SANS 953-1:2008
There are the following types of safes:
Type A1 - up to 20 firearms for collectors and private individuals, Type A2 for collectors and dealers, Type B1 - up to 4 handguns, Type B2 - up to 8 firearms and type B3 for temporary storage of firearms in cars and caravans. Type B2 then will be the safe used by the majority of us. Safe type
A1 (private), A2 (dealers), B1 (4 handguns), B2 (10 FA), B3 (Temp storage in vehicles and caravans)
Type B safes must be made of mild steel. The floor, roof and sides must be at least 2.8mm or thicker and the door at least 5.75mm or thicker. The safe should have at least one 6 lever lock. A Type B2 must have at least three locking bolts of min. 20 mm in diameter. The bolts must not be more than 500mm apart. The standards are silent on bolts for type B1 safes but these are clearly small handgun safes.
Relevant Points:
- Successful entry is achieved by the opening of a door of size at least 100 mm × 100 mm, and which allows access to the interior of the safe
- You must use commercial or higher mild steel
- Door handle must be non-corrosive, electroplated or painted
- Fusion welds required
- The lock shall not be welded to the door
- No gap more than 3mm allowed and no more than 2mm movement when door closed
- Must be fitted with at least one lever lock or combination lock or electronic lock
- A lever lock shall have at least six levers, of which at least three shall have false notching. Design of the lock shall be such as to allow at least 5 000 different settings.
- Combination lock must be at least 3 wheel type and 1000000 different combinations
- Electronic lock shall be stand-alone
- A safe shall be affixed to the floor, wall or other immovable structure. Where the floor is not suitable for fixing with M10 × 80 mm long (penetration length) anchor bolts ,the safe shall be fixed to a concrete base of strength 15 MPa of dimensions 300 mm deep × 450 mm × 450 mm or the dimensions of the safe.
- Where the wall is constructed of hollow core brick, the holes shall be filled with a non-shrink grout or epoxy/sand mixture of 10 MPa strength for the fixing of the M10 × 80 mm long (penetration length) anchor bolts.
- Locking bolts shall be of diameter at least 25 mm for a type A1 safe.
- The doors of a type A1 safe shall have a top and a bottom hinge so fitted that the door can be swung open to at least 120°.
- Must prove resistance to hand tools for 30 minutes
- The tools to be used for attacking the safes are: chisels, hand hammers, pliers, screwdrivers, wrenches, crowbars and ripping tools (of length not exceeding 1.5 m); lock-picking and manipulating devices, a hand-held portable electric drilling machine with a maximum rated capacity of 500 W using high-speed carbon steel drill bits of size not exceeding 13 mm; and a sledgehammer of mass not exceeding 1.8 kg.
Some odds and sods further to this, but these are the basics.
There are two issues. The legal use of the SABS mark and the use of a safe that is "legal" to store firearms.
In the first instance the SABS mark on a product, a safe in this instance, serves as evidence that the safe conforms to the applicable standard of the SABS. If a manufacturer wishes to affix the SABS mark of approval to his product then one specimen of that product must be submitted to the SABS for testing. If the product conforms to the standards then the manufacturer is entitled to affix the mark to that product line. There is also another process of certification of the manufacturing processes at the plant to ensure that the product manufactured in future will continue to conform to the standard (the so called ISO certification). It is a criminal offence to affix a SABS mark to a product that has not been approved by the SABS. If you therefore want to affix the mark to your imported or self-manufactured safe then you would have to submit it to the SABS for testing. The only problem is that they are going to destroy it!
The regulations issued in terms of the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 clearly states that the safe should "conform to" SABS Standard 953-1.