Rhino makes a lot of imported safes for big box stores, we don’t carry those. We focus on their U.S.-built products—especially the Rhino Iron Works series. About ten years ago, they were the first to create that industrial, riveted look that became so popular. Others have tried to copy it, but Rhino still does it best.
One of our best-selling vault doors is the Rhino Iron Works door because it offers great quality for the price. They also recently released a safe with AR500 steel, showing they’re keeping up with modern security needs. Don is always pushing to improve and never settles for average.
Their U.S.-made lineup—especially the models with plate steel doors and over two hours of fire protection—fits perfectly into the value-focused categories we like to offer our customers.
19:00: Browning Safes
Browning is another brand we carry, and most people know the name from their firearms, hats, and T-shirts. But their safes have an interesting background. Browning doesn’t actually build their own safes—they never have. Their safes are built by ProSteel, one of the earliest safe manufacturers, based in Utah. Some Browning models are made in the U.S., while most of the ones sold in big box stores are imported from China.
Browning safes have a very unique interior design. Their door storage system and Access® interior work great for people who have a lot of long guns and want to organize them efficiently. The style is a little different from what many customers expect, so people usually either love it or don’t. But that’s the nice part about having options—there’s something for everyone.
Most stores only offer a few safes to choose from, maybe 5 or 10 if you’re lucky. Here at NW Safe, we usually have 150–200 safes on display, including Browning, Liberty, Fort Knox, AMSEC, Champion, and Rhino. That variety makes it much easier to match customers with exactly what they need.
21:20: ISM
One brand that has helped us grow a lot in recent years is ISM. They aren’t mainly a gun safe company, though they do make a few. ISM is a true high-security safe manufacturer, and they’ve been building safes in Israel since the early 1900s. Their products are known worldwide for offering some of the highest security levels available. It’s been exciting to bring them into our lineup and provide their safes to both businesses and homeowners.
ISM safes aren’t built to look perfect—they’re built to stop break-ins. Their TL, TRTL, and TXTL-rated models use a poured concrete composite called Alchronite, which makes them extremely hard to cut, drill, or torch. If you’re protecting irreplaceable items and want to keep intruders out no matter what tools they use, ISM is the top choice.
The gun safe industry has slowed recently, but ISM’s high-security products have helped keep our business strong. They’ve been an incredible addition to our lineup.
What It’s Like to Buy an ISM Safe
24:15: How Long Does it Take to Get an ISM Safe Imported?
We usually order ISM safes by the full container, and it normally takes about three months for a container to arrive. But there have been times when it took much longer—almost two years—depending on what was happening in the world. Since ISM is based in Israel, any conflict in the Middle East can slow production. Sometimes the factory workers are literally serving in the military, which means they aren’t able to build safes.
Right now, though, the factory is running at full speed. In fact, we just had a new container arrive at the port today, and we’re excited to get those safes into our warehouse. ISM will continue to be a big part of what we offer, and we’re able to ship their safes all over the country. It’s been a fun and important brand for us as demand for high-security products grows.
25:30: Vaultek & V-Line
Along with our main safe brands, we also carry Vaultek, which is one of the top makers of biometric and electronic pistol safes. Their products are extremely reliable, well-designed, and backed by great customer service. They also offer quick-access rifle storage, which has become very popular. Another brand we trust is V-Line, a U.S. manufacturer known for mechanical pistol and rifle safes. Many customers appreciate V-Line because the push-button locks don’t use batteries, so they always work. Even though Vaultek looks modern and fast, V-Line remains a simple, dependable option for everyday use.
27:00: A Standard of Quality
We’ve worked hard to narrow our lineup to the brands we truly believe in—companies that build quality safes at fair prices and stand behind what they make. If we can’t trust a product, we won’t sell it. It’s that simple. Over the years, you’ve helped set a high standard here for quality, service, and expertise, and we expect the same level of performance from our manufacturers. We hold them accountable, too. Sometimes a brand works out, and other times we learn it doesn’t fit our values, so we move on. Our goal is always to offer products we’re proud to stand behind.
27:50: Brands We Don’t Carry
We also want to talk about the brands we don’t carry. It’s not because we want to bad-mouth anyone—there’s a market for those safes, and many people buy them simply because they don’t know the difference. Most customers shopping at big box stores just want something to protect their kids, valuables, or documents. The problem is that many of those safes are imported, mostly from China, and the quality can be very inconsistent.
We’ve seen weak welds, thin steel, and locks that fail after only a few months. When that happens, the manufacturers usually don’t want to pay to fix the problem, so the customer ends up stuck. Our technicians often go out to break into and repair these safes, and the cost of the service plus a new lock is often more than the safe is worth.
What many people don’t realize is that you can buy a U.S.-built safe with a UL-listed lock for around the same price as a big box store safe. That’s why we encourage customers to visit a specialty safe dealer. They can explain the differences and help people make an informed choice.
After many years in the business, we feel great about the mix of brands we offer and the quality behind them. If you ever have questions, give us a call or send us an email—we’re always happy to help.