Cannon safes review: a brand that publishes a lot, and never the one number that matters

This review is built from Cannon's own two websites — the brand catalog at cannonsafe.com and the store at cannonsecurityproducts.com, which is where you actually buy — plus its published warranty, the California Department of Justice certified-device roster and the CPSC recall database. Every figure in the tables links to the document it came from. Cannon is scored on the same published gun-safe rubric as every other brand on this site (how we rate), which weights an independent burglary listing at 30 percent, construction and fire evidence at 20 percent each, then lock, fit and support. That weighting is why no Cannon scores well here, and the rest of this page explains exactly why.

Cannon at a glance

Read across the burglary row and the brand resolves in one line: five safes, five times "not stated by the maker". Then read the fire row, where the minutes climb from 30 to 75 and the evidence behind them never changes. What does improve as you move up the range is everything else — bolt count, lighting, outlets, door organizers, interior layout — and those are real improvements for a family that wants its long guns behind steel rather than in a closet. They are just not the improvements our rubric rewards most.

Who makes Cannon safes now?

Cannon Security Products, of Las Vegas, Nevada. Its about page dates the brand to 1965 and describes a "multi-brand security platform" covering three names you will recognize on a shelf: Cannon Safe, GunVault and Stack-On, which it says it acquired in 2017 (Cannon Security Products, About Us). All three brands sell from the same storefront today.

That 2017 deal is also the reason the company you are buying a lifetime warranty from today is not quite the company that wrote it. The merger loaded the group — then named Alpha Guardian — with debt, and in February 2020 Alpha Guardian, Cannon Safe, Cannon Security Products, Stack-On Products and GunVault USA all filed Chapter 11 in the District of Nevada. The restructuring advisor that ran the case says a plan was confirmed in August 2020, with "over $100 million of senior secured debt and over $30 million of junior claims" converted into trust interests and equity in the reorganized business (Force 10 Partners).

We are not raising that to be unkind about a company that survived its own balance sheet. We raise it because Cannon's headline promise is a lifetime warranty, and the practical value of any lifetime promise depends on the company still being there and still honoring it. Liberty, whose warranty we read in our Liberty safes review, makes a lifetime promise too, and theirs transfers to the next owner. Cannon's does not. That difference is worth more than a feature bullet.

One thing Cannon does not publish anywhere we could find is where its safes are made. The about page names no factory and no country, and neither the brand pages nor the store listings carry a country-of-origin line. If origin matters to you, our guide to American-made gun safes covers the brands that do state it, and you should ask Cannon or the dealer for the origin marked on the specific safe before ordering.

Are Cannon safes UL rated?

Not as containers, on current evidence. We pulled every product listing on Cannon's own store — 50 live Cannon, Stack-On and Vital Impact entries — and searched the full description text of each for "UL", "RSC" and "Underwriters". Exactly one listing matched: a 43+6-gun Cannon, currently out of stock, described as having "an easy to use UL Listed electronic lock with 6-digit combination" (Cannon store, gun safes). Not one listing claims a UL listing for the safe body, and the phrase "Residential Security Container" does not appear anywhere on the store or the brand site.

To be fair to Cannon: it has sold RSC-rated safes in the past. A retailer spec sheet for the discontinued 1965 Series CA594024 describes it as "UL RSC Burglar Rated", which we noted in our Liberty vs Cannon comparison. That listing is for a model Cannon no longer sells. If a dealer tells you a current Cannon is RSC-listed, ask for the listing by model number, in writing, before you pay — and if they can produce one, we will update this page.

Because no Cannon we document carries a burglary listing, every one of them sits in our access box tier. That tier is honest about what it stops: children and unauthorized hands, not a determined burglar with tools. For a family whose real worry is a curious ten-year-old, an access box bolted to the floor is a genuine answer, and we say so in how to store guns safely with kids. It is not the answer to a break-in.

What Cannon's fire minutes actually measure

Cannon states fire ratings from 30 to 90 minutes across its range, and across the five safes here they run 30, 45, 60, 60 and 75 minutes. Not one of those claims names a testing laboratory. We searched the store's 50 listings and the brand site for "ETL" and "Intertek" as well as "UL" and found nothing. Compare that with an independently classified rating: under UL 72, "Class 350 rated devices are intended to protect paper records", the class is an absolute ceiling on interior temperature, and the minutes are how long the safe held it in UL's own furnace (UL 72).

Two of Cannon's current claims are also internally inconsistent, which is worth seeing rather than being told about.

• The Fortified-X 73 disagrees with itself on one page. The description says the safe "is fire-rated for 75 minutes"; the feature list a few inches below says "Certified protection gives you an hour of defense against high-heat emergencies" (Fortified-X 73 product page). Seventy-five minutes and an hour are not the same claim, and neither one states a temperature.
• One shell carries two different fire ratings. The Fortified-X 49 and the Fortified 46 are both 55 by 27 by 19 inches and both weigh 525 lb, per Cannon's own spec tables. The 49 is rated 60 minutes at up to 1,200°F; the 46 is rated 45 minutes (Fortified-X 49, Fortified 46). Identical dimensions and identical weight with a 15-minute difference in the fire claim is a question for Cannon, and a reason to treat these minutes as marketing tiers rather than measurements.

None of that means a Cannon offers no fire protection. Fireboard, a triple-fin intumescent door seal and a sealed shell do real work, and a 45-minute claim is not a lie simply because nobody independent checked it. It means the minutes on the label are not comparable with another brand's minutes, and they are certainly not comparable with a UL 72 classification. Our guide to safe fire ratings explained shows how to read both kinds of number, are fireproof safes really fireproof covers what a house fire actually does, and our fire-rated gun safe ranking starts with the safes whose ratings an outside lab verified. Cannon does not appear in the top of that ranking for exactly this reason.

The California roster check, and what it found

California is the one place where Cannon does point at an outside authority. Four of the five safes here carry a line in Cannon's own spec table reading "DOJ Approved (CA): Yes", and the Fortified 73 is described as a "California-approved Firearm Safety Device, meeting Penal Code section 23655". So we checked the roster.

Searching the California Attorney General's list of certified firearm safety devices for manufacturer "Cannon Safe" on October 1, 2026 returns 110 Cannon models (DOJ certified-device search, roster). That is a real, substantial listing, and far more than most brands manage. Then it gets more interesting:

• On the roster: AZ6022-RIHEB-26, which is plainly the AZ6022-R1HEB-26 we document (one of the two documents has transcribed the "1" as an "I"), plus TS24-R1HEB-25 and recent entries in the MC6026, MC6030, MC6034, TRN6022, TRN6030 and OV64 families.
• Not on the roster, as searched: no entry matching FD6040, FD6030, DD6026 or DD6050 — the model families covering both Fortified 73s, both FD6030 models and the American Eagle range, including the four safes whose pages print "DOJ Approved (CA): Yes".

It is also worth being clear about what the California certification proves, because it is routinely sold as a security rating and it is not one. California's gun-safe standard sets construction minimums — including "minimum 12-gauge thick steel for a single-walled safe" and at least three half-inch locking bolts — and it accepts a UL RSC listing as an alternative route to compliance (11 CCR § 4100, via Cornell LII). It is a child-access and minimum-construction rule. Our guide to CA DOJ approved gun safes walks through what the listing does and does not establish.

The recall record across Cannon's brands

A dated CPSC recall search sits behind every product on this site, and Cannon's own record is clean. A search of the CPSC recall database for "Cannon" on October 1, 2026 returns 17 notices, every one of them a Cannondale bicycle or another unrelated product, and none for a safe (CPSC recalls). No Cannon Safe product has ever been recalled as far as that database shows.

The same cannot be said for the company's other brands, and because Cannon Security Products owns all three, this is the record standing behind your warranty card.

• January 2025, open warning. CPSC urged consumers to stop using the biometric feature on roughly 183,000 Stack-On biometric safes sold since 2015, after a report of severe injury, and states that "Stack-On Products Co. has refused to agree to an acceptable recall" (CPSC warning). No Cannon-branded product is named.
• March 2019, recall. Alpha Guardian recalled about 1,250 Stack-On Sentinel safes because "a bolt malfunction can cause the safe to open without the use of a key or combination" (CPSC).
• November 2004, recall. 1,320 Stack-On Strong Box safes, which "can be opened without the use of a combination by jiggling with the door knob" (CPSC).
• November 2000, recall. About 3,300 Stack-On and Sentinel gun cabinets with push-button locks "that can be opened without the use of a key" (CPSC).

Three recalls and an open warning, all for the same failure mode — a lock that lets go — and in the most recent case the company declined the remedy CPSC asked for. That is why Stack-On products do not appear in our rankings, why no biometric Cannon is featured on this page (the one biometric model in Cannon's catalog is currently out of stock), and why we would take Cannon's keypad-and-key models over any fingerprint reader in this family. Our guide to whether biometric gun safes are reliable sets out the wider recall picture, and safest gun safes ranks on exactly this evidence.

Model by model

Fortified-X 73: the best-equipped Cannon

The top of the current range, and the one place Cannon publishes a gauge for the door as well as the body — 14 gauge both. Seven active 4-inch locking bolts, a hardened anti-drill plate over the lock, external hinges, a raised floor, half-partition shelving, magnetic LED light bars, a power box with two AC outlets, MOLLE side panels and a top steel basket. At 669.5 lb it is 47 lb heavier than the standard Fortified 73 in the same 60-by-40-by-24-inch shell, so the extra money is buying material and not only paint. Two cautions: the fire claim is the one that disagrees with itself, and this is the only current Cannon page that never mentions a backup key.

Fortified 73: the most rack space per dollar

The same shell for less money and 47 lb less safe. Cannon publishes 14 gauge for the body and door, seven active 4-inch bolts, an anti-drill plate, a built-in power box with two AC outlets, a door organizer for 8 handguns and a shotgun or AR, and a physical backup key stated plainly. The fire claim is 60 minutes with no stated temperature, which is weaker evidence than the smaller Fortified-X 49 offers. If what you need is 64 long guns behind a locked door with an outlet for a dehumidifier, this is the efficient choice in the range.

Fortified-X 49: the clearest evidence in the range

Our pick if you want a Cannon. It is the only current model whose fire claim carries a temperature — 60 minutes at up to 1,200°F — it states a physical backup key, and it lists five active solid-steel 4-inch bolts, heavy-duty external hinges and a triple-fin door gasket. At 525 lb and 27 inches wide it is also the only safe here with a realistic chance of getting through a standard interior doorway without a rigging crew. The gap in its sheet is the gauge: Cannon publishes no steel thickness for this model at all, which is the one construction number we would most like to have. Note also that the page's spec table says "40 Long Guns" while the description sells 49 firearms; the difference is the door organizer, not the cabinet.

American Eagle 46: the same safe under two names

This is the one to read the label on twice. Cannon's brand site sells it as the "American Eagle Series 46-Gun 45-Minute Fire-Resistant Gun Safe", SKU DD6026-H12TEB-26-DS (brand page). Cannon's own store sells what reads as the identical safe — word-for-word the same description, which even opens "The Cannon American Eagle Series 46-Gun Fire Resistant Gun Safe" — under the name "Fortified 46-Gun" and the SKU FD6030-DGPTEB-26-DS (store listing). The store is the one with a price, a spec table and a buy button, so that is where our link goes. The store listing is also the only one of the five that publishes real lock detail: alphanumeric keypad, 9-volt alkaline battery, two keys supplied, lockout penalty, no multiple user codes, unlit keypad. Neither page states a steel gauge.

Cannon 24-Gun AZ6022: the one you can buy on Amazon

The smallest and best-documented of the five on construction: a 14-gauge exterior, six locking bars 4 inches long and 1 inch thick, a 58.75 by 20.75 by 13.75-inch interior, 280 lb, a keypad with a backup key and "California DOJ Certified: Yes" on the spec sheet (Cannon store). It is also the only one of the five whose model number we could match on the California roster. The fire claim is the weakest in the group at 30 minutes up to 1,200°F, and 24 long guns means 24 rack slots, not 24 scoped rifles — our gun safe size guide explains the difference, and most buyers should assume about 60 percent of a stated capacity.

The lifetime warranty's three catches

Cannon leads with a lifetime warranty on the Fortified pages, and the document behind it is a "Limited Lifetime Warranty ... for residential use only" covering defects in workmanship and materials "as well as damage to the safe resulting from burglary attacks and fires" (Cannon product warranty). That is a genuinely broad promise. Three clauses narrow it, and all three are worth knowing before you buy rather than after a fire.

1. Your insurer goes first. For a burglary or fire claim, the customer "must first file with their property insurance provider. If the claim is denied, the customer may then file proof of denial." In practice the warranty is a backstop for when your homeowners policy will not pay, not a parallel route to a replacement safe.
2. Register inside 30 days, and it never transfers. The warranty says to "register your safe within 30 days" and that the safe "must be registered to activate any claims under warranty", and it states plainly: "This warranty is not transferable." Buy a Cannon used and you have no warranty at all. Buy one new and forget the registration card, and the same is true.
3. Six months to file. "All claims, including those for workmanship defects or break-ins, must be filed within six months of the issue." A door that starts binding two years in, noticed late, is outside the window.

Two more exclusions matter day to day. Locks carry a five-year limited warranty, with parts and labor in year one and parts only in years two to five. And the warranty explicitly excludes "lost or forgotten combinations, lost keys, weak or dead batteries" — plus "any loss or damage to contents in and or around the safe, under any circumstances". No safe warranty covers your contents; your insurer does. The practical lesson is the same one we give for every electronic lock in electronic vs mechanical safe locks: change the factory code on day one, write the new one somewhere outside the safe, keep both backup keys away from the safe, and change the battery on a schedule rather than when the keypad starts complaining.

Buying, delivery and bolt-down

Cannon runs two websites and they do different jobs. cannonsafe.com is the catalog — seven products at the time of writing, no prices and no checkout (brand products page). cannonsecurityproducts.com is the store, with 50 Cannon, Stack-On and Vital Impact listings, prices, stock status and a cart; when we checked, six of its gun safes were in stock and the rest were not, so availability is the first thing to confirm. Cannon also sells through big-box and farm-and-ranch retailers, which is where several of those model codes come from, and a handful of Cannon safes are on Amazon, the AZ6022 among them. Prices across the five safes here span roughly the low to high four figures on Cannon's own store; we do not print numbers that will be wrong next month, so use the buy buttons for the current figure.

Then weigh the thing. These safes run from 280 lb to 669.5 lb empty, before guns, ammunition or a safe full of documents. Check the route in and the floor before you order: our guides to whether your floor can support a gun safe and how to move a gun safe cover both. And because none of these safes has a burglary listing, anchoring is not optional — an unbolted 525-lb box can be walked out on a dolly by two people, which is exactly how an access box becomes no protection at all. How to bolt down a gun safe covers the hardware, and where to put a gun safe covers placement, including why the garage is the worst room for a fire claim.

Which Cannon to buy, and when not to

• One Cannon, best published evidence: the Fortified-X 49. A stated fire temperature, a stated backup key and a size you can get indoors.
• Most guns behind a locked door: the Fortified 73, or the Fortified-X 73 if you want the lighting, the heavier build and the published door gauge.
• Buying on Amazon, smaller collection: the AZ6022, with the clearest construction sheet and a California roster entry you can verify yourself.
• Buying in California: confirm the rostered model string with the dealer first, whichever model you choose.
• If burglary resistance is your first requirement: none of them. Start with our UL RSC-listed gun safes or best gun safes, where a listed safe comes first, and read gun safe red flags before you believe any brand's own numbers — Cannon's included.