With all the hats I picked up at the BRC, I decided that it's time to build a small hat rack.  Rather than a plain old rack, I decided to make one out of .50 shells.  [:D]  

Here's my first test piece just to make sure the contact adhesive I'm using will work and I have the right sized holes.  Once completed, the wood will be flush against the wall and the shells will stick out at a 45-degree angle.  I put a .233, .30-06 and a .50 on here just to see what they'd look like.
[img]http://www.petenelson.com/Photos/Misc/Woodworking/50%20Caliber%20Hat%20Rack/01%20-%20Test%20piece.jpg[/img]

While I can tilt the base of my drill press enough to drill the first hole, there isn't enough room to drill then all along the length of the wood, so I had to build a small jig and attach it to the base.
[img]http://www.petenelson.com/Photos/Misc/Woodworking/50%20Caliber%20Hat%20Rack/02%20-%20Drilling%20jig.jpg[/img]

Then I ran into the problem of not being able to hold the wood steady while drilling the holes.  Clamps wouldn't work and I was stumped for a while, but then realized I could use a small dowel on the jig and drill a corresponding hole in the work piece.  All it needed then was a little pressure to keep the piece over the dowel and it worked great.
[img]http://www.petenelson.com/Photos/Misc/Woodworking/50%20Caliber%20Hat%20Rack/03%20-%20Drilling%20jig%20closeup.jpg[/img]

This is a post-ban hat rack with a four-round capacity.
[img]http://www.petenelson.com/Photos/Misc/Woodworking/50%20Caliber%20Hat%20Rack/04%20-%20Holes%20drilled.jpg[/img]

Used the router to round the edges over to make it look a bit nicer.
[img]http://www.petenelson.com/Photos/Misc/Woodworking/50%20Caliber%20Hat%20Rack/05%20-%20Rounded%20edges.jpg[/img]

I masked off the bottom of the holes so the adhesive would have a spot to bond to later.  There was plenty of spraypaint left over from some picture frames my wife painted and the color was just what I wanted.
[img]http://www.petenelson.com/Photos/Misc/Woodworking/50%20Caliber%20Hat%20Rack/06%20-%20Painting.jpg[/img]

That's it so far.  Once the glue dries on my test piece and as long as it's sturdy enough, I'll add the cases to the finished piece.  They're in the tumbler right now getting nice & shiny!  Should have more pics in a couple days once it's all done.  

Is that .30-05 a rare collectors item?

Ok.
[img]http://www.petenelson.com/temp/DCP_1535.JPG[/img]

[url]http://www.thefiringline.com/HCI/molon_labe.htm[/url]

Here is the complete rack.  It could stand to have a bit more room between the cases, but it still works pretty well.

[img]http://www.petenelson.com/Photos/Misc/Woodworking/50%20Caliber%20Hat%20Rack/08%20-%20Completed%20rack.jpg[/img]

Ms Embroidery makes them.  She's the one who does all the stuff for AR15.com too.  Look in the Merchandise forum...

-Troy

DVDTracker, excellent idea!  I'm curious, did I understand that you are gluing the cases in the holes?  Please let me know how that works.  I would have tried to screw them through the flash holes.  Please let me know how it holds.  Maybe glue and screw both--hang a truck on them.  hehe  Again, great idea! [:D]

I wish it was a Delta drill press.  Just a cheapo Ryobi.

I was thinking about drilling through the flash hole and screwing them on, but I figured glue was plenty to hold these in as the hats don't weigh much and it took a decent amount of force to pop the shells off the test piece using just the contact adhesive.

I picked up the Molon Labe hat at BRC.  CavArms was selling them.