Liberty safes review: what the listings and specs show, series by series

This review is built from Liberty's product, warranty and policy pages, spec sheets from Liberty retailer Dean Safe, and cited news reporting; every value in the table links to its source. We score Liberty on the same published gun-safe rubric as every other brand (how we rate), with an independent burglary listing weighted first. Liberty sells more series than the five covered here; these are the five whose current spec pages we checked.

Liberty at a glance

The pattern is easy to read. As you move up Liberty's line, the steel gets thicker (14 gauge to 7 gauge), the claimed fire time gets longer (40 minutes to 2.5 hours) and the safe gets heavier (375 lb to 1,021 lb). The burglary evidence changes only once: between the Centurion, which has no listing, and everything above it.

Are Liberty safes UL rated?

Four of the five series we checked are, and the wording matters.

• Lincoln: Liberty's own page names the listing, describing a "UL-listed 10-gauge steel safe body" rated as a residential security container (RSC). This is the clearest maker-stated evidence in Liberty's range.
• Colonial, Franklin and Presidential: Liberty's pages say "UL-listed body" or "UL-Listed safe body" without naming the standard. Retailer Dean Safe's spec sheets list all three as UL RSC. We accept that, and we say where it comes from.
• Centurion: the S&G Spartan lock is UL-listed; the safe is not. Liberty cites no UL listing for the Centurion body, so we tier it as an access box.

What an RSC listing means: at Level 1, UL describes a "five-minute attack by one technician using common hand tools such as drills, screwdrivers and hammers" (UL). It's an entry-level burglary rating, not a vault rating, and it says nothing about fire. The wording we cite doesn't state an RSC level, and none of these five claims a commercial TL rating. Our UL RSC explainer covers what the listing does and doesn't prove.

Two more labels are worth decoding. Liberty ranks every safe on its own 10-level "Security" scale (Level 3 for the Centurion, Level 10 for the Presidential). It's a useful map of Liberty's range, but it's Liberty's ranking, not a certification. And Liberty states that each of these safes is a California DOJ-approved firearm safety device; that tells you Liberty says the safe meets California's rules, not that a lab attacked it.

Series by series

Centurion 24: entry level, no burglary listing

A 14-gauge, 375-lb safe rated by Liberty for 24 long guns, with a UL-listed S&G Spartan electronic lock and a Liberty-claimed 40 minutes at 1,200°F. It keeps children and casual hands out and carries Liberty's transferable warranty. It is sold on Amazon as well as through dealers. Without a UL listing for the body, it's locked storage, not burglary-rated storage.

Colonial 23: the entry to a rated Liberty

12-gauge steel, a UL RSC rating per Dean Safe's spec sheet, Liberty's Level 6, and a claimed 75 minutes at 1,200°F. Liberty rates the standard interior for 25 long guns, and you choose a UL-listed S&G Spartan electronic lock or an S&G mechanical dial at order. At 577 lb it's the lightest rated Liberty here, and it's on Amazon.

Franklin 29: 11-gauge, through dealers

An 11-gauge body (Liberty calls it Dual Fusion), a UL RSC rating per Dean Safe, Level 7, and a claimed 110 minutes at 1,200°F that Liberty calls "certified" without naming a lab. Liberty rates it for 29 long guns; it weighs 760 lb and uses a UL-listed S&G Direct Drive electronic lock. It isn't sold on Amazon, so you buy it from a Liberty dealer or libertysafe.com.

Lincoln 25: the clearest evidence

10-gauge steel, the RSC listing named on Liberty's own page, Level 9, and a claimed 120 minutes at 1,200°F. You choose a Dormakaba 702D electronic, a UL-listed S&G Spartan electronic or a mechanical lock. Liberty rates it for 27 long guns; it weighs 767 lb and is sold on Amazon.

Presidential 25: the most steel

A 7-gauge body and a composite door with a 1/4-inch inner steel plate, a UL RSC rating per Dean Safe, Level 10, and a claimed 2.5 hours at 1,200°F. A UL-listed Sargent & Greenleaf mechanical lock is standard, with electronic options. Liberty rates it for 22 long guns and lists it at 1,021 lb. It scores a little higher than the Lincoln on our rubric because of the steel; the Lincoln has the clearer maker-stated listing.

Fire ratings: Liberty's own numbers

Every Liberty fire rating we checked is Liberty's claim, stated at 1,200°F, with no independent lab named. The Franklin's page calls its rating "certified" without saying who certified it. That doesn't make the claims false; it means you can't check how they were measured.

An independently verified rating reads differently. Under UL 72, "Class 350 rated devices are intended to protect paper records": the class is the maximum interior temperature allowed, and the time is how long the device held it in UL's furnace test (UL 72). Liberty doesn't publish a UL 72 classification for these gun safes. If fire is your first concern, compare Liberty's claims against a safe whose rating an outside lab verified; our guide to safe fire ratings explains how to read both.

Where are Liberty safes made?

Liberty says it "proudly manufactures its gun safes, home safes, and vault doors in Payson, Utah using American-made steel". The same page says that "some products, including handgun vaults and select accessories, are imported" and that product pages identify each item's country of origin (Liberty, Made in the USA). These are Liberty's statements; we haven't audited its supply chain. If origin matters to you, check the country of origin on the specific product page before you order, especially for smaller items.

The access-code controversy

This is the question many Liberty shoppers search for, so here are the facts from the reporting and from Liberty's own pages.

What happened. In August 2023, Liberty gave the FBI an access code for a customer's safe after being shown a search warrant. Newsweek reported that the safe belonged to a defendant in a January 6, 2021 Capitol riot case, and quoted Liberty: "After receiving the request, we received proof of the valid warrant, and only then did we provide them with an access code" (Newsweek, September 2023). Liberty's own summary says: "In August 2023, Liberty Safe was given a search warrant. Liberty did not provide the customer service code without a warrant" (Liberty, access code facts). The disclosure drew a public backlash, Newsweek reported.

Liberty's current policy. Liberty says it releases customer information to law enforcement only when "a warrant, subpoena, national security letter, court order or equivalent ('compulsory process')" is "specifically issued to Liberty Safe", and that for codes, the process must specifically require release of the combination or access code. It also says that "except where prohibited by law, Liberty Safe will notify customers of any request from a government or law enforcement agency for customer information in advance of our providing it" (Liberty law enforcement policy).

Deleting your code. Customers can ask Liberty to remove their stored combination recovery information. Liberty's removal page is plain about the trade-off: "Once removed, this information cannot be recovered by Liberty Safe, and future combination recovery assistance will no longer be available" (Liberty combination removal). In other words, deleting the record closes off that route to your safe, and it also closes off Liberty's help if you're ever locked out.

Which way to go is a personal call. If you delete the record, keep your combination and any backup key somewhere secure and separate from the safe. And whatever brand you buy, it's reasonable to ask whether the maker keeps a reset or recovery code for your lock and how to have it removed. Our gun safe red flags guide covers the other questions worth asking before you buy.

Warranty and buying

Liberty's warranty is one of its strongest published points. The safe body carries a "transferable lifetime warranty", and after a fire or attempted break-in Liberty says it repairs or replaces the safe, including "free delivery and installation of the new replacement safe". You must register to activate it. UL-listed locks carry a separate 5-year warranty, lock damage is excluded from the lifetime coverage, paint is covered for 5 years, and the coverage applies to safes built after January 1, 2006 (Liberty warranty page).

Four of these five series are sold on Amazon (the Centurion as a size option on Liberty's series listing); the Franklin is dealer-only. Liberty's pages for the Centurion, Colonial, Franklin and Lincoln describe the safe being bolted down from the inside as part of Liberty dealer installation, so if you buy online, plan how it will be delivered and anchored. Check the minimum doorway Liberty publishes for each model, too: 22 inches for the Centurion 24 and 26.5 inches for the Lincoln 25 and Presidential 25.

For how Liberty stacks up against its most-searched rival, see Liberty vs Cannon. For the other Utah maker buyers weigh against it, see Fort Knox vs Liberty, and for the one brand we track with a lab-verified fire rating, AMSEC vs Liberty. For another brand read the same way, series by series, see our Winchester safes review.

The 2023 access-code case is part of this brand record, and it raises a question that applies to every maker rather than just this one. We cover what manufacturers can actually hold and release, and how to have your own code deleted, in do safes have master codes.

Which Liberty to buy

• A family that wants a rated safe from Amazon: Colonial 23, with the lock type you prefer.
• The buyer who wants the listing on the maker's own page: Lincoln 25.
• The most steel, on a floor that can take it: Presidential 25.
• An 11-gauge body through a local dealer: Franklin 29.
• Kid-proofing only, with a transferable warranty: Centurion 24, knowing it has no burglary listing.

Read next

If you are still comparing Liberty with the alternatives:

• Steelwater vs Liberty gun safes — published steel and bolt counts against a UL RSC listing and a transferable warranty.
• Hollon vs AMSEC safes — where to look if you want the listing and the plate steel in one body.