updated August 2005
I've lost count of the guncarts and variants I've built, always looking for a better way to carry guns to matches. I started with little red wagons, a small one, then a large one, with various racks and boxes on them. Wagons have an inherent problem. You have to pull them. It's hard to tell what's happening behind you. I had one tip over and break a gunstock once, and I learned my lesson. I built a "Simple" Guncart. It's a good design, and the price, if you get the kit, is right. You can't build one for that kind of money unless you're really lucky, and you can't build one that well built without a well-equipped shop.
For me it had 2 flaws. They might not be flaws for you. I couldn't carry my cooler easily, or my camera, and it didn't disassemble enough for getting it back into the car. I'd take the top off, but I still had to lift the bottom section, with all the ammo and such in it. It was unwieldy.
And, while it wasn't a flaw, per se, it had only 2 wheels. A two wheeled cart is heavy to move around because you're always holding it up. Then I saw a 4-wheeled pusher cart. I added front wheels to the "Simple" cart, and it was easy to push around.
That didn't solve the other problems. I went to work on a design that would. This is it. It's made from Baltic birch plywood. Later versions will be built of more exotic wood, but Baltic birch is good stuff. It has more layers than American plywood, and it has very few voids. This makes it machinable much more than plywood. It won't take stain worth a darn, so it's either paint it or clear urethane it. I chose the latter on the prototype. It is also fairly inexpensive. I used up under $40 worth of it. The 12" wire wheels cost more. Of course, labor at minimum wage would be about $5,000 (but the next one would be quicker).
The base is about 34" x 16" x 8" high. The ends are installed with dovetail joints. The floor is a sheet of Baltic birch with a locking rabbet (That's a tongue) around the edge that fits into a 1/4" dado (that's a groove tongue in groove) cut 1/4" above the bottom, making the base flat on the bottom. It's locked in place. It's not going to fall out from the weight of ammo. The 2 crossmembers are mounted in 1/2" dados. Everything is glued together. No nails are used. Screws are used for the axle mounts only. Each axle mount is held in place by 8 countersunk wood screws. The axle is 1/2" steel with threaded ends. With all the interlocking joints and modern glue (Gorilla glue), it'll withstand anything short of a stampede of F150s. It won't wear out.
It disassembles and folds up for transportation. I remove the boxes and the cooler, fold the gun rack down, with the handle folded, and it'll fit in a 36" x 24" space. Then I put the boxes and cooler back in. The upper box fits in the gun rack base.
The big box is 12" tall, and 14" x 10" inside, divided into three compartments with 6" tall dividers in dados in the sides. This keeps the "wet" part that a black powder shooter must have, the Windex, brass soaking jug, and mystery oils, in one section. A leak won't destroy your ammo boxes in the center. It's the width of a shot shell box and big enough for several boxes of spare ammo and 3 or 4 powder measures (I shoot percussion pistols). The other compartment carries cleaning gear, ear and eye protection, some tools and spare parts. It uses dovetail joints, a locking rabbet joint for the floor, and a lid tall enough that I can store the camera inside with the lid closed and locked (hard to photograph that, though with only one digital camera) No nails are used. Screws are limited to those mounting the hinges, the latch, and the carrying handle. The hinges limit opening to just over 90°,. It clears levers of action-open lever action rifles.
The very important cupholder is an aftermarket model designed for pre-cupholder Mercedes. (Note, August 2005: I went through 2 cupholders before giving up. They kept getting broken off in the truck.)
The top box is divided into 4 compartments, one for rifle ammo, big enough for a stack of 50 round ammo boxes. one for shotgun ammo, big enough for an opened shotshell box, one for balls, one for the other accouterments of percussion, cappers, spare caps, dowels, nipple wrenches (ouch!), etc. This is normally what I work out of to keep the toys full during a match
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It's held on with quick disconnect pins through a hinge in the front. The gun rack has a hinged door with a latch. Each box has provisions for locking. It holds 5 long guns, including 2 doubles.
This shows the bottom gun mount, 5 gun butt shaped holes. Behind it is a Playmate Cooler. Several different kinds will fit there.
The Rack, meaning the verticals, gun rack top, top box mount, and carrying handle are 1/2" Baltic birch ply. The crossmember fits in 1/2" stop dados in the verticals. The joints are reinforced with dowels and Baltic birch corner reinforcement. There is a cross brace near the bottom of the rack, and it's glued into a stop dado with reinforcing screws added. These are the only screws in the cart reinforcing a joint.
Update August 15, 2005
It was my intent to "drive" the mule for a few months, learn what I did wrong or could do better, and then build another, definitive version out of more exotic woods. The next, and probably last, version is "finished!" For details, go here.
