One of my great fears is that one of my firearms will get stolen and subsequently used in a crime. I would feel terrible if I found out that a rifle or pistol that I failed to secure from unauthorized access was used to kill an innocent person. As a result, I take every precaution to keep my guns locked and secured.
In general, I lock all of my guns away in a safe when not being carried. The large home safe is great for the non-essential guns that I don’t intend to access quickly. I also like to have more readily accessible guns in more convenient areas of my home besides the one I carry as my underwear gun. The best and most affordable option is the GunVault NanoVault. I own several of these. I use one in my house to lock up my larger carry gun when I get home. I use one to secure my pistol and other valuables in my vehicle when I am forced to go into a truly non-permissive environment like a courthouse. Hell, I even used one when I was in India to secure my spare cash when we had to leave our bags in a sketchy hotel in Gurgaon.
I recently realized they ALSO can be used to secure long guns. I have been shooting a rifle competition at a local gun range. The timing of which requires me to leave the rifle in my car at work and go straight to the range after work. A few times I rolled the dice and hoped that concealing the rifle in the cargo hold of my vehicle would prevent a theft. I wasn’t satisfied with this so I worked a solution. I secured the wire loop to a structural point of the car, passed the wire through the mag-well of my AR, and attached the NanoVault. They would have to pass the safe through the magwell, which probably wouldn’t work too well. This requires me to break the AR down, which technically only secures the lower receiver. My hope is that it buys enough time and is frustrating enough to keep a scumbag from walking away with my long gun. It also works well on shotguns. I haven’t tried it with an AK, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. The only limitation is the diameter of the wire crimp on the cable being able to pass through the action.
Is it super fast to get the lock off and get the rifle into play? No, but that’s not the point. I have no delusions of shutting down an active shooter with my rifle. Gunfights are “come as you are” events. This setup just gives me peace of mind while I’m workin’ for the man.
Any other ideas for securing long guns in vehicles? I’d love to hear them.
Protect the Brood,
Defensive Daddy
PS. I hope everyone is having a restful holiday and enjoying the time with your families. Talk to you after the New Year!
Could also put the bcg inside the nano and run the cable completely through the upper. Thus securing the entire rifle from theft.
used a Master Lock 10-mm / 2 Meter Braided Steel Cable to lock up all the long guns on a trip to Nevada. For the 10/22 and lever action, we passed a standard pistol cable lock through the action and threaded the larger cable through that. For the AR, the cable itself came up the mag well and out the upper with the bolt locked back. The ends of the larger cable were passed through the frame loops for the seats to lock into when upright. One master lock to bring the loop ends together and make a giant steel cable loop. tossed a blanket over everything and we were good to go. http://www.etrailer.com/Locks/Master-Lock/78DPF.html
Reblogged this on disturbeddeputy and commented:
You’re responsible for keeping unauthorized hands off your guns.