The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives published a proposed rule on September 25 that would broaden when federal explosives licensees and permittees may keep explosive materials outside locked storage magazines. The Federal Register proposal would add testing, imminent use and imminent transport to the exceptions in 27 CFR 555.205. It would also remove the federal requirement for Type 3 magazines, which are portable outdoor units used for temporary storage while attended. None of those changes is effective yet.
New exceptions for work in progress
Current regulations generally require explosives to remain in a locked magazine unless they are in manufacturing, being physically handled in an operating process, being used, or being transported to a storage or use site. ATF proposes a broader formulation: materials could remain outside a magazine while in a manufacturing, operating or testing process; while being used or designated for imminent use; or while being transported or awaiting imminent transport. The operating-process exception would no longer depend on an employee physically handling the material, and transport would no longer have to end at a storage or use site.
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Testing is a concrete example of the gap ATF wants to close. The agency says temperature-sensitivity work may require a controlled chamber that does not meet magazine construction and locking standards. Under the current wording, an operator must obtain a variance or qualify the chamber as a magazine because the material is neither being handled nor used. The proposal would put testing inside the regulatory exception, including work that must continue without interruption. It would not create a general exemption for unattended stock; materials outside the listed activities would still have to be secured in a locked magazine.
The imminent-use provision addresses delays after explosives reach a job site. ATF describes crews moving material from a locked, attended delivery vehicle into a Type 3 magazine when weather or another condition delays work for several hours, then moving it back when operations begin. The proposal would allow the material to remain in the vehicle when use is imminent. ATF also gives examples involving extra explosives kept on a secured truck for the day and packed material waiting briefly on a loading dock because of a traffic delay. Existing Transportation Department rules would continue to govern material in transit.
Type 3 magazines would become optional
ATF proposes deleting 27 CFR 555.203(c) and reserving 555.209, removing the construction and locking standards that make Type 3 magazines a federal requirement for attended temporary storage. Licensees and permittees could still use them voluntarily, including to satisfy state requirements or to separate detonators from other explosives. The proposal does not remove the Type 1 and Type 2 framework for more secure storage. ATF’s stated premise is narrower: many short-term situations are already transportation or operational activities, and the expanded exceptions would cover more of them.
The agency estimates the change could provide qualitative benefits to about 9,100 commercial explosives licensees and permittees. It counted an average of 980 new entrants annually from 2022 through 2024 and estimated an IME 22-compliant Type 3 magazine at about $500. On those assumptions, ATF projects $490,000 in annual industry savings, or $4.9 million undiscounted over ten years. Existing operators generally already own the equipment, so the proposal says they would not see the same immediate purchase savings. The estimate is an agency projection, not a guaranteed result.
A separate rule for perforating guns
The proposal would also place a modified version of ATF Ruling 2010-7 into the regulations. That ruling covers loaded perforating guns used to pierce oil and gas wells. It currently limits outside storage to 2,500 pounds of net explosives across no more than 200 guns and limits indoor, non-magazine storage to 50 pounds. ATF proposes removing the 200-gun cap and allowing more than 50 pounds inside a building when the operator meets the applicable quantity-and-distance table, other indoor safety rules and outside-storage security conditions.
ATF says shorter perforating guns have become more common with horizontal well operations, making a unit count less representative of total explosive weight. The agency also says it has granted variances using the proposed indoor approach for 15 years without identified safety or security problems. Operators would no longer need an individual variance if they met the rule’s stated conditions. The practical effect is limited to federal explosives licensees and permittees engaged in these activities; the document does not change ordinary firearm-storage rules or create a new exception for unlicensed possession.
Comments are due November 24, 2026, identified by RIN 1140-AA86. ATF specifically asks for input on the costs and benefits and on whether the rule can be made easier to understand. The agency has not supplied an effective date because this is a notice of proposed rulemaking. After the comment period, ATF could revise the text, issue a final rule, or take no final action, so operators remain subject to the current magazine and variance requirements unless and until a final rule takes effect.
About the Author
Nick Sawinyh - Nick Sawinyh is a father, husband, hobby farmer, and gun enthusiast from Kentucky. He founded GunsNation and writes most of what appears on this blog.
