Storage and transportation crates

I do the occasional display/presentation of WWI and WWII weapons and decided that rather than carrying obvious cases in and out of the house I'd make crates.

Nearly finished one yesterday that holds 10 carbines.

But for anyone who may want to attempt this, I ran into a "minor" problem. These things are heavy when they are loaded. It was a passing thought as I was building it but wow, I didn't figure that heavy.

I guess the average carbine weighs 8 pounds times 10 is 80 pounds plus a 50 pound crate.

Now I can pick up that much weight and carry it but not when it's in a big box 40 inches by 30 inches by 10 inches.

I custom built it for my rifles. The M44 on the end required more room due to the folding bayonet. The No5 required a special cut at the butt end due to the sling and the four on the left are shorter than the rest. I'll probably put some felt or rubber padding on the contact points and I still need to add a few things to it. I have enough room for a small box to hold bayonets and cleaning kits but that will add even more weight. The one carcano was tight enough to require a notch cut in the butt end, the other was fine. Same type, different caliber. 40 inches is the inside height.

Lid will probably be screwed down for transport, kept loose for storage.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...00877608-1.jpg

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I had one made to transport my Boy's Anti Tank rifle... Much easier and safer but its definitely a two person job to move it around.. I have hinged lid that I padlock shut and then cable to the vehicle so that its secured in transit

Tim

First one is finished except for the felt. I have it built so that horizontal piece of wood is supporting the stocks. I didn't feel comfortable with the muzzle supporting the rifle when laying flat. Three rifles have a built up section here as they were not consistent with the rest. They are all together so the support is one piece, they are the two steyrs and the No5. Building with the cap on the muzzle end has the added advantage of allowing the crate to be stood on end and the rifles cannot fall out.

I used 2 1/2 inch centers for the rifles. As you can see, this works for slings, etc but requires some careful positioning of the bolt handles. All fit without touching but they must be removed from the left to the right. So this size is fine for long term storage but not for frequent ins and outs to the range. Some will come out out of order and some require only the rifle next to it to come out first. The two straight pull steyrs in the center are trouble makers due to their bolts not being very "flexible". The Berthier will go in with the bolt closed. I built a box which is 3 inches deep and 12 inchs wide and goes the entire width of the crate. It fits at the muzzle end, drops in place over the rifles and will hold all bayonets and cleaning kits for the rifles in the crate. This cannot be used vertically but does sit on the top of the crate OK.

Now to work on the long rifle crates. This is more time consuming than I thought it would be. I'm a carpenter by trade but building a box is a lot different than building a house.

For anyone else who might attempt something like this, I am going to recommend a 2 3/4" on center rather than 2 1/2". The reason for this is the thickness of the butt stocks on a lot of rifles. I had measured half a dozen and found no issue with the 2 1/2 inch but a lot of the older ones have thicker plates that just don't quite fit in the 2 1/2 spacing. I mixed them up and found homes for all of them but again, not ideal.

That's a nice idea and looks good. For the bulk and weight, would it be easier to build two boxes? That would make it easier to carry, and to slide in and out of a SUV type car. Adding some rope handles would be a nice touch.

I'm building three and built them in the sizes I did for a specific reason, their storage location. The other two each only hold 7 rifles so they should be lighter. The two of them side by side equal the length of the one shown. Those two will fit in storage side by side with this one sliding in on their bottom so I can store additional things on top of them. Ropes would be great and I've been thinking about that but they may interfere with my storage. I didn't build them tight, but they don't have a lot of play. Rope handles might be too big.

If you don't have a specific place they need to go then yes build them smaller. I probably would have done that myself if I'd thought about it more before actually completing it.

The other two remain in suspended animation at the moment. The one is nearly done with only the barrel end spacing and cap needing finished, it's nearly done. The second I've not started the barrel end. but the rifles are all in it and spaced ready to go. I planned to work on them tonight but got home too late. It's kind of a complicated matter of getting my tools out of the truck, into the house and then back into the truck when done for the evening so to make it worthwhile, I need enough available time. Probably take me three hours to finish these two.

The two 7 rifle crates are now finished. These I can "pick up". I can't carry them but I can pick them up and hold them loaded for maybe half a minute. Two people, no problem. I probably could carry them vertically but not what they are designed for. It did take me about three hours to finish them up.

how about some small caster wheels on them or at least the big one.

Due to the way I have to store them, I can't put anything on them on the exterior that isn't self hiding of some sort. So a flip out handle would work but nothing fixed that stands out. I have about half an inch to play with and that's all. I've also thought about running poles through holes in them that I could take out.

Check out your local purveyor of hardware for the "Rock and Roll" biz.

There is even one that is "local" for almost everyone: ENGINEERING.com > Penn Fabrication Ltd.


Low profile wheels? Try: Penn Elcom

Been using their gear for years to construct cases, carts, etc.