Will this hurt my rifle?

[Big country]

I was just wondering if hanging in a gun rack would warp the stock or something, I wouldn't think it would but someone told me it might. So what do y'all think?

 

[Okierifleman]

Hey BC, this wont hurt at all in your house. If it was in a barn or something with big temperature fluctuations maybe, but not in a house where temp remains fairly constant.

 

[Big country]

The rifle is the one I'm worried about. The one on the bottom is an old single shot 20 gauge that my Grandpa gave my Grandma when they were very young so she could bird hunt with him. He engraved the wood with her initials and did the checkering on it himself. But Will the barrel or the stock warp from this?

 

[baboon]

Do kids still get to make them in shop?

 

[Big country]

I don't know! I made that one in Ag mechanics in high school. I made something like four or five out of scrap lumber in wood shop and sold them. I think a teacher even bought one of them. But that is the one I kept. I have one that my uncle built for my dad when he was in high school. I hope one day I have a son that will build me a bad ass gun safe in his welding class! LOL!

 

[ReVrEnD_0341]

i wouldn't hang em like that putting pressure on the barrel...

There really isn't anymore pressure on that barrel than leaning it against something for any period of time.

Big, if your way of storage were to warp that barrel, than I wouldn't ever buy from that manufacturer again.

 

[Texas1911]

As long as the gun is relatively light I don't think it'll mess with anything. If it were a heavy barrel, tactical bolt rifle where they get up to 7 - 10 lbs. I personally would stand it up vertically.

 

[Big country]

There really isn't anymore pressure on that barrel than leaning it against something for any period of time.

Big, if your way of storage were to warp that barrel, than I wouldn't ever buy from that manufacturer again.

LOL! I'm not so worried about the barrel as the wood it's connected to. But you're right if it warps the barrel I'm in trouble. and I'll just have to buy that M&P 15 to make up for it.

 

[M. Sage]

You're fine.

i wouldn't hang em like that putting pressure on the barrel...

Won't hurt it. Steel tubes resist bending far better than solid bars do. It won't have nearly enough pressure on it to bend the barrel. Even a heavy, solid bar won't bend. Heck, if hanging there is going to bend it, every time he shoots it, the pressure from that is going to bend it crazy.

 

[M. Sage]

Nah, it'll be perfectly fine. Wood doesn't compress that easy, either.

Ever tear a house apart? By your reasoning, with all the constant weight on all the joints, they'd be loose. I have yet to tear a wall apart where the fasteners want to come willingly...

 

[Big country]

I fixed it right after I did it. I just wondered if it would in fact hurt the rifle or performance of the rifle.

 

[dtalley]

My dad has had a Rem 222. a Winchester 22 and a 20ga shotgun on his gun rack like yours that I built in 1975 woodshop. All three still to this day shoot as good as they did when he started using the gun rack.

No probems so far. I don't think it causes any ill effects to the guns.

 

[Texas1911]

Nah, it'll be perfectly fine. Wood doesn't compress that easy, either.

Ever tear a house apart? By your reasoning, with all the constant weight on all the joints, they'd be loose. I have yet to tear a wall apart where the fasteners want to come willingly...

Wood requires roughly 2000 PSI to compress, that's for a standard wood like southern yellow pine.

The problem on the gun is the action screws are put into a bending shear. They are designed to be tensile members, not shear. The shear is resisted by the recoil lugs when firing, but the gun on that rack is allowing it's weight to act on the center.

It will deflect, as would the trusses in a house, and that deflection in conjunction with moisture warping may affect the gun long term.

If it were a high end bolt-rifle with a fiberglass stock I'd definitely not do that to it. A run of the mill Remington or something, I wouldn't really care too much. It's a loosey - goosey rifle anyways.

 

[M. Sage]

Eh, the friction caused by the screw being tightened and clamping the stock onto the action should be more than enough to counteract that.