Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What do you transport your rifles in? From house to field?

What do you guys carry your rifles in? I am mostly interested in when you just drive out for a hunt. Do you use truck mounted gun racks, scabbards, cases? Or just through the rifle on the seat and go?

Obviously when you go planes, trains or automobiles somewhere far and stay in camp that has different requirements than day or weekend hunts.

Generally i just put it on the Back seat and head out. If i'm using my ATV i put it in a scabard that's mounted on the side of the 4wheeler. Once and a while i'll use a soft case and place the gun under the back seat of my truck so that i can keep more stuff in the cab with me.
Paul

When two of us go prairie dog shooting the bed of the pick-up truck will have no less than a dozen rifles; all in hard cases. (Last week we were trying to figure the value of the contents of that pick-up bed)

When my deer camp was fifteen minutes from home I put a rifle in a soft case in the passenger seat, bolt up, magizne loaded, chamber empty.

Now I live 5 hours from deer camp and I take two rifles in a hard case sitting in the back seat.

for my close-by hunting (3 hours or less drive), i just throw the gun on the passenger side and go.

for longer than that: hard case, and it goes into the box of the truck.

prairie dog shoots are hard case ordeals, too, not so much for volume of guns, but for protection from the dusty environment.

The pickups I use around the place here have either a gunrack in the window, or one of those overhead racks. When I off on hunting trip I carry the rifles in a hard side case in the back seat.

Hard case in the back seat, also.

Hard case all the time. I don't like the idea of the gun being needlessly scrached or the the scope being knocked around.

A plain old soft case.

I use a waterproof drag bag in the boat, except for my RSI Ruger for which I have a small soft waterproof case.
(it's only 36" long.)
Cat

If i'm driveing less that a few hours from home the rifle sits on the seat and if I'm going to the range for the day, one on the pasanger seat and up to 3 on the back seat without cases. If I'm going on a long trip I put the rifles in hard cases and pack them in with the gear in the back of the truck.

Jamie

If I'm going to the range to shoot the firearm, I carry any firearm in a hard case (to protect the gun) in the trunk of my car (to obey the law).

Ohio Law requires that a firearm AND/OR the ammo for that firearm NOT both be "accessible" to anyone in the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle. (Kinda hard to do in a pick-up truck, eh?)

You can carry the gun in the passenger compartment, but you'd better NOT have any ammo for that gun in the passenger compartment or the police can and often DO arrest and charge the driver with "carrying a concealed weapon"... even if the driver HAS a CCW Permit.

The one exception to that law is the CCW Permit law, but it only applies to handguns that are carried in a "certain" way inside a motor vehicle... and, of course, you MUST have a CCW Permit which is ONLY "good" for a "handgun", not a rifle or shotgun.

My County-issued Ohio CCW Permit states right on the face of the Permit, "Ohio Permit to carry a concealed handgun". Note it does NOT say "gun", but rather "handgun". Yet, by that same law, a Permit Holder must not and CAN NOT legally carry a handgun CONCEALED on his/her person while INSIDE the car, it must be in open sight of any peace officer who walks up to the driver's side window or in a locked box on the seat or in the vehicle's locked glove box.

This is a rather "sticky issue", so I solved it by buying and straping to my left forearm an "Uncle Mike's #10 ankle holster"... into which I put my double-action only 8.5 ounce Kel-Tec P3AT (.380 ACP) loaded with seven 85 grain +P hollow-points@ almost 1100 fps that yield 221 ft./lbs. of muzzle energy... very similar to the 235 ft/lbs of muzzle energy delivered by a 158 grain bullet out of a factory-loaded .38 Special cartridge.

While the .380 (aka "9mm short" in Europe) is not an ideal "gun-fight" round, it's accepted by the "experts" as an adequate self-defense rounds and is a whole lot better than a .32 or .25 ACP round. Besides, if I "knew" I was going to a "gun fight", I wouldn't GO!

My momma didn't have any DUMB children!

It's inconvenient as "h-ll", but that's the law and my way of complying with it. However, it is EXTREMELY unlikely that anyone who passes all the tests and background checks one must pass to get an Ohio CCW permit is going to shoot a peace officer or do a "drive-by shooting" which seems to be the ONLY reason for such a ridiculous item in the new Ohio CCW law.

From what I understand, Ohio's Gov. Robt. Taft ("politics" are his family's "business"... his Grandfather was Ohio Gov. and U.S. President, his father was Ohio Gov. and one of Ohio's U.S. Senators) insisted on this part of the CCW law because the politically-appointed head of the Ohio State Patrol agency insisted on it.

Generally speaking, "street cops" are not opposed to honest citizens carrying concealed weapons because they seen, often on a daily basis, those same honest citizens being beaten to death, shot to death, stabbed to death and stomped to death by vicious predatory drug-crazed criminals and they're sick of seeing it.

However, the policially appointed police chiefs, who must answer to politicians, are generally "against" honest citizens carrying concealed weapons due to their "boss's" (the politician's) viewpoints on CCW.

Kinda makes you wonder why so many of the "politicians" are AGAINST your RIGHT to "keep and BEAR arms" ("BEAR" ='s "carry"), doesn't it? Could it be that they'd LIKE to pass unpopular, freedom-restricting laws, but they fear armed retaliation if they attempt to enslave the People?!? Hmmmmmm...!

Like the old adage sez... "Never trust a government that doesn't trust you!"


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

Bolt rifles for shorter trips get stuffed in an Air-Glide.

Shotguns get the soft case while in the cab or the Jeep.

Check the local and state Regs.

Some places can be a bit touchy about transport methods.


E4E

Partagas,
I am kind of picky, I use a soft case to transport and get into the tower stands. I have in the past fallen in the process of climbing into my stands trying to carry a gun and a bag. Now I use a nylon rope and a pulley, I clip the rope through the gun case as well as the bag and pull it up after I have sat down in my chair. This method saves me and the finish on the gun and scope.

I have a few hard cases, but have not used them in several years.
Take care!
Marcus

Our cabin/land is over an hour away asphalt time and then about 45 minutes of on 4x4. We always use hardcases when we travel there. I guess we are creatures of habit because we use hardcases to get to the range as well.

A guitar case

Really do you use a guitar case? I always thought that would be a cool idea for my 10/22. Did you line it with foam or something yourself. I would love to hear the details of that project if your not just kidding.

in my broncoII I have gunracks on both rear side windows. They are the ones that have 5 large suction cups holding it in place. I have never had any problems with them coming off except when I stuffed it into a ditch at about 55mph.

In the Ranger there is a gun rack there that allows for the slider window to open up. Often the capacity of 4 guns in the rack in the bronco isnt enough, So I fold the back seats forward, wich puts them tightly against the front seats. It makes an awsome padded spot for 2 to 3 more guns. It is padded on both sides and holds them tight enough that they dont move, yet I can reach them just by reaching behind the seats

Padlocked Hardcase in the back of the minivan.

Ammo is in a Milsurp Ammo can.

BMT

Normal trip (about an hour): cased (hard case for long gun, "hard" soft-side padded for the Contender) with one more in the overhead rack.

Really short trip: over the shoulder or on the hip (that would be walking out the back door and across the yard).

Hard cases are too bulky, and take up too much room. I use soft cases in the back seat of my pickup. I drive 5 hours to get to my lease, and have never had any kind of problem.