"Colonial" Long Arms Rack: one of my first projects for a grade-school friend...

[BentonTool]

I have been absent from this site for a while tending to organizing my shop (mostly the metalworking side), and restoring a rather large metal lathe, so I have few in the way of current woodworking projects to share at present. (OK, I admit it... I have also been distracted with a little fishing on the river! )

So... I dug up some old pictures of a project that I executed in the early 1980s for a close grade-school friend. He needed a rack for his hunting rifles.

As an aside (and I know this will generate much controversy), we are very fortunate to have Constitutionally protected access to firearms here in the Colonies, so rifle racks are requisite and present in many residences (most in my area).

I designed this rack from scratch, in what I like to consider to be a "Colonial" style. It was made of Mahogany and (rather crudely) finished in a varnish. It was my first exposure to using a true Mahogany, and I quickly learned why it is such a popular furniture timber.

My apologies for the poor quality of the photographs...

 

[AndyT]

Looks good to me!

And by the way, the Engineering /Electrical/Metalworking section hasn't had a good lathe restoration thread for a while...

 

[duke]

Nice, also was popular here, now weapons need to be stored locked into a gun cabinet.

 

[Cabinetman]

Fair few shotguns in the uk but not too many Rifles, (I think) in fact apart from when I was in the Army Cadet Force the only other rifle I’ve seen was locked in a strongroom with an alarm system.
Looks to be a well made rack, was the left and right orientation of the rifles a deliberate choice or just for balance?

 

[Woodbloke]

Fair few shotguns in the uk but not too many Rifles, (I think) in fact apart from when I was in the Army Cadet Force the only other rifle I’ve seen was locked in a strongroom with an alarm system.

Back in the day, I had a mate who was into target shooting and who also worked at the Bisley ranges, so having ready access to all sorts of weaponry inc military grade rifles. One one occasion, just because he could, he drew four rifles and some ammo out the store for a group of us to 'mess' about with at one of the butts. I forget the type of rifle, but they were old, fully functional bolt action, magazine fed weapons. Also participating in the 'fun' that afternoon was my youngest brother, then aged about eight, who was watching the rest of us firing off a few rounds. He was so excited by the noise etc that he jumped up and started to run towards the targets, directly in front of the guns that were still firing; I recollect that he managed less than six feet before the rest of us screamed at him to stand still. He's just celebrated his 64th birthday - Rob

 

[Cabinetman]

Back in the day, I had a mate who was into target shooting and who also worked at the Bisley ranges, so having ready access to all sorts of weaponry inc military grade rifles. One one occasion, just because he could, he drew four rifles and some ammo out the store for a group of us to 'mess' about with at one of the butts. I forget the type of rifle, but they were old, fully functional bolt action, magazine fed weapons. Also participating in the 'fun' that afternoon was my youngest brother, then aged about eight, who was watching the rest of us firing off a few rounds. He was so excited by the noise etc that he jumped up and started to run towards the targets, directly in front of the guns that were still firing; I recollect that he managed less than six feet before the rest of us screamed at him to stand still. He's just celebrated his 64th birthday - Rob

I’ve fired at Bisley, 303 ww2 rifle, just about broke my shoulder lol.
That was scary!!!

 

[duke]

I once owned a 303 and I know the punch to the shoulder you experienced Ian. Popular over her for Moose hunting.

 

[Cabinetman]

I once owned a 303 and I know the punch to the shoulder you experienced Ian. Popular over her for Moose hunting.

I was a very good shot with a 22 and confident, then onto a 303 and we were told to hold it tight into the shoulder but not tight enough and hell it had a kick!

 

[BentonTool]

Looks to be a well made rack, was the left and right orientation of the rifles a deliberate choice or just for balance?

Thank you... the orientation was deliberate... never thought about the question of balance, but I should have considered it.
I wish I had a few pics of the rack "loaded", but alas, it is far removed.

 

[BentonTool]

I forget the type of rifle, but they were old, fully functional bolt action, magazine fed weapons.

Given they were from the UK, most likely they were British Lee-Enfield SMLEs... IMHO, (hands-down) the best bolt-action battle rifle ever made!
I have eleven of them at present in my collection, and have had a few others that I have sold.
Over 17 million SMLE rifles were manufactured, and they were in service from 1904 until 1957 as the standard British service rifle.
There were two principle variants; the No. 1 Mark 3, and the No. 4 Mark 1 (in order below).





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee–Enfield