Rifle racks -- what kind, if any, are you using?

[Dave DeLaurant]

Up until now, my rifles have either been crammed into gunsafes when stored or leaned against the nearest convenient object when not. I'll admit that they have fallen over more than once when said convenient object proved inadequate to the task.

I'd be curious to see what kinds of rifle racks others on this forum are using.


For myself, I've recently been working out a revised layout in my bedroom. Currently my plans include a new gunsafe, shelves for gun history and reference books, a rifle rack and a comfy reading chair. I had originally been thinking about a rotary gunrack, like this military rack from the 1920s:



After I priced some originals at auction sites, I looked into a number of different commercial equivalents.



https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1014632727

These all seemed overpriced, since they're basically just two wooden discs connected a pipe or pole, with a lazy susan bearing underneath. I felt sure I could build something as good for considerably less.

However, while surfing around the net for design ideas I came across this folding rifle rack at Amazon. It promised better versatility than a rotary rack, since I could set it aside when not in use, and take it with me to the range.

https://www.saviorequipment.com/collections/firearm-storage/products/mobile-firearm-rack



Via Amazon, it cost me $91 including tax and shipping. Mine just arrived today. I was impressed with the design and construction, being welded steel with plastic coating at all of the contact points. The folding leg's hinge has a ball-bearing detent in the extended position to prevent collapse. Here's how it looks all loaded up:




I really like this design. The handgun rack holds my S&W N-Frame and Walther PP and everything between, and even my shortest rifles fit perfectly. I can foresee a couple of minor limitations: once fully loaded you can't really move it around, and the relatively small contact points with the ground need to rest on a firm surface to prevent sinking.

[Apologies for the cluttered background. My wife died from cancer this February and my house has been undergoing quite a few changes since.]

 

[Chuck R.]

I've got a combination.

I have one of these that I take when shooting multiple rifles:

https://www.amazon.com/Hold-Up-Displays-Portable-Holder/dp/B00SE7IBZ2



In my "gun room" I use a safe for the more expensive stuff and old style cabinets just to keep the dust off and the safe uncluttered:



And a wire rack for the handguns I'm shooting frequently.



It all sits behind reinforced concrete and a vault door, so sure they can get in, once they bypass the alarm system, and the concrete and or door.

 

[dogtown tom]

Around here the PD calls that a display rack for thieves.

While I would love to have a coffee table gun cabinet. I don't want to make life easy on a burglar.

 

[BreechFace]

@Dave DeLaurant sorry to hear about your wife, I knew she was sick a while ago when messaging with you. I lost my dad 7 years ago to cancer.

I use these:

https://www.opticsplanet.com/savior...5&cnxclid=16803794638761500618610090301008005

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

In my "gun room" I use a safe for the more expensive stuff and old style cabinets just to keep the dust off and the safe uncluttered. <snip>
It all sits behind reinforced concrete and a vault door, so sure they can get in, once they bypass the alarm system, and the concrete and or door.

Dude, that's one sweet gun suite!

 

[horsemen61]

Up until now, my rifles have either been crammed into gunsafes when stored or leaned against the nearest convenient object when not. I'll admit that they have fallen over more than once when said convenient object proved inadequate to the task.

I'd be curious to see what kinds of rifle racks others on this forum are using.


For myself, I've recently been working out a revised layout in my bedroom. Currently my plans include a new gunsafe, shelves for gun history and reference books, a rifle rack and a comfy reading chair. I had originally been thinking about a rotary gunrack, like this military rack from the 1920s:

View attachment 1143553

After I priced some originals at auction sites, I looked into a number of different commercial equivalents.

View attachment 1143562

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1014632727

These all seemed overpriced, since they're basically just two wooden discs connected a pipe or pole, with a lazy susan bearing underneath. I felt sure I could build something as good for considerably less.

However, while surfing around the net for design ideas I came across this folding rifle rack at Amazon. It promised better versatility than a rotary rack, since I could set it aside when not in use, and take it with me to the range.

https://www.saviorequipment.com/collections/firearm-storage/products/mobile-firearm-rack

View attachment 1143564

Via Amazon, it cost me $91 including tax and shipping. Mine just arrived today. I was impressed with the design and construction, being welded steel with plastic coating at all of the contact points. The folding leg's hinge has a ball-bearing detent in the extended position to prevent collapse. Here's how it looks all loaded up:

View attachment 1143566
View attachment 1143565 View attachment 1143567

I really like this design. The handgun rack holds my S&W N-Frame and Walther PP and everything between, and even my shortest rifles fit perfectly. I can foresee a couple of minor limitations: once fully loaded you can't really move it around, and the relatively small contact points with the ground need to rest on a firm surface to prevent sinking.

[Apologies for the cluttered background. My wife died from cancer this February and my house has been undergoing quite a few changes since.]

I’m sorry to hear about your Wife
RIP




Awesome gun rack! I’m going to look into that!

 

[WisBorn]

[Apologies for the cluttered background. My wife died from cancer this February and my house has been undergoing quite a few changes since.]

I am sorry to hear about your wife. Not sure how I would handle the loss of my best friend.

Time to build that safe room. Most fire safes can't handle a fire long enough to really protect them. I would prefer a secure room to prevent theft and little hands from reaching them....

 

[troy fairweather]

Sorry to hear about your wife dave.

For what a lot of the store bought ones go for you can build nice wood or even metal ones, I'd like to build some like at the higher end gun ranges of cmp. The kind they had for inspection in a lot of the factorys making military arms are really cool to, or those cool metal lockers they use at bases or police departments.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

The kind they had for inspection in a lot of the factorys making military arms are really cool to, or those cool metal lockers they use at bases or police departments.

You thinking along the lines of these guy's offerings?

https://www.spacesaver.com/products/weapons-storage/#uwr

 

[troy fairweather]

You thinking along the lines of these guy's offerings?

https://www.spacesaver.com/products/weapons-storage/#uwr

View attachment 1143644 View attachment 1143645

Yeah the ones on the right would be cool.

 

[3Crows]

I have four of these which I use for guns that are to be handy. I of course lock things away when not going to be home. I also have an inherited glass door cabinet. I keep air rifles in it.

https://www.amazon.com/Rush-Creek-C...1&s=hunting-fishing&sr=1-11&ts_id=11162634011

 

[Buzznrose]

I am sorry to hear about you losing your wife. Losing mine would be devastating to me!

I use rifle rods in my safe.

Take care!

 

[herrwalther]

I designed and built a small Lazy Susan gun rack with the plan to put it inside the safe half where my long rifles sit. The goal is to let me reach something in the back without removing stuff in the front or knocking it over. It has a base diameter of 13" which is the distance between the left interior wall and the divider shelf. Has room for 6 long guns including a 12ga shotgun with an extended magazine tube. Unfortunately my little snag is the rifles are too heavy for a small base. If I don't remove the rifles just right, it tips over. Work in progress still and it will either work or get thrown out.

As a backup to the Lazy Susan not working, I bought rifle rods.

 

[halfmoonclip]

I've been known to take a 2x4 of a convenient length, draw a center line on the 4" side, and then use a 2" hole saw to make evenly spaced holes. Then rip it down the center line, and mount the board, with its u-notches, on something convenient. I've a couple chunks around the shop, to prop rifles when they are out of the safe.
Really hoped the thread would be about old-fashioned truck gun racks; such things have utterly disappeared locally. Some of that is just disapproval; some of it is club cabs that give you other, better options.
Dave, really sorry for your loss; be well, and all the best for your future.
Moon

 

[dh1633pm]

I have two wood racks that I built out of 2x4's. They have wheels on the bottom so they can be moved. They hold 12 each. One for longer rifles and one for shorter ones. No slotting for the base. I used old carpet over the 2x4's on the base. On the top, I used a hold saw and cut holes at intervals and then cut the board down the center making two boards to support the top(s) with half circles. Like this:



The rest is just framing. Wheels make it so easy to move around.

Sorry to hear about your wife. I lost my first wife in 2005, she was 38. I can certainly understand.

 

[tark]

Sorry to hear about your wife, Dave, but know that she's upstairs waiting for you.

My valuable guns are hidden in a basement room full of trash and litter. They are in a safe under the stairs behind a false wall. In my living room upstairs, I have a gun cabinet with a glass front. I leave the keys in their slots so a burglar won't have to smash glass to get at the five near worthless "bait" guns inside.

 

[d2wing]

Sorry to hear about your wife Dave. I have made some racks out of 1x6 boards and wooden dowels. I also have made them using hole saws much like the ones shown by others.

 

[zdc1775]

Like everyone else I am very sorry to hear about your wife. Cancer is truly a terrible disease and anything else I could say about it would likely get me banned here.

For the gun storage though, we recently ordered a package from Gallow Tech, LINK, for our new gun room and while we are still in the process of securing the new gun room so haven't mounted it yet it seems to be well constructed and fairly easily reconfigured to your personal needs.

I'll try to remember to upload some pictures of it once completed if you are interested.

 

[3Crows]

I did not read the last little bit of your op. I too am sorry to learn of your loss of your wife. God bless.

JR

 

[rabid wombat]

Way cool…I have been looking for something similar, even better if it had wheels. Some that I passed by:

http://www.gunstands.com/vise.htm
https://gun-racks.com/inc/sdetail/32/2930
https://www.spacesaver.com/products/weapons-storage/
https://www.thefileguy.com/weapon_storage/weapon-storage-weapon-racks/weapons_carts.shtml

 

[Legionnaire]

Saddened to hear about your wife, Dave.

My guns are in the safe for storage. If I need to move them around temporarily (i.e., to get to the back of the safe or take multiples to an informal range) I use a portable rack that my son-in-law built for me one Christmas. Looks like this one, but proportioned for six guns on a side.

 

[Nature Boy]

@Dave DeLaurant

My condolences for the passing of your wife.

 

[czhen]

Dave I'm very sorry for your lost.

 

[kje54]

Up until now, my rifles have either been crammed into gunsafes when stored or leaned against the nearest convenient object when not. I'll admit that they have fallen over more than once when said convenient object proved inadequate to the task.

I'd be curious to see what kinds of rifle racks others on this forum are using.


For myself, I've recently been working out a revised layout in my bedroom. Currently my plans include a new gunsafe, shelves for gun history and reference books, a rifle rack and a comfy reading chair. I had originally been thinking about a rotary gunrack, like this military rack from the 1920s:

View attachment 1143553

After I priced some originals at auction sites, I looked into a number of different commercial equivalents.

View attachment 1143562

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1014632727

These all seemed overpriced, since they're basically just two wooden discs connected a pipe or pole, with a lazy susan bearing underneath. I felt sure I could build something as good for considerably less.

However, while surfing around the net for design ideas I came across this folding rifle rack at Amazon. It promised better versatility than a rotary rack, since I could set it aside when not in use, and take it with me to the range.

https://www.saviorequipment.com/collections/firearm-storage/products/mobile-firearm-rack

View attachment 1143564

Via Amazon, it cost me $91 including tax and shipping. Mine just arrived today. I was impressed with the design and construction, being welded steel with plastic coating at all of the contact points. The folding leg's hinge has a ball-bearing detent in the extended position to prevent collapse. Here's how it looks all loaded up:

View attachment 1143566
View attachment 1143565 View attachment 1143567

I really like this design. The handgun rack holds my S&W N-Frame and Walther PP and everything between, and even my shortest rifles fit perfectly. I can foresee a couple of minor limitations: once fully loaded you can't really move it around, and the relatively small contact points with the ground need to rest on a firm surface to prevent sinking.

[Apologies for the cluttered background. My wife died from cancer this February and my house has been undergoing quite a few changes since.]

Nice setup.
My deepest heartfelt condolences for your loss. Like you I lost my wife of 34 years to cancer, three years ago this coming August. The following two years were the worst of my life but thankfully I survived it. And yes my house is still a cluttered mess as I slowly get rid of lots of stuff I don't need or use.

 

[James Fonteneaux]

Dave, I'm sorry for your loss.

That looks like a pretty neat setup.