Some time back, I wrote about modifying a thrift store stroller into a rather nice gun cart.

Gun Cart Mark I

But, as I’ve had opportunity to use it, I found a few things that I could improve. For one thing, when I tried to use it over rough ground, when loaded with rifles, I had quite a time keeping it from tipping. Fortunately, others had seen and solved this problem before.

So I’ve had my eye out for a jogging stroller every time I visited the local Goodwill. The wheelbase is wider, and it’s wide overall, making it more stable, and the wheels roll better on rough ground.

Well, a couple of weeks ago I ran onto this:

So, I took off the seat, the sun shade, and the lap tray, and relocated the lower pan from the Mark I cart. I then modified the lap tray supports to hold a piece of wood furring strip, to act as a cross bar to lash rifles to:

Then I covered the wood with foam cushion (actually a split piece of pool noodle that I bought at the Dollar Store), and wrapped the whole thing with tennis racket grip tape.

Finally, here is the completed Gun Cart Mark II, loaded with Vasilly, Sergei, and Captain America.

Investment:

$15.25 for the stroller
$4 for a drywall mud pan, filled with a piece of foam insulation and used as the pan where the barrels go. (I may replace this with something better in the future.)
$0.75 for the furring strip
$1 for the pool noodle
$1 for the grip tape

Total: $22.00

++++

Some design notes for those thinking of trying this yourself:

> For maximum stability over rough ground, the center of gravity of the rifles need to be between their support points. In this case, that’s the lower pan and the cross bar. This limits where I can fix the cross bar. On Gun Cart Mark I this was fixed, since the cross bar was supported by two pieces of all thread running through the stroller handle. But in Mark II I can move it up and down.

> Take measurements of your car trunk before you buy, to be sure the folded cart will fit. One cart I looked at would not have fit. This is also one reason I opted for a removable rifle cross bar, since I can now lay down the cart in the back of my Dodge Caliber 9×19 without laying down any seats.

> If you need to carry more rifles, you could easily add another cross bar, slung below the stroller handles.

Back in May I wrote about a gun cart I had put together using a used stroller I had bought at the thrift store.

I’ve used the stroller for a full shooting season now, with success. I took it to the LuckyGunner Blogger Shoot in May, and it was well received, and it sure saved my old back the trouble of schlepping four rifles, a shooting bag, a cooler, an ammo can, and a camp chair from the parking area to the firing line.

Likewise, for USPSA and Action Pistol matches, it’s been handy not to have to lug my stuff up and down hills.

I would call the Gun Cart Mark I a success.

But I think I can do better.

While overall I’ve been very pleased with the cart, after 6 months of use, I think I can improve on the design. First of all, the performance of the small wheels over rough terrain left something to be desired. Yes, it worked, but I now know why so many of the commercial carts out there are built on a chassis of three large wheels.

Some things definitely worked well, even features that the commercial carts left out. The horizontal bar, which I call the Stock Bar (because that’s where I lash the gun stocks) especially works well. I definitely think it’s an improvement over individual clamps for each gun, which I’ve seen.

The large deck works well, too, and removing the seating area was a good thing. I sometimes see other carts that have been built from strollers, and the seating is left in place, and it limits the size of the shooting bag you can carry, without adding any positive feature.

It wasn’t hard to build the cart, so my plans are soon to visit the local thrift stores and find a three wheel stroller, and build Mark II.

Look for a report when I’m done.

Ah, when things were simple. Time was, I only had one pistol, and I could pull right up to the gate at the range, unload one bag with my gun, ammo, holster, and saunter my young knees over to the bench. Then, after shooting, reverse the procedure.

Now, things have gotten worse. I have more pistols, rifles, and a shotgun, and the walk from the parking area to my favorite range’s shooting area is 50 yards at best. Or, if I’m taking the whole brood to the WMA (cheaper, you know) that’s a 100 yard trek with lawn chairs and ammo boxes and zombie targets and clay pigeons.

I never paid much attention to the shooters at matches who pushed or pulled carts, preferring to convince myself that I was still young enough to schlepp all that gear. Besides, why spend money on something like that?

Then one day I was at the local thrift store dropping off a couch, and I stuck my head in to see if they had any good $3 Hawaiian shirts, and there it was, right up front. An all-terrain baby stroller, with a $6 price tag. My mechanical mind had it stripped and rebuilt into a gun cart in seconds. In minutes, it was in the back of my truck.

And without further fanfare, here it is:

Here it is loaded:

I removed all the baby-carrying apparatus, but left the bottom diaper sled. This fits my shooting bag, pistol bag, and an ammo box, perfectly. Across the top, I mounted a simple 1 x 2 held in place by 1/4″ x 6″ carriage bolts, and covered with foam pipe insulation. This holds the long guns, plus my holster and a camping chair.

Up front, the barrels of the long guns rest in a steel mortar pan, bolted to the foot rest, and lined with more pipe insulation. The long guns are held in place by bungee cords. This pan screams to be covered with gun stickers.

Simple, elegant, cheap. $16 total.

After completion I loaded it up and pushed it through my yard to test it. Nothing tipped over, nothing came loose. If it does, I can modify it in the future just as cheaply.