My gun cart is in my avatar.
Ahhh ... a
true-blue NCOWS shooter: acts as his own packmule!
The main reason I built my half-scale Red River cart was to have a 'NCOWS-legal' conveyance ...
though admittedly it's just a mite cumbersome to transport to shoots, it definitely can be done,
because I made it with the axle and wheels easily removeable. Matter of fact, I hauled it about
1200 miles to the Grand Army of the Frontier Muster at Ackley, Iowa, just last month ....
(click to enlarge)
Prior to that trip I had shortened the shafts somewhat to make it fit better in the back of my SUV,
having noted from 'period' images of these Metis carts that the shafts were frequently quite short,
in keeping with the way the single draft animal was harnessed up:
I've also rigged a new 'shaft-support and sitting-down system', as seen in the first photo above.
The previous system (visible in the photo in my first post showing the canvas cover in place) was
frankly rather 'chintzy-looking', and also none too stable as a chair ... This version also temporarily
attaches to the shafts while in use as a guncart (top plank pivots to 'lock' it into position, or remove)
and thus just 'comes along' with the cart when moving it from position to position using a leather
strap affixed to the lower plank on either side of the keg ... just visible in the first photo. Hopefully
it looks more 'realistic' - i.e. meant to appear like the cart shafts have been set up on a plank atop
a barrel, with another plank laid across the top to form a table or work surface .... Have not yet
located a period image showing such, but it seems like a plausible thing to have done, and at any
rate this system is definitely much more solid for sitting down!