• Watch Out for Scammers!

    We've now added a color code for all accounts. Orange accounts are new members, Blue are full members, and Green are Supporters. If you get a message about a sale from an orange account, make sure you pay attention before sending any money!

Gunsmithing Barrel blank rack

chipsfan

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jun 20, 2009
333
1
48
Northeast USA
How are you guys storing your blanks? I was thinking about welding something up and wanted to see what everyone was doing.
 
Crap, I finally peek back in here after a long absence and now you're gonna give me a complex worrying about how I'm storing my barrel blanks.
 
I posted this in the gunsmithing section for a reason.

lighten up it was just a joke.

if it were me I would build a rack that incorporates several sections of caped pvc pipe. Put threaded clean outs on the other end and separate them by calibers. Unscrew the cap and pull out what you need as you go. If its humid where your at in the northeast throw in some desiccant.

Keeps things clean and dry and is relatively inexpensive. This should also help protect your inventory.
 
I keep the couple extras in the back of the safe leaning in the corner.
 
1" square tubing for the vertical legs. Cross drill matching holes and run 3/8" 1018 rod for shelves and side connecting supports. Spot weld rod on the outside of the tubing. You can park a tank on it.
 
I bought a half dozen or so commercial shelf/racks used in the food industry. Sam's Club sells em for around $2 bits a piece. Hole sawed a bunch of 2x4's and ripped em down the center, then attached to 3/8 plywood cut to fit the shelf. They lay horizontally supported by the saddles. The shelf is for our reamer inventory/tooling and the top rack is where the sticks go. Works for us due to our floorplan, so judge yours accordingly. The shelves I needed anyway and this worked for us cause putting tooling that high up just meant we couldn't reach/see what's up there. Barrels however were a natural..
 
Oh. Uh......awkward moment. Sorry, the only reason I came screeching into this thread was because I saw the word "Rack" (Insert best Beavis and Butthead laugh).

**************************************

Most of the barrel makers ship barrels in some decent wooden crates made to fit when you order several at a time.
Tubes are sleeved and padded from one another to safely make the trip through UPS. I figure they should be able to weather whatever crazy extremes my shelf can dish out. The factory crates are compact and will span the depth of my shelf units to rest on the main supports.

I keep most of my Kriegers in these wood shipping crates with the top kept loose to protect the contents. Enter them into inventory upon arrival so I know what I have committed versus what is truly available at a glance on the computer.

Sharpie on the side of the crate shows what box to go to for rich, tasty goodness.

 
Last edited:
I write the customers name on it with a sharpie and it goes in a vertical rack that looks like a rifle rack where it stays till pulled for processing. It will hold about 20 barrels. It rarely gets full as we roll them out of there as quick as we can. I don't stock barrels for fun.