Rifle racks

[SVT-40]

So I got the hole design all laid out on my ten foot long oak plank, and started to bore the holes... Well ran into a bit of an issue, as the 50 year old seasoned oak is harder than a rock. It took me over two hours to cut three holes, and start two others...

Guess my little hole saw was just not cut out to bore through wood as hard as this. So I ordered a carbide tipped hole saw...

To be continued next week...

[Syntax Error]

Looking forward to the progress of this project, hopefully will inspire me to make some rifle racks of my own for my overflow since my safe is pretty much full at this point!

[Enfield47]

That must be some really hard wood. Do you have a drill press or a corded drill you can use? If so, it should have a faster motor speed than a cordless drill and may cut though the wood quicker. Not the same thing I know, but I was trying to drill through ceramic tile with my cordless and really got nowhere. My brother in law brought over his more powerful corded drill and drilled through the 1/2" tile with ease.

[reverser]

Why not just drill the holes, then rip the board along the center of the holes? You could lower the board and use leather straps across the front of the "half holes" to retain the rifles individually and they'd be easier to remove.

Or you could make something similar to a magnetic knife rack to retain the rifles instead of feeding them into holes.

Did some prototyping this morning....The main issue is having to deal with rifles of such varying length....The spacing of my prototype is pretty close to what I want. I might move the centers of the holes to 3 1/2". The height of the rack piece with the holes is 46" (base of the upper rack)... I have used rods in the barrels of my rifles when storing them in my safes to accommodate the varying lengths before, and it's a good solution...Works in this application pretty well too.

The 6" behind the holes in the rack will allow the butts of the rifles in the upper rack to either sit in line with the rifles in the bottom rack, or be offset between the holes....

These racks will be a minimum of ten feet long, and a maximum of 15 feet....

So with the spacing as is should allow me to have 30 rifles on both the top and bottom racks in a ten foot space. Total of sixty rifles....

The rack top with the holes will be made from solid oak planks which are 11' x 1 1/4".

Any suggestions?

[Latigo]

1/2" thick Sintra , easily and quickly cut in this profile as a 1 cut process.




gives you this............... as long and as many as you want.

Top.



Bottom painted black.

[nelson84]

I want to get a mosin nagant rifle crate it holds 20 and would look cool as a coffe table, put a piece of glass on the top with a light from inside and light p those beauties.

On ebay there is a guy selling one for $199 but wants $169 shipping

[SVT-40]

That must be some really hard wood. Do you have a drill press or a corded drill you can use? If so, it should have a faster motor speed than a cordless drill and may cut though the wood quicker. Not the same thing I know, but I was trying to drill through ceramic tile with my cordless and really got nowhere. My brother in law brought over his more powerful corded drill and drilled through the 1/2" tile with ease.

It is super hard....

I scavenged it 23 years ago from a foundry that was being demolished in town. The foundry had been there for 30 years. The wood was used as benches in the three locker rooms. I got 200 linear feet of it at the time, and have used it for various projects over the years.

I've worn out numerous planer blades surface planing this stuff....It's like iron.

Most recently I used some of this oak for stair treads, in my shop for the stairway leading up to the loft...


As for the drill, I'm using my old reliable 1/2" corded hand drill I've had forever. It's got the power, it was the hole saw which was the weak link...If I do have trouble with the new bit, I'll use one of my drill presses. It's just a pain setting the press up, and adding supports due to the length and weight of this plank.

Why not just drill the holes, then rip the board along the center of the holes? You could lower the board and use leather straps across the front of the "half holes" to retain the rifles individually and they'd be easier to remove.Or you could make something similar to a magnetic knife rack to retain the rifles instead of feeding them into holes.

I plan on using the "front" of the rack shelf to display bayonets and other items...The holes are also just more secure. In reality it's very easy to remove the rifles. Although magnets could be a solution, I don't think I would trust them to securely hold the rifles.

1/2" thick Sintra , easily and quickly cut in this profile as a 1 cut process.
gives you this............... as long and as many as you want.

That is a great system for storing the rifles with the receivers facing to wall, and gravity holds them securely against the wall however I want a system where the receivers are faced outward so they can be seen. This causes the rifles to tip outward, and thus they need a retaining feature built into the rack.

As I said above I also intend to use the space in front of the holes to display bayonets and other small rifle related items...

All great ideas though!!

[ccandgc]

Here's one of my newly refinished M11 racks. I'll probably line the edges of the supports with some sort of rubber to protect the rifles.

[joefrank64k]

Why not just drill the holes, then rip the board along the center of the holes? You could lower the board and use leather straps across the front of the "half holes" to retain the rifles individually and they'd be easier to remove.

Or you could make something similar to a magnetic knife rack to retain the rifles instead of feeding them into holes.

My thought, too. The straps (leather, nylon, Velcro, etc) will keep the rifles from flopping out when stored "receiver out".

As for using magnets instead of straps...SVT, since you're into repurposing stuff, what I've used for a magnetic rack are the rare earth magnets from old computer HDD's. Those things are POWERFUL yet very small. I've got a few racks that I stick on the outside of adjoining safes so I have a place to stack rifles when I'm trying to get to the back row.



The magnets are small (1 Euro coin is about the size of a quarter) but stick like crazy.

[bsg]

i haven't any suggestions to assist with the project, but will be following thread for updates. i love the staircase project; well done.

[SVT-40]

Here's one of my newly refinished M11 racks. I'll probably line the edges of the supports with some sort of rubber to protect the rifles.

That looks super!! Maybe you can use some large heat shrink tubing for the lining.

[SVT-40]

i haven't any suggestions to assist with the project, but will be following thread for updates. i love the staircase project; well done.

Thanks!!

Got the new hole saw, and it worked like a champ. Got all 37 holes bored yesterday. I'll get the holes routed sometime today, and start smoothing the inside of the holes too.

[Nathan Krynn]

This is what we use at the shop. (note not our website)

[GM4spd]

If you have all Garands the spacing is much easier! Pete

[SVT-40]

Got the first rack piece finished and up for a test fit. Hopefully I can get the holes bored and sanded in the second rack piece today.