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This gun stand was designed for use out in our desert sporting clays course. It will
keep up to five guns off the ground and out of the bushes. The neat
feature of this design is that the gun stand will fold up into a rather compact package
for storage. Two prototypes of this design have been built out of straight, clear
redwood 1x4's. The wood and the hardware cost about $35, then about another $10 was
spent on sandpaper and finish.
In use, a possible weakness in the design has shown up. The upper wood pieces that
the hinges attach to, have a tendency to split. This is caused when someone just lets
the hinged legs fly open when unfolding the unit for use. If the legs are opened in a
gentle and controlled manner, there isn't a problem. We repaired the two protos by
glueing the pieces back together at the split, and then driving long screws into the
wood to reinforce the cracked area.
Not shown in the drawing, but implemented in the prototypes, is the use of small trunk
latches to lock the tops of the two legs together when in the open position. This has
proven to be a pretty good solution for locking the unit open. Also, a carrying handle
was attached to the top for easy portability. We use a mini-bungee cord to hold the
unit closed in the folded position. This really isn't a very good solution, and can
definitely be improved upon (more trunk latches?).
If you build one, please drop us a line, let us know how it went. Send us some photos.
Did you solve the problems of locking it open and closed differently than we did? Why
did you decide to build one in the first place? We'd like to know if there are any
more like this out in the world!
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