1st off... I don't mind building stuff... but am usually a long ways from a finish carpenter...

...in digging around the assorted gun "stuff" that my father in law left us years ago, was an "old" custom rifle case ( no rifle to fit the case )... so I decided to save it for some reason...

well, I've decided to try to "alter it" as part of my "retro roller resto" project ( an old Remington rolling block rifle that was converted in the early 60's to a bench rest gun, that I am both restoring & customizing )

the case... is all wood, veniers on the body, & 1/2" walnut on the sides, with brass hardware, & a nice leather wrapped handle... kind of a curved top side ( where the handle & latches are located )....looks like yellow pine on the inside, hollowed out to fit what looked like an old Winchester 52 ??? 22 rim fire... it had padded vinyl pads that the rifle rested on, & a plywood hinged box that held the bolt, & a set of magazines...

I say "had", because I've already removed the glued in pine wood, & bought a rough cut 2" thick bass wood board ( as light weight of wood short of balsa, that I could find ) & cut it to fit inside the case... last night using my reciprocating saw, I roughed out the outline of the scoped "roller" rifle in my bench vice

my thoughts on the case, is to cut out a generous outline of the scoped rifle into the bass wood, smooth everything over, & with some sort of glue, apply a layer of 1/4" closed cell foam over the wood, then stretch over some sort of rich looking fabric, attaching the fabric on the bottom of the bass wood... then remove the bass wood insert, & sand out any glue residue from the inside of the case, & send it over to my local custom painting buddy to have a painted in candy colors "waving American flag" painted inside the case...then install the fabric covered wood insert back into the case... which would show the flag on the cover & where the rifle will fit in the bottom ( the rifle wears a very large Unertl scope, has a high roll over cheek stock, & has a very heavy barrel, so a good portion of th flag on the bottom will be visible with the rifle removed from the case )...my thoughts on the fabric were a rich deep blue satin or velour ( thought the dark color would not show as much residule gun oil or powder residue, but I want to match as closely the color used in the painted flag )... I'd then look at contact areas between the top & bottom of the case & the rifle, & install small pads that would match the paint behind it ( I assume red & white, depending on the location of the pad ) to keep the rifle from rubbing on those painted areas

the original insert was glued in, but I think I'd like to cover the outside of he case with distressed leather look vinyl, & add some plastic "feet" to the case, & use longer screws on the feet & all the brass hardware to hold in the insert in place, this will allow me to wrap the vinyl, & glue & tack it in place on the inside, then slide the insert in to hide the tacks, & install the hardware to hold the insert in place...

so... a few of my concerns...

My local gun building buddy "later" told me he thought bass wood was acidic, so he thinks I should completely seal that wood, before I pad it ???

the fabric to stretch over the insert.... I'm concerned about getting something that looks "rich" yet will hold up well the against the wear of the gun & it's related solvents & oils, yet will stretch over the very irregular shape of the gun / scope outline...satin, velour maybe even a spandex ???

I'm not sure what would be the best glue to use for attaching both the vinyl to the outside of the case, & the closed cell foam to the cut out insert...

anyone do anything like this, & have any suggestions ??? of course I'll post some pics as this whole project continues to come together

BTW... my thoughts for a finishing touch to the outside was to add a bunch of stickers from other countrys, or of popular or significant types of competitions... ( to give the case a well traveled look ) anyone know where to get anything like that ???

I've built 4-5 custom cases. Only one completely from scratch, and the others from great old period cases that I relined and built partitions for.
I 100% agree with 40rod on the material of pool table wool felt, but it isn't wool anymore, and it isn't felt either. My local pool table company sells it out the door, and it's a poly material mix that is super strong, but also kinda spendy.
I went to Joann's Fabrics (wife directed me there!0 and found some really great wool felt that is as good, but a lot cheaper. The stuff at the pool place cost me $40 for my case, while the second similar piece cost me half that.
I use hardwood from my local wood supplier for divider. They carry some that is in various sizes, so I can simply buy it in the width and thickness I need, and I only need to cut to length.
I glue it in with Gorilla Glue, and use plain old Elmers to apply the cloth to the wood. Cover all the dividers first with a tiny bit extending onto the bottom, and then cut and fit the bottoms to each compartment. The felt can be butted together between each compartment with an almost invisible seam, so don't worry about splicing the pieces where they join.
Brass hardware and corners look better, and more period correct. Plastic is a pretty new material, so I wont use it for custom cases. I've found I can buy an old broken suitcase at Goodwill or Salvation Army and remove all the brass parts, latches, etc. and it's way cheaper than buying those items. Usually a couple bucks, vs. $30+ for new.
Here's a couple I built:

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This is the one I built from scratch:
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