I’ve been seeing this question, who builds Winchester gun safes?, pop up more and more every time I search for gun safes so I thought I would answer it directly for you and break down exactly who makes them. Winchester is actually a rifle company that doesn’t build safes at all but has partnered with Granite Security products out of Texas and licensed them the name. For a period of time, they had brought nearly all of the manufacturing back to the USA in Ft. Worth Texas but then back around 2016, Winchester aka Granite Security Products closed their factory and moved all of their production back overseas to China. They have partnered with the Chinese company TigerKing to make and produce gun safes. Just because a gun safe is Made in China does not mean it is bad quality. There are many high quality safes coming out of China and some of the safes Winchester aka Granite Security products imports are good and some not so good. Also keep in mind that safes are made up of multiple parts including the safe body, the lock, hardplate, re-locker, interior and other features. Keep reading to find out which ones make the cut and why.
Lock
Winchester uses a variety of three locks depending on the model. Starting with the Bandit series and everything higher, they include the S&G mechanical lock which is UL approved Type 2 High Security. This is an extremely high quality lock and the only mechanical lock I recommend. Next, they use the S&G UL electronic lock which is UL approved Type 1 High Security. This is one of the electronic locks I recommend with the other two being NL and SecuRam. S&G is the oldest lock company in the world and is very reliable with an excellent service department. You can’t go wrong with either of these options. The lock I have issue with that Winchester uses is on the TS series on Tractor Supply. This is their cheapest option and the price point is unbelievable. However with safes, you get what you pay for and this lock will eventually disappoint you. It is a cheap Solenoid lock that will inevitably fail and includes a key backup to get into the safe when that day comes. Key overrides compromise your security and should be avoided. Look for a UL rated high security lock any time you are shopping for a safe preferably made by S&G, SecuRam or NL.
Ship from Location
Winchester imports from TigerKing in China, ships from Tacoma, Washington and services the entire USA. They have huge partnerships with big box stores like Tractor Supply.
Headquarters
Winchester still lists their mailing address as Mansfield, Texas on their website however I do not believe they have an actual headquarters anymore. They used to be a rather large company producing and shipping from Ft Worth Texas but have been reduced to merely an importer that doesn’t even ship out of their own location and uses the same fulfillment service as Sports Afield in Tacoma, Washington.
The Bottom Line
While I’m not a huge fan of the Winchester safe line, the Bandit series and up are still good quality products that use a high quality lock and standard security features. I would recommend not purchasing the Tractor Supply TS line due to its low quality lock and key override. For the price, there are better options out there like the Stealth safes, Remington safes and Liberty safes. So to answer the original question, who builds Winchester gun safes? The answer is Granite Security Products licenses the name and imports from TigerKing, a Chinese manufacturer.
Click Here to view Winchester gun safes on TractorSupply.com
