Best Safe for Gold and Silver Bullion – 5 Picks by Stack Size

Best safe for gold and silver bullion – the short answer

Choose a bullion safe by its UL burglary rating first, then by how much silver you hold, then by your floor. My five picks:

• Best TL-30 safe for gold: Hollon MJ-1014E, UL listed TL-30, 463 lb, 0.87 cubic feet inside.
• Best compact TL-15: Hollon PM-1014E, the same footprint with a UL TL-15 rating and 0.89 cubic feet.
• Best for a silver stack: Hollon PM-2819E, UL TL-15, 1,060 lb, 3.75 cubic feet.
• Best hidden floor safe: Hollon B2500, B-rate, cast into concrete, about 0.9 cubic feet.
• Best large floor safe: Hollon B3500, the same build with about 2.85 cubic feet.

All five come from Hollon because the AMSEC TL-rated safes that dealers also recommend have no Amazon US listing. Every fire rating below is Hollon’s own factory test, not UL.

The best bullion safes, reviewed

Each bullion safe below resists a thief in one of two ways: UL-tested steel and weight, or concrete and concealment. Specs come from Hollon’s own pages; owner notes come from retailer reviews we read.

Hollon MJ-1014E: Best TL-30 safe for gold

3.6Best Safe Spec Score out of 5

• Security (lock and build)10/10
• Fire protection6/10
• Access (speed and ease)7/10
• Capacity3/10
• Value8/10

I gave security full marks for a UL TL-30 listing plus enough weight to need anchoring tools, kept fire at 6 because the 2-hour figure is Hollon's own test, and capacity at 3 for less than a cubic foot inside.

How we score

Check price on Amazon

What owners and reviewers say from 3 reviews and posts we read

Praised for

• Built like a tank; owners call it a beast
• One buyer moved his gold and silver out of a gun safe into it and bolted it to concrete

Common complaints

• Waits for stock: a buyer of the larger MJ-1814 had to wait for delivery, and the MJ-1014C was on backorder at the dealer when we checked

Read on: Mammoth Safes customer reviews: Hollon MJ-1014C and MJ-1014E

Who it's for: Gold stackers and anyone with a high-value but compact stack who can bolt 463 lb to a floor; the inside is small, the fire rating is the maker's own test, and dealers often list it on backorder.

The Hollon MJ-1014E is a UL-listed TL-30 burglary safe from Hollon Safe, and I put it first because TL-30 means UL’s testers needed more than 30 minutes of working time with tools to get in. That is double the TL-15 tier, in a box only 15.75 inches tall. Hollon lists it at 463 lbs, with a glass relocker, a hard plate and a compressed concrete fill.

The catch is room. The interior measures 10.25 x 14 x 10.5 inches, 0.87 cubic feet, which suits gold coins and bars far better than silver. The E version uses an EMP-resistant S&G Spartan D-Drive keypad; the MJ-1014C swaps in a Group 2M dial for anyone who wants no electronics at all.

A Mammoth Safes buyer wrote that he had kept his gold and silver in a gun safe for years, then moved it into an MJ-1014C bolted down with a 1/2 x 5 inch concrete screw. Another owner called the MJ-1014E an absolute tank. Expect a wait: the dealer had the dial version on backorder, and the Amazon listing says it ships in 2 to 3 weeks.

Hollon PM-1014E: Best compact TL-15 safe for bullion

3.6Best Safe Spec Score out of 5

• Security (lock and build)9/10
• Fire protection6/10
• Access (speed and ease)7/10
• Capacity3/10
• Value9/10

I scored security one point under the MJ-1014E because TL-15 is half the UL attack time, gave value a 9 since it costs owners about what a lesser safe would, and kept fire at 6 for a factory-only test.

How we score

Check price on Amazon

What owners and reviewers say review themes from 5 owner reviews, plus 4 posts and reviews we read

Praised for

• Heavy and sturdy for its small size
• A TL-15 with a 2-hour fire test for what one owner expected to pay for an RSC safe with 1 hour

Common complaints

• Hard to find: one buyer had never seen one in stock and almost settled for a lesser safe; another worried when tracking stopped updating

Read on: MachineShark reviews on Judge.me: Hollon PM-1014 (5 reviews)

Who it's for: Gold coins and bars that fit in under a cubic foot, kept on a floor that can carry 450 lb; it is a step below TL-30, the inside is small and dealers often have it on backorder.

The Hollon PM-1014E is a UL-listed TL-15 burglary safe from Hollon Safe, built in the same closet-size body as the MJ-1014E. You trade half the UL attack time for a lower cost, and I think that trade suits a modest gold stack. It weighs 450 lb, with the same glass relocker, hard plate cage and 5/8 inch bolt-down hole.

Inside is 10.5 x 14 x 10.5 inches, about 0.89 cubic feet. That room holds a lot of gold, since gold is dense, but a few monster boxes of silver would fill it.

Owners on MachineShark’s review page call it heavy and sturdy for its size. One wrote that he got a TL-15 with a 2-hour fire test for what he expected to pay for an RSC safe with 1 hour. The complaint is supply: one buyer had never seen one in stock and almost settled for a lesser safe. If the PM-1014E is backordered, the MJ-1014E is the step up I’d wait for.

Hollon PM-2819E: Best safe for a silver stack

4.1Best Safe Spec Score out of 5

• Security (lock and build)10/10
• Fire protection6/10
• Access (speed and ease)7/10
• Capacity9/10
• Value8/10

I scored security at the top because a UL TL-15 listing plus 1,060 lb stops a grab-and-go thief, capacity at 9 for the room silver needs, and fire at 6 because the 2-hour figure is Hollon's own test.

How we score

Check price on Amazon

What owners and reviewers say review themes from 3 owner reviews, plus 3 posts and reviews we read

Praised for

• Very solid and overbuilt for a TL-15 safe
• Arrived in good condition after smooth ordering and delivery

Common complaints

• Very heavy for its size; it comes on a freight truck and standard delivery is curbside, so one owner paid extra for garage placement

Read on: MachineShark reviews on Judge.me: Hollon PM-2819 (3 reviews)

Who it's for: Stackers with monster boxes of silver plus some gold who can place 1,060 lb on a slab or ground floor; delivery is curbside freight and the electronic lock has no key backup.

The Hollon PM-2819E is a UL-listed TL-15 burglary safe from Hollon Safe, and it is the one I’d buy once silver outgrows a small box. Inside is 28 x 18.5 x 12.5 inches, 3.75 cubic feet, more than four times the 1014 models. Hollon lists 1,060 lb, a hard plate cage through the body and door, a glass relocker and a bolt-down hole.

Its weight is both the security and the problem. Nobody walks it out the way that forum member’s 150 lb safe left his house, but placing it takes equipment. The listing says delivery is curbside freight, and one owner on MachineShark paid extra to have it set in his garage. Owners there also call it solid and overbuilt.

The fire rating is the honest caveat: 2 hours at 350°F inside, with up to 1750°F outside, from Hollon’s own factory test, not UL. The electronic lock has no key backup, so the dial PM-2819C suits stackers who distrust batteries. I’d pick the Hollon PM-2819E for a ground floor or slab.

Hollon B2500: Best hidden floor safe for bullion

3.0Best Safe Spec Score out of 5

• Security (lock and build)8/10
• Fire protection3/10
• Access (speed and ease)5/10
• Capacity4/10
• Value9/10

I rate security high for a B-rate box because the concrete does the anchoring and hiding, value at 9 for the cheapest real concealment here, and fire at 3 with no published rating.

How we score

Check price on Amazon

What owners and reviewers say review themes from 4 owner reviews, plus 2 posts and reviews we read

Praised for

• Well built for its cost and hides well under carpet
• Smooth S&G dial and a gas strut that holds the door open

Common complaints

• One owner likens the inside to a milk crate, so it fills quickly

Read on: Dean Safe reviews on Judge.me: Hollon B2500 (3 reviews) · eBay product reviews: Hollon B2500 Floor Safe (1 reviews)

Who it's for: Homeowners with a concrete slab they can cut, storing gold and a few tubes of silver; renters and upper floors can't use it, it has no fire rating and the inside collects moisture.

The Hollon B2500 is a B-rate in-ground floor safe from Hollon Safe, meant to be cast into a concrete foundation and covered by a rug. A burglar has to find it first, then face a 1/2 inch solid steel door, five steel bolts, a full-length dead bar and a drill-resistant hard plate. Hollon says a found floor safe takes a jackhammer to pry out.

The lock is a UL-listed Group 2 dial with an external relocker, and Hollon does not warranty electronic locks on in-ground safes, so batteries never come into it. Inside is 12.9 x 10.9 x 11.3 inches, about 0.9 cubic feet. A Dean Safe reviewer compared it to a milk crate under the floor, while calling it well built and extremely stout once cased in concrete.

What I’d plan around: B-rate is a construction class, not a lab attack test, and there is no fire rating. Hollon itself warns floor safes collect moisture and suggests zip-lock bags or tubs inside. The Hollon B2500 suits gold and a few silver tubes.

Hollon B3500: Best large floor safe for silver

3.1Best Safe Spec Score out of 5

• Security (lock and build)8/10
• Fire protection3/10
• Access (speed and ease)5/10
• Capacity7/10
• Value8/10

I gave it the same security score as the B2500 since the build is the same, more capacity points for roughly triple the room, and the same low fire score because Hollon publishes no fire rating for it.

How we score

Check price on Amazon

What owners and reviewers say review themes from 2 owner reviews, plus 1 posts and reviews we read

Praised for

• Build quality and room for documents for the price

Common complaints

• Owner reviews are scarce; the one we found describes no problem yet, so we lean on B2500 owners and Hollon's own moisture warning

Read on: Guardian Safe & Vault: Hollon B3500 Floor Safe (2 reviews)

Who it's for: Homeowners on a slab with monster boxes of silver; it needs a large hole in the floor, has no fire rating and needs moisture control inside.

The Hollon B3500 is a B-rate floor safe from Hollon Safe with the same door, bolts, dead bar, hard plate and Group 2 dial as the B2500, and roughly triple the room. Its interior is 16.5 x 13 x 23 inches, about 2.85 cubic feet, close to the PM-2819E’s 3.75 cubic feet without the 1,060 lb delivery.

The trade-off is the hole. Its body measures 18 x 13.5 x 23.5 inches and weighs 140 lb before the concrete goes in, a contractor job in most houses; our floor safe installation steps show what that involves. It has no fire rating and the same moisture risk.

Owner feedback on this exact model is thin: the one short review we read, on Guardian Safe & Vault, praised the build and the room. I’d still choose the Hollon B3500 for silver that must stay out of sight.

Bullion safe comparison

The table below compares the five bullion safes on burglary rating, fire rating with its source, room and weight.

Which bullion safe should you get

Match the safe to your metal and your floor; this is the rule I’d use:

• Mostly gold, any floor that holds 463 lb: Hollon MJ-1014E, or the PM-1014E if TL-15 fits your holdings.
• A silver stack that keeps growing, ground floor or slab: Hollon PM-2819E.
• A slab you can cut and theft is the only worry: Hollon B2500 for gold, B3500 for silver.
• Renting: none of these suits a lease without the landlord’s written OK; see our apartment safe picks.

How we picked these bullion safes

We listed the safes that the top-ranking gold and silver safe guides recommend, kept those at least two of them name, then kept only models with their own in-stock Amazon US listing. Guardian Safe & Vault, Bullion.Directory and Paper & Padlock name the Hollon MJ series; Guardian, Wise With Gold and Paper & Padlock name the PM-1014; Guardian and Safe and Vault Store name the PM-2819E; Guardian and NationwideSafes.com carry the B-rate floor safes.

AMSEC’s CEV and CF TL-rated safes, named by three of those pages, fell out because Amazon doesn’t list them. None of our five picks was sold by Amazon itself when we checked; all ship from third-party sellers. We have not used these safes: the facts come from Hollon’s spec pages and 13 owner reviews we read. Our safe buying checklist covers what to measure before you order.

From our notes: The number 1.84 reshaped the order of this list. We had started with gold in mind, so the two 1014 models looked like the obvious picks. Then we worked out silver by volume: at 10.49 grams per cubic centimeter against gold’s 19.32, a troy ounce of silver takes about 1.84 times the space. A thousand ounces of silver is roughly 181 cubic inches of solid metal before tubes and boxes, against 1,544 cubic inches inside the PM-1014E. That is why the PM-2819E and B3500 made the list.

Why a bullion safe needs a burglary rating first

Gold and silver survive most house fires better than paper does, but a burglar takes everything, so the burglary rating comes first. In FBI figures for 2019, only 3.5 percent of the value of stolen jewelry and precious metals was recovered.

Ratings are hard to compare, a complaint that comes up again and again on r/Safes and r/preppers. Here is how the labels rank, strongest first:

1. UL TL-30: a UL listing after at least 30 minutes of working time by testers with tools. The MJ-1014E carries it.
2. UL TL-15: the same test at 15 minutes; the PM-1014E and PM-2819E carry it.
3. B-rate: a construction class, roughly a 1/2 inch door and 1/4 inch body. No lab attacks it, so it relies on concrete or bolts.
4. UL Residential Security Container: the entry listing most gun safes carry, a short attack with hand tools.

A Coin Talk member wrote, “Currently I have some bullion and my coins in a small bolted-down Sentry fire safe.” That is a fire box, not a burglary safe. The Silver Dragons video below, with a safe expert, makes the same case: a burglary safe, a mechanical dial, bolted to concrete.

How much room gold and silver take in a safe

Silver, not gold, decides the size of your safe, because it takes about 1.84 times the room per troy ounce. A troy ounce is 31.1 grams, so 1,000 troy ounces of silver weighs about 68.6 lb. As solid metal that is roughly 181 cubic inches; packed in tubes and monster boxes it takes far more.

Compare the interiors, worked out from Hollon’s inside dimensions:

• PM-1014E: 10.5 x 14 x 10.5 in = 1,544 cubic inches.
• MJ-1014E: 10.25 x 14 x 10.5 in = 1,507 cubic inches.
• B2500: about 1,589 cubic inches.
• B3500: about 4,934 cubic inches.
• PM-2819E: 28 x 18.5 x 12.5 in = 6,475 cubic inches.

Weight matters for your floor too. The PM-2819E puts 1,060 lb on a 24 x 22.5 inch base, about 283 lb per square foot, and the MJ-1014E about 173. Guardian Safe & Vault cites roughly 40 lb per square foot for living-area framing and advises setting heavy safes across the joists near a load-bearing wall. On an upper floor I’d ask a contractor first.

Bullion safe problems owners run into, and the fix

Most bullion losses we read about came from a safe that left the house, metal that tarnished inside it, or a safe bought too small. The fixes:

• The safe gets carried off. A Collectors Universe member warned, “Bolting it to a wall or into wood studs in the floor is surprisingly easy to break loose with a good crowbar and saws-all.” Anchor into concrete wherever you can; our guide on how to bolt down a safe covers slabs and wood floors.
• Silver tones in a fire safe. Another member explained, “Many use a layer of moisture laden concrete in the outer housing that makes the inside have high humidity.” All three standing picks use a concrete mix, and the floor safes sit in damp concrete. Keep silver in sealed tubs with desiccant and a hygrometer.
• The safe fills up. “Buy 2x as large as you think you need,” one collector advised, and dealers say the same. If silver is still coming in, start at the PM-2819E or B3500.
• Insurance stops at 200 dollars. The sample HO-3 homeowners policy limits money, bullion, gold, silver and coins to 200 dollars. Ask your insurer about a scheduled endorsement and which safe rating it requires; I can’t tell you what your policy covers.

If your stack is mostly coins rather than bars and rounds, our coin collection safe guide covers holders and toning in more depth, and our jewelry safe guide covers mixed valuables.