Best gun safes for apartments: what fits the floor and the lease

Who this is for

You rent, you own one or more firearms, and you want them locked away from children, roommates and visitors, and harder to walk off with in a break-in. You're also working with limits a homeowner doesn't have: a safe has to come up the stairs or fit the elevator, the floor belongs to someone else, and the lease may not let you drill.

The threats haven't changed. Access control is the everyday one, and any anchored safe or cabinet on this page handles it. Burglary resistance is what a UL listing measures, and only one pick here carries one. If you only own a handgun, a smaller quick-access safe may be all you need; see our best handgun safes.

Weight and stairs

Weight is the first filter for renters, because it decides whether the safe can be delivered, whether you can move it out again, and how hard it presses on the floor. Here's how the picks compare, using each maker's published weight and exterior footprint:

The last numeric column is simple arithmetic (weight divided by footprint area), before you load the safe. It's useful for comparing picks and for giving your landlord or building manager a concrete figure. The SecureIt Agile changes the stair question entirely: it assembles in the room with a patented slide-lock design, and SecureIt says it can go "anywhere in your home, apartment, office or RV."

A floor you don't control

Residential building codes size floors for a uniformly distributed load. The California Residential Code's live-load table, for example, lists 40 pounds per square foot for areas other than sleeping areas and 30 for sleeping areas (Table R301.5, via UpCodes). A safe isn't a uniform load: it puts all its weight on a few square feet. That doesn't by itself mean a floor will fail under a compact safe. It does mean the answer depends on your building's construction, which you can't see and don't own.

So don't guess. Ask your landlord or building manager whether the floor is a concrete slab or wood framing, and whether there's any limit on heavy furniture or appliances. Our guide to whether your floor can support a gun safe covers the questions to ask.

A lease that may not allow drilling

Anchoring is the renter's hardest problem, and it's where a safe does much of its work. UL's revised RSC standard requires safes of 750 lb or less to pass a drop test unless they're reliably mounted using the maker's installation provisions (UL's notice on the revised standard), so the standard itself treats anchoring as part of how a lighter safe resists attack. Some warranties depend on it too: Steelwater's lifetime burglary coverage requires the safe to be properly anchored to the floor. And SecureIt warns that an unanchored, empty Agile cabinet can tip when the door opens.

We don't know of a no-drill method that does what bolting does, and we won't suggest improvised ones. The honest route is to ask for permission to anchor, in writing, before the safe arrives. Every pick here has pre-drilled holes: the safes to the floor, the Agile to the floor or wall studs through holes in the bottom and sides, and the Fast Box horizontally or vertically with included hardware.

EGS14 or UL14?

The two Stealth safes share a footprint and a lock, so the choice comes down to three questions. Will your floor and delivery route take 365 lb instead of 230? Will your landlord let you anchor it? UL's RSC standard itself expects a safe under 750 lb to be either drop-tested or mounted using the maker's provisions, so the listing and the anchoring go together. And is a break-in, not just curious hands, a real part of your worry? If the answer to all three is yes, the UL14's listing, 12-gauge steel and four-way bolts are worth the extra 135 lb. If any answer is no, the EGS14 does the access-control job at the lighter weight, with the same lock and the same lifetime warranty terms.

If children live with you or visit

Access control is the job that matters most when children are in the home, even part-time. Firearm-safety groups recommend storing guns locked and unloaded, with ammunition stored separately (RAND, Personal Firearm Storage in the United States). In a small apartment that means a container children can't open, a code they don't know, and backup keys kept somewhere they can't find. Storage laws vary by state; check your state's official sources. This is a summary, not legal advice.

Why safes and cabinets share this list

Two picks here are cabinets, not safes. We include them because some renters can't take a 230 lb box up the stairs, or can't anchor to the floor but can get permission to fasten into wall studs. Cabinets are scored on a different rubric from gun safes (the one we use for quick-access and access-control containers), so their scores aren't comparable with the safes' scores, and we rank them after the safes. Neither cabinet claims a burglary or fire rating. They keep children and visitors out; they don't stop a burglar with tools. Our gun cabinet ranking covers more of them.

How we ranked

Each safe is scored on our published gun-safe rubric (see how we rate), led by an independent burglary listing (30%), construction (20%) and fire evidence (20%). On this page we then ordered the safes by the constraint that defines renting, weight, and said why wherever a lighter, lower-scoring safe ranks above a heavier, higher-scoring one. The UL14 is the exception worth knowing about: it's the only pick with a UL RSC listing, and our explainer on what a UL RSC listing proves covers what that buys. Locks matter more than usual in a shared home, so see our comparison of electronic and mechanical safe locks too. We didn't lab-test or install any of these; every figure comes from the maker's published specs.

The picks in context

1. Stealth EGS14

The lightest true safe we rank, at 230 lb, with a UL-listed electronic lock behind a hard plate, four bolt-down holes, a maker-stated California DOJ firearm-safety-device approval and a lifetime burglary and fire warranty. Its 14-gauge steel and six 1 in bolts working in two directions are an access-control build, not a rated burglary defense. No override key is listed, so keep spare batteries.

2. Stealth UL14

Same 20 x 17 in footprint and same lock as the EGS14, plus a maker-stated UL RSC listing, 12-gauge steel and ten 1.25 in bolts working in four directions. It's the right choice if your building manager confirms the floor and your lease allows anchoring. At 365 lb, plan the delivery carefully.

3. Hollon Crescent Shield CS-12E

A 22 x 16 in, 320 lb safe with a named, UL-listed Type 1 Sargent & Greenleaf electronic lock and 12-gauge steel. Its 9.5 in interior depth makes its 12-gun count an unscoped number, so it suits a few long guns without large optics.

4. Winchester Bandit 14

A 314 lb, 22 x 18 in safe with a SecuRam electronic lock and a backup key, so a dead keypad doesn't lock you out. Its 14-gauge body and 1 in bolts are an entry-level build, and Winchester doesn't state a UL listing for the safe or the lock.

5. SecureIt Agile Model 52 (cabinet)

The answer when stairs or weight rule out a safe. It assembles in place, holds six long guns up to 48.25 in, and opens by keypad, fingerprint or two override keys, with a low-battery warning and USB-C backup power. Mounting hardware isn't included, and SecureIt publishes no steel gauge.

6. SecureIt Fast Box Model 47 (cabinet)

A 14-gauge, 6.5 in deep box for one or two long guns that mounts under a bed, in a closet or on a wall, with included hardware and keypad, fingerprint and key entry. It's for a renter who wants one long gun locked but close.

How to raise it with your landlord

You don't have to say what's going in the safe to ask about a heavy item and anchoring. Keep it practical and get the answers in writing:

1. Anchoring. "I'd like to bolt a heavy storage safe to the floor (or a cabinet to the wall studs). Is that allowed, and how would you like the holes repaired when I move out?"
2. The floor. "Is this floor a concrete slab or wood framing, and is there a weight limit for heavy furniture or appliances in this unit?"
3. Delivery. "Can I reserve the elevator or loading area, and does the elevator have a weight limit?"
4. Placement. "Is there a spot in the unit you'd prefer I use?"

If the answer on anchoring is no, weigh a lighter cabinet you can take with you against the risk of an unanchored safe, and read the lease's alterations clause before you decide.

Installing in a rental

Follow the maker's anchoring instructions and use fasteners suited to your floor or wall; our bolt-down guide covers concrete and wood. A closet corner keeps a safe out of sight and puts two walls around it, and our guide to where to put a gun safe weighs the options. Keep a hygrometer inside the safe.

Plan the move-out on day one. Keep the anchor hardware and the maker's instructions, photograph the install, and read our guide to moving a gun safe before your lease ends.

Apartment mistakes

• Buying the heaviest safe that fits the closet. Weight is a delivery, floor and move-out problem. Buy the lightest safe that does the job you need.
• Leaving it unanchored "for now." A light, loose safe or cabinet is the easiest thing in the room to carry away.
• Assuming "CA DOJ approved" means burglary-rated. On the EGS14, it refers to firearm safety device approval, not a burglary test.
• Forgetting the lockout plan. If you're locked out, use the maker's key or backup procedure as the manual describes, then contact the maker or a licensed locksmith.