Gun rack

A gun rack for storing rifles, shotguns, and carbines, vertically, barrel down position, consisting of a base plate, mounted to wall or in cabinet, having support bolts projecting outward on which are mounted wedge shaped pieces which grip the gun stock by conforming to the shape of the stock as they rotate or pivot about the support bolt. The wedge shaped pieces having an angled surface which, when two pieces are joined together face to face, form a dovetail wedge. Spacing of the wedge pieces are adjustable to accomodate different gun stock widths.

SUMMARY 
The invention herein disclosed provides a gun rack, wall mounted or cabinet 
mounted, for storing shotguns, rifles and carbines, in the barrel down 
position, with sufficient clearance to accomodate scopes and slings. It is 
comprised of a base plate on which is mounted sets of conforming dovetail 
wedges by means of support bolts which act as pivot points around which 
each wedge half rotates to the extent required for conformance to the 
shape of the gun stock, butt end. By varying the length of the base plate 
and adding or subtracting sets of dovetail wedges, any number of guns can 
be supported. A gun is removed from the rack by lifting it upward until 
the narrower portion of the stock clears the wedge, then by moving it 
outward.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
FIG. 1 shows the gun rack as it would appear in the mounted position with 
guns in place. 
FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 show a larger scale drawing of the base plate 15, made 
from hard wood, as it would appear in the mounted position as viewed from 
the front in FIG. 2 and as viewed from the top in FIG. 4. 
Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, the gun rack incorporates two sets of 
conforming dovetail wedges, made up of pieces 16, 17, and 18, made from 
soft wood, each set supporting the butt end of a gun stock 26. Each 
dovetail wedge set is comprised of a left hand assembly and a right hand 
assembley. 
The left hand assembly consists of one wedge piece 17, and one wedge piece 
18, mating faces held together by wedge support bolt 20 (attached to base 
plate 15), which acts as a pin around which the wedge pieces (now forming 
the left hand side of the dovetail wedge) can pivot, or rotate, allowing 
maximum contact length along the gun stock 26 which distributes the 
pressure thus preventing any undue stress on the stock. 
The right hand assembly consists of wedge suport bolt 20 and two wedge 
pieces 16, one being rotated 180 degrees about a horizontal axis, then 
joined face to face with the other wedge piece 16, mating faces held 
together by support bolt 20, thus forming the right hand side of the 
dovetail wedge. 
Both left hand and right hand wedge support bolts are secured to base plate 
15 by locknut 19; locknut and support bolt end are covered by spent shell 
casing 21, cut to length. The lock nut is not normally tightened enough to 
prevent the wedge pieces from rotating to assume the gun stock shape, but 
is tightened enough to prevent them from swinging too freely and 
interefering with gun entry and exit. They may, however, be tightened 
enough to prevent rotating once the shape of a particular gun has been 
formed. 
Construction of the Dovetail Wedge pieces no. 16,17,18 is detailed in FIG. 
5 through FIG. 13. All pieces are constructed of soft wood (alternately 
formed metal or molded plastic may be used) and have one angled surface 27 
(felt covered) and are drilled to receive the wedge support bolt 20. 
Pieces no. 17,18 have a notch 28 cut into the top end to receive a gun 
mounted sling swivel 25. Piece no. 18 (FIGS. 5,6,7) is similar to piece 
no. 17 (FIGS. 8,9,10) except that it is opposite hand. Piece no. 16 (FIGS. 
11,12) is similar to pieces no. 17,18 except that the notch for a gun 
sling swivel is not required. 
The base plate 15, shown in FIGS. 2,3,4 is constructed of hard wood. 
Referring to FIG. 3, Four holes are drilled for mounting screws 22. The 
holes on wall mounted models are spaced for alignment with typical wall 
stud spacing. The base plate is also drilled to receive the wedge support 
bolts 20. Two of these holes are slotted 23 for any adjustment required 
for gun stock width. Shallow slots 24 are cut in the back of the plate for 
recessing the bolt head and for preventing the bolt from turning during 
tightening of the lock nut. 
A gun is removed from the rack by lifting it upward until the narrower 
portion of the stock clears the wedge, and then by moving it outward. 
While the foregoing has described certain specific embodiments of the 
present invention, it is to be understood that these embodiments are being 
presented by way of example only. It is expected that others skilled in 
the art will perceive variations which, while differing from the 
foregoing, do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention herein 
described and claimed.