Truck setups for night hunting

varminter .223

Active member
For next year I'd like to have a different set up than what I've got now for night hunting. I don't like the idea of two people on opposite sides of the truck sliding guns at one another into cases in the rear seat of my crew cab truck which is pretty much dedicated hunting / food plotting rig. Despite opening and closing the bolt a dozen times between getting the gun off of the tripod and getting it in the truck I'm still freaked out at muzzles getting pointed at or even towards people. About every other time I say man we've got to do something different but nothing ever happens. I'm curious what other people may have figured out to cure this. I'm thinking about somehow attaching hard cases on top of my truck bed rails with a frame built to support them.
An issue I also hope this also resolved is my radius rangefinder getting upset from being sandwiched in gun cases. I want to step up my three and four hundred yard game but probably the toughest part of that is having a true range on the coyote.
 
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I've been looking at the Grey Man Tactical gear set up. It straps to the back of the front seats and uses the Mollie System to attach on the rack. I like how the weapon is held in a vertical position. They are a little pricey but looks like a good system?

Greg
 
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Here in Illinois we would be hunting from a jail cell if they caught us driving around with one of those scary assault weapons being transported like that LOL.
Guns must be unloaded and cased here.
 
Reason number 1,325,999 why I'm glad I don't live in Illinois!

Seriously, I didn't realize you had transport restrictions. How long are your rifles? Any opposition to using the bed? My original thought was to build a drawer in the bed, similar to a Tuffy drawer...
 
You could possibly do a Pack-Rat style drawer box with Kaizen foam or some other padding.

I would personally go for a racking system vertically behind each seat. Simple option would be a MOLLE panel made for attaching to a seat back with any one of a dozen different ways to attach the rifle.
 
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The only problem with putting them in the bed is that's where we put our bloody gutty dead coyotes.
That's why I thought about building a rack where I can mount a hard case so the top of it is about the same height as the top of the bed rail.
 
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Originally Posted By: Rhett SteeleOriginally Posted By: Rookietjx2
I like that rack. Did you make or buy?

I made it. $30 in materials.
 
How about those side boxes for bed rails? Lockable, and you could put foam in to protect the guns. I'd put a board in to raise the height, put foam on the board to protect the guns, and use the same strap system on my rack. They're quick, they hold without securing them, but you can use the built in straps for extra precautions.
 
We use a chunk of carpet to cover entire truck bed floor.
Then a plastic jet sled with the soft rifle cases piled in the jet sled.
You can slide jet sled out from under tonneau cover to even with tail gate and then everyone can grab soft cases separately.
Also helps keep silent when sliding tripods in . We all use tripods.


We found hard cases are out! No matter how careful we are , we always made noise while opening them or putting them back in jet sled.
Soft cases have treated us much better in the sense of silent
 
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Our simple setup, maybe overly simple for your situation, is to put 2-3 soft cases facing upright in the back seat with zippers near the rear of the case all facing the same direction. Only inconvenience is the passenger(s) have to come around to driver side to remove/case their gun. But they all fit nice and pointed in the same (safe) direction. Hard cases were a pain....
 
can you not have one rifle to hand on the inside of the passenger seat barrel pointing toward the back seats resting on the armrest? we shoot out of a hilux and this works well, if you are driving and spotting you dont have to get out of the vehicle just grab the rifle next to you. we cut our wingmirrors down and put a chopping board on top to shoot from.
 
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