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Thread: Home made rifle safe
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10-07-2021, 17:16 #1
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Home made rifle safe
This topic has come up before. A search threw up two threads neither of which told me much. It wouldn't make much sense for me to attempt to make my own because for one thing I don't have welding skills, and should be able to find a used one for a reasonable price. But curiosity got me thinking so I googled. Most of it is American and all wood. But I found one useful item, probably British. At first I thought that a DIY safe maker would have to get the sheet bent into a box by a professional sheet metal shop, but this Brit started by making a frame out of angle, then filling in the frame with rectangles of steel cut to size, no bending involved. The angle frame ends up on the outside corners, so cosmetically it is less neat, but the final product looks perfectly OK. The hinges are the most difficult item and need a lathe or access to one, but that's not insurmountable. Anyhow, for anyone who feels bold enough, look up "Steel gun cabinet build" a YouTube video by "TheEnginesmith" (all one word with upper case E). I have no idea what the materials would cost but a small rifle safe would weight about 70kg, which I'd guess would be about R1000 in steel, then there's two locks and paint. I suspect that it wouldn't be viable if you have to contract out the welding, so its a DIY job or nothing, but it might be well worth while for a guy who has the welding skill. The British guy cut his own sheets from a big sheet with an angle grinder, but I wouldn't trust myself to cut straight enough. That said you don't need perfect straightness because the sheets are welded inside the angle corners.
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10-07-2021, 17:53 #2
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Re: Home made rifle safe
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10-07-2021, 18:01 #3
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- Nov 2013
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Re: Home made rifle safe
My father in law actually built his own safe recently. Specifically shaped to fit a hidden spot, under a cupboard, mounted horizontally.
He used the same construction method you described with the angle iron frame.
The body is made from 6mm diamond pattern steel, and the door from 10mm steel. The thing isn't light, took 3 of us to place it in position.
DFO came to inspect and is happy.
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10-07-2021, 18:37 #4
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Re: Home made rifle safe
Hi Dick, I went through a descoped version of this earlier this year when I refurbished a safe that's been previously broken into. It had a second smaller door at the top, which was completely compromised. I cut that off, welded a frame of angle iron around the top, and welded a 3mm flat sheet to that to close it all up. I've not welded for years but I bought a small DC machine for this and one gets your hand-eye-weldingrod coordination in quite quickly. Thereafter, a grinder, body putty and Rustoleum spraypaint are your friends
It's surprisingly easy to cut straight with a small grinder and a thin cutting disk. Around our area, steel profiles and sheet can be bought from Crawford Steel in Gants Centre. For lasercut, bending and welding the guys to speak to are TFD Manufacturing in Somerset Business Park. Be prepared to gasp at steel prices: there's a world-wide steel shortage that drives prices in a speculative fashion.
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10-07-2021, 19:19 #5
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- Dec 2015
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Re: Home made rifle safe
I have a factory rifle safe. When I revamped the bedroom I had to move the rifle safe to another room. I still wanted a pistol safe in my bedroom.
I built one with 6 plates about 12mm thick. The same plates the G5 cannon use to cart the ammo around. I fit the recommended lock and hinges.
When SAPS inspected the rifle safe I ask them to inspect the pistol safe also. They were impressed by the overall wall thickness of 12 mm steel. They approved the homemade safe.
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11-07-2021, 11:52 #6
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Re: Home made rifle safe
As far as I know a legal safe must be SABS approved.
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11-07-2021, 12:21 #7
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- Aug 2013
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- Randburg, Gauteng
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11-07-2021, 13:03 #8
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- Dec 2015
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- Eastern Cape
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Re: Home made rifle safe
According to SANS 953-1-2008 Storage of FA and Ammo document states "visually examine and measure each FA safe in the sample for compliance with all the relevant requirements of the standard...."
There was a document I read long ago that states that many manufactures and persons can built anything better than the SABS standards and does not need the SABS marking. All the FA safes that was built and sold in pre 2000 AFAIK did not have the SABS marking or approval. The safes were just built to standard. If anything changed the past few years I don't know. Does the SABS still exist?
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11-07-2021, 19:15 #9
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Re: Home made rifle safe
Some time ago I also had a look into building my own safe since the Argentinine Mauser wouldn't fit the safes I had.
My first idea was to build the safe and discise it as an filing cabinet
The idea was to have the side walls, top and bottom 5mm HR mild steel and for the back 3mm HR with the edges bend with a 30mm lip.
For the door I wanted to go 8 or 10mm with locking bolts every 300mm.
The door would have sat in a frame made 30x8 flat bar and 12x12 square bar.
Bullet hinges are widely available.
I wanted to go a bit further by having a separate space for my NAS server and lighting when the door was opened to finish the safe off, I had looked to get a La Gard electronic safe lock.
While I didn't get the chance to build my dream safe, the cost of manufacturing your own safe vs buying a similar sized safe didn't differ by much.
Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
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11-07-2021, 19:42 #10
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