Browning Gun Safes Duo-Plus Storage System

When you look at the history of safes, there has been a lot of improvement over the years, but mostly by building upon the foundation that has historically been set. For example, Browning gun safes have concentrated on security by making sure that their safes are well constructed, that the doors can resist prying and that locking mechanisms are top notch. They have concentrated on fire protection by offering various thickness' of insulation to provide the amount of protection needed under different circumstances. All Browning gun safes are UL rated for both security and fire. So when they were asked what the next big innovation was in safe design, what was their answer? According to Dale Weathers, a Browning gun safe product manager, the "big advances will be in increasing the useful storage capacity of gun safes -- specifically the ease of getting to your guns."

The obvious questions that this response brings to mind are, "what does this mean?" and "what is Browning's solution to storage capacity?"

First, what does this mean? Well, safes come in all sizes, and some of them today are getting fairly big. But, let’s face it, a home safe can only get so big before you are really discussing a vault! You need to maximize the space you have when dealing with something so heavy. I think that there are a variety of reasons why safe interiors need to be more efficient. First, America is a fairly wealth society so people have more valuables to protect. Second, I think that people are becoming savvier and realizing that they already have things that should be protected. And third, it seems that in many industries once the basics of the function of the product is secure, then usability becomes more of an issue.

Browning gun safes have addressed storage capacity by coming up with an innovative storage solution called Duo-Plus Storage Systems. The Duo-Plus is what is known as a convertible interior, meaning that the configuration of the interior can be changed as your needs change. My guess that "duo" is used because it means 'a pair of people or things' and in the safe the interior serves a 'duo' purpose. The two purposes are to store long guns and to store anything else you may have that needs protecting. The Duo-Plus system has a combination of shelves and long gun storage. The 'plus' refers to the extra storage that is available by utilizing the space on the back of the door. What is revolutionary is that it includes storage capabilities for additional long guns on the door.

All of the latest Browning gun safes come with the Duo-Plus system and the system have a three number rating code for gun capacity. For example, the gun capacity for the Browning Platinum Plus Gun Safe is 22/33+10. What do these numbers mean exactly? The first number refers to the gun capacity of the safe if half of the safe is taken up with shelves, so in this case: 22. The second number is the safe capacity if the shelves are removed, so 33. The +10 refers to the number of additional long guns that can be stored on the back of the door using the Duo-Plus Storage System. So if you have a large collection of long guns, the maximum capacity of this safe is 43.

Besides long guns, there is a Duo-Plus Extra (DPX) which holds long guns on the back of the door plus it has holsters for handguns and pouches and pockets for storing a variety of other small items on the door as well.

If you are in the market for a safe, besides comparing the security and fire ratings, also consider the inside storage configuration. Besides Browning gun safes, many other manufacturers on the market also offer a variety of inside storage options.