RedHead Pro Hunting Team captain Jerry Martin shares his personal experience and tests the RedHead 1856 Collection Fire-Resistant Gun Safe
The heat from the fire was unbearable. The sound—a deafening roar. Hot tongues of flame licked along the edges of the roof, crawled along the sides, and finally engulfed the entire house. Within minutes the structure seemed to fold into itself. Everyone inside the house, including the family pets, had escaped without injury. But, everything inside the house was gone forever.
If you’ve ever had to experience a fire, or know someone who has, you understand this kind of devastation. RedHead Pro Hunting team member Jerry Martin does.
“It was Christmas Eve 1969. The house burned to the ground, and we lost everything we had,” said Jerry. “The fire department arrived just as the roof was caving in. There was nothing left to do at that point but let it burn.”
Jerry said they had a jug of coins in the house and the fire got so hot that the coins just melted together.
“You lose stuff you don’t really think about—old family photos and Bibles, documents, deeds, jewelry, guns and more. Some things you can replace but there’s a lot you can’t,” he said.
So, it wasn’t without some trepidation that Jerry agreed to be witness to another fire. This one involved testing the RedHead 1856 Collection Fire-Resistant Gun safe. Jerry volunteered to allow his wallet to be placed inside the safe, along with several other items, while it was tested under a controlled burn conducted by the local fire department. Watch video testing the gun safe.
I talked with Jerry about this experience and this is what he shared:
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| When RedHead Pro Hunting Team captain Jerry Martin isn't testing fire resistant gun safes, he's out in the field chasing big bucks! |
Question 1: Were you concerned your wallet wouldn’t survive this test?
| Jerry: Well, yes. I had read and knew what the safe was supposed to be capable of, but I’ve never had a safe burn so I wasn’t really sure what would happen. |
Question 2: The RedHead 1856 Collection Fire-Resistant Safe has a 1200 degree, 45 minute protection rating. What happened during the testing?
| Jerry: We topped out the thermometer on the heat of the fire. It got hotter than 1200 degrees, and we kept it at that for an hour. |
Question 3: Did the wallet and other items survive?
| Jerry: When I took out the wallet, the leather was hard, the credit cards were brittle, but everything was still intact. Even the cash and papers were ok. Some of the varnish on the gun stocks was scorched but the guns still worked just fine. |
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