Pistol Rack Totes

[JohnnyEgo]

At my last demonstration shoot in July this year, I realized I had a need to get better organized when I brought a lot of guns to the range. Bench space is always at a premium, and magazines have a tendency to get everywhere. About four of us spent the next week trying to get random magazines aligned to their proper owners after the shoot. I had an upcoming shoot at the NRA Whittington Center that was very 1911-centric, so I threw these pistol stands together over the course of this week. Didn't take very many pictures of the process, but here are the intermediate and end results:


I cut a couple of templates for the sides out of plywood, and tried to find the balance between comfortable carry and ease of usability. I wanted to keep the height and length at 12" max, so that put some constraints on things. For the racks intended to be used at the range, the handle is biased about an inch and a half towards the rear, which makes it easy to remove and return guns in use.


There are two other racks for cleaning and transport between my garage and the safe. They are built around the Hyscore foam modular racks, and hold six guns at closer spacing. Wouldn't be ideal to work out of for two reasons. One is that the foam would probably melt if I put a hot gun in there. The other is that it would be a lot of wear and tear on the foam to cycle them in and out at a demo shoot.


Pistol rack is 5 guns in 11 inches of space, solid rock maple. To make it removable and reinstallable without damaging the finish of the tote, the sides of the upper and lower rack are lined in brown felt that matches the walnut tote sides. There is no felt in any of the notches, because I had concerns about scraping melted felt off my 1911s. Though I might later add felt to to notches of the lower racks, where they meet with the grips. However, the notches are well-rounded and sanded glass smooth, and do not appear to have caused any wear issues as of yet, so I may just let them be.







In use at Whittington. Definitely kept the shooting bench much cleaner, and way easier and faster to shoot than going in and out of cases all day.


I had mixed emotions about the taller stand with the shelf, but in use, it held plenty of magazines and left the bench clean. I came into this thinking I wouldn't really care for it because it was so tall, but when I build the next iteration of this design, I will definitely keep it.

I posted some pictures of the facilities in the Off-Topic section, for those who might be interested. Absolutely beautiful country.

[fishhh4]

Well thought out... excellent look. Probably get people wanting you to make them some.

[R Clark]

I always like the stuff you post.  Thanks for sharing!

[BrokenOlMarine]

You are a LOT like me my friend.  Your projects not only have to be functional, but you want them to be aesthetically pleasing.  I am not so concerned with what others think, but what I think every time "I" see it. 
.  Tina will ask me to knock out this project or that one. "You can just use 2x4s and plywood." She knows it just doesn't happen. 


Looking at your choice of materials, and your designs, I can see the same.  Beautiful , and functional.  I would be proud to have them on my bench. 

[jstraw]

Nice job. I made a similar stand to improve storage in my safe. Never thought about making it a tote also.

[Big Dave]

It's nice when you can make two hobbies work together....

Nice job, Johnnie!

[wood-chips]

Those are very sharp looking and functional.
Nice suppressor setups too!