I have small children and 2 handguns.  I was looking for something very secure to store them in, along with some computer backups, photo albums and important papers like birth certificates and passports.  We're not big jewelry folks so there really isn't anything else I need to store in a safe.  I have no experience with safes, although a few friends have purchased Liberty gun safes from big box stores and seemed thrilled with fire ratings in the 60-90 minute range.  I spent a few days drowning in the sea of internet safe information and recommendations before stumbling on a safe I'd read a number of positive reviews on - an AMSEC BF.

I came across a 14 year old AMSEC BF3416.  The manual dial seemed to work just fine, the door opened freely and it looked all but new to me.  I picked it up for $500.  I know this is a fraction of it's cost new and that it is still being made.  While not as big as the gun safes my friends purchased, I don't own or intend to purchase a shotgun.  For my needs, this seems more than ample space for the foreseeable future.  I don't intend on growing my firearms collection beyond 1 or 2 more handguns.  I initially thought the AMSEC BF series had a 1 hour fire rating, but after noticing the UL listing tag on the safe I purchased, I now know that every AMSEC BF BUT the one I'd just purchased had the 1 hour rating and mine was the one with only a 30 minute rating.  I found a thread in this forum searching the internet for AMSEC BF3416 that seemed to indicate you had some knowledge on this model.  I'd like to understand as much about this particular safe as I can or as you'd like to share.   Is this likely a far better fire protection/security setup than a big box store gun safe?

You have found a fine burglary-fire home safe, and you can rest assured that the 30 minute UL Class 350 listing that safe bears is more than adequate for your needs.

The BF Security Safe line, which is the "other" BF line, a family of smaller non-gunsafe models, has a fire rating for a MUCH higher exposure range than a "gunsafe". That listing is on a much higher fire curve, running 1750º at one hour. The other conditions are also much more severe and demanding. When compared to a gunsafe rated at 1200º, the BF Security Safe with a 30 minute listing is a superstar.  If I were to venture an educated guess, that BF3416 would probably go 90 minutes or more.