Shoot cart for black powder

I am going to shoot in next months black powder match but I needed a shooting stand. Basically a shelf on a stick to set you kit on and rest your rifle against while reloading. Well, I may have gone over the top. It is hard to tell at times.


It started with a scrap hunk of wood, well I need sides and a back so stuff does not fall off so I rabbit cut and joint them on. Well my powder flask and charge bar will just fall over if I set them on that so I counter sink pockets for them to sit into. You know, after 25-50 round of black powder your hand starts to hurt from smacking the ball starter to seat the ball in the barrel. So I dig out some scrap cherry and turn a mallet. Hmmm, stuff will roll off the front of the tray, need to add a strip across the front to keep things from rolling off. Well, how am I going to rest my rifle on this while loading and where am I going to put my ram rod? So I lap joint more wood and make a front rack for my rifle to sit in and a notch for my rod to rest in and glue it all up. You know that ram rod would look nice with a custom turned maple handle. Well I am going to put this on my shotgun cart so it will be back heavy so I need a support brace a base. Hmm, I cannot just screw a post to a base for my vertical support, it will break off. So I chisel out a dado in the base board to fit the vertical riser in, drill 2 countersunk pockets in the base and then glue and screw the riser to the base. Well this is going to be a black powder rig and I am sure I will need to hang more stuff on it at some point, maybe I will put a set of antlers on a skull cap to the side of the post. Hay every black powder rig needs a patch knife, so I guess I need to make a knife and a block to hold it to the side of the table. You know, pouring powder down the barrel is a pain, you always spill a little powder, I might as well turn a funnel from some wood to fit my 45 and 50 caliber rifles.

Did I mention this is all made from red oak and finished in a hand rubbed danish oil and it started as a scrap board and a stick?

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That's a really fine setup! Thanks for sharing it!

Very nice job with a lot of thought put into it, thanks for sharing it,,,,

Thats very nice,great work:)

I needed a place to but my ball and patches so I made a couple oak and walnut band-saw boxes to go with the stand one afternoon.

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My learning for the day. I have never heard of a gun cart before... How does it sit on the cart for moving?