Questions about a gun cabinet

I have a few questions for the guys that have built gun cabinets. I am planning on building a cabinet that will look like a chimney cupboard. Top section for long guns and the bottom section will be drawers on full extension slides for ammunition.
Questions:
How much distance between guns?
Where the rifle butt sits, did you build that piece with a slope?
How much distance do you have between the butt rest and the barrel rest?
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Thanks for your input…..

I never build gun cabinets but I would space the guns far enough apart so that they will not cause damage when they are remove , if one gun are left-hand bolt and one next to it are a right-hand bolt will require more space , the pad that the butt set on can be angle to math the butt angle

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Von Bickley

Questions:
How much distance between guns? Guns are spaced 3-1/2" from the sides and center to center, with a notched bar to keep them from tipping sideways.

Where the rifle butt sits, did you build that piece with a slope? Yes, in this case there is a 1/2" slope over 5-1/2" and there is a notched stop to keep the butts about 4-/14" from the back wall and spaced from its neighbor.

How much distance do you have between the butt rest and the barrel rest? The space between the butt rest and barrel rest is 38"
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Thanks for your input…..

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My Dad made a gun cabinet for his guns (rifles and shotgus). It has worked very well. The spacings he used are noted in Blue above next to your questions. There is a lot of variation in guns, so your best bet is to look at the guns to be stored if you can and size them up to account for oversize or larger diameter scopes, front sights, etc. Side by side shot guns need a bit more width than rifles do. Ammunition is heavy so be sure to account for the weight when you size the drawer slides.

Be sure to include locks for all drawers and doors, ideally with the doors keyed differently from the drawers.

I don't know about the design questions, but it made me think of a saying they have out here in the country, a long way from any outside help. They say, if you need to dial 911, it had better be part of your gun safe combination.

I built a double deep gun case with the following features.

4" between guns and guns upright and butt cutouts angled to allow more room for scopes in the back row.
1" slope over 14" front to back.
Distance from butt to barrel notch 32" in back row, 39.5" in front row.

If I had to do over I would have made it bigger and would have cut a 1/8 " groove on the rail that the barrel notches are to accommodate the snapshots that reside there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lee Schierer

My Dad made a gun cabinet for his guns (rifles and shotgus). It has worked very well. The spacings he used are noted in Blue above next to your questions. There is a lot of variation in guns, so your best bet is to look at the guns to be stored if you can and size them up to account for oversize or larger diameter scopes, front sights, etc. Side by side shot guns need a bit more width than rifles do. Ammunition is heavy so be sure to account for the weight when you size the drawer slides.

Be sure to include locks for all drawers and doors, ideally with the doors keyed differently from the drawers.

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Excellent advice by Lee above but one observation that I would make is that not all rifles will fit properly in a 38” gap between butt and barrel rest. Namely tactical rifles with 16” - 18” barrels and collapsible but stocks may require a shorter gap.

I had forgot I posted this. I have since bought a gun safe.