Armory Sponsor
Posted: 12/9/2011 7:49:17 PM EDT
Compare these two photos, and give me your impressions. Tell me if you think these two safes are made by the same company.
|
|
Sometimes it's best not to look, right?
The bottom pic seems to have a hardplate, as you can't see the edges of the drywall. It also looks like it has a relocker, right? I might feel better about it if the wires were secured. Would also feel better if I saw some red locktite dripping from the bolts. Certainly has that "randomly located" thing going for it. For the life of me, I can't figure out how that mechanism works... it would certainly slow me down. |
|
Everytime I pull the back cover of a gun safe on a service call, the owners want to come over and take a look. They are never impressed, because there's usually not much to be impressed about in modern day safes. Safes stopped being impressive about 70 years ago when manufacturers became more interested in keeping the cost down. This eliminated most of the fancy craftsmanship.
The reason I pointed these two photos out, is because it appears to me that the safes are made by the same company. The problem is that one safe is a known Chinese import. The other safe claims to be made here in the US. |
|
They look very similar. Maybe the Chinese import copied the US version design?
This is a very common tactic, but the type of construction seen on these safes started in China. I seriously doubt a US builder would try to copy the Chinese version. A much more likely scenario is that the company claiming they are building them in the US is actually having them built in China. |
|
I have a very extensive photo collection, so sometimes I know I have seen something before, yet I can't place exactly where. I'll eventually find it after looking for awhile.
How about this? 
This photo is of another safe that a friend of mine imports, so I also know it's from China. Even the stamped metal pieces are the same, even though the lock set up is different. The safe claiming to be made in the US is Patriot. |
|
I am not a safe tech, but in my mind there are only a certain number of ways to accomplish the tasks you need to in a locking mechanism. It would not surprise me that they would look similar.
It would also not surprise me if an American company would buy a locking mechanism from China and then install it in their safes. Who knows what all is going on behind the scenes. You hear all the time about how many "American" cars are built out of parts from all over the world and vice versa. I have seen the back of a TRTL 60 door on a ?10-15 year old safe and that was a work of art. I believe it was made out of some sort of brass to avoid corrosion. |
|
I've seen safes claiming to be "Made in the USA" that have the same inspection and serial number tags on the body as the safes made in China which leads me to believe they are not importing parts to make their own safes but being misleading about their safes actually being "Made in USA.". With the type of reputation Patriot Safe has built for themselves I wouldn't put it past them to lie.
|
Armory Sponsor