Gunshow Flat Display Cases - Adhering Pistols?

[Tremors]

My friend wants to display his collection of .380 autos at conventions and gun shows. He has the hinged, black vinyl over aluminum, glass-front display cases with a fabric bottom inside that are so common at gun shows. We want to angle the case upward in back a few inches for easier viewing.

My question is - how to keep the guns from sliding downhill?

We've thought of removable tacky poster putty, double-stick tape, non-slip drawer liner, etc. but don't want anything that will affect the finish on the guns or grips.

Surely there's a tried and true method of keeping them (and their information cards and boxes, and small parts) in place without damaging them. Does anyone have experience with any of them? Many thanks.

-- Tremors

[Chain]

haven't personally tried this, but have you seen those boards with rearrangeable letters, like in apartment building directories and office lobbys?
The black felt backer has tight horizontal lines that are like creases, and the letters have little tabs that friction-fit in to the creases:



The lines are only like 1/8" apart so there's plenty of room for find adjustment of position. Thinking you could make a few "shelves" what would support each gun at 2-3 points.

[Tremors]

Thanks, Chain. That's inventive - I doubt I'd ever have thought of it. I'll check to see what that stuff costs, and if it comes in anything but black. I'm afraid blued guns would just disappear against the black.

-- Tremors

[Drang]

Some of that nubbly plastic shelf lining material? Cheap, readily available, comes in large enough rolls at any grocery store that you can experiment, and trim to fit the display case well.

Might depend on how sharp an angle the cases were at.

[OlongJohnson]

Nothing that could absorb humidity from the air. That will freckle blued steel.

[Dave J]

Ever play around with rare earth magnets? Some of them are strong enough to easily support a full size handgun, even when separated by a little distance. If the existing box backer isn’t too thick, you could mount them behind the backer. It’s also possible that an appropriately sized magnet would even work from outside the box, but you’d want to add a layer behind them so they don’t catch everything with ferrous metal content they pass by.

[TCB]

Museum putty, designed for nearly exactly what he’s doing.

https://www.amazon.com/Quakehold-991...iOL&ref=plSrch

[jwperry]

When my buddy did shows, he used soft drawer liner.

Con-Tact Brand Premium Con-Tact Non-Adhesive Shelf and Drawer Liner, 12-in. x 4-Ft, Bright White https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B000VP9I..._BCe-BbMNATG4H

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[Tremors]

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. We set up the display at the show last weekend.



I experimented with the drawer liner and the Neo magnets before the show. Both worked, but neither was as effective as I wanted. I brought them along to the show, but it turned out that the simplest solution was simply to reduce the angle of the cases. After that, the aids were not needed. A good thing, too - setting up the cases was bad enough; if we'd had to fiddle with putting out and adjusting non-slip devices for each pistol, setup would have taken forever.

We have two more displays to build this year, and we may yet have reason to try some of the suggestions. I'm intrigued by the Museum Wax, especially, but I fear it might damage the guns' finish or the cardboard factory boxes that some of the guns sit on. Poster putty worked fairly well, but I worried about the same thing. I wish I could get in touch with someone who has used the wax or putty for a few years in this application.

Anyway, thanks again.

-- David

[BarryinIN]

It almost sounds like a combination of things might work. Museum wax for the guns, the slotted lettering “stands” supporting the boxes, and magnets for lighter ferrous items like magazines or any accessories and tools.