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Plans for a Folding Gun Stand
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All dimensions are in inches, angles in degrees. Click drawing if you want a .pdf.
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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!
© Honeywell Sportsman Club. All rights reserved. |
- Mike Wilensky -
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I have made 3 stands. The first was with red oak, but too heavy.
The others were with pine. One was for 7 guns, 18 inches wide.
The 3 gun stands were 15 inches wide which is more stable. I
locked them closed with gate latches. I used carpet for the gun
butts to sit on. I lined the barrel supports with felt. Thanks
for the plans.
Mike Wilensky M.D. |
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I stumbled upon your gun stand plans while searching online. Thank you for
posting this. We use this stand for informal trap shooting on private
property. One of the luxuries of a proper range that we were missing was a
secure place to put our firearms other than laying them on the ground. I
went with your design because of the way that it folds up. This compact
design allows me to easily fit it in the back of my car without having to
lay it on top of everything else. I did make a couple of changes:
I added a couple of inches to the width. This allowed me to add one more
barrel notch, bringing the gun count up to six. I added some strips of
leather to protect the gun barrels.
My solution for locking it open and close was to use hook & eyes. Hopefully
you can see it in the photos. I use one hook under the hinges to lock it open,
and another that connects the legs together to lock it closed. This seems to
work well, but we will see how it holds up over time.
The change in the top of the rack made it difficult to position the carrying
handle, so I moved the handle to the side. I thought that this worked pretty
well. It makes it shorter when carried so it is less likely to bump something,
and it helps to eliminate the problem you described about the stand cracking
when allowed to slap open. Since you put it down on the side, and my latch is
on the bottom, people are more likely to fold the legs down when the stand is
on it's side.
We used to bring a card table to put the shotguns on, but that is not the best
solution. It seems that the guns take up more room than you expected, then they
end up bumping into each other, and you always have that one guy who doesn't
pay attention to where he is pointing his muzzle.
Thanks again for sharing your idea
Lance Pyne |
- Capandball.eu -
(click image to watch video)
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Capandball.eu Budapest, Hungary |
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I came across your folding stand and I really liked it. I also liked how someone did a
version with a shelf on it for muzzleloading. What I did, was make my shelf differently
so when it is folded down, I can still use it to hold guns on both sides. I also made the
shelf surface recessed so things won’t roll off onto the ground. I also put holes in the
top so that when the shelf is pulled up, it provides a place to hold your ball starters and
range rods for the muzzleloader.
Joe Szwed |
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Well thought out design. Folds up nice. I added a shelf that can be put on either side
for use or not used at all.
Jim Fenderson |
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