Hello, I am trying to think of a good alternative case for an AR15.  I have a flat-top (scoped) 20" bbl AR and would like to make a good alternative case for.  In the past I have seen posted (here I think) some information regarding a tool box made into a rather impressive AR15 case.  I am thinking of making a "Shooting Footlocker" out of a small trunk perhaps?  Or else I could go the way of the tool box.

Yeah, there's teh whole guitar case idea, but that's not really what I would call compact either...  What are some clever ideas you guys could come up with.  Having the rifle receivers separated is acceptable.  Something inconspicuous because I live in Liberalville (Minneapolis/St. Paul) Minnesota.  What ideas could you guys come up with?  Also something that doesn't scream "Tactical-Gear-Wearing-Milsurplus-Psycho" as we have many here.

Let me know what you guys think could be good for these purposes.  Something that clearly wouldn't make people turn their heads.

If you have pictures of such a setup, please feel free to post it.

Sincerely,

I don't know if this is what you have in mind, but Dick's Sporting Goods has a nice 54" by 14" all aluminum gun case for $49.99.  Having priced a few of these aluminum gun cases, this as cheap as I have seen, but its not a one off "original".

Quoted: I don't know if this is what you have in mind, but Dick's Sporting Goods has a nice 54" by 14" all aluminum gun case for $49.99.  Having priced a few of these aluminum gun cases, this as cheap as I have seen, but its not a one off "original".

Actually thats exactly what he doesn't want (but that is a DAMN good price for one if he did).


Now for answers to your question, I've heard of guys using golf bags, tool boxes, suitcases, etc...

Actually a few months back, there was a topic about this....if you search for it, you might be able to find it.....

I like what Callaway Golf has to offer...



Seriously, take a trip to Staples and Home Depot and check out what they have in briefcases and toolboxes.  Measure the upper, lower, and the complete weapon before you go and take a tape measure with you.  You might also consider art portfolio cases.  They come in a range of sizes, and although the large ones can get a bit unwieldy because of the size/shape, it looks like the most you have to steal is a bunch of worthless drawings - not valuable items like guns or tools which are attractive to criminals.  

I've been looking into the same sort of thing for my postban M4gery (2001 LEGP) as I found the toolbox setup a little bit too bulky for what I wanted (those things are *big*!).  Just like you, I wanted something that was discreet, but as compact as possible.  Expense was also an issue - I wasn't going to pay $100+ for some sort of custom made box.  

After much searching, I've come up empty.  Even when you separate the upper from the lower, you really don't lose too much in length - just the length of the buttstock, really.   The length of my complete upper is just over 25", while the complete rifle fits in a 37" softcase with probably an inch or two to spare, so I could likely go even smaller.  Your probably not going to save much more than 10" in length and are either going to need to get something that is significantly taller (if you want to stack the upper and lower on top of eachother) or really wider if you want both to lay flat on the same plane.  Either way, you're likely to end up with something that takes up significantly more volume than a traditional gun case.  The space saving you'll get (or at least the % saving) is even less considering your longer, 20" barrel.

Rocko

The only thing that comes to mind would be a leather tenor sax case - less conspicuous, but still something worth stealing...

Quoted: I don't know if this is what you have in mind, but Dick's Sporting Goods has a nice 54" by 14" all aluminum gun case for $49.99.  Having priced a few of these aluminum gun cases, this as cheap as I have seen, but its not a one off "original".

That sure as heck is a DAMN FINE PRICE for aluminum gun cases!!!  Does Dick's Sporting Goods have a website or something?  I'll need to look for those in the future!

Quoted: You might also consider art portfolio cases. They come in a range of sizes, and although the large ones can get a bit unwieldy because of the size/shape, it looks like the most you have to steal is a bunch of worthless drawings - not valuable items like guns or tools which are attractive to criminals.

PERFECT!  Portfolio cases are a good choice...  They come with shoulder straps (some), zippers, pockets, etc...  I'd like the nylon/canvas ones, but they get expensive.  The one I'm looking into is about $55.00!  However, I do have a good excuse to carry these around.  I'm an Architecture student at the Univ of MN, and never thought of carrying a rifle in one of these!  I could easily cut some nice foam padding and use a 3-sided-zippered case  on one of the 2" or 3" thick models!  VERY inconspicuous indeed!  I often carry drawing tubes, but perhaps this will give me reason to look into using portfolios (my last one ripped/broke).

If I can afford this route I'll keep you posted!  And perhaps get some pics.

This is a very good idea, but I STILL want to hear of some other ideas as well before I commit to one idea.  Size isn't too much of a matter.  I would however, prefer to keep them stored with the lower/stock underneath one another so the whole thing is relatively thin.  But with a 20" bbl this would make it about 30" wide and about ?" Tall (Can't measure, I'm at work right now).

What prompted this?  Well, last semester while friends of mine were going shooting they were loading guns into their car's trunk, from their APT to the parking lot.  A neighbor across the street saw a rifle case (classic distinct style), and a rectangular alum. case...  This isn't the bad thing.  The bad thing is she called the police stating there were two guys pointing guns all over the neighborhood.  3 squad cars pulled in quickly & questioned them.  The cops were quite pissed off when they found out the lady called and lied.  My friend said the cops should send her a copy of the Constitution/Bill of Rights to her.  Nevertheless this pissed them off, and delayed their trip to the range by 1 hour because the cops wanted to search everything for illegal junk & whether or not they stored the ammunition in separate compartments/areas of the car, etc...  All was kosher, but it took forever for them to deal with these cops.  I didn't know of this until relatively recent when I talked with one of my student group members (I'm president of the Student Armament Group @ the Univ of MN).

There were other people in my area oogling at my stereo/home theater equipment when I was moving into my new apartment, but they're really decent people after I got to know them.  They're just anti-gun.  One of them is a former US Army Ranger/AirBrn, but he's a few shy of a six pack upstairs if you know what I mean...

Well, I gotta go now, My lunch break will begin soon...  Please post more if you can think of more.  THANKS!!!  THIS IS GREAT!

I looked on line and did not see the case listed for the price I paid for one last week.

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/home

Here is the address, maybe a Dick's is located close to you?

Quoted: I looked on line and did not see the case listed for the price I paid for one last week. http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/home Here is the address, maybe a Dick's is located close to you?

Dick's online and brick and mortar inventory is completely different.  It looks like they actually contract out with some sort of sporting goods drop shipper and just stamp their name on the site.  If you check out the websites of many of the large SG chains (modell's, etc) you will notice that their sites look very similar, and offer the exact same products.

Rocko

on the GD forum, someone just posted how he rigged out a Fender padded gig bag (guitar case) with some foam cut out to fit his scoped flattop.  I forgot what the post was, but look over in GD...

Sounds like a good idea... AR in a guitar case!

M@

Edited to say:

Here it is: www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=127790

Glad to help with the portfolio idea.  The nice thing there is if you're an artist or architect it can do double duty for you, so its not like spending money on something you'll only use for shooting.  

...just don't forget which piece of art you're carrying in there.

Quoted: on the GD forum, someone just posted how he rigged out a Fender padded gig bag (guitar case) with some foam cut out to fit his scoped flattop.............. Sounds like a good idea... AR in a guitar case!

I got a junk catalog that was supposed to go to my brother, it had all music garbage in it but there was these very cool looking coffin shaped hard cases, Inside dimensions would fit an AR perfectly and for $40. Too tempting. I just didn't want it to look like I was trying to bring back the violin case/Thompson look.

JerrY

I like guitar cases.... Here in austin we arent called "live music capital of the world" for no reason. Everyone here carries guitar cases and no one suspects anything when you got guitar cases... little did they know that inside the guitar case is a Scoped remington 700 ready for action.... Decorate them with lots of those band stickers, and since I do play guitars it makes sense to get a guitar case for the dual purposes...

I live in one of the fascist states where you can't take your rifle outside without having it in a case (ill-annoys).......  Makes it hard to exercise your second ammendment rights.....  This also makes it hard to ACTUALLY buy your first case.  I wanted a case that was pretty tightly fit to my rifle, so what I did was set my rifle on top of a large sheet of paper, traced around it and cut it out.  I was then able to fold up the cutout and take it with me to the store for sizing.  It was very handy and eliminated all guesswork and I got a case that is close to an exact fit.

I used to build ata flight cases (anvil type cases)  for the entertainment industry.  We purchased almost all of our case parts from a company called Penn Fabrication.  Best prices in the industry. here's a link:

195.97.193.18/penn/

I was thinking about building some really nice specialty cases for AR's out of that stuff but I keep wasting my money on accessories and ammo. [:-)]  

Here are three previous threads which address this issue:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=110613

http://ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=46048

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=69698