Transporting rifle / gear on a motorcycle

L

Lafayette

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Aug 19, 2010
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NY, U.S
#1
Looking to combine two passions which I see a lot of others on here share..

Wondering how others (if any) go about transporting long guns and all the other equipment 'required' to do what we do.

Just to be clear, im looking to do day trips to the range (no camp / hunt gear) and carry my spotting equipment and range bag without drawing an awful amount of attention to myself.

Thoughts?
 
#2
SLING IT!

LOL!

O.K., I used to haul my rifle to the range on my Beemer back in the '80s. I would borrow my friend's Polaris Gun Boot and bracket he had made.

The Polaris Gun Boot is a hard scabbard that has a slip-on cover over the butt end of the rifle (no hinges). He had made a metal pocket that the muzzle end would slide into, and the pocket had a metal tube welded beside it to slip over the passenger foot peg (which was folded in the up, unused position). Then the scabbard was strapped to the seat and/or backrest. It was very secure. Sorry to tell you, I can't think of any good way to transport a long gun on a motorcycle that won't get stares, but that's half the fun!

Here's what it looks like, but shop around:
New Genuine Polaris ATV Accessories / Scabbard IV Gun Boot / Mossy Oak Break Up / pt # 2872677-419 : Amazon.com : Sports & Outdoors

BTW, with this setup the scabbard can stay on the bike. You just unlock/undo the slip-on cover and pull the rifle out from the top. When you're back at home, you just unstrap the scabbard from your bike and pull it up off of the foot peg. Easy peasy. I believe scoped rifles will fit these.
 
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#3
Check state laws. If the bolt is removed it should be safe and legal to sling it on your back. If not, a scabbard will be legal as long as the firearm is not able to be used by the driver per current firearms laws. Saddle bags work great for the other stuff, and padded cases that fir in the saddle bags work too. Here in TN I have seen a few carrying them slung on their backs too
 
#4
Well, we all know the scrutiny backpacks are gonna command now since Boston.
In the distant past, I have ridden a dual sport in the mountains with a .22 rifle strapped to the side of a pack, exposed. Not going there anymore! At least in CA. I have recently taken the motorcycle to a local shooting spot of mine on some backcountry roads with my OD voodoo Tac bag with a full sized .308 inside worn as a "backpack". I passed a Sheriff going the opposite way and he gave me a long hard look, for all I know, he did end up turning around, however, I was super close to my house and he probably didn't see me turn off. So now what?
My requirements are the following...
1. Completely out of sight and out of mind... hidden in plain view.
2. crash protection. If I low side at moderate speed or worse, I don't want my rifle to sustain any damage, If I am injured, so be it, but a damaged rifle would add insult to injury.
I decided I am going to have a rifle purpose built with a 20 inch barrel and a folding stock. This might allow the use of non "tactical" backpacks. Even gunslinger type packs won't work for me. I want NO attention paid to what I have in the pack. Camouflage and Od green are out.
I am currently looking for hard sided backpacks made for tennis rackets or guitars. I figure, this is the only reasonable way to do it...Hide it in plain sight. Ill let you know when I find something. BTW Ogio has some hard sided packs, I just don't think they are long enough.
If I still had my GS1200, I could lay it over the back seat transversely with the panniers attached, but I sold the bike. Option 2 is to make it look like a tent or something if your bike can support the attachment configuration.
 
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#5
DRAG IT!! What do you think they make drag bags for?! :D LOL

A friend of mine transported my bolt gun to my gunsmith (about a half an hour away on the freeway) a while back. I put the rifle in my drag bag and he just put it on using the backpack straps. He said he could feel some additional drag with the back sticking up over his head, but said he actually got better gas mileage!

Probably 98/100 people wouldn't look twice at you and wouldn't have any idea what you had in the pack. The other 2% of people who knew what a drag bag was, and what was likely in it, wouldn't care...

As long as its legal, you should be good. I live in Utah, so I don't really have to worry about those kind of things...
 
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#7
+1 on the 1200 GS for providing ample room above the side cases, especially with a break-down gun. Don't know what kind of bike the OP has, but I'd go with a scabbard arrangement or a gun that you can take apart for the ride.
skip
 
#8
Ha!, If $$$ wasn't a concern, I do think the Eberlestock set up is hard to beat for the application. As always, Ill balk at the price, look at every other option available....and in the end, buy the spensive chit anyway. The S34 bag is exactly what my minds eye was conceptualizing.
 
#11
reximus said:
As long as its legal, you should be good. I live in Utah, so I don't really have to worry about those kind of things...
Click to expand...

Yet. We don't have to worry about those things yet. We keep getting big tech companies opening up shop here and bringing folks in from CA; if we're complacent we're gonna end up like CO.
 
#13
Eaglemate Motorcycle Trailers

There is an Oregon guy that makes a DS version like this trailer but I can't find it right now. I've seen a few versions of these around. Probably not what your looking for but a possibility.

I'm jealous of a guy I've seen with a sidecar full of cases. Occasionaly a guy pulls into the range with an FAL strapped to the bars.
 
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#14
Getting rifle luggage is thinking small, buy a sidecar.

Im wanting to put mine back on the Road King for rifle range trips as well as for the misses to get on the back seat and we can put two kids in the car for a ride to get ice cream every now and than.

Be advised once doing this you will want another MC to get the feeling of what it is like to ride a MC. Sidecars are like driving a heavy tricycle when going through the curves. If American iron is too costly buy yourself a Ural (with driven sidecar wheel for use in the winter) and consider it the range bike.
 
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#15
Short of buying a Ural Gear Up I just strap my drag bag across my 1150GS Adventure rack. It's not ideal but it's better than having a get-off with the rifle strapped to your back. I couldn't see doing it for more than a 50mile ride...all that vibration can't be good for the scope internals.
 
#16
I wont address the legalities, don't know where you live, but here its no problem.

I shoot every other week at a club in Spearfish, about an hour and a half from here through the Black Hills, (some of the best motor cycle riding any where.

We shoot mostly pistols but do 3-gun, carbine, rim fire rifle, and shot gun shoots and most of the summer I take my Sportster. Most of use take folding chairs to set in the shade while waiting our turn to shoot.

I also carry a nylon tarp to cover my gear and lunch (protect it from the sun). So I wrap all my gear in the tarp and strap it on my bike, no one is the wiser. Not a whole lot different then people strapping their fishing poles 'n such traveling through the hills.
 
#17
Okay another thought.

I used to ride wearing an Arctyrex Bora 85 You could probably put a Barret 50 in that pack and close it up.

Im thinking an Eberlestock Gunslinger or Operator would allow you to sleeve the rifle. With the stock cover on who would notice? The only thing to overcome is ensuring the barrel does not extend below the bottom of the pack to interfere with sitting on the bike.
 
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#20
Eberlestock Gunslinger II. (If you wait long enough, you can get one of the new/upgraded ones with a removable frame for more protection)

1) Fold up the bottom of the scabbard into the pack and secure it with the buckle, as designed. Allows you to use the scabbard easily while sitting. Yes, it takes away some of the internal length available, but that's what the butt/muzzle cover is for...

2) Get a favorite used XXL t-shirt to cover up that "attention-grabbing" OD or Dry Earth color. Simple: just "dress" the pack. T-shirt goes on from top to bottom. Thread each shoulder-strap through a sleeve, and stretch the neck hole around the scabbard opening, as required. Hell, put a skull-cover on the top of the scabbard and people might think you've got someone holding on! Move the t-shirt like the pack wants some beads at Mardi Gras, and you can access your stuff pretty easy.

3) Enjoy a great pack the other 95% of the time you aren't hauling weapons on your bike. Awesome pack; very versatile.

Protects your gear. Protects you. Has TONS of effective uses other than as a bike pack. Can get it in whatever color you want. Yes, a shorter-barreled folding-stocked rifle rides better.

Let us know what you end up doin'...
 
#21
kolpin_adapter_plate_05.jpg
 
#25
+1 on the trailer

I see a lot of bikers (not motorbikers) riding with a single wheeled trailer - if you could rig something up like that it would work better in the turns than the two wheeled trailers. Also most of the ones I have seen have a low center of gravity, and you don't really need to carry a lot of weight or really a whole lot of gear.

Just a thought - its been a while since I have ridden also...
 
#30
This is specifically why I bought two rifles: One is a FN FS2000 which is short enough to put in the Rollie bag that sits behind me when I'm touring, and the other is a Nemisis take-down in .308 that fits nicely into a low-profile generic rucksack.

The former I can carry anywhere in the US (under Volkmer McClure) and the latter I can take to Canada.

I'd say that any cop that pulls you over merely because you're carrying a slung rifle is violating your civil rights since there is no reasonable suspicion or probable cause involved, but in CA anything goes and you have no civil rights anyway. The best option is to get out and stay out of states that violate your rights. I won't set foot in California. I once drove hundreds of miles out of my way to avoid cutting the northeast corner of California.
 
#31
Lafayette said:
Looking to combine two passions which I see a lot of others on here share..

Wondering how others (if any) go about transporting long guns and all the other equipment 'required' to do what we do.

Just to be clear, im looking to do day trips to the range (no camp / hunt gear) and carry my spotting equipment and range bag without drawing an awful amount of attention to myself.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Nothing like shooting and riding! I think I've got the right tool for the job:



The weather in the PNW can be interesting during early winter:



Got to get to the range(was a little deeper than I thought-glad I had two wheel drive!).

 
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