Thread: Gun cabinet - questions

So, finally my FAL application is in (now that I've finally finished building the "shed") during which time I've acquired a home made gun safe, which has been fabricated out of 6mm plate, with external welded on very heavy duty "hinges".

I have a couple of questions for the collective wisdom. Reading through the "safe storage" requirements it says steel cabinets should be 3mm minimum but if they are less than 3mm the door should have internal bracing to stop it being bent or deformed....given that my cabinet is 6mm...do I still need this bracing? The guide is somewhat open to interpretation!

Second Q, the guide also states that hinges should be internal or protected, given that my external hinges are welded on and the smallest dimension of there format is 7mm...what do I protect them with?
Also, cabinet door is secured by one high security padlock that passes through the wall and door of cabinet at the top right corner, is this sufficient or should I add another padlock at the bottom corner?
My aim is to ensure that a: my cabinet will pass inspection and b: make my firearms as secure as possible.
Cheers in advance for your input 👍🏻

I can see the hinges being a problem. To me that sounds like a fail as per the wording, as the hinge is neither internal nor shielded. How thick the steel on the hinges is itself is kinda irrelevant. You would need to shield them... with more steel... to prevent power tools or pry bars getting to them easily.

Or you can cross your fingers and hope your AO doesn't notice. But a homemade safe is bound to be subject to maximum scrutiny, so I don't rate your chances.

stepped plates on inside so even if hinges cut off you cant pull door out and shields over padlocks so cant get to shackles bit like forestry gates .

Yep, that seems reasonable and mirrors my own thoughts about "home made" being subjected to greater scrutiny. Even though ply gun cabinets have been acceptable since Adam was a boy 🤷🏻*♂️

Can you expand on "stepped plates" please, I'm not getting your picture 👍🏻😁

If still in doubt, take a picture and send it to your local AO and get their advice/interpretation. After all, they will be the one to give you the thumbs up or not.

Originally Posted by Zedrex

Can you expand on "stepped plates" please, I'm not getting your picture ������

I'm not an engineer so it's hard to explain. Our cheaper safes at GC have something similar to what he is talking about. There is plates almost like a hook that prevents you from taking the door off even if the hinges are cut. Goes all the way from top to bottom of the door on the hinge side and just hooks in behind the frame so while door is closed it's stuck on that side as well as the locking side.

I sent pictures as part of my FAL application through the Firearms Authority web portal, so I might hear in advance if there's anything they're not happy with..maybe?

Originally Posted by -BW-

If still in doubt, take a picture and send it to your local AO and get their advice/interpretation. After all, they will be the one to give you the thumbs up or not.

I sent pictures as part of my FAL application through the Firearms Authority web portal, so I might hear in advance if there's anything they're not happy with..maybe?

Originally Posted by Coop

I'm not an engineer so it's hard to explain. Our cheaper safes at GC have something similar to what he is talking about. There is plates almost like a hook that prevents you from taking the door off even if the hinges are cut. Goes all the way from top to bottom of the door on the hinge side and just hooks in behind the frame so while door is closed it's stuck on that side as well as the locking side.

Aah, yep, I getcha now 😎

The steel angle is the best/easiest option. Here's a sketch of what I did with a 3mm door and body, external hinges and the inspector was more than happy.
A rectangular frame welded inside the door provides the bracing and with the hinge side of the angle turned outwards there is no way to remove the door even with the hinges removed.
I did place a lock at the top and bottom corners to stop the risk of twisting the door. As mentioned steel surrounding the lock like forestry gates is perfect, Use RHS if you can find some or cut/weld it in the size you need.

Originally Posted by No good names left

The steel angle is the best/easiest option. Here's a sketch of what I did with a 3mm door and body, external hinges and the inspector was more than happy.
A rectangular frame welded inside the door provides the bracing and with the hinge side of the angle turned outwards there is no way to remove the door even with the hinges removed.
I did place a lock at the top and bottom corners to stop the risk of twisting the door. As mentioned steel surrounding the lock like forestry gates is perfect, Use RHS if you can find some or cut/weld it in the size you need.
Attachment 222731

Thanks for taking the time to give such a detailed answer, a picture is worth a thousand words. I can see exactly what I need to do from that, awesome, cheers 👍🏻

So just a follow up on this, at my gun safety course, instructor/examiner advised me to talk to local Arms Officer, after a bit of toing and froing he advised (having looked at pics of gun safe that accompanied my application) that my 6mm gun safe secured with 3 level 9 padlocks would be sufficient for Cat A guns etc 👍🏻. Got my interview and inspection next month so fingers crossed.