Building a DIY Sporting Clays Cart

We built a sporting clays course at the Alexandria Shooting Park, and one thing we noticed right away is how many folks are hauling their gear by hand. So we built three carts at three price points, tested four different gun mounts, and put the whole lineup through real gravel with our high school clays team doing the pulling to figure out the best option for a DIY Shotgun Cart. Here's how each build held up.

The Budget Build — Under $60

The cheap build came in under $60, all in, about $30 for the cart, and $27 for the mount, and the mount actually comes two to a pack. On paper, that sounds like a steal. In practice, it's the cart we'd tell you to skip.

The first lesson here bites everybody: check the dimensions before you buy online. This cart looked a lot bigger in the listing photos than it does in person. It's a tiny little cart, and a shotgun doesn't really fit in it well.

We ran the Pack Rack mount on this one. It uses a U-bolt that pulls in against the frame. We even added rubber inside to help it grip. It still slips — that square tubing just isn't a good surface to clamp to.

The tires are the other dealbreaker. They're hard, small, and miserable on gravel. The handle doesn't help either; even fully extended, it sits low.

Credit where it's due: Steve hopped in to test the weight capacity, and it held him, which honestly surprised us. But would we recommend this setup? Not for a moment.

Our actual recommendation for this one: skip the cart, grab a maul, and put it out of its misery, which is exactly what we did. (Yes, the maul is listed on our Amazon Storefront. The cart is not. You're welcome.)

The Mid-Grade Build — Around $155

Step up to the mid-grade build, and things get better, not perfect, but better. The cart itself runs about $120, and all in with a mount, you're somewhere around $155.

You get a bigger cart, bigger fatter tires, and a frame that actually feels sturdy. The wheels lock, the handle extends up nice and high, and a shotgun fits in here far better than it did in the cheap cart. So far so good.

Here's the catch: those bigger tires are still hard plastic, and on gravel, it shows. The narrow front wheels make for an unstable, bumpy pull. It was better than the budget cart, no question, but not a pulling experience we fell in love with. The handle also slides if you try to push the cart back with the handle.

For mounts, we tried the XL and the XLR, about $5 apart in price. The XLR is a touch beefier and heavier, while the XL is narrower.

In the XLR, the gun sat a little wide and flopped around for our taste, so between the two, we'd go XL. Our one gripe with either: even when cranked down tight, there's a bit of wiggle and play, and we'd expect it to spin over time. Bottom line, this build is viable, and it'll work; we're just not sure it's the best bet for your hard-earned money.

The Premium Build — Around $320

The nicest build we put together ran about $230 for the cart and right around $320 all in. What drew us to it was simple: it was built for the beach, with bigger, softer, inflatable tires. The question was whether that would actually translate to a better pull.

It did, by a mile. This cart pulled the best of the three, no contest. It rides a little top-heavy over divots when only guns are in the cart, but load it up with a case of ammo, a range bag, and some water, and it settles right down.

The hard part wasn't the tires; it was finding a cart with an exposed frame riding high above the fabric so you could actually mount your guns to it. There are plenty of beach carts on Amazon that look like this one, but this was the only one we found with the frame up high where we needed it.

The handle is adjustable and the best of the bunch, as it doesn't slide on you. The build quality is a clear step up across the board. It's rated at 450 lbs, and it feels every bit that durable.

For mounts, we tested the Kolpin Rhino Grip XL and the Kolpin Rhino Grip Pro. The Rhino Grip Pro is our favorite by a wide margin. It mounted up solid, had the least play of anything we tried.

We've put all the parts for this build on one page if you want to build one yourself.

The Hidden Problem

Here's something nobody tells you, and it applies to every one of these carts: choke tubes will shred the cart fabric in a hurry. After a single use, the fabric was already starting to rip.

We tried a couple of quick fixes. A piece of leather running the full width of the cart is what we landed on. We like it, though it's already scratched up, and we're a little curious about how long it'll hold up. A strip of rubber works too, but you need it on the bottom and the front, because your gun wants to slide forward when you set it in.

There's almost certainly a cleaner way to secure something permanently in there. We just want you walking in knowing you'll need to give that muzzle somewhere to rest.

Final Thoughts

If you're building one of these for yourself, the premium beach-tire setup with a Rhino Grip Pro is the one we'd recommend. At right around $320, it isn't the cheapest option on the list, but it's the one that actually pulls well on a real course, holds your gear, and feels like it'll last.

Worth mentioning before you build anything, there are commercially made shotgun carts out there. They start somewhere around $600 and climb past $1,000, and we'd bet they're great. If you own one, tell us about it, because that kind of feedback helps the next shooter make a call.

But if you'd rather build something solid for a fraction of that, this is the setup we've used, and we'd recommend. We'll point you to every part you need so you can put one together yourself.

Built your own clay cart or run a store-bought one? Share your setup in the TFL COMMUNITY!

Whether our targets in the field or our targets in life, we'll only hit what we're focused on — live the #targetfocusedlife