Recent pickup

[leemozoid]

Been chasing one of these since the 90s. The only parts missing were the angle iron locking bars. Do you have one of these with the locking bars? I sure would appreciate photos and measurements if you don't mind.

[Ted Brown]

The locking bar for the M1 small arms rack is very simple. It fabricated from a piece of angle iron 1-1/4"x1-1/4"x 32" long. The lock hole is 1/2" located at the center.
You can find drawings for the various arms racks at www.billricca.com/prod041.htm

[joem]

Sounds easy to make one.

[RCS]

These can be difficult to find, can hold M1 rifles or M1 carbines and has two locking bars (top bar not shown for rifles and second locking
bar for carbines. There are locating holes to stack another wall rack on top of this rack.DSCN1502.jpgDSCN1504.jpgDSCN1505.jpg

[leemozoid]

The locking bar for the M1 small arms rack is very simple. It fabricated from a piece of angle iron 1-1/4"x1-1/4"x 32" long. The lock hole is 1/2" located at the center.
You can find drawings for the various arms racks at www.billricca.com/prod041.htm

That's exactly what I needed. Now to find some way to Pony Express it from Georgia to Oklahoma.

[leemozoid]

Trying now to get a pony express set up to hail it from GA to OK.

[Ted Brown]

Shipping can be a problem. I was offered a M11 rack free from one of my suppliers in NY and the cost to ship it from NY to Oregon was prohibitive - something like $300. It only weighed 75 pounds. I didn't take it as I already have two in the vault. On the other hand I found a free M3 barracks rack that needed a lot of work from my gun club. I had to replace all the wood - old growth Douglas Fir, and have the metal repaired and powder coated. By the time I was through rebuilding it I had paid out about $550! It was originally an M1 rack modified to M3 to hold .45 cal. pistols and modified again to hold the M14 rifle.

[Vern Humphrey]

The bars were probably discarded in the '60s -- I remember taking all of the M14s out of the racks in the barracks and locking them in the arms room, while the locking bars were replaced -- someone found you can take an M14 out of the rack without the key.

[leemozoid]

Shipping can be a problem. I was offered a M11 rack free from one of my suppliers in NY and the cost to ship it from NY to Oregon was prohibitive - something like $300. It only weighed 75 pounds. I didn't take it as I already have two in the vault. On the other hand I found a free M3 barracks rack that needed a lot of work from my gun club. I had to replace all the wood - old growth Douglas Fir, and have the metal repaired and powder coated. By the time I was through rebuilding it I had paid out about $550! It was originally an M1 rack modified to M3 to hold .45 cal. pistols and modified again to hold the M14 rifle.

It's with a friend who'll be coming to IL later this year. We'll meet in Memphis or St. Louis and effect the transfer then.

[2111]

When I was in the Marine Corps in the mid 1950's we had rifle racks in the squad bays but they had no locks and were rarely, if ever, used. We kept our M1 rifles in our wall lockers along with uniforms and civilian clothes. I see in the pictures posted that one rack holds 10 rifles and the other about 19. My question is, in units that did use these racks, did each man that had a rifle in a given rack have a key for the lock or were they just unlocked at reveille by a duty officer and the troops retrieved their rifle if needed ?
The racks we had in the squad bays, were all wood and held rifles on both sides. As best as I recall about 8 rifles to each side.
I was a "small arms repairman" and worked in a battalion armory. We did store rifles in racks within the armory but again, these racks were not locked. The armory itself was locked, but not the racks.