Quick Answer: The Stack-On Sentinel 40-Gun is the best overall Stack-On gun safe — a genuine 30-minute/1,400°F fire rating and 40-long-gun capacity for around $549.99-$729.99. Buyers who need less room should get the Total Defense 24, a 22-24 gun safe with the same fire rating for around $300-$450, and anyone who just wants visible deterrence without fire protection should look at the GCB-8RTA, an 8-gun steel cabinet for around $120-$225. For a drawer-mounted handgun option, get the current PDS-1800-E (around $75-$120) rather than the discontinued PDS-500 — Stack-On’s own current lineup no longer lists the older model.
Stack-On’s current catalog spans genuine fire-rated safes, a lighter cabinet tier, and a compact drawer safe rather than one continuous product line, so which model fits depends on whether fire protection or just visible deterrence and budget matter most. We compared the lineup on capacity, fire rating, lock type, and price to help you land on the right one.
Stack-On safes and cabinets compared
| Model | Capacity | Fire rating | Best for | Price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stack-On Sentinel 40-Gun | 40 long guns | 30 min / 1,400°F | Best overall | ~$549.99-$729.99 | ★★★★★ |
| Stack-On Total Defense 24 | 22-24 long guns | 30 min / 1,400°F | Best fire-rated budget | ~$300-$450 | ★★★★½ |
| Stack-On GCB-8RTA | 8 long guns | None (cabinet) | Best value / deterrence | ~$120-$225 | ★★★★ |
| Stack-On PDS-1800-E | 1-2 handguns (drawer) | None | Best drawer-mount | ~$75-$120 | ★★★★ |
Stack-On Sentinel 40-Gun
- Real 30-minute/1,400°F fire rating at a price well under most other 40-gun-capacity safes on the market, per Stack-On's own product spec.
- 3 live-action locking bolts plus a pry-resistant door for meaningfully more theft resistance than the cabinet tier below.
- Sold through retailers like Academy Sports and Sportsman's Warehouse rather than direct from Stack-On, so it's worth price-checking more than one source — prices we found ranged from $549.99 (in-store pickup) to $729.99 (shipped).
Stack-On Total Defense 24
- Same 30-minute/1,400°F fire rating as the larger Sentinel, in a smaller footprint and at roughly half the price.
- Available with either a back-lit electronic keypad or a traditional 3-number dial combination lock, depending on the exact SKU.
- Fireproof and waterproof door seal protects against both fire and the water damage that often follows a house fire.
Stack-On GCB-8RTA
- Ready-to-assemble steel cabinet with a 3-point locking system that secures the door at the top, bottom, and side.
- Foam-padded cabinet bottom and foam barrel rests protect firearms from scuffs — a detail missing on cheaper unlined cabinets.
- Carries no fire rating at all — this is a security cabinet, not a safe, and shouldn't be treated as fire protection.
Stack-On PDS-1800-E
- Current replacement for the discontinued PDS-500 — pre-drilled mounting holes and hardware included for bolting under a drawer, shelf, or wall.
- Electronic keypad with a safety-key override for backup access if the battery dies or the code is forgotten.
- Compact enough for a desk drawer or nightstand shelf, with real steel construction rather than a lightweight lock box.
Last verified October 2026: added a current CPSC safety warning on Stack-On’s biometric safe lineup below, on top of the existing 2019 Sentinel recall disclosure.
A current safety warning, not just an old recall
The 2019 Sentinel recall below is old and already remedied — a bigger, unresolved issue is more recent. In January 2025, the CPSC issued a public safety warning covering roughly 183,000 Stack-On and Alpha Guardian biometric safes, pistol vaults, and lock boxes (PC-, PDS-, PS-, QAS-, SHD-, SS-, and TD-series models with a “-B” suffix) after three incidents in which the fingerprint-programming feature failed and let an unpaired fingerprint open the safe — including a 5-year-old in Michigan who required surgery after a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The CPSC’s guidance: remove the batteries powering the biometric feature, disable the fingerprint reader entirely (puncturing it with a screwdriver if needed), and use only the physical key. Unlike the 2019 bolt recall, Stack-On Products Co. has refused to agree to a formal recall and objects to the warning — there’s no company-issued refund or replacement program behind this one. The four safes recommended in this guide (Sentinel 40-Gun, Total Defense 24, GCB-8RTA, PDS-1800-E) use mechanical dial, electronic keypad, or plain key locks, not the biometric fingerprint feature named in the warning, but if you or someone you know owns an older Stack-On “-B” suffix biometric model, the CPSC’s warning applies regardless of where it was purchased.
A recall worth knowing, scoped to one older Sentinel size
In March 2019, Alpha Guardian — Stack-On’s parent company — recalled about 1,250 Stack-On Sentinel safes after a bolt malfunction could let the safe open without using the key or combination, posing an injury hazard per the CPSC’s own recall notice. The recall covered a single style number, FSS18-64-MB-E-S, a 64-gun-capacity Sentinel sold only from November through December 2018. Alpha Guardian offered affected owners a free refund or replacement at the time. This does not apply to the 40-Gun Sentinel recommended above — it’s a different capacity and was never part of the recalled style number — but if you own or are buying a used 64-gun Stack-On Sentinel from that era, it’s worth checking the style number on the safe’s data plate against FSS18-64-MB-E-S before relying on it.
Why the PDS-500 isn’t on this list
The PDS-500 drawer safe was a longtime budget pick in this category, but it’s been discontinued by Stack-On — it no longer appears anywhere in the company’s current personal-safes lineup (which now runs PDS-1800-E, PS-1808-E, PS-1814-E, PS-1820-E, and QAS-1845-E), and it’s flagged as unavailable at retailers that used to carry it, including Best Buy and Lowe’s. The PDS-1800-E is Stack-On’s current closest equivalent — similar electronic-lock drawer-mount design, at a similar price point.
For a brand-vs-brand comparison instead of a single-brand rundown, see our best gun safe brands overview, or our Liberty vs Fort Knox guide for how a premium pairing stacks up. If you’re not committed to Stack-On specifically, our best large gun safe guide ranks top 40+-gun-capacity picks across every brand on this site. Shopping at Academy Sports + Outdoors instead of online? Academy stocks its own Redfield house brand rather than genuine Stack-On safes — see our Academy gun safe guide for pricing and a real safety recall worth knowing about first. Rural King sells genuine Stack-On safes too, just under its own exclusive model numbers — see our Rural King gun safe guide for details. Home Depot also stocks Stack-On directly, alongside a growing tail of marketplace-only brands — see our Home Depot gun safe guide for the full breakdown. Menards carries the Everest line too, next to its own Menards-only Ridgeline safes and a well-known rebate that pays out as store credit weeks later rather than a discount at checkout — see our Menards gun safe guide before assuming that rebate sticker is the real price. Dunham’s Sports sells genuine Stack-On too, but only as non-fire-rated “security cabinets” (8-gun and 14-gun) rather than any of Stack-On’s fire-rated safes — see our Dunham’s gun safe guide for that distinction.
The bottom line
Sentinel and Sovereign aren’t the only Stack-On-family names to watch for — Walmart’s gun-safe page sells safes under both, right alongside plain Stack-On-branded models; see our Walmart gun safe guide for the full breakdown of who owns what. Stack-On also builds the entire Field & Stream lineup sold at Dick’s Sporting Goods and Tractor Supply — a licensed outdoor-brand name rather than an in-house one, but the same manufacturer underneath; see our Field & Stream gun safe guide for what that means for price and quality.
For most buyers who need real capacity and fire protection at a reasonable price, the Sentinel 40-Gun is Stack-On’s best current safe. Buyers who don’t need 40-gun capacity should get the Total Defense 24 for the same fire rating at a lower price, budget shoppers who just want visible deterrence should go with the GCB-8RTA cabinet, and anyone needing a drawer-mounted handgun safe should get the PDS-1800-E — Stack-On’s current replacement for the discontinued PDS-500.