Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's How should I carry my gun?!

Just bought a new sportsman 550 a couple months ago and I'll be using it a lot for hunting. I'm trying to see what would be the best set up for transporting my gun around. I'll be driving on some pretty rough trails and I don't want it to get shaken up a lot. It seems like to me the gun would have a lot of room to move in the kolpin cases so i'm not to sure about those. Does anyone have a set up that they've liked?

The front rack "U" mounts made by various makers work well.

It depends on your state's laws. Some states require a closed case and an unloaded gun. Others allow a loaded gun and a quick fire gun rack.

I've also used a zippered gun case strapped with bungy cords to the front rack. If you do that right, it can be both very secure, yet accessible. That has worked well for me for many years and probably meets more stringent rules that some states have.

The only thing i'm worried about is my scope getting banged around. I guess this will just be a test to see how well my scope holds up. I'm thinking I'll probably go with the "U" mounts on the front. but then i don't like the idea of the gun being exposed to dust when riding and all that fun stuff. dahhh! frustrating

get a gun sock and cut it down to just cover the scope & action. It's easy to pull off and will protect from dust.

Thanks for all the advice. Does any one have a current set up that they like on their atv?

i open carry on my atv in va. and wv in a blackhawk serpa holster. atleast with the serpa i'm not going to lose it on a trail.

These are pics of what I've used for a long time just to give you some idea. The gun case isn't tied down in the last picture, though it would be before we moved again. In this case it is kind of wedged in place with the bag in front helping to retain it. Often I lay the case flat (when there isn't stuff that might bounce on top of it). I generally tie or bungie the forward part of the case ahead of the scope quite snugly but leave things looser behind that area to allow quick removal. The zipper also needs to be accessible as far as the rear of the scope.

The Kolpin and like hard cases protect your gun very well. Have hauled a scoped rifle in one for years over some pretty good bumps and never had a problem. I also use one of the crossways from racks. They are ok so long as you are careful about low hanging limbs, water, mud, rocks thrown up by machines in front of you etc.

I've got a Koplin first generation gun boot that I've used on snowmachines and 4 wlrs for many years. I've never had a problem with a rifle being scratched, dinged or the scope getting thrown off. Both the rifle and the gun boot survived an almost perfectly executed (9.8) backflip lutz on a Suzuki King Quad. It also protected my shotgun flawlessly when mounted on a the back of a 95 Arctic Cat ZR 580 EFI @ 100 mph on the speedometer (90mph gps corrected).



One thing to consider in choosing a mount is how well your rifle will survive in a roll over. It all depends on how good a rider you are, how agressive you are and the terrain your in riding in. If you just putt-putt it's no big deal and most anything works.

I'll add this. If you use your sling while riding, carry the rifle on your chest - not on your back. Crashes, endo's, backflips and rollovers are a lot easier on your body with the rifle in front.

I have experience in this area too. I used to ride a 83' Honda 250R three wheeler.

Great! Thank you for your opinions.

Ive got the "u" mounts on the front rack of my Grizzly as well as a Kolpin Gun boot with the supplied moulded soft case mounted on the rear rack. Ive used both but I dont really know what to think of them. If you have a scope with a bigger objective lense, try to put he rifle in the U mounts rightside up. If you put it upside down, the scope might rub on the rack like mine did. I also wish the Gun Boot had some kind of a brace that mounted on the floor board down at the end of the boot. Mine vibrates so much, I sometimes hesitate to put my rifle in it. A brace down at the bottom would work very well to keep the whole thing from shaking. Most of the time, I leave my 4 wheeler in the truck until I shoot an animal and then use the 4 wheeler to retrieve if the landowner will allow.

I put my rifle in a soft case and it goes inside the cargo box attached to the rear rack. I can get 2 rifles inside and have never had any problems with my scopes getting knocked around. I can also carry my bow inside a soft bowcase inside that box.

I have used the Kolpins for at least fifteen years on various Honda and Polaris machines, including my current Ranger. Pretty rough country down here (two-tracks are usually described as "goat trails" by some of my guest hunters). On the ATVs, we use the Kolpin cases in the Kolpin mounts that carry the rifles nose down and about 45 degrees from vertical. On the Rangers, we use them mounted horizontally behind the front seat roll bar. Never had a scope failure that could be attributed to the cases. The horizonal U-racks will hold your rifle securely, but the rifles take more of a beating than I am willing to inflict on mine.

I either bungee a plastic hard case to the front rack or sling the rifle across my chest.

I've tried front U-clamps and side mount Kolpin.Neither really worked on my Can-Am. In the front mount, the rifle got muddy.The first try the side mount was too far back and high.Down and forward,the rifle was just barely grabable. I can't get it farther forward. But this position could kill me,it blocks bailing on one side. I have already driven my quad a couple of times like a racing sailboat. The answer is a sturdy box across the front,quick and easily opened. Aluminium checkerplate is classy.

Brackets on the rack, that's how I roll.........

I strap a koplin inside the rack of all the hunting bikes.Keeps it good and protected.Looks like this.

We have several ATVs on the ranch. We have tried several gun racks and found the best for us to be the Cycle Country rack that is shown in this ebay link.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CYCL...8QQptZMotorsQ5fATVQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

We have come up with a modified mounting system using a one or two small turn buckles. I have posted the pics below to try and show how we mount them. We have good luck with these.











[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh206/DoubleCK/TuckerRubicon1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh206/DoubleCK/TuckeRubicon2.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh206/DoubleCK/TuckerRubiconStanding.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh206/DoubleCK/TuckerRubicon.jpg[/img]

I'm not promoting recommending ebay to those who don't like them. To many pics but I hope something there helps.