The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

I am thinking of increasing my storage capacity by 'armouring' my understairs cupboard. The first thing I'll need to do is research the Guidance to Police and any other associated police / Home Office publications as to thickness of steel etc. Then I need to think about the door and locks. Ideally I'd like to buid a 'Box' that can be taken apart from the inside i.e. one that is bolted together rather than welded together.

Has anyone done this in the last couple of years? If so what spec steel did they use? Did they have probs with the police? Could they give a rough idea of cost?
Did they try the magnetic dividers? If so were they any good?

If I find a BIG cabinet I might just cut the door frame off and weld in extension plates to make it deeper then weld the door frame back on.
Any USEFUL ideas / tips / hints are welcome.

There is some Home Office Guidance on Gun Rooms so that might be a good place to start.

i'd expect it to depend on what the rest of the cupboard is made from. if it were a solid walled cupboard with concrete floor, i'd expect you would be likely to get away with doing what you say and bolting on safe door panel along with skins on the stairs etc.

But if its just plasterboard walls screwed to the stairs i'd expect you to need a fully welded box constructing.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've had a look at the Home Office Booklet which is quite helpful. I'm hoping that by using curved uprights with welded in coachbolts I can avoid the need to weld the panels together by demonsrating that a pry / crowbar would not work even if the 'Burglar' came through the 2 'weaker walls'. The next stage is to price it up versus the biggest cabinet I can get / move into position. Any drawings / photos / costings / ideas would still be appreciated.

I looked at building my own gun cabinet by the time I'd bought all the materials ie steel, hinges,locks etx then add the time factor it was a lot cheaper to buy a second hand one and in some cases new ones were still a lot cheaper!

If you go ahead with the project id be interested in the final results! Think everyone who owns firearms would like there own gun room

Could you weld a pair of vault doors onto a skip and then fix it in concrete ?

Yes or a 40 foot container! I've seen it done. the only reason I'm thinking of the understairs cupboard is that it's deeper than the average cabinet. I'm tempted to cut the fronts off my existing cabinets then weld in an 18inch 'filler' before welding the door frames back on. Ready made cabinets the depth I want would be too hewavy to move easily.