Best Under Bed Safes: Safe & Secure

Gun safes are one of those necessary things as a gun owner. You need some means to control access to your firearms, and a gun safe allows you to do that. A good gun safe allows you to protect your firearms from thieves, prevent access from unauthorized users, and secure your firearms from the environment in general. 

Gun safes come in all shapes and sizes. They can be teeny tiny and store nothing more than a snub nose revolver, or they can be so massive that you can walk into them. As such, it’s tough to do one extensive article on all the gun safes in the world. Today we are going to focus solely on under-bed safes. 

As the name implies, they slide under your bed and act as gun safes. They’ve proliferated in popularity in the last few years, and they bear mentioning. I’ve even succumbed to the under-bed gun safe and added one to my own safe collection. 

Why Under the Bed? 

For many, it will be about convenience. Living in an apartment or townhouse or similar situation limits your ability to own a traditional gun safe. It could be due to size. Gun safes tend to be large and quite heavy. You might not have room for a big stand-up gun safe. 

It might be impossible to take a 400-pound gun safe up multiple sets of stairs over and over. Heck, in some cases, there might be a safety and support issue with such a large gun safe. Also, if your collection isn’t very large, then you might not need anything bigger than an under-bed gun safe. 

For Security 

In terms of security, an under-bed safe offers you a decent degree of security versus a minimalist gun safe. Does it beat the massive, 400 pound beast of a full-sized gun safe? Nah, but compared to other compact safes, the nature of an under-bed gun safe helps with security. 

Heck, we all likely shoved a mess under our bed to hide it a time or two, right? The same principle applies. An under-the-bed gun safe doesn’t stand out or draw attention. It’s easy to hide and easy to secure. Hiding only takes you so far and shouldn’t be the only thing you do to secure your under-the-bed gun safe. 

Under the bed gun safes are super easy to bolt to the ground. Since the under-the-bed safe engages with a greater portion of the floor than a traditional compact safe, it’s much more secure when bolted to the floor. On top of that, they can also often be cabled to a heavy object. 

Personally, mine is secured to the floor and cabled to my heavy bed frame in such a way you have to cut the bed or cut the cordage to free it. It’s going to take a lot of effort to get that safe out. Trust me. It took a lot of effort to get the safe in there. 

Easy Access At Night 

Under the bed gun safes can also be quick opening designs. This allows you to safely store your home defense long gun and still have quick access to the gun. When something goes bump in the middle of the night, you can roll off the bed, pop the safe open and defend yourself. 

Under-bed gun safes make it super easy to store and access a tactical long gun. Their general layout makes it easy to grab the gun and get it into action. Most open quickly and easily and allow you to access your firearm without fighting with other firearms in your safe.

They allow you to store the firearm ready for action with a magazine, optic, sling, light, and more. Even in the middle of the day, these under-the-bed safes make it easy to get your hands on your gun and get it into action. 

Now that we know why an under-the-bed gun safe works, let’s look at some of the best on the market.

Best Under Bed Safes

1. Hornady Rapid Safe AR Gun Locker		RFID Enabled  Exceeds Cal DOJ and ASTM Standards Can be Used Vertically or Horizontally	Check Price
2. SnapSafe Under Bed Safe		Perfect for moderate-sized gun collections Tool-Free Installation Digital Keypad	Check Price
3. Stealth Defense Vault DV652		Digital Keypad Skinny, But Long CA DOJ approved	Check Price
4. Liberty Safe Handgun Vaults HD-300 Quick Vault Combo		Compact size Digital Keypad Mounting Holes and Cable Included	Check Price
5. Fort Knox Shotgun Safe		Unique Positioned Door Mechanical Simplex Lock  Carpet Lined Interior	Check Price
6. Secure It Fast Box Model		It can be used vertically or horizontally Digital Keypad Internal Neoprene cushion	Check Price
7. MonsterVault		Digital Keypad  Can Be Hung From the Top 100 Pound Drawer Capacity	Check Price

Best Under Bed Safes

1. Hornady Rapid Safe AR Gun Locker – Editors Choice
2. SnapSafe Under Bed Safe – The Big Boy
3. Stealth Defense Vault DV652 – Big, But Thin
4. Liberty Safe Handgun Vaults HD-300 Quick Vault Combo – For Just Handguns
5. Fort Knox Shotgun Safe – The Compact Option
6. Secure It Fast Box Model – The Multi-Use
7. MonsterVault – The OG

Under Bed Safe Specifications

Below is a list of our Best Under Bed Safes. So we can compare and line up the specs from each of the products and help you make the best decision possible.

Best Under Bed Safe Reviews

Now we’ve had an overview and looked at our list, let us take the time to individually review each item. In this section we’ll be revisiting our specs, speaking into the product and looking at the pros and cons.

Under Bed Gun Safes – Buyers Guide

Under the bed, safes are quite versatile and can be super easy to use in a variety of areas. Sure they can be shoved in a variety of different places. For one, you can shove them into the bed of a truck too. That’s more of an in-the-bed gun safe than an under-the-bed gun safe. 

These things can be super versatile. Toss them in the back of a truck and secure them to the bed. Now you have a built-in option to store your goodies when traveling. These can be super handy for traveling for training, or heck, for SHTF situations. 

Securing It 

I know we briefly mentioned bolting the safe down. That’s a must-have. If the safe doesn’t have a way to bolt it down, it better have a way to be cabled. Bolting the safe to the floor, and anchoring it, ensures thieves won’t just steal the safe itself. 

It takes time to break open a safe, but it doesn’t take much time to snatch a safe, throw it in a van, and drive away. The thief’s lair offers the thief plenty of time to get through the safe and get to your goodies. My under-the-bed gun safe weighs 140 pounds empty, but with a dolly, it’s not tough to move. 

Heck, it’s not tough to drag across the floor when you don’t care about someone’s floor. So bolt it down! Cable it to something even heavier! Don’t just trust the lock to secure your goodies. 

Lock It Up 

Speaking of locks, there are plenty of lock choices out there for securing your under-the-bed safe. Some are better than others, so let’s dive into that field and talk a little bit about locks. 

Biometric Locks 

Biometric locks are the new hotness. Everyone wants a biometric lock. A biometric lock reads a biometric, for locks, those can be fingerprints, iris scans, drops of blood, voice, you know all that. In the gun safe world, it seems to mean fingerprints exclusively. 

That sounds great. Scan your finger, and the safe opens. Simple, easy, and efficient. It could be, but most biometric locks don’t work that well. They’ve been tried over and over, but they tend to be lacking. A lot of times, they can fail to properly read your finger, requiring you to try over and over. 

The technology just isn’t there yet for these to be a reliable option for a safe aimed at defensive use. If you don’t ever need to access your under-bed safe rapidly, then a biometric can work perfectly. However, if this will hold your home defense guns, consider a different locking system. 

RFID 

RFID locks have become more and more popular as of late. They provide the security of a fingerprint and the speed biometric safes promise but often fail to deliver. This battery-free, signal-based key system requires a quick scan of an RFID chip that’s programmed to the safe. 

When the chip’s scanned by the receiver in the safe, it flies open, and you can grab your gun and go. These RFID chips can be anything. Hornady, in particular, uses bracelets, keychains, cards, and chips with sticky backs to fit onto anything else. These make it easy to have a ‘key’ on you at all times. 

These are my favorite options for quick access needs. 

Numeric Combinations 

Another very popular means to quickly open a safe is quick access, a short numeric combination. A four to six-digit pin that can rapidly unlock the safe. These are very popular and very easy to use. Set your pin, type it in, and boom, you’re good to go. 

Typically you want an illuminated keypad. That way, in case things are dark, you can easily see the buttons and access them on demand. I prefer nice, big buttons for my under-the-bed safe. These can be a very rapid way to open the safe and access your firearms. 

Keys 

Well, duh, traditional lock and key designs are plenty useful. Every safe I know of on the market comes with a lock and key. Biometrics, numeric codes, and RFID options all have a backup key option. Lock and key methods are as analog as it gets. 

No electricity, no batteries, nothing needed to access your safe. They do tend to be slow and require you to have the key. Although, these safes can often be a little cheaper when they are sans electronics. 

Measure Twice – Buy Once 

Oooh boy. The first under-bed gun safe I purchased was too big for my bed. I eyeballed, and a lightning deal made me click buy it now before I measured. Imagine what happened when I tried to shove it under the bed. I was frustrated, mad, and annoyed that I didn’t measure things fully. My main mistake was not factoring in the middle of the bed frame poles. 

So when you measure the bed, don’t just measure the top to bottom, width, and the basics. Don’t forget the other parts of the bed like I did. Measure exactly where to want the safe to be. Then measure it again. 

Heck, remember to account for the door opening and ensure that if there is a slide-out tray, you need to account for it as well. Returning a 140-pound gun safe isn’t cheap and isn’t quick or easy either. Be sure about where you want the safe, and be sure it will fit. 

Downsides to Underbed Safes 

Are there downsides to under-bed safes? Sure, there are a few worth mentioning. They tend to be less efficient dollar-wise when you look at the size of the safe. You can spend the same amount of money on a stand-up safe and get a larger safe overall. 

They tend to be lighter and made of a thinner gauge of steel than stand-up safes. Thinner safes offer less protection, especially in house fire situations. I actually don’t know of any under-bed safes that are fire-rated and waterproof. 

Also, it’s tougher to hide a mess under the bed when you have a safe in the way! 

Staying Safe 

Under-bed safes can be a handy and very convenient way to store your firearms. They work well for small collections or when they are aimed at home defense storage. In those roles, they tend to shine. They are very versatile, handy, and secure enough to prevent thieves and unauthorized access to your firearms. 

With their popularity rising, they’ve become extremely capable, well made, and very easy to use. They’ve become very modern and allow you to have a high-tech, home defense option in your hands. 

An under-bed safe ensures the monsters under your bed are there for your protection.