My new 3 gun cart!

[Scratchthejeepguy]

I decided to try 3 gun for the first time last week. I have a friend that goes to the local matches, and he asked me if I wanted to join him for one of the "mini 3 gun's" up in. Minnesota, so I thought I'd give it a shot. (pun intended)

I brought all the gear I'd need up there, and so did my buddy. Luckily... He has one of those 3 gun specific carts that looks like a jogging stroller, and it holds 4 long guns as well as a bunch of gear. It was definitely a tight fit though, for all the gear for two shooters, and I decided that next time I go... I'd have my own cart. At home, on my personal range, I would use this, but thought it might be more than necessary...

I did some research and found that some people like the jogging stroller type, and some people like the wagon type. I can see pro's and con's to each style, and happen to have access to this cart which would make a good donor...

I decided against it, since my wife was currently using it for gardening, and I didn't like the idea of living on the street, so I thought I'd go with something else. I actually like the jogging stroller design better anyways, so I asked around hoping to find a donor stroller for 50 bucks or less.

I was very happy when my brother in law called later that day, and said he had one that had some broken part on it, that I could have for free! I don't know about you... But I love free stuff, and I'm fairly handy when it comes to fixin stuff, so I thought I could probably work with it, and told him I'll take it!

I was pleasantly surprised when he brought over this super clean, nearly new, double stroller:

The broken part was on the folding mechanism. It still folded perfectly fine, but there was a cable and spring mechanism that would help itself "unfold", and the mount for that had a couple of screws sheared off. A little bit of tie wire and that problem was solved. I really wanted to break out the duct tape or JB Weld, but unfortunately... Didn't get the chance to... although the day is still young.

Here's my quick fix:

I decided that the attached safety harnesses that held in the kids, wouldn't do much for my firearms, so they had to go. Along with the hand brake, some straps, and the sunshade, so I ripped all that stuff off with a furious vengeance.

Here's the bloody mess of entrails:

I figured I'd put all my gear and ammo where the kids would normally sit, and get some ATV gun racks for the long guns. I also figured that since I'm not a caveman, and I like things more organized than a pile of crap thrown in there, that I'd like to have shelves of some kind... Ooh, how about adjustable shelves! Yeah. We don't live in the dark ages do we... They need to be adjustable.

And since we're going for modern technologies here... I figured I'd go with Velcro. That stuff was invented by NASA wasn't it...?

Who really cares.... It works great.

So I needed to have some Velcro in there to adjust the height of the shelves. I was going to take the fabric off the cart, and sew on some Velcro strips, but then realized I had these entry mats that I got for free from Menards. I use them on top of my gun bench to keep from scratching guns, and I found the material also works great as the "loop" side of Velcro. I had two brand new mats left over, and sacrificed one for the greater good. This is the stuff I'm talking about:

I've used this certain double sided tape before for lots of projects, and it's never let me down, so I thought I'd give it a try before I break out the sewing machine. Yes... I know how to sew. Although I will say, I learned how to sew making a padded shooting mat from 1000D Cordura... in Multicam... The needle was a railroad spike, the thread was barbed wire, and the sewing machine ran on diesel.

(Part of that last sentence may have been exaggerated)

So I cut up an entry mat, and taped it into the kid seats so it looked like this:

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag321/scratchthejeepguy1/87fda18936b0ba76b07aad0b37c25668_zpsrr1wi1as.jpg

Then I needed some shelves. I wanted something lightweight, but also wanted that soft entry mat material. Having a CNC plasma cutting table, the obvious choice was sheet metal, so I went down in the laundry room, ripped the door off of the dryer, and cut out some rectangles... Don't tell the wife... I wanna see how long it takes her to notice...

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag321/scratchthejeepguy1/18f46f134dbee0ad3510b39d26395fa1_zpsqgxs8pbk.jpg

I figured if they were still white, she'll figure it out, and I'll be sleeping out on the street again, so I painted them black, hot glued those entry mats on one side and put some Velcro straps on the other side like this:

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag321/scratchthejeepguy1/0d9f0eaf50c1c7fa8f78e091820f5337_zps7tz4jcts.jpg

Then I put the shelves in like this.

Yeah... The Velcro straps look a little hokey, but I could always cover them with duct tape to give it a little more class.

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag321/scratchthejeepguy1/546e07cf495b4fe7d0990304d07c7328_zpscvsijdav.jpg

And here it is all loaded up with some manly stuff:

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag321/scratchthejeepguy1/5d23abda5d8a8e40c9d422c5403dd290_zpsauvuulv1.jpg

To hold my long guns, I've had great luck with these ATV gun racks from Walmart for 19 bucks a pair. http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag321/scratchthejeepguy1/b4db425aa0672dff1b93466e76b4cce1_zps94bizdxo.jpg

Don't worry, I made sure to dress accordingly when going into Walmart to buy them.

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag321/scratchthejeepguy1/d593503c03c0459a4863de716a11b28a_zpsshifmshm.jpg

Here's some pics of it complete:

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag321/scratchthejeepguy1/5f64c999913e001290139e93ba6c8aac_zpswxepusfw.jpg

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag321/scratchthejeepguy1/29c35551efc1759bfb745090e0c5ca38_zpsxodzkm2x.jpg

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag321/scratchthejeepguy1/0137c733021d9859f0aca11fb4d3073f_zpsvu9ogbww.jpg

I also decided to put the sunshade back on since it would keep "most" of the rain out:

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag321/scratchthejeepguy1/0d28b87bfd4ec93cd7b6d61a360a7828_zpsqyx41vzm.jpg

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag321/scratchthejeepguy1/2ba787f863dbd4bcd97ab3ab33fcfdae_zps9expihad.jpg

I can put my cooler in the bottom:

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag321/scratchthejeepguy1/2c91aa44fefdb609ad878611093b1a89_zpsec6vqkeb.jpg

A couple more storage areas for a sling, eye pro, etc...

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag321/scratchthejeepguy1/a0f115ec460e38c8a83928d0bfb0353c_zpstunxdj9l.jpg

I think I'm going to make some sort of spot on the handle for water holders, keys, etc... right on the handle, possibly out of some Kydex. I still have a big piece leftover. It'll go here:

http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag321/scratchthejeepguy1/0d4d6c199bffc03cbdb81bf87fa59170_zpsyhykiyby.jpg

All in all, I'm very happy with it. I have less than 30 bucks in it total and the majority of that is the long gun racks. I was thinking I might get a double gun rack set and mount that in the middle of the seats, just in case I feel the need to bring some spare long guns. Plus... It'll give me an excuse to buy another shotgun!

[Shooter115]

Looks pretty good, though I've got a couple things that may help.

First, I would have kept the parking brake. It's not too often you will find yourself parking on a perfectly flat surface and these carts roll really easy on their own.

Second. Many of the ranges that host 3gun matches in MN will have at least one stage you will end up driving to. My cart is set up so my range bag just plops in it and everything stays inside that, so it's not that big of deal to pack up and drive to a different part of the range. With everything loaded in the cart itself you may have to unload the whole works to go hit one or two stages, then do it all over again to make it back to the main range. Not a big deal, but it could be a bit of a PITA for you depending on what stage you start on.

[Scratchthejeepguy]

Thanks for the advice, I've only been to one event so far, and there was no driving between stages. If that happen will have to figure something out, I suppose just pulling the shelves out and dropping my range bag in will work... We'll see.

And that hand brake was I assume for jogging downhill and you wanted to slow down. There are foot brakes on each rear wheel for parking, so parking on uneven surfacesis covered.

[jjlefty51]

That is one of the more impressive homemade carts I have seen. Great job.

[ryank]

Some great ideas there! I'm sure ill be copying some of them.

[SayHelloToMyLittleFriend]

Nice! You might have stumbled on a business idea...

[armydad]

I love your cart Steve. Your narrative was just as good, maybe better! I just had a deal on a free cart fall though, but have since struck almost as good a deal on another. I don't have your creativity or skills, but when I get a design in place and get it built, I'll share too.

Thanks!

[FlightMurse]

Thank you for the very entertaining read! Great job on the cart, you have some really cool design ideas there.