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Have you seen a gun rack in the rear window of a pickup recently? They used to be as common as NRA stickers out here in the West, but no more. If you do see them, there’s usually a carpenter’s level or a fishing pole where the rifle and shotgun once rode. And what about our beloved SUVs? Where do you rack up a gun in them?

Well, if your state permits carrying an accessible shotgun or rifle in the passenger compartment of your vehicle, here is one new invention that is so simple it works. It’s called the “Gunsaddle.”

The “Gunsaddle” is a “V” shaped firearms carrier that is designed to be wedged between a bucket seat and the center console of a car or truck. It is formed from one piece of ABS plastic with a rubberized coating, and it looks to be indestructible. In use, the firearm is strapped into a “U” shaped cradle at the upper edge of the wedge and retained there by a wide elastic strap with Velcro closures.

Does it work? I’ve already tried the Gunsaddle in a Chevy Suburban, Ford F-150, Jeep Cherokee and Isuzu Trooper. In each case, the shotgun or rifle stayed put even over rough 4×4 trails. With two of these units in place, you can have a shotgun and a rifle readily accessible from the driver’s and passenger’s seats. And — attention waterfowlers — you can readily attach the Gunsaddle to the gunwales of a boat with a few stainless steel screws and washers. That’s what I like about it. The Gunsaddle is simple, flexible, inexpensive, protects your firearm’s finish, and solves a problem.

Here’s a “Why didn’t I think of it” tool. Outers Gunslick line has introduced the best shotgun cleaning tool invented in years. And again the concept is simple. Take a battery-powered hand drill type tool, connect it to an aluminum shotgun rod, and let a rotating bronze brush with a bit of solvent do all the dirty work.

Talk about a Roto-Rooter job! This power combination really gets the crud out. When it’s time to use a patch, you cut the power, pall out a clutch ring that stops the rod from further rotation, drape a patch around the brush, and work the patch through the bore.

The Pow’r Scrubber is neatly packaged in a permanent plastic case together with 12- and 20-gauge brushes, cleaning patches, and a bottle of Gunslick Nitro Solvent. All that’s missing is a preservative of some kind. It takes four AA batteries to power it up.

Brownells Unique Brush-Mop Combo

If you thought the evolution of the shotgun brush and wooly mop had ended, think again. Brownells, the gunsmith’s mail-order emporium, has come up with an intriguing new design to combine brushes and mops in any sequence in order to do two or three jobs with every pass of the rod.

Their new line of 12-gauge, double ended brushes and mops sport a standard male 5/16- 27 thread fitting on one end and a female 5/16-27 thread fitting on the other. The brushes are available in phosphor bronze or nylon and the mops are cotton.

How does the system work? There are any number of variations. Let’s attach a mop to a brush to another mop that screws into the cleaning rod. Add solvent (Brownells markets a great shotgun wad solvent under their own name) to the first mop and the last mop. Bring on the Pow’r Scrubber. Now the first mop places solvent in front of the brush on the forward stroke and the second mop cleans things up following the brush and adds more solvent ahead of the brush on the return stroke. Put that combination into the bore and scrub away.

Now attach three mops in parallel. Add a preservative to the third mop that is attached to the rod. The first two mops clean and dry the bore and the third mop oils the bore, Just remember to remove the first two mops as they emerge from the muzzle to insure they are not pulled back through the bore. Or substitute two nylon brushes for the first two mops and wrap cotton patches around them. The cotton patches can be discarded and refreshed with new ones with a touch of preservative.

How do we clean all those mops? Easy. I keep an empty plastic laundry soap container on hand to clean mops and brushes and cartridge cases fired with. black powder. Add a little water, a lot of Simple Green, drop the mops and brushes in, and shake, shake, shake. Pour out the residue, flush the bottle with clean water twice and let, the mops and brushes air dry.