Vital Impact 42 Gun Safe Review

Vital Impact is a relatively unknown brand in the safe industry. They are sold exclusively at Sportsman’s Warehouse and is their private label brand. They contract other manufacturers to build safes for them and just slap their Vital Impact logo on it. This safe in particular is made by Alpha Guardian in the same Chinese factory they produce the Stack-On safes in. Overall, this Vital Impact 42 Gun Safe is not very good quality and there are far better options. In this review I’ll explain what you should buy instead.

Lock – Vital Impact 42 Gun Safe

The Lock used on the Vital Impact 42 Gun Safe is the worst part of the safe to be perfectly blunt. They use the same cheap Solenoid lock with key override found on Sports Afield, Mesa and nearly every other low end gun safe brand. The key override is included to help you gain access to the safe when the lock inevitably fails, and it will fail.

A safe is only as good as its lock and I always recommend a UL rated high security lock made by NL, SecuRam or S&G. When a lock doesn’t even come with a brand, that is a huge red flag and I would not purchase this safe purely because of the lock.

Security – Vital Impact 42 Gun Safe

When it comes to security, the Vital Impact 42 Gun Safe is constructed of 14 gauge steel which is consistent with comparable models. It has a total of 6 steel locking bolts with only three active on the door side. It does not include a relocker or hardplate with the Solenoid lock which helps protect against drilling attacks and they likely did not include it because there are just too many weak points on the safe.

I would not be surprised if this could be opened with a screwdriver and a hammer, you don’t even need a crowbar. Another common weak point in these safes is the locks reset button which is just a red button inside the door that can usually be accessed with a coat wire. This safe does come with a metal cap over the reset button which is better than the typical configuration. There are just too many access points for me to recommend this safe from a security standpoint and it has absolutely no burglary rating.

Fire Rating

The fire rating on the Vital Impact 42 Gun Safe is 30 minutes at 1200 degrees. The safe has not been tested by any independent agency, so we have no idea if the safe will actually survive even that. There is also no mention of an intumescent door seal and looking at the pictures, it does not appear to have one.

I would be very surprised if this safe survived even the standard house fire and I would not recommend it for fire protection.

Style and Function

The Vital Impact 42 Gun Safe is finished in a textured black powder coat paint job with chrome 3-spoke handle. The interior has gray carpeting and features a dual gun rack with adjustable or removable side shelves. The door is just plain metal with no door panel and what appear to be twelve plastic pistol holsters adhered to the metal.

There is no electrical outlet, no lights, this is a bare-bones, cheap as you can get gun safe. While the safe claims to have a 42 long gun capacity, there is no way you will get 42 guns in there. I would be surprised if you were able to fit 20.

The Bottom Line

While the Vital Impact 42 Gun Safe is very attractively priced (on sale for only $799), the quality leaves a lot to be desired. The safe is far too easily defeated, it has a very poor quality lock and no independently tested burglary or fire rating. There are much better options with UL rated high security locks in this category such as the Stealth EGS28.

The reasons I like this safe better are because it comes with a UL Rated High Security Electronic Lock, a much more durable paint job, Molle Door Panel Organizer, Electrical outlet and limited lifetime warranty from a reliable company. Yes, it does cost a little bit more but it will save you a giant headache when the Vital Impact safe decides to stop opening.