Top of the Rhino line! A 7-gauge steel body, an optional 7-gauge AR500 inner liner, the patented SafeX® Security System, and the longest fire rating we build, with a Limited Lifetime Warranty covering attempted break-in, break-in and fire.
Find a dealer for availability and special offers.
Thunderbolt is where we stop making compromises. It is the heaviest steel we form, the longest fire rating we build, and the only series that can be ordered with an AR500 inner liner. If you have a collection that would be genuinely hard to replace, this is the series built for it.
Three sizes, holding 38, 42 or 51 long guns, each available in two finishes. The security package is identical across all six. The only thing the finish changes is how the safe looks in the room.
Most gun safes in this price range are built from 10 or 12 gauge steel. Thunderbolt bodies are formed from 7 gauge, which is roughly three times the thickness of the 14 gauge used at the entry end of this category. Thickness is not a marketing number here. It is what decides whether a pry bar can deform the body enough to open a gap in the first place.
On top of the body steel, Thunderbolt is the one series that can be ordered with a 7 gauge AR500 steel inner liner. AR500 is abrasion resistant plate, the same material used for rifle targets, and it is there to defeat cutting and drilling rather than prying.
The prying is handled by our patented SafeX® Security System, which interlocks the door and body instead of relying on bolts thrown behind a frame. Behind the dial sits a gear-driven patented F-4 clutch, a ball bearing drill plate, and a spring loaded relocker that fires if the lock is attacked. The handle is our patented anti-tamper clutched design. Every Thunderbolt carries a UL listed lock and is UL certified RSC and California DOJ compliant.
Thunderbolt is rated for 160 minutes at 1400°F, the longest rating in our line. Fireboard runs through the ceiling, the walls, the floor and the door, not just the shell, and a triple heat activated intumescent seal around the door expands up to eight times its size as the temperature climbs, closing the gap against heat and smoke.
We will not call it fireproof, because no safe is. Fire resistant is the honest term, and a fire rating is a window of time measured under test conditions. The real number in your house depends on where the safe sits, how the room is framed and how long the fire burns. What a longer rating buys is a wider margin, and 160 minutes is the widest one we make.
Count the long guns you own, then add the next five years. The 51 gun model is a large gun safe by any measure, a little over 1,500 pounds before anything goes in it. Running out of room is the most common regret we hear, and the step up in size costs far less than buying a second safe later. Note that long gun capacity assumes the interior is set up for it. Add optics and the practical number comes down.
Each size comes two ways. The Ironworks finish is antiqued, with a cast hand wheel vault style handle, for a heavier industrial look. The gloss finish uses a five spoke vault style handle with decorative finials and can be ordered in custom colors. Same steel, same fire rating, same lock package.
Everything below is included, not optional. The fully adjustable, fully upholstered Rhino Vector™ interior with rifle rods, a deluxe door organizer with handgun holders and pockets, factory installed five wand LED lighting with an infrared motion sensor, an internal electrical and USB outlet, and an electric dehumidifier in the box. External hinges let the door open a full 180 degrees, which matters more than people expect when the safe sits in a corner. Floor anchoring hardware is included.
Thunderbolt safes are made in the USA with global components at our plant in Caldwell, Idaho.
Limited lifetime warranty. It covers defects in workmanship and materials, and, unlike most warranties in this category, damage from an attempted or actual break-in, or from a fire. If someone attacks your safe, we repair or replace it. Compare the rest of the line on the gun safes page, or find a dealer to see one in person.
