A Circular Saw Will Cut Open A Cheap Safe
There's an old saying that tends to get tossed out in just about every industry in the world. "Cheap ______ aren't good, and good _______ aren't cheap." This is absolutely true with it comes to the world of safes. Not just small inexpensive safes, but most across the industry are ridiculously easy to break into. Especially those you find at the big box and sporting goods stores. Odds are, if you're spending less than $2500 on a safe, it might as well be a cabinet in terms of security... You literally can see a guy cut through a 4-star rated popular safe with a very cheap saw... but most people don't buy safes for security these days.
Why does a person feel they need a safe above all else? Fire safety. Sure, there's a sense of security that comes with locking up your goods, at least making it a pain in the rear for a criminal to access, but the real reason people invest in these massive bohemoths is to keep their valuables safe in the event of a fire. For that, even the cheap safes are pretty good, but you just have to know the dirty secret...
Most fire rated safes on the market obtain that fire rating by stuffing cheap drywall panels between two sheets of steel, making up every surface of your safe. While they're absolutely heavy, manufactures in the under-$2500 range don't line safes with that widely-believed fire-proof concrete... It's literally the stuff that makes up your walls. That's not a bad thing, it makes fire security affordable for everyone, and it works very well.
If you've ever seen a video on how they test drywall, it stands up to fire for a shockingly long time. In fact, drywall doesn't technically burn when homes catch fire... The paint and paper lining does, and typically the wood stud walls each panel is mounted to. It's the heat that eventually disintegrates the gypsum below.
Take whatever information you want from this, just know, cheap goods aren't good, and good good aren't cheap...